Happy holidays

Merry Christmas from all your friends at Tied to the '90s (oh, and the Crash Test Dummies, too.)

Oh, Billy... Pumpkins abandon albums

It's been a bad decade for Billy Corgan thus far. Zwan acrimoniously broke up while working on an aborted second album, his solo album couldn't break 75,000 in sales after most of the Smashing Pumpkins' records went multi-platinum, and while the Pumpkins' comeback album Zeitgeist did go gold, a lot of people saw it as a disappointment and a cash-grab (especially considering the only original members involved were Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, who was in Zwan). This year, he's made headlines for playing setlists that are upsetting to the fans.

And now Billy says the Pumpkins won't make albums anymore, just singles. The trend's already started, with "G.L.O.W.", from earlier this year. It's done fairly well on the modern rock charts, getting up to #11.

What do you think? Are albums as dead as Mr. Corgan's making them out to be? Or is Billy just frustrated by a decade's worth of diminishing returns?

Pearl Jam reissue campaign begins

Pearl Jam are re-releasing their debut album Ten with a whole boatload of stuff, including out-takes, demo tracks, a remix of the entire album, and new artwork. It's all part of a series of reissues leading up to the band's (gulp) 20th anniversary in 2011.

We haven't really talked much about Pearl Jam on this site. I'm a fan, but not a huge one; you'll find Ten, Vs., Vitalogy, and the 2006 self-titled album in my collection, but that's it. I find them fascinating, though, because they could have been (and probably were) the biggest band in the world, capable of playing stadiums wherever they wanted, and they essentially threw it all away (conspiracy theorists will tell you intentionally).

Toadies play live

Today's fun video link: watch the Toadies play "Possum Kingdom," live from Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas.

Who would you pay $10 to hear?

Jill Sobule, author of the original "I Kissed a Girl," self-funded her forthcoming album by getting advance donations from people.

Who would you pay $10 to hear with the expectation of getting an album six months later? I'd pony up a Hamilton for a Nixons reunion album. Post your thoughts below.

Here's Sobule's "Supermodel."

New this week... Dave Matthews Band

Not a whole lot in stores this week, as things start slowing down before Christmas.

* Crash Test Dummies, Collections - greatest-hits compilation with a different tracklisting than last year's Best of.

* Dave Matthews Band, Live Trax Vol. 13- two-disc set recorded in June in St. Louis.
* Dave Matthews Band, Live at the Mile High Music Festival- three-disc set recorded in July in Denver. This is the first album not to feature saxophonist LeRoi Moore, who died earlier this year. Includes a cover of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer."

* Shawn Mullins, Live At the Variety Playhouse- the "Lullaby" guy releases a live album, recorded in Atlanta. Also available as a DVD.

* Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chroniclessoundtrack - primarily orchestral score, though new castmember Shirley Manson (of Garbage) does some vocals on a couple of songs.

* Yes Man soundtrack - soundtrack to the new Jim Carrey movie. Features 9 tracks by Eels. One, "Man Up," is new.

This week in reunions...

* The Manic Street Preachers are reuniting (in a fairly creepy way) with missing guitarist Richey Edwards. Edwards, who is presumed to have committed suicide in 1995 (a body was never found, and there have been sporadic sightings in out-of-the-way locales like Goa), will be providing the lyrics to the songs courtesy of an old notebook. Edwards was officially declared dead a couple of weeks ago.

* Kerrang! magazine in the UK claims Faith No More is getting back together. The missus should be happy, as she recently discovered "Epic" thanks to Rock Band.

* The Creed reunion tour rumors continue. Apparently, somebody is offering them a lot of money to do some shows.

* OMG, you guys. Kevin Richardson rejoined the Backstreet Boys for one special encore song in LA last week.