Blog Posts by Chris Willman

Looking to box up a box for your manically rock-loving loved ones? Or just hoping to wrap up your year by wrapping up a big-ticket item for yourself? For a diehard music fan, nothing says "merry" quite like getting your hands on a retrospective boxed set, whether it includes six discs or 63. (No lie: This year's Johnny Cash set really does get up to that number.)

We scoured the best that veteran artists had to dig up for us and came up with a dozen of 2012's best, most covetable box-a-ramas to recommend to you. Forgive us for allowing the Beatles and Rolling Stones to each be represented twice on this list, but for some artists, when it archivally rains, it archivally pours.

Beatles, 12 inches x infinityTHE BEATLES, The Beatles Stereo Vinyl Box Set (Capitol)

December 2012 has got to be a banner month for turntable sales, at least as far as the 21^st century goes. Because how many Beatlemaniacs will be investing in this all-inclusive vinyl collection first, then remembering they have to have something to play LPs

If you tuned in for the Grammy nominations announcement telecast Wednesday night, you could be forgiven for thinking you'd tuned into a country awards show. Was CBS accidentally broadcasting the ACAs (set to air next Monday on Fox) five nights early?

Of course, this was the first year that what you might call the Grammys' "pre-show" was broadcast from Music City USA instead of Los Angeles. And when you're in Nashville, make Nashville-ade, right? On a lot of multi-genre awards shows, the producers try to bury country performers in the middle of the telecast, so as not to scare off phobic urban viewers right away. But this seemed like CBS' attempt to get in on some of the country ratings action they used to enjoy before losing rights to the CMAs to a competing network.

Dierks Bentley and Kimberly Perry (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)So not only did we see Taylor Swift co-hosting (if not, alas, performing), but the show got off to a quick country start with a quick, well-imagined Johnny Cash tribute co-starring the Band Perry and Dierks Bentley. A win

Dave Brubeck—recently called "the reigning elder statesman of jazz" by the Washington Post—died Wednesday in Connecticut on his way to a cardiology appointment, one day shy of his 92^nd birthday. But he'll really outlast the apocalypse. Donald Fagen assured us so, in his classic song "New Frontier," where the Steely Dan singer, projecting himself back to the bop-crazed 1950s, sounded positively giddy about surviving a nuclear disaster in a fallout shelter. The end of the world as we knew it would feel fine, as long as a guy had his girl—and the jazzman—to weather the ultimate storm:

"I hear you're mad about Brubeck/I like your eyes, I like him too/He's an artist, a pioneer/We've got to have some music on the new frontier..."

Brubeck's Time coverTalk about pioneering: Brubeck appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1954, as only the second jazz figure to earn such a pop-culture honor. The first had been Louis Armstrong, but the fact that Brubeck was able to do it without also being a vocalist or even a

Album sales may not be markedly up this year, but there's always one thing that sells in music, and that's celebrity feuds. Happily for gossip fans, 2012 seemed to be a banner year for tiffs between tunesmiths, and not for a moment did anyone have to ask the eternal question: Where's the beef?

For starters, you could craft a healthy list just out of the feuds Nicki Minaj had going (Mariah! Steven Tyler! Stevie Nicks! Lil Kim! Barbara Walters!). In second place, we'd have the eternally embattled Chris Brown and his fellow feuders (Drake! Miranda Lambert! Jenny Johnson! Yo mama!). Madonna might have to settle for third place among pop warriors (Lady Gaga! Elton! M.I.A.! Deadmau5! Her career!).

But how could we leave out such eternal feuders as Axl, Courtney, 50 Cent, and the ever-loving Jacksons? Follow along, wrestling fans, as we recount—in no particular order of feistiness—the 30 greatest music feuds of 2012:

One Direction1. THE WANTED vs. ONE DIRECTION

Who can resist when boy bands collide?

Ninety-five times out of a hundred, the answer to "where are they now?" questions about pop's one-hit wonders is: playing in a very small nightclub somewhere, or very quietly living off annuities. But some quickie stars take surprising career paths years after they've burned out as musicians. For this exercise in insatiably curious nostalgia, we looked up 10 quick flame-out hitmakers who rose to fame for a half-minute in the late '70s, '80s, or '90s...and we found realtors, teachers, visual artists, British reality-show stars (of course), and even a fitness guru. See how the years have treated these former chart-toppers, who, we hope, are giving thanks this holiday for their single shot, as well as for life after pop.

From the flood of superstar releases hitting stores in late November and early December, you'd almost imagine there's still a viable industry devoted to the making and selling of audio recordings geared toward young people. Yes, Virginia, there is a music business!

The two weeks leading up to Black Friday have, as always, been the busiest of the year for new albums. Among the stars who joined the competitive fray with releases just in the Nov. 13-20 time frame: One Direction, Phillip Phillips, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Kid Rock, Pitbull, Christina Aguilera, Susan Boyle, Kelly Clarkson, Keyshia Cole, Coldplay, AC/DC, Green Day, Soundgarden, Lana Del Rey, and, just for true old time's sake, Led Zeppelin. But the makeup of the new release bins won't sit unaltered in the weeks that follow Black Friday. Although things won't be quite as busy in early December, music fans can still look forward to post-Thanksgiving product from Alicia Keys, Ke$ha, Bruno Mars, T.I., The-Dream, Wiz Khalifa, Big Boi, and hot country newcomers Florida Georgia Line.

Pink and dancer Colt Prattes at the AMAs (Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage)If there were an audience award for the American Music Awards telecast itself, it would surely go to Pink, whose performance of "Tly" proved she doesn't have to put on an acrobatic harness to harness our appreciation.

As for the production number that left millions of viewers most dumbfounded? That'd have to be Christina Aguilera's medley of material from her just-released Lotus album, which had a lot more bulging going on than blossoming.

Pink wasn't the show's only real-time winner. Justin Bieber surprised viewers with an acoustic tune that found him briefly singing live—no, that isn't a misprint—and simpressively. The evening's camp climax, meanwhile, had viral sensation Psy joined on stage by his now-obvious spiritual forebear, MC Hammer.

Steven Tyler and Joe Perry (Getty Images)When will it come time to retire Aerosmith and put the band up in the attic along with those fabled toys?

No time very soon, if you listen to the band members, who expect to be a touring concern for some time to come. But continuing as a recording outfit? It took them 11 years since their last album of original material to come up with Music From Another Dimension!, which arrives in stores this week. So no one's suggesting there will be a quick follow-up. Or any follow-up, necessarily.

"It could be our last record we ever make," allows Tom Hamilton. "I mean, it's very possible. And it's been a long time since everybody really wanted to be up there. So I think everybody really wanted to make a statement… We sweated everything. We really mean it with every song. When we made Rocks, we had the whole rest of our lives if it didn't come out great. Now, that's not a huge chunk of time, I don't think. There was that built into it, like: Man, this might be your last chance, so f---ing get in