SPIN‘s August issue pays tribute to the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind and the icing on the cake is a tribute album called, “Newermind”, which features some of their favorite contemporary artists cover Nevermind’s 13 songs in their original order. Two of Kurt Cobain‘s personal faves — the Meat Puppets and the Vaselines, both of whom Nirvana famously covered during their MTV Unplugged taping — joined the effort. You’ll find the complete album tracklist along with a link to download the album for free after the jump.

SPIN’s editors rank the top releases since the magazine’s beginning in 1985. I went through the entire list and it’s pretty solid. There were no glaring omissions and I’m glad my boy Prince cracked the Top 5. If you’re looking for some new music to download or just want to diversify your taste check out the 125 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years by SPIN Magazine.

Sorry, guys. I know doing a post about Spencer Pratt is pretty lame, being that he’s one of the world’s biggest assclowns, just after Dane Cook and the ESPN lawyers that are keeping you from watching the Erin Andrews peephole video. And his douchiness just gets that much more intense, since he just announced, in an interview with Spin magazine, that he’s launching a rap career.

In the July ’09 issue, Spin magazine writer, Brian Raftery has put together an excellent oral history of Prince’s iconic 1984 movie and Top 40s soundtrack, Purple Rain, in honor of its 25th anniversary. To top off their Prince-centric edition, Spin produced an excellent Prince tribute album, Purplish Rain, featuring an eclectic variety of musicians, from Of Montreal to the Riverboat Gamblers, which they’re giving away for free.

As long as people continue to make music, other people will make year end lists chronicling it. Artist of the year? Song of the year? Album of the year? Depending on how much you care about these things, there are literally dozens of different places for you to find out who and what, in very esteemed professionals’ opinions, have taken these top honors (S… Click to read more

Instead of slapping on suntan lotion, smokin’ a doobie, and heading to Grant Park to watch tons of awesome bands at this year’s Lollapalooza, we’re still at the office like a bunch of frickin’ dumbasses. But we know we’re not alone, so we’ve scoured the Web to find all the best coverage, videos, tidbits and music comin… Click to read more

Instead of slapping on suntan lotion, smokin’ a doobie, and heading to Grant Park to watch tons of awesome bands at this year’s Lollapalooza, we’re still at the office like a bunch of frickin’ dumbasses. But we know we’re not alone, so we’ve scoured the Web to find all the best coverage, videos, tidbits and music comin… Click to read more

Take a spinning stool, a couple beers and a leaf blower and you can create a fun ride in your own back yard. I would like to see this guy attach a couple leaf blowers to his legs, shot gun a beer then get on the stool! That would be entertaining.… Click to read more