Lists like Amazon.com's 100 greatest indie rock albums of all time are inherently problematic, but this one is actually pretty good—which is to say I agree with a lot of it (particularly as it crawls toward number one), and the ones I don't, well, who doesn't love a good argument. Don't you?

100 Dangerous Magical Noise - The Dirtbombs

99 Passover - The Black Angels

98 To Survive - Joan As Police Woman

97 Ultimate Alternative Wavers - Built To Spill

96 Trans Am - Trans Am

95 The Discovery Of A World Inside... - The Apples In Stereo

94 Waiter: 'You Vultures!' - Portugal The Man

93 Alligator - The National

92 Horses In The Sky - Silver Mt. Zion

91 Gallowsbird's Bark - The Fiery Furnaces

90 Louden Up Now - !!!

89 The Milk-Eyed Mender - Joanna Newsom

88 The Power Out - Electrelane

87 Cure For Pain - Morphine

86 Worn Copy - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

85 Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls

84 Hearts Of Oak - Ted Leo/Pharmacists

83 Save Yourself - Make Up

82 The Last Match - The Aislers Set

81 The Sea and the Bells - Rachel's

80 The Ugly Organ - Cursive

79 De Stijl - The White Stripes

78 Nothing Feels Good - The Promise Ring

77 The Smell Of Our Own - The Hidden Cameras

76 Jane From Occupied Europe - Swell Maps

75 Furnace Room Lullaby - Neko Case

74 The Curtain Hits The Cast - Low

73 The R&B Of Membership - The Delta 72

72 II & III - Camper Van Beethoven

71 Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating... - Spiritualized

70 The Fawn - The Sea And Cake

69 Feast of Wire - Calexico

68 Oh, Inverted World - The Shins

67 Will You Find Me - Ida

66 Milk Man - Deerhoof

65 Coquelicot Asleep In The Poppies... - Of Montreal

64 Rejoicing in The Hands - Devendra Banhart

63 Destroyer's Rubies - Destroyer

62 TNT - Tortoise

61 Neon Golden - The Notwist

60 Daddy's Highway - The Bats

59 Set Yourself On Fire - Stars

58 Fabulous Muscles - Xiu Xiu

57 Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes - TV On The Radio

56 The Decline And Fall Of Heavenly - Heavenly

55 The Mysterious Production of Eggs - Andrew Bird

54 Pussy-Whipped - Bikini Kill

53 Sing No Evil - Half Japanese

52 Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express - The Go Betweens

51 Emperor Tomato Ketchup - Stereolab

50 And Don't The Kids Just Love It - Television Personalities

49 Wild Love - Smog

48 Agaetis Byrjun - Sigur Ros

47 Red House Painters I - Red House Painters

46 Advisory Committee - Mirah

45 How Memory Works - Joan Of Arc

44 On Fire - Galaxie 500

43 On - Imperial Teen

42 Mass Romantic [Remastered] - The New Pornographers

41 Gulag Orkestar - Beirut

40 This Nation's Saving Grace - The Fall

39 You Forgot It In People - Broken Social Scene

38 I Am A Bird Now - Antony & The Johnsons

37 When Your Heartstrings Break - Beulah

36 Our Endless Numbered Days - Iron & Wine

35 Person Pitch - Panda Bear

34 Let's Get Out of This Country - Camera Obscura

33 Merriweather Post Pavilion - Animal Collective

32 Let It Be [Expanded Edition] - The Replacements

31 Repeater + 3 Songs - Fugazi

30 Zen Arcade - Hüsker Dü

29 24 Hour Revenge Therapy - Jawbreaker

28 Lift Your Skinny Fists... - godspeed you black emperor!

27 Yellow House - Grizzly Bear

26 The Glow Pt. 2 - The Microphones

25 Black Candy - Beat Happening

24 Funeral - Arcade Fire

23 Moon Pix - Cat Power

22 Diary - Sunny Day Real Estate

21 Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil... - Bright Eyes

20 I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One - Yo La Tengo

19 Kill the Moonlight - Spoon

18 Give Up - The Postal Service

17 Dig Me Out - Sleater-Kinney

16 No Pocky for Kitty - Superchunk

15 I See A Darkness - Bonnie "Prince" Billy

14 We Have The Facts and We're Voting Yes - Death Cab For Cutie

13 Michigan - Sufjan Stevens

12 Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth

11 69 Love Songs Volume 1 - The Magnetic Fields

10 Bakesale - Sebadoh

09 Either/Or - Elliott Smith

08 Surfer Rosa - Pixies

07 If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle & Sebastian

06 Slanted & Enchanted - Pavement

05 Imperial f.f.r.r. (Deluxe Edition) - Unrest

04 Exile In Guyville - Liz Phair

03 Spiderland - Slint

02 In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel

01 Bee Thousand - Guided by Voices

Never one of my favorite bands, Pearl Jam has earned my grudging (no, not grunging) respect by doing the almost-impossible and remaining, as the song says, aliiiiive. EW scribe Whitney Pastorek does a fine job here breaking down the ways that PJ defies one's ordinary impulse to dismiss or otherwise take Vedder's crew. or their mega first album, Ten, now available in a deluxe reissue, for granted after all this time. (Still hate that album cover photo, though.)

From EW Online:

I can't make a snap judgment on this! WTF are you talking about? In my possession I now have the original remastered version of Ten, a remixed version from Brendan O'Brien that includes a bunch of bonus tracks, a demo cassette, a wax paper packet of photos and stickers and ticket replicas, a composition notebook that serves as a photo album, a DVD of the band's MTV Unplugged show, and three vinyl LPs, including the 1992 Drop in the Park concert. The record sleeve for the latter depicts Vedder soaring over a flannel-drenched crowd. I spent 20 minutes staring at it last night. I also spent most of my week in Texas driving around with the O'Brien remix advance in the car stereo, and am still finding new and exciting tweaks to these songs I've known for half my life. Absorbing all of this is going to take some time. Additionally -- and perhaps more shamefully* -- I don't own a record player, and neither Best Buy nor my local music equipment store were able to sell me one this morning. (Apparently the only people still in the market for turntables are DJs, and I do not require the technology for "scratching.") So while I wait for a Craigslist transaction to go through in order to properly review this thing, I open the floor to you, M-Dubs: Who's got a copy? Who's got an opinion? Share it in the comments! And meanwhile, check out this phenomenal hip-hop cover of "Why Go," which incorporates nearly everything this post was about!

 

...And by gold, I mean vulgar and horrible... Sigh: Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch, now on the auction block, isn't the Peter Panadu it used to was, apparently.

From Huffington Post (via Fox News):

"When I arrived at Neverland," he writes, "I was surprised to see that it was in shambles. Buildings, amusement rides, industrial equipment, personal automobiles, and Jackson's personal zoo and Tipi village were falling apart. Gardens and lawns were overgrown. Joe Marcus [Jackson's chief of security] and Tohme informed us that Jackson had abandoned the property and has not been there since the trial in 2005."

It's almost sad, but then, not as sad as certain sad things, right? More Jackson-based schadenfreude here.

All these years later, it's still so incredibly easy (and FUN) to hate hate hate the 100% talent-free Limp Bizkit leaderFred Durst, now desperately clinging to the gossip of years gone by, when he was still famous enough to be rumored to be doing it with Britney Spears. Even if it's true, it doesn't count.

From People.com:

Fred Durst, who publicly bickered with Britney Spears about their reported relationship in 2003 (she's always denied it) and then claimed he was going to "put [the feud] behind me," is once again speaking out about the pop star – and saying they were indeed a couple.

"It just became a fiasco of madness," Durst, 38, tells MTV News about their fight. "[But] I always stay true to my heart and true to everything I did and my intentions, and I am in no way a liar."

The Limp Bizkit singer and Spears, who was 21 at the time, reportedly became an item at the 2003 American Music Awards in L.A. To express his feelings, he wrote on his band's Web site at the time that he had "never felt this way," but Spears never acknowledged the relationship.

Even with Durst going on Howard Stern's radio show and swearing on his son's life that he was telling the truth, Spears rarely commented on his remarks. She did, however, say the relationship was one-sided.

"I think him for me, but not me for him," she told the British version of Glamour magazine. "He's said some pretty amazing things about me. But, um, I think he leaped in too deep, too quick."

Durst says he's still a bit confused about how everything unraveled but describes it as an episode of her bizarre behavior.

"I look back on it as very interesting [in terms of] how things have been sort of unraveling for her since," he says. "[But] it is what it is. I can sleep at night knowing I made decisions that I wanted to make. [Still] I'm a supporter. I was then, I guess I am now."

Psssssssssh.

According to his neighbors, there's a foul odor wafting from the porta-potty in Bob Dylan's yard, and it's starting to p-- uh, tick them off. Read all about it here. (And give a fellow credit for not using the obvious "Blowing in the Wind" headline?)

From the LA Times:

Residents contend that the nighttime sea breeze sends a noxious odor from a portable toilet on Dylan's property wafting into their homes. The stench has made members of one family ill and forced them to abandon their bedrooms on warm nights, they say.

For more than six months, Dylan, 67, has ignored their complaints and their pleas to remove the outhouse, the downwind neighbors say.

"It's a scandal -- 'Mr. Civil Rights' is killing our civil rights," said David Emminger, whose home is directly behind the toilet -- which is apparently intended for use by employees of the entertainer best known for his 1960s-era protest songs.

Emminger and his wife have installed five industrial-sized fans in their frontyard in an attempt to blow the odor back at Dylan. They say the fans are no match for the ocean breeze that sweeps across the singer's land, however.

Dylan, who has lived in a compound next to Bluewater Road for more than two decades, did not respond to inquiries about the toilet. Neither did his New York-based attorney.

Malibu officials said they are investigating the complaint. As a result, they are unable to discuss the issue, they said.

But Dylan's neighbors who contend their patience has run out have plenty to say about the odor.

"It started in September. I'd go into the frontyard and get nauseous," said Cindy Emminger, 42. "I couldn't figure out at first where the smell was coming from."

Her 8-year-old son, David Jr., was sickened by the stench. Then she became ill too.

"We both have allergies and are sensitive to chemicals," she said. "I finally noticed that they had moved the porta-potty directly in front of my front door."

By some accounts, the city's response has been sluggish.

In January, one inspector reported that a city code enforcement officer was turned away by Dylan's security staff and told that he was trespassing. "He said they were going to sue the city," the inspector said.

Guards who staff a security shack near the edge of Dylan's compound around the clock are among those who utilize the toilet, neighbors say.

The guardhouse has been the source of controversy in the past. In 1989, when Dylan sought a permit to build it, Los Angeles County building and safety inspectors discovered it was not accessible to the handicapped.

According to county records, the singer bypassed accessibility requirements by promising, in writing, that he "would not hire any handicapped persons" to work in it.

Malibu City Manager Jim Thorsen denied Emminger's charge that officials allow celebrities to "dictate terms" to the city.

"There's no truth in that whatsoever. Everybody, in our opinion, is a high-profile person. We have to treat everybody by what the code says. It's not a matter of clout or of money. We treat everybody exactly the same," Thorsen said.

I will listen to, read, or watch basically anything that has to do with The Beatles, and I recommend that you do the same. This film right here, which deals with John Lennon's unhappy teenage years—including his difficult relationship with auntie Julia, and his friendship/rivalry with young Paul McCartney, was written by the guy who wrote the brilliant Control, which dealt with Ian Curtis of Joy Division's unhappy teenage years. It might just finally do what almost no one has managed to do since 1963: make a Beatles movie right.

From RollingStone.com:

Nowhere Boy, a biopic about John Lennon’s childhood, has been picked up by the Weinstein Company, Variety reports. The project is two weeks into filming with Aaron Johnson, who played the young Ed Norton in The Illusionist, in the role of Lennon and English Patient star Kristin Scott Thomas portraying the Beatle’s aunt, who battled Lennon’s mother Julia for custody. The film will examine the effects each woman and their custody fight had on the young musician. Variety says the movie will also laser in on Lennon’s bond with Paul McCartney, and concludes when the Beatles leave Liverpool and head off to Germany.

Taking its title from Rubber Soul’s “Nowhere Man,” Nowhere Boy will be directed by Sam Taylor Wood, who helmed the Buzzcocks-inspired Love You More, with a screenplay penned by Joy Division biopic Control writer Matt Greenhalgh. The screenplay was based on the memoir written by Julia Baird, Lennon’s mother. “The story of John Lennon’s childhood has never been told, and now Beatles fans will be able to gain insight into his fascinating life,” Weinstein Company president of theatrical films Tom Ortenberg said in a press release. The company plans to release the movie in time for consideration for awards season, with a wider release to follow in January 2010.

According to a press release issued by the Weinstein Company that appears in full at Variety, the film’s full synopsis is:

“John Lennon is an ordinary fifteen year old boy on the streets of Liverpool. Funny, smart, naughty, a real edge to him. But life is not simple for John — he grew up in a family of secrets and was raised by his Aunt Mimi from the age of five. When he is suddenly reacquainted with his mother, Julia, they form an unbreakable bond. A bitter war rages between the two sisters for John’s love. Faced with bringing it to an end, he learns the secret heartbreak of his past. But his mother gives him one great gift — music. A wayward boy finds his voice, and walks into the Beatles.”

It wasn't enough for Miley Cyrus to lament her failure to schmooze with Radiohead backstage at the Grammys; she also had to vow to "ruin them" for their failure to defer to her desires. But now the world's most/last significant rock band has answered back, and Hannah Montana is rushing for her dictionary.

From US Weekly:

A war of words has erupted between Miley Cyrus and her former rock Gods Radiohead.

The argument started when Miley tried to use her clout to meet her heroes backstage at the Grammys. The notoriously shy band refused.

Miley then blasted the group on a syndicated radio show as “Stinkin’ Radiohead!” and said, “I’m gonna ruin them, I’m gonna tell everyone.”

But the band aren’t taking the insult lying down.

A spokesperson for the band responds on their behalf, “When Miley grows up, she’ll learn not to have a sense of entitlement.”

Miley says the Radiohead dis was a huge disappointment to her, “I was so upset.”

But Coldplay exceeded her expectations. “Coldplay was so nice. Chris Martin hung out with me the whole time,” she gloated.

Not really buying her love of Radiohead, by the way.

A: Uh... Watching Radiohead rehearse? To wit: Here they are before their Grammys performance with the USC Marching Band.

 

Can't get enough of that 'SC band? Here they are with their other favorite band, Fleetwood Mac, 30 years prior:

 

I know there's nothing funny about any of it, but when you see news like this, that Rihanna and Chris Brown are fixing to sing a duet, an you really have to wonder, what song are they gonna do? "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?"? "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)"? "Beat It"? Ok, ok. As predicted, not funny. But you know whatever they do IT'S GONNA BE A... uh... big success!

Michael Jackson's going on tour. A terrifying photo gallery is here. Video is everywhere else.

You didn't necessarily ask for it, but you (and by "you" I mean gamer nerds) are about to get it: The Beatles are coming to Rock Band. Or, Rock Band is coming to the Beatles. Either way, I still haven't played a video game since Frogger.

From RollingStone.com:

The music of the Beatles will arrive as a playable video game for the first time on September 9, 2009 when The Beatles: Rock Band hits stores in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The game, which will be available for Xbox, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii on the same day, “takes players on a journey through the legacy and evolution of the band’s legendary career,” according to a press release issued by the title’s makers, Apple Corps, Harmonix and MTV Games. While there’s no playlist or word about venues and avatars, there will be a limited number of instruments issued that are modeled after guitars, basses and drums John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr used (regular Rock Band peripherals will be compatible, too).

I admit this makes me want to try playing the stupid thing, if anything could.

MC Hammer, Britney Spears, ?uestlove, and a grip of non-music celebs have jumped on-board the Twitter train.

"It creates a new form of communication where we can actually see each other as people, humanizing the celebrity," said Hammer, who was born Stanley Burrell. "To me, it's a great human interaction that happens."

Hammer doesn't have a problem exposing his private life _ he'll star in a reality series for A&E this spring _ and he enjoys the lack of a filter between him and his fans.

"Most of the time you hear something from a celeb when there's a new project coming _ `My new movie is coming,' `My new album is coming.' You only see them in those sound bites," said Hammer. "But with the Twitter platform, you're not only able to see what his or her life is like on a day-to-day basis ... but hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute."

I guess "celeb" is the operative word. The whole story is here.

It may not come as a massive surprise, but Axl Rose knows how to hold a grudge against his former bandmates. Well, one bandmate.

From Digital Spy:

Axl Rose has reportedly described his former bandmate Slash as a "cancer that's better removed."

The Guns N' Roses singer ruled out a return to the group's original lineup, backing up his statement earlier this month that he would die before reuniting with the top-hatted guitarist.

Slash, who appeared on Gun N' Roses's Appetite For Destruction and Use Your Illusion albums, left the band in 1996.

"I suppose [former bass player] Duff [McKagan] could play guitar on something somewhere but there's zero possibility of me having anything to do with Slash other than by ambush, and that wouldn't be pretty," Spinner.com quotes Rose as saying.

"In a nutshell, personally I consider him a cancer and better removed, avoided - and the less anyone heard of him or his supporters the better."

Rose added that he is not a fan of Slash's guitar playing, branding him a "whore for the limelight."

It comes to something when Axl Rose calls you a whore for the limelight.