The 11 Best Hair Metal Albums You've Forgotten:

There was a time when people scoffed at Hair Metal. But now with bands like Fall Out Boy, Paramore, and Daughtry being the popular rock bands of the day...I think everyone wishes for a return to that craziness that was the 80s. Everyone thinks Adam Lambert is ground-breaking for his androgynous style. Seriously? Have you seen a Poison video? Kings of Leon are "cutting edge" because they have a song called "Sex On Fire." What about Warrant's "Cherry Pie," Faster Pussycat's "Bathroom Wall," Winger's "Seventeen?" I mean seriously...they may not have been the best bands to ever rock our worlds...but they at least knew how to rock.

Steel Panther (the world's greatest metal cover band) releases their first album of all new material this week, called Feel The Steel. And even as tongue-in-cheek as their material is...it's still far more rocking that anything else that's out there.

Before you run out and buy the album (which you should absolutely do)...here's a look back at some of the great hidden gems of the glam metal years. Everyone knows about the Hysterias...the Slippery When Wets...the Dr. Feelgoods...but what else was there when you peeled back the top layer?

The 11 Best Hair Metal Albums You've Forgotten About:

1. Def Leppard - On Through the Night (1980)
- It Don't Matter
2. Bon Jovi - 7800 Fahrenheit (1980)
3. L.A. Guns - Cocked and Loaded (1989)
- Never Enough
4. Motley Crue - Too Fast For Love (1981)
5. Tesla - The Great Radio Controversy (1989)
- Paradise
6. Whitesnake - Whitesnake (1987)
7. Cinderella - Long Cold Winter (1988)
- Gypsy Road
8. Skid Row - Skid Row (1989)
9. Faster Pussycat - Faster Pussycat (1987)
10. Dokken - Tooth and Nail (1984)
- Alone Again
11. Ratt - Invasion of Your Privacy (1985)

Buy Steel Panther's new album, Feel The Steel, now!!

The 11 Best Songs By The Avett Brothers

Last week, my computer went down, preventing me from doing work, blogging and keeping tabs on the happenings in the NFL. I literally felt like I had a limb torn from my body. I didn't know what to do with myself. I tried reading a book to pass the time...and it oddly felt like I was cheating. But now that I have my computer up and running again, all I want is to go find something else to do.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By The Avett Brothers:

1. November Blue (Country Was)
2. Talk on Indolence (Four Thieves Gone)
3. If It's The Beaches (Glean EP)
4. Bella Donna (Second Gleam)
5. Paranoia in B Major (Emotionalism)
6. Colorshow (Four Thieves Gone)
7. Pretty Girl From San Diego (Emotionalism)
8. At The Beach (Mignonette)
9. Offering (Carolina Jubilee)
10. Swept Away (Mignonette)
11. My Last Song To Jenny (Carolina Jubilee)

Buy the new album by the Avett Brothers, I and Love and You.

The 11 Best Songs By Alice in Chains

Denver, San Francisco, Cincy, and the Jets are kicking ass...meanwhile, Arizona, Carolina, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh are struggling. I guess all things change.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Alice in Chains:

1. Would? (Dirt)
2. Right Turn (Sap)
3. Man in the Box (Facelift)
4. Nutshell (Jar of Flies)
5. Brother (Sap)
6. Rooster (Dirt)
7. A Little Bitter (Last Action Hero)
8. Heaven Beside You (AIC)
9. Down in A Hole (Dirt)
10. Sea of Sorrow (Facelift)
11. Sludge Factory (AIC)

Buy the new Alice in Chains, Black Gives Way To Blue now!

The 11 Best Bands Who Replaced Their Singer:

It's tough to accept a new Alice in Chains album is in stores. And it's not really because it's hard to accept that Layne has been replaced...what is hardest to accept is that it's finally official that he's really gone. He will be missed...but that's no reason for the band not to go on. Jerry Cantrell wrote most of the music...and sang on a lot of the songs...so there's not a very radical departure from their earlier material. The new singer does a decent job...and the album is overall very respectable to the Layne AIC legacy.

AIC isn't the first to continue on after replacing their lead singer...here are some of the best...

The 11 Best Bands Who Replaced Their Singer:

1. AC/DC (Bon Scott replaced by Brian Johnson)
2. Van Halen (David Lee Roth replaced by Sammy Hagar)
3. Genesis (Peter Gabriel replaced by Phil collins)
4. Iron Maiden (Dianno replaced by Bruce Dickinson)
5. Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green replaced "eventually" by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks)
6. Deep Purple (Ian Gilliam replaced by David Coverdale)
7. Faith No More (Chuck Mosley replaced by Mike Patton)
8. Judas Priest (Rob Halford replaced by Ripper Ownes)
9. Black Sabbath (Ozzy Osbourne replaced by Ronnie James Dio)
10. lush (Emma Anderson replaced by Miki Berenyi)
11. Killswitch Engage (Jesse Leach replaced by Howard Jones)

Buy the new Alice in Chains now. Black Gives Way To Blue.

The Unknown: The xx and JJ

Two of the hottest bands this late summer are the goth-folk experience known as the xx...and the world-influenced bubble pop of JJ. Their success is due to the simplified approach to music making...that bigger isn't necessarily better. And the brevity of their names is a perfect example of how little you need to do to get your point across. But they are not the first to try their hand at the double letter naming...in fact there are already a long line of suitors.

The xx: Stars

JJ: My Hopes and Dreams

Here are the 11 best double letter artists:

1. B.B. King
2. LL Cool J
3. ZZ Top
4. Dee Dee Ramone (okay...a little cheat)
5. A. A. Bondy
6. C.C. Deville (Poison)
7. GG Allin
8. TT Quick
9. AAVV
10. WW
11. PP Arnold

Buy debut albums from the xx and JJ now.

The Unknown: An Evening with Conor Oberst, Jim James, and M. Ward (Part 2)

Here's part 2 to the show...

Make sure you go out and buy the indie supergroup's new album...Monsters of Folk. for this week only...$4 on my store.

And if you're not...follow us on Twitter.

Here is part 2 of An Evening with Conor Oberst, Jim James and M. Ward:

Conor Oberst's set

17. Train Under Water

18. Going For Gold

19. Soon You Will Be Leaving Your Mom

20. A Celebration Upon Completion

21. We Are Nowhere and It's Now

22. One Foot In Front Of Another

23. Lua

24. Waste of Paint

All three together

25. Seashell Tale

26. Always on My Mind

27. Laura Laurant

28. At Dawn

29. At The Bottom of Everything

30. Girl From North Country

Buy The Monsters of Folk...this week only for less than $4.

The Unknown: An Evening with Conor Oberst, Jim James, and M. Ward

In 2004, three icons of the indie rock movement (Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, and M. Ward) got together and performed an intimate folk concert. Who knew that 5 years later, the three (four including Mike Mogis) would get together to put out one of the most anticipated albums of 2009? Well, today's the day that the album finally lands on our computer. To celebrate its arrival...here's part one of that show that started it all. Thanks to Captain's Dead for the original post on it...one of our favorite sites on the net.

Make sure you go out and buy the new album...Monsters of Folk. This week only, it's available for a measly $3.99 from our store.

Make sure you follow us on Twitter!!

An Evening with Conor Oberst, Jim James, and Conor Oberst:

M. Ward's Performance

1. Fuel For Fire

2. Deut For Guitars #3

3. Let's Dance (Bowie)

4. Undertaker

5. Helocopter

6. O'Brien/O'Brien's Nocturn

7. Vincent O'Brien

8. Outta My Head

Jim James' performance

9. One in the Same

10. Unknown Song

11. I Can't Wait

12. Where To Begin

13. How Could I Know

14. The Bear

15. Bermuda Highway

16. Golden

Buy the Monsters of Folk for only $3.99 ...for this week only.

The 11 Best Pearl Jam Songs (00s):

It was a tough call on a couple tracks this time around. "Brother" is technically a Ten-era outtake...but did not get a full release until the Ten Remaster from this year. So where does it belong? The 90s or 00s? I was going to leave it in the 90s...but it had no effect on the 90s and didn't get the proper mastering until just this year...and actually received some decent radio play. Tons are songs are written by bands and sit for years on the shelf...then don't get the proper exposure until years...sometimes decades later. The official release of "Brother" was given to us in the 00s...so the 00s is should remain. "Hold On" was a similar debate. It's an Vs. era track that didn't get released until 03. Since it never saw the light as a B-side or Japanese bonus track...it also remains a part of this decade. But it doesn't make the list because it lost a coin toss to "Unemployable."

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Here are the 11 Best Pearl Jam Songs (00s):

1. All or None (Riot Act)

2. Insignificance (Binaural)

3. Inside Job (Pearl Jam)

4. Brother (Ten Remaster)

5. Sad (Lost Dogs - Binaural B-Side)

6. Grievance (Binaural)

7. World Wide Suicide (Pearl Jam)

8. Save You (Riot Act)

9. Thin Air (Binaural)

10. Unemployable (Pearl Jam)

11. Love, Reign O'er Me (Reign Over Me)

Buy Pearl Jam's new album Backspacer....now.

The 11 Best Pearl Jam Songs (90s):

With the Beatles Rock Band and Pearl Jam's exclusive deal at Target...the term "sell-out" is getting thrown around way too much. "Sell-out" should really be the term that describes a band who was on the outside looking in that sold their principles to get a good seat on the bus. For example...if Fugazi all of sudden hired Will.I.Am to produce their album of hip-pop for an exclusive deal at Walmart about how wonderful corporate America is...then they would sell-outs. Pearl Jam is already popular. They don't need Target...in fact, they don't need anyone. If anything, Target needs them more than they need it. And you can still buy Backspacer at itunes...so it's not that exclusive. Physical CDs are going away fast. Having a physical CD is a token of a past social meme. But if you do go out and buy the disc, the band is rewarding everyone with a free download of 2 Pearl Jam concerts of your choice. And they're Pearl Jam concerts...so they're not short. That's helluva a lot music for the price of one CD. Giving away free concerts doesn't make you a sell-out...if anything, it shows you're still as true to the fans as you've ever been.

Here are the 11 Best Pearl Jam Songs (90s):

1. Porch (Ten) 2. Black (Ten)

3. Animal (Vs.)

4. Not For You (Vitalogy)

5. Rearviewmirror (Vs.)

6. Corduroy (Vitalogy)

7. Alive (Ten)

8. I Got Id (Merkinball)

9. Indifference (Vs.)

10. Yellow Ledbetter (Ten B-Side)

11. Do The Evolution (Yield)

Buy the new Pearl Jam album, Backspacer now. Get two free concert downloads with purchase!

The 11 Best Q-Tip Songs

Q-Tip's new album is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with the music industry. I'm not saying that the music industry can't do anything right...they're just more skilled at doing things wrong. See, Q's album is not actually a new album...it's an old album that's been sitting around since 2001. Why? Because it's a concept jazz-infused hip-hop album without a break-out single which makes it impossible to promote...in their eyes. To the record label, singles are what makes an album successful. And in the 90s that worked. But now we have itunes...and for the past decade...the labels have been still pushing singles over albums...and what has happened? Album sales have plummeted. If you heavily promote a single over an album, people will just go buy that 99 cent single without buying the album. Why spend $10 if you only want one song? That's what people are doing...and the labels are left scratching their heads about the decline in album sales.

Because Q's album marketing plan was too difficult of an egg to crack...the album sat and sat and sat. Meanwhile, for years it was traded...downloaded...burned to anyone who wanted it. An internet frenzy that called it nothing short of a masterpiece. All the while, the lable lost thousands...if not millions of dollars on album sales. It's hard to feel bad for the guy with one leg who shot himself in the foot.

Since Q-Tip's people are running around taking down all the Q-Tip posts with MP3s...nothing for today...which means...I don't have to provide a link where you can buy it. Sorry Q, if you're going to punch me in the back...I'm not going to scratch yours.

Here are the 11 Best Q-Tip Songs:

1. Vibrant Thing (Amplified)

2. Getting Up (The Renaissance)

3. Move (The Renaissance)

4. Let's Ride (Amplified)

5. Official (The Renaissance)

6. Johnny Is Dead (The Renaissance)

7. Things U Do (Amplified)

8. Dance on Glass (The Renaissance)

9. Life Is Better (The Renaissance)

10. Breathe and Stop (Amplified)

11. N.T. (Amplified)

Buy Q-Tip's recently (and finally officially) released album, Kamaal the Abstract.