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

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

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