Rolling Stone’s 2008 Hot Issue spotlights acts like Band of Horses and Vampire Weekend (more on that here). For the next week, we’ll be taking a look at Hot Issue hits and misses from the past twenty-one years (because nobody’s cultural thermometer is accurate all the time).

Hit: In our very first Hot Issue in 1986 (the one with Michael J. Fox on the cover), Minneapolis’ The Replacements were the inaugural group to have the title of “Hot Band” bestowed upon them. Paul Westerberg and Co. released three more albums after attaining “Hot” status, and ultimately became one of the most influential bands of the Eighties.

Miss: They were HUGE in 1990. They had three number-one singles that year, and occasionally you still hear “Hold On” in karaoke bars and in Rock Daily editors’ apartments. But truthfully, the main reason Wilson Phillips were given Hot List status was because they gainfully employed two of Brian Wilson’s daughters and offspring of The Mamas & The Papas. The group split up two years later to pursue solo careers, bad talk shows and weight loss on Celebrity Fit Club.

“It’s been a while since we’ve played a small club like this,” said Kid Rock last night backstage at New York’s Fillmore, the very intimate venue where he celebrated the release of Rock N Roll Jesus, “I’m glad it worked out.” Work out it did, thanks to Rock’s arsenal of rap, rock and country: The highlights included a torrid version of the new album’s title track, and “Half Your Age,” a charmingly spiteful track aimed at Rock’s ex, Pam Anderson (the closing line is about how his new girlfriend is “half your age and twice as hot”). He introduced “Age” by mentioning Anderson’s frequent appearances in certain celebrity magazines: “US Weekly is entertaining, but I have a feeling this song is gonna stick around for a lot longer than a week.”

On their second major-label album, In Defense of the Genre, Max Bemis and his band Say Anything are breaking out the Mellon Collie as well as The Infinite Sadness. The group’s double-disc concept album chronicles the last three years of Bemis’ life, from his surprise diagnosis and struggle with bipolar disorder to falling in and out of love to searching for a happy religious medium. As opposed to the quirkier … Is A Real Boy, Bemis says the new album (out October 23rd) is more of a “classic pop, big rock album.” “Queen, At the Drive-In, … And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead influenced the guitar sound on the record,” he notes. A roster of famous friends pitched in, too: My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way, Pete Yorn and members of New Found Glory, Paramore, Taking Back Sunday and many more pop up on songs.
Click here for more from Bemis on the album and an exclusive first listen to “About Falling,” a track that’s nestled in the middle of disc two and is one of the most autobiographical on the two-disc set. “The song is about a place in a person’s life where they accept that they’re alone, coming out of a relationship,” Bemis explains.

Two months ago, R.E.M. revealed they would be releasing their first-ever live CD/DVD combo, titled simply R.E.M. Live. The twenty-two tracks recorded at Dublin’s Point Theatre on February 27, 2005, highlight the band’s career, from “Man on the Moon” to “The One I Love” and “Cuyahoga,” including a never-before-released track, “I’m Gonna DJ.” The package hits stores next Tuesday, but you can stream the whole album on Rhapsody right now. R.E.M. are also slated to premiere another previously unheard track, “Until the Day Is Done,” tonight on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Billboard reports (we’re just as baffled by that development as you are). Though nothing has been confirmed, folks are guessing the song is from the band’s forthcoming album, expected in stores next spring.

Related Stories:

• R.E.M. to Release Live CD/DVD
• R.E.M. Impress Fans, U2, Debuting Guitar-Heavy New Tracks in Dublin
• Michael Stipe Reveals R.E.M. Has Had “Tough Ten Years”

Yesterday Rock Daily brought you the trailer from Peter Bogdanovich’s Tom Petty documentary Runnin’ Down a Dream — today we’ve got an exclusive clip. Watch Petty sit down with an acoustic guitar to explain how he wrote “The Waiting” (the chords were stuck in his head for a week), and check out the song’s evolution via live footage, plus commentary from Eddie Vedder. “The girls I was going after when I was a kid, they just loved Tom Petty. Everything was Tom Petty, Tom Petty, Tom Petty,” the Pearl Jam frontman says.

• Trent Reznor’s first order of business now that Nine Inch Nails and Interscope Records have officially divorced: start work on the follow-up (sequel?) to this year’s Year Zero. Reznor was previously contractually incapable of hitting the studio, but becoming a free agent allows Trent to do pretty much whatever he wants. The label will, however, release the Zero-remix album Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D, plus maintain rights to issue a NIN greatest-hits record.

• Despite rumors that he would abandon the tour that bears his own name, Ozzy Osbourne insists he will headline the 2008 edition of the Ozzfest. But will he perform solo? Ozzy tells MTV “I’d love to do another Black Sabbath album.”

• Cat Power’s second album of cover songs, titled Jukebox will be released January 22nd on Matador Records. The album will feature Cat covering one of her own songs, “Metal Heart,” plus an original Bob Dylan ode called “Song to Bobby.”

• Another day, another lawsuit: Diddy is being sued for $5 million after he allegedly ordered his bodyguards to beat up a man at a Manhattan nightclub last June.

• The rumour mill reports that Prince and Amy Winehouse might collaborate at the Purple One’s Minnesota studio later this year. That is, if Prince can convince the diva to stop by instead of partying with the Olsen Twins.

Perhaps in an attempt to ride “Gimme More” momentum, Britney Spears’ Blackout will not come out November 13th as planned, two weeks earlier, on the day before Halloween. The reason? Spears’ label, Jive Records, says pesky downloaders are to blame: “Due to these numerous unauthorized online leaks, the label is doing everything possible to prevent and avoid any further illegal distribution of songs including moving up the release date of the album to October 30th.” Speaking of Spears and the law, the singer will head to court October 25th to face hit-and-run charges stemming from a parking lot crash in August. Spears has successfully passed her first court-ordered drug test related to her other legal drama: her custody battle.

Unlike the fans who haven’t removed their headphones since 2 a.m., Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood is able to focus something other than In Rainbows right now: We talked to him this morning for an upcoming story about his experimental orchestral work, Popcorn Superhet Receiver, which will be making its U.S. debut in New York this January. But Greenwood was also kind enough to share some thoughts about his band’s industry-shaking new album. Here’s a sample:
Why did you choose to release the album this way?
Partly just to get it out quickly, so everyone would hear it at the same time, and partly because it was an experiment that felt worth trying, really.
Why the variable pricing?
It’s fun to make people stop for a few seconds and think about what music is worth, and that’s just an interesting question to ask people. (more…)

The Big News: Bruce Springsteen coasted to the top of the Billboard charts for the eighth time, as his Magic debuted at number one with 335,000 copies sold. It was Springsteen’s best-selling week since The Rising took the top spot in 2001 with 525,000 copies. Last week’s champ, Rascal Flatts’ Still Feels Good, dipped to number two thanks to a sixty-nine percent sales decrease. She isn’t in the top ten — yet — but Canadian singer Feist continues to hang around the thirties on the strength of her iPod-ad-aided single “1 2 3 4″ (she checks in at number thirty-nine after twenty-three weeks on the chart).

Debuts: Mom-rockers Matchbox Twenty’s new compilation Exile on Mainstream had a strong showing at number three, thanks to 131,000 copies sold and the single “How Far We’ve Come.” Two more rookies rounded out the top five: Seventeen-year-old rapper Soulja Boy’s debut album Souljaboytellem.com came in at number four with 117,000, while R&B singer J.Holiday’s Back of My ‘Lac entered strongly in the fifth spot. The three-disc Bob Dylan collection Dylan bowed in at number thirty-six. Dashboard Confessional hit the chart at eighteen, PJ Harvey arrived at sixty-five and Mick Jagger’s solo comp debuted at seventy-seven.

Last Week’s Heroes: Besides the Flatts drop, Keyshia Cole’s second album Just Like You descended from last week’s two spot to this week’s six spot. The Foo Fighters crashed mightily, as their Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace fell from three to sixteen after a sixty-eight percent sales drop. Kanye West has sailed past the platinum mark (he’s at number seven this week), but 50 Cent still has a few more albums to move before he hits one million (he comes in at seventeen).

Yesterday, as we predicted back in August, George Harrison’s solo discography joined his fellow Fab Four bandmates in MP3 form on Apple’s digital music service. To make the Harrison acquisition more enticing, Apple has added on exclusive tracks when you buy some of his albums. For instance, Harrison’s eponymous 1979 album includes a demo version of “Blow Away,” and 1981’s Somewhere in England includes the previously discarded “Flying Hour.” All that’s left now for Steve Jobs’ company is to finally secure the actual Beatles catalog, which has long been rumored to be happening.

Adding to yesterday’s Beatlemania, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland announced that they would be opening an exhibit on November 16th to commemorate the Beatles’ 1965 film Help!, which will be reissued on DVD October 29th. The exhibit will include Harrison’s shooting script, original movie premiere tickets, plus never-before-seen set photographs and other artifacts.

Related Stories:

• Paul McCartney To Release iTunes EP
• John Lennon Catalog Finally Available on iTunes; George Harrison Solo Work Due By End of 2007, Says Source
• Martin Scorsese to Direct George Harrison Documentary