Contenders face the music

Call it poetic justice. In “Without Me,” Eminem brags, “I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley/to do black music so selfishly/and use it to get myself wealth.” The controversial rapper has been displaced by Nelly to No. 2 on the album charts, but the best-selling single in America belongs to none other than Presley.

Alanis Morissette: The Bizarre Bittersweet, Brooding Bubblegum of Summer ’95: Dark Themes Cloud Pop Music

Now is the summer of our discontent. That’s the only possible conclusion you can draw if you’ve been anywhere near a radio lately. Summer used to be the season of catchy, bouncy, bubblegum music. Not this year. The airwaves of summer ’95 – suddenly, inexplicably – are clogged with hummable odes to depression, confusion, weird characters and questionable behavior.