Idolator

Many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock. To help figure out which is which, here's "Corporate Rock Still Sells," where Al "GovernmentNames" Shipley examines what's good, bad, and ugly in the world of rock and roll. This time around, he takes a look at a couple of old reliables who have re-entered the rock charts. More »

If you've picked up the new issue of Maxim, you may have flipped past a review of the Black Crowes' forthcoming album Warpaint. In the 75 or so words allotted to him writer David Peisner spends half his time talking about the Crowes' 1990 debut album before passing his final judgment, writing off the record as being "boozy, competent, and in slavish tribute to the Stones, the Allmans, and the Faces." The graphical representation of Peisner's review: Two and a half filled circles out of five. Which wouldn't be so bad except for one thing: Peisner never heard the album because the Black Crowes' label, Megaforce, didn't release advances of it to critics. Someone at the label got in touch with Maxim, and the person there in charge of editing the mag's music coverage said that the writeup, stars and all, was actually an "educated-guess preview" and hey, wasn't it better than no coverage at all? More »