As it marks its own 25th anniversary this year, Spin magazine has churned out a list of the 125 best albums of the past quarter century — an honor roll topped by U2’s 1991 left turn ‘Achtung Baby,’ a record the mag says ‘genetically engineer(ed) rock music into the hybridized mutant we know today.’

Spin magazine recently dropped a goldmine into Google Books: scans of nearly every issue of the music mag, from its May 1985 debut up through October 2009. We’ve flipped through the ‘85 to ‘90 issues, creating links to stories about The Cure, R.E.M., The Replacements, Morrissey, New Order and many, many more.

[tweetmeme]Record Rack: A round-up of the week’s new albums, reissues and/or box sets.
ARTIST: Nitzer Ebb
RELEASES: Catalogue, Compilation
BACKSTORY: The five-disc Catalogue collects each of the reunited Nitzer Ebb’s Mute albums — That Total Age (1987), Belief(1989), Showtime(1990), Ebbhead(1991) and Big Hit (1995) — in a picture slipcase, while Compilation is a three-disc best-of/remix set that merges [...]

[tweetmeme]This has been around for some time, but it’s certainly worth sharing for fans who haven’t seen it: The Replacements, in all of their early glory, playing a label showcase put on by Minneapolis’ Twin/Tone Records at the 7th Street Entry on Sept. 5, 1981. The ‘Mats, who had released Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take [...]

Former Hüsker Dü drummer Grant Hart will hit the road next month for a 17-date North American tour in support of the just-released Hot Wax, his first solo album in a decade.
Hart will open the tour Nov. 5 in Des Moines, Iowa, and crisscross the country — hitting Montreal and Quebec, too — through the [...]

Voyageur Press, the imprint behind the 2007 oral history “The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting,” next year will publish a new book about another Twin Cities-bred pillar of ’80s college rock: Hüsker Dü.
Andrew Earles’ 304-page “Hüsker Dü: The Story of the Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock” is scheduled to be published either May [...]

Record Rack: A weekly round-up of the pertinent new albums, reissues and/or box sets due out Tuesday.
ARTIST: Kraftwerk
RELEASES: Autobahn, Radio-Activity, Trans Europe Express, The Man-Machine, Computer World, Techno Pop, The Mix, Tour De France
BACKSTORY: Although the release of its box set The Catalogue has been delayed until Nov. 17, this week still will [...]

As promised, Bob Mould and L.A. noise-punk duo No Age helped close out All Tomorrow’s Parties New York last Sunday night with a set heavy on Hüsker Dü classics, including “Something I Learned Today,” “Makes No Sense At All,” “I Apologize,” “Could You Be the One?” and “New Day Rising” (in addition to some No Age tunes [...]

Former Hüsker Dü drummer Grant Hart once again steps out from behind the kit on next month’s Hot Wax, his first solo album in a decade, and his third overall.
The nine-track, 30-minute disc — due Oct. 6 on Con D’or Records — was recorded in Montreal and Minneapolis, and features guest spots by members [...]

Noise-rock duo No Age has enlisted Bob Mould to help perform an entire Hüsker Dü album at the second-annual All Tomorrow’s Parties New York, set for Sept. 11-13 in Monticello, N.Y.
Although neither party has revealed which Hüsker album will be played, it won’t be the first time Mould has rocked out with No Age; he [...]

 
Mike Watt himself will be on hand to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Minutemen’s classic Double Nickels on the Dime double album at the Bowery Poetry Club & Cafe in New York City later next week.
The July 25 event will pay tribute to the sprawling, 45-track album, which was released in July 1984 [...]

Former Husker Du and Sugar frontman — and occasional electronic-music dabbler — Bob Mould this week announced a brief slate of U.S. tour dates this October in support of his latest album, Life and Times.
The nine-date trek — which will feature Mould backed by a full band — opens Oct. 7 in Boston and wraps [...]