Deny it all you want, but the Chicago-based Pitchfork Media has became the defacto king of online music journalism. While it often borders on the pretentious, and the rating system often makes as much sense as a shoddy constructed arthouse film, let’s face it-It’s entertaining. The New York Times has cited Pitchfork as “one of the more important indie music tastemakers in any medium.” Countless bands have benefited from the “Pitchfork Effect,” a sudden increase in mainstream popularity that has benefited the likes of The Arcade Fire, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Sufjan Stevens.

When The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present hit the shelves on Nov 11., it seemed like a pretty safe bet to assume that this book, like the website, would be filled with the same self-indulgent writing and indie-central aesthetic that has become synonymous with Pitchfork.

However, readers might be surprised to discover that instead of actually ranking the 500 tracks included in the book, editors Scott Plagenhoef and Ryan Schreiber merely attempt to justify why the tracks selected are the best ones from the past 30 years, breaking the songs down by year rather than score, beginning with the punk explosion of ’77, and ending with 2006.

The lack of Pitchfork’s notorious niche-market and meticulous grading is definitely refreshing; the book serves simply as a reference to music, of all kinds. The hipster-approved lo-fi act Guided by Voices share the page with the hyper-aggressive and throbbing drumbeats of Nine Inch Nails, and the Simon and Garfunkel-inspired Billy Bragg somehow finds his place next to a significantly non-Simon and Garfunkel

Not just satisfied with providing witty commentary on the 500 tracks officially on the list, the book also includes a skew of sublists and explanations. “Her Hair Is Everywhere: Post-Fugazi Emo” is, well, post-Fugazi emo, chronicling the likes of The Promise Ring, Sunny Day Real Estate and others. “Threat Level: This Was Our 9/11” is a breakdown of the musical response to the events of September 11. “Sailing the Sea of Cheese” is a tribute to the thrilling world of Yacht Rock, and so on.

While The Pitchfork 500 does serve as an excellent reference to popular music (and, with its inclusion of rap, alternative, country, folk, punk and so on, is probably one of the most diverse references currently available), it’s not to say the book is without fault.

While it’s virtually impossible to agree with every pick in these kinds of music compilation books, there’s a good handful of tracks in The Pitchfork 500 that could leave readers scratching their heads.

To claim that Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” which some readers will probably remember as being brutally massacred by Diana Ross in the mid-’90s, could be considered one of the best 500 songs in the past three decades is a bit questionable, to say the least. To say that Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” also belongs on that list is just mildly revolting.

Not all of the questionable picks included are necessarily bad songs. A good handful of the picks seem to find their place on their list because they’re safe bets. The inclusion of Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer,” Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Daft Punk’s “One More Time” seem to be in place if only to cast off the cries of elitist that are soon to follow any mini-essay on pre-Sonic Youth noise rock.

Additionally, several technical issues come up repeatedly over the course of the book, ranging from simple misspellings to a couple of instances of subject-verb disagreement, and fragmented sentences that simply seem to go nowhere.

Regardless of these issues, however, The Pitchfork 500 still serves as a perfect blend of a chronicle of the new popular music canon, as well as a way to discuss our guilty pleasures (here’s looking at you, Justin Timberlake), and captures the music of our generation, as well as the generations before us, perfectly.