I’m not exactly sure how historians mark the end of an era, but as far as music goes nothing marks an era like the second (or third…or fourth) Greatest Hits package from an artist or artists who defined and introduced a radial style of music into mainstream culture. Ice Cube’s The Essentials will be released on September 16th; N.W.A.’s N.W.A And Their Family Tree will street on September 30th. Pour some of that 40 out.

From Capitol / Priority Records:

World-famous rap artist and film star Ice Cube has personally compiled and sequenced 18 of his top solo hits and standout tracks for a new Capitol/Priority collection titled Ice Cube: The Essentials.  Available September 16 on CD and digitally, Ice Cube: The Essentials offers, in one hard-hitting collection, the best recordings of Ice Cube’s 18-year solo music career, including a track from his new album, Raw Footage.

In the late 1980s, Ice Cube began his career as a member of Compton, California’s pioneering, critically acclaimed and notorious gangsta rap group, N.W.A. On his first solo album, 1990’s platinum-certified AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, Ice Cube’s razor-sharp sociopolitical and cultural missives from the streets went beyond N.W.A’s gangbanging braggadocio, and he dismissed bicoastal rap rivalries to collaborate with New York’s hip-hop heavyweights Public Enemy. Rolling Stone awarded the album its highest 5-star rating, the album’s title track topped Billboard’s Hot Rap Singles chart, and the album peaked at #6 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart.

Firmly established as a solo artist, Ice Cube became a musical and cultural lightning rod, his music attracting alternating praise and disdain from the media and moralists. Despite being singled out in an unprecedented public statement of condemnation from Billboard upon its release, Cube’s 1991 album, Death Certificate, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop chart and at #2 on the Billboard Top 200, and was soon certified platinum.

To commemorate the historic and ongoing musical and cultural influence of N.W.A, Capitol/Priority will release N.W.A And Their Family Tree on September 30.  The new CD and digital collection features a cross-section of 18 genre-defining tracks by the pioneering gangsta rap group and its founders, plus Mack 10, Westside Connection, Snoop Dogg, and other N.W.A-inspired artists.  On October 3 at 11pm ET/PT, VH1 will premiere a new 90-minute Rock Doc, “N.W.A: The World’s Most Dangerous Group.”

Two decades have passed since N.W.A rocketed Straight Outta Compton to multi-platinum success, worldwide acclaim and notoriety as rap music’s most powerful force, redefining forever the boundaries of popular music. In the course of little more than three years, N.W.A’s Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren and Yella reached unprecedented gangsta superstardom with their no-holds-barred missives from Los Angeles’ toughest streets.

N.W.A And Their Family Tree charts the group’s lineage through 18 key tracks, including what could be considered the House of N.W.A’s most valuable heirloom, the explosive title track from Straight Outta Compton, the group’s history-making, double platinum 1988 release. Also included are N.W.A’s “Fuck Tha Police,” “Dopeman,” “Express Yourself,” and “Boyz-N-The Hood” (N.W.A featuring Eazy-E), Ice Cube’s “It Was A Good Day,” “Eazy-E’s “We Want Eazy,” M.C. Ren’s “Final Frontier,” The D.O.C.’s “It’s Funky Enough,” Westside Connection’s “Bow Down” and “Gangstas Make The World Go ‘Round,” Mack 10’s “Foe Life,” Snoop Dogg featuring Xzibit’s “Bitch Please,” and other top tracks from the scions of N.W.A.

And they have the boring, self congratulatory press release to prove it!!!!!111:

New York, NY – On July 1, Slipknot, the Grammy Award winning, multi-platinum nine man hard rock enigma, will unveil its new imagery in an exclusive partnership with AOL Music, the web’s most trafficked online music destination*. This highly anticipated debut kicks-starts the launch of Slipknot’s new album, All Hope Is Gone, which is set for release on Roadrunner Records on August 26th. Masks are an integral part of the band’s identity and to reflect this point, AOL Music’s Spinner.com will host a retrospective photo gallery of Slipknot masks throughout their career, spanning all three previous albums and including the most recent controversial “Purgatory Masks.” The Slipknot mask unveiling will be featured on the main page of Spinner.com worldwide for 24 hours.

Slipknot is a groundbreaking nine-piece machine born out of Des Moines, IA. The band has sold over 10 million albums worldwide. Their last studio album VOL. 3: (THE SUBLIMINAL VERSES) was released in May 2004, debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart, selling over 240,000 copies its first week and 1.5 million copies in the U.S. to date. The album broke new ground for the band and spawned the hit singles “Duality,” “Vermilion” and “Before I Forget.” In November 2005 the band released SLIPKNOT 9.0: LIVE, a gold-certified double live album. December 2006 saw the release of the DVD Voliminal: Inside the 9. Certified platinum, it is a vivid, brutally honest glimpse of the world inside the band.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to clown (OMG PUN) on Slipknot. In fact, the couple of times I’ve seen them live they were pretty badass. It’s just that, when it comes to masks, and metal, you can’t fuck with GWAR. Seriously:

Having had the pleasure of sitting down with Buddy Neilsen and the rest of Senses Fail numerous times over the years, I definitely have something of a soft spot for the band. And especially now that Heath Saraceno formerly of Midtown is in the mix, they’ve definitely taken their sound up a couple of notches; their most recent full length, Still Searching was, in my opinion, their strongest release to date, and hopefully the first of many more to come. To that end, the band announced today that their next record, Life Is Not a Waiting Room will be hitting stores later this fall. Here’s the release:

June 25, 2008 - SENSES FAIL announces an October 7 release for Life Is Not A Waiting Room (Vagrant), their third full-length and follow up to 2006’s Still Searching. Brian McTernan (Hot Water Music, Thrice) produced the twelve-track set at his Salad Days studio in Baltimore, MD.

“There is a real sense of urgency in the songs we’ve been writing,” singer James “Buddy” Nielsen stated previously. “The songs have a lot of grit and power and remind me of how I felt when we wrote From The Depths of Dreams.”

Nielsen, along with guitarists Garrett Zablocki and Heath Saraceno and drummer Dan Trapp, were joined in the studio by bassist Jason Black (Hot Water Music, The Draft).

The band will be unveiling more pre-release details and their fall touring plans in the coming weeks.

Fans that stop by the Vagrant tent after July 16 during this summer’s Vans Warped Tour can pick up the free Vagrant Summer Sampler that features “Ali For Cody,” from Life Is Not A Waiting Room.

The New Jersey-based group formed six years ago and released their debut EP, From the Depths of Dreams, in 2002. 2004’s Let It Enfold You was followed by Still Searching, which debuted at #15 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. Senses Fail has performed multiple worldwide tours and their catalog sales have reached over 850,000.

Life Is Not A Waiting Room track listing:
1. Fireworks At Dawn
2. Chandelier
3. Lungs Like Gallows
4. Family Tradition
5. Hair Of The Dog
6. Garden State
7. Four Years
8. Ali For Cody
9. Yellow Angels
10. Wolves At The Door
11. Map The Streets
12. Blackout

Journey’s brand spanking new album, Revelation, has landed itself the #5 slot on the Billboard Top 200 list. This proves once again that by in large, the older you get, the less your musical taste expands.