Maxim Magazine Reviews Albums without Listening

@eden32 (3973)
United States
March 1, 2008 5:30pm CST
http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/57621648 The link above gives the whole story, but in a nutshell: a reviewer at Maxim magazine reviewed an album of The Black Crows, gave it a mediocre review without ever having heard the album. He hasn't heard it because the Black Crows haven't released it yet, including advanced copies for critics. In response to getting caught, Maxim issued a half-a$$ apology & stated something along the lines of the review being an educated guess of what the album would sound like. Hmm? Can one make an educated guess of what an album will sound like? Can this fortune-telling ability be applied to other mediums- can I review a book I haven't read? Or a television show I haven't watched? Can I get paid for these 'educated guesses'? I think it's deplorable that a journalist would do something like this. Maybe it's not a huge, life altering, cover-up of a major news story; but it's wrong none the less. It's dishonest, it's insulting to the IQ of it's readers, and it's unfair to the artist.
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