Idolator

While I'm surprised at how profuse the reaction was to Dan's outta nowhere but fairly mundane blast at the Lizard King and his bandmates yesterday, I'm sympathetic to those aggrieved to see that we'd give rock and roll's preeminent shaman so little respect. So I figured it'd be only fair to share some reasons why I, personally, do not hate the Doors. More »

Lil Wayne will release The Carter III on May 13. Maybe. After all, the guy has spent the last two and a half years doing everything but making actual studio albums: seven or eight mixtapes, dozens of guest appearances, several arrests, and more hype than the"Loungin'" video^*. Some of this attention has been warranted. The Carter II, his previous studio effort, is a good but not great record, with "Tha Mobb" ranking as one of the decade's finest rap songs and "Shooter" impressively meshing hardcore raps with a crossover sensibility (though Alan Thicke will forever out-class his son). Moreover, Wayne's ascendence benefited heavily from 2005's ignominious distinction as one of the worst years in rap history, with critics so strapped for music to ride for that they actually tried to convince themselves that Paul Wall and Mike Jones were good. More »

So yeah, OiNK is gone, never to return, cue the wailing and gnashing of teeth. But there's one question that is out there: Will shutting it down really benefit the music industry's bottom line? We called on CMJ panel chronicler/industry observer Ryan Catbird to share his thoughts on that topic, as well as the increasingly fragmented attention economy. More »