Chances are, over the past two years you've seen lawn signs for [your_town_name]singles.com If you're like me, you wondered about the marketing strategy behind them. If you're like this guy, you launch an obsessive investigation into the phenomenon. [more inside]
posted by lekvar on Nov 6, 2008 - 41 comments

Remember that disheartening map that cataloged the ratio of unmarried men to women per city, wherein the East coast was Single Lady Central and the West coast was a Boystown? Now there's an interactive version where you can adjust for age range, which dramatically affects the results. [VIA PROJECTS]
posted by zoomorphic on Sep 10, 2008 - 68 comments

The Archive. A short film by Sean Dunn and Ed David. "The world is dead out there. They have their ears closed. They don't understand what's going on at this moment. It's gonna take them 10, 15, 20 years to wake up and realize what they missed." Nobody has more records than Paul Mawhinney. He's ready to sell the whole thing for 6 cents on the dollar of their worth. 3 million records for $1 each. And nobody is buying. (Previously on Mefi.) [more inside]
posted by grabbingsand on Aug 20, 2008 - 24 comments

"Everyone laughs a little too hard for a little too long, not because we find these sentiments funny, but because we’re awkwardly acknowledging how unfunny they are. At their core, they pose one of the most complicated, painful, and pervasive dilemmas many single women are forced to grapple with nowadays: Is it better to be alone, or to settle? My advice is this: Settle!" [more inside]
posted by Horace Rumpole on Feb 10, 2008 - 146 comments

Forbes' Best Cities for Singles 2006. Apparently you have better chances of meeting your mate at Sox game than at a Yankees' game. But as a New Yorker I still find it hard to believe my chances would be better were I a Rockies fan. Although, I might meet a good Christian woman.
posted by allkindsoftime on Aug 9, 2006 - 27 comments

John Peel's box of 142 favorite singles discussed in The Times and The Observer. These guys are collecting the whole set (NSFMPAA). [via Stereogum]
posted by Armitage Shanks on Oct 31, 2005 - 83 comments

The Sub Pop Singles Club began in 1988 with the release of Nirvana's Love Buzz single, and continued to offer subscribers new singles from popular and up-and-coming grunge bands for five years. In 1998 the label briefly resurrected the club, ultimately ending it three years ago. Featured bands ranged from the popular to the obscure. Earlier this year, the complete collection of singles was put for sale on ebay, cementing its status as a collector's item and making a generation of music geeks feel old.
posted by kyleg on Aug 18, 2005 - 28 comments

The Anti-Hit List , by John Sakamoto, continues to unearth music from the depths of the net and through rare releases. It can be found in the pages of the Toronto Star and is now available in convenient podcast form. Note: previous death and rebirth of the site.
posted by boost ventilator on Jul 3, 2005 - 8 comments

Plotting your escape? Marry a Canadian. "Legions of Canadians have already pledged to sacrifice their singlehood to save our southern neighbours from four more years of cowboy conservatism." [via Gothamist]
posted by milovoo on Nov 4, 2004 - 48 comments

Pazz & Jop 2002 - The Village Voice has tabulated the top albums and singles from 695 critics (and 10,2002 LPs). Some of the ballot-fillers even got a little personal. The usual essays are included. If your fav CD didn't make the cut, perhaps it made it onto the dean's list.
posted by boost ventilator on Feb 11, 2003 - 28 comments

As its old home lies dormant, John Sakamoto'sAnti-Hit List continues on in the pages of Toronto's Eye Weekly. Where else could you hear about The Flaming Lips covering Kylie, Ween singing for about Pizza Hut or quite possibly the best song title in ages.
posted by boost ventilator on Feb 10, 2003 - 9 comments

If this isn't a sign of the apocalypse, I don't know what is. What should be on the list of the all-time greatest pop tunes?
posted by LittleMissCranky on Nov 9, 2002 - 49 comments

The End of the Anti-Hit List? "And with that, the Anti-Hit List is retiring, at least for the foreseeable future."

John Sakamoto's Alternate Top 10 (AKA The Anti-Hit List) was one of the best top ten music lists on the net. It was short and sweet and a great way to discover b-sides, covers and alternate versions of songs from a wide variety of artists. And to think, it all started back on March 12, 1996.
posted by boost ventilator on Jul 31, 2002 - 4 comments

City as Loser? Iron City was ranked last out of 40 cities in this year's "Best Cities for Singles" in Forbes magazine. Not that Forbes is the ultimate arbiter of the single life (don't they specialize in male readers over 35 with money?), but your best defense of Pittsburgh or your own medium- or small-sized town would be appreciated.
posted by engelr on Jun 11, 2002 - 26 comments

A pickup bar for geeks. 60 TV cameras on the ceiling can be controlled by bar patrons from stations all over the bar, to snoop on other people. See someone you like? Send 'em an email; and maybe if you hit it off you can walk across the bar and actually talk to them.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Oct 21, 2001 - 28 comments

Alone. Ahhh. Sigh. 27 Million Singles Do Whatever They Want. All by Themselves.

The problem with census data is there's never space for a longer answer to the question. (Yes, I live like this but I didn't plan to. See, here's what happened . . . ) This week's newsy trickle across the national spreadsheet reveals, among other things, that more Americans than ever live alone. Twenty-seven million people, give or take. That's a lot of air guitar being played in private. That's a lot of bowls of cereal eaten over the sink around 1 in the morning.....

Do you fit into this scenario? I know I do.

posted by perogi on May 19, 2001 - 33 comments

Teenpeople.com premiering a new Sisqo single (press release too) seems like another example of media conglomerate cross-marketing. You can hear an entire song from a new album 2 months before release on a single website, before even radio or MTV gets it, but why is one corporation using another for an exclusive distribution channel? Are things like this and Madonna selling tickets exclusively through AOL going to remain experimental in nature or is it the face of things to come?
posted by mathowie on May 16, 2001 - 10 comments

CD Sales down by 39%? And guess who's to blame. (Also linked in the article is the interesting stopnapster.com site.)
posted by gi_wrighty on Feb 26, 2001 - 43 comments