November 12, 2008 – Despite mildly enjoying all the Nickelback I've ever heard (for those of you scoring at home, that's "How You Remind Me," "Photograph," and "Rock Star"), I most assuredly will not be joining millions of others in buying the band's new album, Dark House, when it comes out this Tuesday. Actually, I could get that shit or free. So let me say this: Unless work requires it, I will not be listening to the new Nickelback album. Historically, the members of Nickelback and their fans respond to that kind of critical antipathy with accusations of snobbery. Considering that I like what I've heard from the band and still have no desire to hear more from them, is "snobbery" a fair label for my position? Maybe. Trying to puzzle out the answer to that question makes me feel like I'm stuck inside a mind maze.

November 7, 2008 – [Editor's note: My 16-year-old cousin gave me the letter below to pass along to Bruce Spingsteen via SPIN.com.] Dear Bruce, Word is you've got another album on the way. I even read somewhere that you're planning to release it for President Obama's January inauguration. This may or may not be true, but the fact that it could be seriously suggested proves that you are very important and highly esteemed. By comparison, Bob Seger is happy when Kid Rock returns his calls. Since you've become so involved with politics over the last few years, I thought I'd propose a proposal to you. Don't worry; it's not political in nature.

October 30, 2008 – The following message was found flickering this morning on the computer screen of SPIN editor David Marchese. Friday, October 31, 2008 I am nearing the end. My rope, already frayed and stretched thin, is about to break. Where once there was logic, there is now chaos. Where once I had control, I have now become a slave. Summoning the strength to update my Twitter and my Facebook status has transformed into a Sisyphean task. There is but one reason for my descent into madness: My iPod is stuck on shuffle. From the bowels of Hades I hear you snicker, unknown reader. But this note is not written in jest, and you would be foolish to consider this the stark raving of a madman. If only 'twere so. The wise among you would treat this note as a lighthouse beacon, cautioning you turn sail from the jagged shore of insanity.

October 23, 2008 – As far as autobiographies go, Eminem's The Way I Am makes for a pretty good paperweight. Essentially a series of brief reminiscences scattered among reproductions of handwritten lyric pages, candid photos, and a plethora of pics that make Detroit look like the wasteland wherever The Road takes place, the book doesn't offer much in the way of rich literature or keen insight. Motley Crue's The Dirt, by comparison, reads like Dylan's Chronicles. It's not that The Way I Am doesn't have enough salacious stories or life-inside-the-fishbowl revelations, though the book could use more of both. It's that it does nothing to enlarge our understanding of Eminem. Maybe superfans will be happy with page after page of pictures of Shady in the studio, on the stage, at home with Hailie, flipping the bird, flipping the bird again, and chilling with Marilyn Manson and Kid Rock.

October 17, 2008 – Dear Mr. Wahlberg: As you probably know, you have a new movie out today. It's called Max Payne and from what I can tell, you play a zombie policeman. In your last movie, The Happening, you played a science teacher scared of trees. The one before that was called We Own the Night. Your character got shot in the face. It's been hard watching you humbled. It doesn't have to be this way. You can turn things around. Start by leaving the acting to your brother Donnie. Just the other night, I was doing some late night channel surfing when Donnie's Miami gangster flick Kings of South Beach came on. He's soooo gritty in it. Let him be the thespian Wahlberg. What you need to do is get back in touch with an old friend -- someone the American public used to love. In fact, they loved him so much that he had the most popular song in the country for one glorious week in 1991.

October 10, 2008 – Following their mega-successful debut double shot of 1994's Definitely Maybe and 1995's (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, Oasis were poised to rule the rock game. But 1997's underwhelming Be Here Now put an end to that. Ever since, the band has been stuck in rock'n'roll Triple-A. Not quite major leaguers on par with Coldplay, the Chili Peppers, or Radiohead, but able to fill arenas nonetheless. And even though the new Dig Out Your Soul is a welcome return to the supersonic guitars and straightforward songwriting of those early albums, Oasis's cultural moment has passed. The brothers Gallagher won't be getting called back to the bigs anytime soon. But for sheer entertainment value, they deserve better.

October 2, 2008 – Four years after hanging an "out to lunch" sign on their front door, jam band godheads Phish have announced that they're reuniting for a series of shows at the Hampton Coliseum in Virginia next March, with further touring also in the works. Doubtless there are many for whom this news registers as little more than a non-Zeppelin ripple in the sea of reunion rumors, but for Phishheads, this is huge -- and not just because they won't have to fake it at Disco Biscuits concerts anymore. Instead, their world has been reborn. Is this a good thing? I won't pretend I was anything more than a Phish dilettante, but there was a time in my life when I religiously bought the studio albums, scoured the internet for live shows, and made sure I saw Trey, Page, Fish, and Mike whenever they came to town. But I never traded tapes or joined the great tie-dyed hordes and followed the band on tour.

September 22, 2008 – The members of Ra Ra Riot are close, but only to a point. "With girls in the band, booger placement is an issue," says bassist Mathieu Santos, 23. "You have to be more secretive." Cellist Alexandra Lawn, 23, isn't buying it: "It seems like you're more open about it." Relaxing in Brooklyn after a photo shoot, Lawn and her bandmates explain that this kind of ribbing is second nature. "We're like a crazy family," says Lawn of her fellow Rioteers, who came together as Syracuse undergrads in January 2006. "Rebecca [Zeller, violin] is the mom, Wes [Miles, vocals] is the brother-in-law, and Milo" -- she nods at guitarist Milo Bonacci -- "he's the dad." Bonacci, 25, frowns. "But you're a cool dad!" chirps Lawn. Things haven't always been so lighthearted for the winsome chamber-pop quintet. Cofrontman Shaw Flick quit on the eve of an early tour to be with his girlfriend.

August 5, 2008 – Music has always come easy for Glen Campbell -- his gift for ballads ("Wichita Lineman") and rodeo-bar staples ("Rhinestone Cowboy") made him the king of country pop, but it's away from the mic where life's been hard -- drug abuse, divorces, a much-ridiculed mug shot from a 2003 DUI arrest. Now he's releasing the strangest album of his 46-year career: Meet Glen Campbell, a collection of cover songs by Green Day, U2, and Foo Fighters, among others, and that finds the 72-year-old in a reflective mood. "I've made mistakes," he says. "But God forgives and so do I -- or I beat 'em up." Why wait until now to call an album Meet Glen Campbell? I don't know. The producer said, "Call it Meet Glen Campbell." You cover songs by the Replacements and the Velvet Underground. Were you already familiar with their work? A lot of the songs I'd heard before, and some of 'em I hadn't.

April 23, 2008 – After half of Tokyo Police Club politely apologize for running late ("Someone left their clothes in the dryer," says keyboardist Graham Wright, 21; "I had to get ready for dinner with my parents," offers singer/bassist Dave Monks, also 21), it's no surprise to hear that the boys took a wholesome approach while slogging it out on the suburban Toronto battle-of-the-bands circuit. "We played these showcases where you really had to work to grab people's attention," says drummer Greg Alsop, 22. "So we handed out cupcakes." Did the ploy work? Alsop smiles: "Never underestimate the appeal of fresh baked goods." Despite their sugary stagecraft, the Strokes- and Radiohead-loving pals, along with guitarist Josh Hook, 20, were ready to call it quits after high school, until a local DJ invited them to play the 2005 Pop Montreal festival.