It’s the music many of us grew up on.

But it was different from the ’60s. The Beatles were over, Jimi and Janis were dead, and the feel-good ethos of Woodstock had given way to the dark mood of Altamont. Rock music was splintering into a myriad of categories and subcategories, defined as much for the record buyers as by and for radio formats.

New superstars were about to emerge. Each former Beatle became a successful solo performer, rock and roll became glam rock, progressive rock, hard rock, soft rock, country rock, punk rock, Southern rock, even disco-rock, and listeners were introduced to Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles, Peter Frampton, and the Allman Brothers Band.

This new book explores that time and chronicles the changes year by year, cramming into each chapter a full recounting of both the superstars and the also-rans.

Sure, there’s Clapton, Led Zeppelin, the Stones, all the big names you would expect. But there’s also Jo Jo Gunne, The Motors, Mountain, Motorhead, and a raft of punk rockers we’ve probably forgotten about.

The fact that author Moriarty is one of us, a mid-40s guitar player, means that in addition to “being there,” he knows enough about the equipment to describe instruments and amplifiers as well as playing styles and chord progressions. He is also handy with a camera, and the book includes a couple dozen photos shot by Moriarty himself. It’s quite a collection.

If there are any quibbles, it’s that there is just so much information packed into each chapter that you have to read slowly to catch it all!