Here’s how this page is introduced: “This page has been compiled and maintained by David Ensminger, writer for Maximum Rock’nRoll, Houston Press, the Journal of Popular Music Studies, Postmodern Culture,

Rolling Stone’s weekend poll was simple:  help contribute to create a list of the ten worst songs of the 90s. Any genre was fair game.

This required some consideration.  While the early part of the decade was pretty solid, what with the rise of the Alternative Nation, the Lollapalooza Generation and Britpop, the second half of the 90s produced some horrible swill.  And let’s not forget Top 40 gems like “Mmbop,” “Barbie Girl” and “My Heart Will Go On.”

Here’s my top ten with my choices restricted to just the alt-rock genre.

It all started with a request from Billy for an engineer to construct a new type of bass pedal.  Then it got ugly.

The engineer–a transgender person named Devi Ever–went public with her grievances on Netphoria, a Pumpkins website.  (There’s nothing to link to; the comments have been deleted.)  That led to a series of Corgan tweets (now deleted but found here) and some Facebook posts.

“…you ugly piece of shit…if i ever run into you, anywhere, at anytime, for as long as i live, i will knock your fucking lights out. don’t ever come near me, and if i hear even one more peep out of you in public about me, or the band, or the members of the band, i am gonna sue you for so much you’ll never be able to afford so much as to even make a fucking guitar cable.”

Forgive me, but I was at a music event at a vineyard last night that went rather late and flowed with a very nice Meritage.  Until I get it together to write something coherent, here’s a selection of music news.

Actor Shia “Transformers” LaBeouf was allegedly so wasted on Friday night in LA that he spit all over Marilyn Manson.  Manson (and LaBeouf’s date, who was also spat upon) were not amused.

New Romanticists Spandau Ballet are back together again–a shock, really, considering the legal bad blood within the group.

There’s been a lot of rhapsodizing about the successes Steve Jobs had with Apple as CEO.  And rightly so.  But those victories obscure Apple’s failures, the occasions where products didn’t live up to the hype or the shortcomings of which were/are glossed over because of Steve’s reality distortion field.

Listen, no one bats 1.000.  But if you don’t examine your mistakes, how can you ever learn to get better?

Here are my picks for Apple’s greatest music failures.

Here’s a new analogy that can be applied to the current state of the music industry, the movie industry, the TV industry and every other industry that’s being affected by rapid technological change.

The article is from Torrent Freak and speaks about what happened to one of the largest employers in Stockholm when a new technological innovation was introduced.  (Thanks to Rupinder for the link.)

Earlier this summer, I chanced upon an oldies station playing “You’re the One That I Want,” the hideous Olivia Newton-John/John Travolta duet from the movie Grease.  Yet I could shut it off.  Why?  Because I was mesmorized by the vocal performances.

When this single was recorded in 1978, there was no such thing as ProTools or Auto-Tune.  Tarting up a vocal was limited to overdubs and punch-ins.  The performance had to be spot on, which meant that a tremendous amout of raw talent was required.  This once again got me thinking about how easy technology makes it to cheat when it comes to recording.  Is computer-powered recording ruining music?

It’s been a slow weekend for news, what with Hurricane Irene occupying the attention of the US east coast and most of Britain at Reading and Leeds.  But there’s still stuff to talk about.  Plus!  A ten-song Hurricane Irene playlist for the iPod