Today at Flavorpill, we read about what it was like to be a stage dancer for Nirvana. We wanted to visit the top secret tiny art museum that NASA planted on the moon. We tried to picture the sneaker freak/internet geek who’d don a pair of Nike Air Twitter Birds. We were confused by the fact that Lester Bangs is narrating Lady Gaga’s comic. We were jealous that Ms. had the chance to interview Feminist Hulk. We watched as some cats reenacted the BP oil spill crisis in just one minute. We refused to believe that Coolio knew that his new juggalo tattoo was missing a “g.” We listened to the songs of the summer for every year since 1940, when “I”ll Never Smile Again” by Tommy Dorsey was everyone’s favorite jam. And finally, we had it confirmed that most up-and-coming New York artists’ work is concerned with stuff like “sex” and “race” — not “serial killers.”

The Village Voice’s Sound of the City blog recently published an article with the provocative headline, “Michael Musto to LCD Soundsystem: ‘Suck it, James Murphy!’” Now, what in the world could have happened to provoke that? It seems LCD’s new track “Pow Pow” contains the fighting words, “Eat it Michael Musto; you’re no Bruce Vilanch!” And while the Voice’s Zach Baron had to explain who the band was to Musto, we think his retort to a somewhat nonsensical jab sounds about right.

The Musto-Murphy beef appears to be all in good fun, but it still reminds us of some great moments in more serious (not to mention more seriously entertaining) musician-journalist feuds. After the jump, peruse some of our favorite battles, from Lou Reed vs. Lester Bangs to Pitchfork vs… well, you’ll see.

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Lou Reed is a stark enigma that just keeps going, ever-changing. As a younger angst-driven star in 1974, he evaded reporters’ questions with unabashed answers and stated nonchalantly that what was written about him was untrue. When a reporter asked him who he attributed the lies to, Reed responded, “journalists.” Cue laughter. He has been described as bohemian, old, cool, realistic, taciturn, a grouch. Yet through it all Reed has maintained the stamina as a prolific underground icon. As Reed once said, only he knows himself better than anyone.

Now in his sixties, Reed continues to reinvent himself as an art photographer with Romanticism, which features architecture and landscape images from his travels. The book is a departure from New York and Emotion in Action, his previous photograph collections of cityscapes. After the jump, peep images from the new book, along with ten interesting facts about Reed.

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Ladies and gentleman, it is time to re-glorify the music review. Just as we sought to fight the good fight by declaring the “Words That Should Be Perma-Banned (But We Sometimes Use),” we, too, must purge music reviews of painfully common and lazy descriptions. It’s time to stop making esoteric hipster commentary and to start writing real words. Thus, after tapping the expertise of our hopelessly overworked copy editors, we’ve compiled a list of music review words-that-shall-not-be-named. Add your own after the jump. Read More »