This is too funny. Maxim reviews The Black Crowes new album, Warpaint, without hearing the entire album. This is right on course with the sound byte world of media we live in. Read below for the scoop.
From The Black Crowes web site
How is it that a magazine can review an entire album--and assign a star rating to it--without actually hearing the album?

Case in point: the "review" of Warpaint--the new album by THE BLACK CROWES--in the March issue of Maxim magazine. The writer--who has not heard the album since advance CDs were not made available--wrote what appears to be a disparaging assessment anyway, citing "it hasn't left Chris Robinson and the gang much room for growth."
Incredulously, the magazine gave the album a two and a half star rating--although neither the writer nor the editor could have heard more than one song (the single "Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution").
When approached for an explanation, the magazine described the review as "an educated guess preview." Huh?
Black Crowes manager Pete Angelus says, "Maxim's actions seem to completely lack journalistic integrity and intentionally mislead their readership. When confronted with the fact that they never heard the album they are claiming to 'review' in their music section--with a star rating, no less--they attempt to explain that it was an 'educated guess.' In an email correspondence, Maxim went on to state: 'Of course, we always prefer to (sic) hearing music, but sometimes there are big albums that we don't want to ignore that aren't available to hear, which is what happened with the Crowes. It's either an educated guess preview or no coverage at all, so in this case we chose the former.'"
Angelus continued, "It speaks directly to the lack of the publication's credibility. In my opinion, it's a disgrace to the arts, journalism, critics, the publication itself and the public. What's next--Maxim's concert reviews of shows they never attended, book reviews of books never read and film reviews of films never seen?"
After reading Dennis Cook's article in the new issue of State of Mind, where he digs deep into the heart and soul of where this album came from (and he actually listened to the record... a lot), reading this made me puke in my mouth a little. But why is a rock 'n' roll band as genuine and real as The Crowes being reviewed in Maxim anyway? If they're going to bullshit, shouldn't they should stick to reviewing bullshit?
I guess if you read a shitty publication with no substance or depth, you can expect music reviews the same way. Kudos to The Crowes for calling them out.