When Liz Phair released Exile in Guyville back in 1993, music was, well, pretty much where it is now: A boys' playground of aggressive, booze- and drug-addled hyper-aggressive music, a scene that women fit into either by imitating the boys or by settling for the marginal spaces reserved for women, whether that was soul-searching singer-songwriter strumming an acoustic guitar, or tramped-out pop vixen delivering sugary three-minute radio singles. Into this toxic mix of misogyny, Liz......

Well, not exactly. Eddie Vedder wasn't involved. And it's a "new rendition of an old-school tune"—a cover of the 1955 ditty "Rock Around the Clock." The "new rendition" doesn't amount to much more than a single-word swap; "Clock," in both title and refrain, has been replaced by "Barack." Seriously. Listen. Stone Gossard, Pearl Jam's guitarist and "Barack" vocalist, says this about the tribute: This is a track I've been thinking about for a while.......

The only thing more sad and lame than a cover band is a tribute band. (Usually.) Well, even worse is a tribute band that plays the music of an another band that still exists. No, wait—a tribute band that plays songs from a one-off band’s one-off album … whose members live on. That’s truly scraping the musical barrel-bottom. Okay, okay. Worser yet is a national tour of three tribute bands that run this lamentable......