Music Blogs

Much digital ink has been spilled in the past few weeks about Maxim's scandalous "reviews" of new albums by the Black Crowes and Nas. For those don't read CNN.com or absolutepunk.net (or Page Six, for that matter), it turns out the writer couldn't possibly have had a critical take on those albums since he never heard them because review copies were never distributed (in Nas' case, the album hasn't even been completed). It also turns out that the writer never reviewed the records in the first place. Freelancer David Peisner says he was assigned to write previews, which were then edited, given star ratings (both albums merited 2½ stars), and ran in the March issue as reviews. As he told Soundboard, the L.A. Times' music blog, on February 28, "I never at any point or to anyone claimed to have heard these albums in their entirety."

Full disclosure: I know David Peisner; he is a valued and frequent contributor to Spin. He's also one of the most thorough and thoughtful journalists I've ever had the pleasure to work with. Surely he never wished for this protracted hand-wringing to result from his work. The only winners here appear to be the Black Crowes, who, for Warpaint, their first studio album in nearly seven years, have milked this situation of every last drop of promo. (Glad I could also be of service, Chris and Rich!) Did most people even know the Black Crowes had a new album?

Fuller disclosure: We at Spin are guilty of running a review of record the writer never heard in its entirety. It was a 2006 evaluation of Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy by Chuck Klosterman (which earned a middling B grade). I'm told it pissed off Axl's manager. And the fact that it appeared in our April issue and mentioned such songs as "Slash And Burned," "You're Still Too Sweet Not Be My Baby Anymore" (a duet with Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner), and "a slightly reggaeton cover" of Thin Lizzy's "Cowboy Song" still didn't discourage a few readers from asking why they couldn't find the album for purchase anywhere.