MTV Newsroom ›

Spotted: Usher Goes To Meet David Letterman

Posted 3/30/10 1:45 pm EST by in Music


Every day a multitude of stars wander through the halls of MTV News to talk about their latest projects and goof around with our intrepid correspondents. But sometimes we catch stars elsewhere, and that's why we put together Spotted!, a daily compendium of stars in the wild.

Today is a big day for Usher, as his brand new album Raymond v. Raymond hits stores today. The Atlanta singer has survived a costly public divorce, a bunch of leaks and the underwhelming performance of his last album Here I Stand to arrive at Raymond v. Raymond. Much like his protegé Justin Bieber, Usher went on "The Late Show With David Letterman" to celebrate the release of his album with a performance of a new single (in Usher's case, it was "Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home)"). It was an attention-grabbing, theatrical performance, featuring a handful of lovely ladies and at least one Michael Jackson-esque crotch grab. Usher should have a good couple of weeks, as Bieber's album is expected to top this week's Billboard chart and Raymond v. Raymond should do quite well on next week's chart.

Usher wasn't the only singer visiting the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York on Monday (March 29), as recent "American Idol" castoff Paige Miles also chatted with the host. Click here for these photos as well as the entire "Spotted" archive, which features over 400 candid shots of stars like Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, the Jonas Brothers, Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, Shakira, Rihanna, Adam Lambert, Katy Perry, Jessica Simpson, Lady Gaga and Hilary Duff!

Tags , , , ,

Erykah Badu's 'Window Seat' Video Joins The Ranks Of The 10 Best Single-Shot Clips

Posted 3/30/10 1:00 pm EST by in Music


Erykah Badu has spent the last few days turning heads with her new video for "Window Seat," which shows the singer walking down the street in downtown Dallas (in the same area where John F. Kennedy was shot) and gradually stripping down to total nudity. It's reminiscent of Matt and Kim's award-winning clip for "Lessons Learned," which saw the pair strip down in the middle of Times Square and which gets a shout-out at the top of Badu's clip.

Those two videos actually have more in common than just bare flesh, as they were both shot in a single take. The single-take video is always challenging but typically rewarding — especially when artists and directors get inventive with their concepts and presentation. Badu's clip immediately joins "Lessons Learned" and these other eight one-shot videos as the best ever made.

Weezer, "Undone (The Sweater Song)"
Spike Jonze has contributed a number of single-shot clips to his lengthy music video resumé (including Wax's "California"), but this clip remains one of the band's best because it's so unhinged. Also, where did those dogs come from?

Feist, "1234"
This clip became infamous because it became an iPod commercial (and was later parodied on "Sesame Street"), but it's an incredible accomplishment considering the choreography involved and how complicated the camera movements are.

Cibo Matto, "Sugar Water"
Directed by Michel Gondry, "Sugar Water" is especially impressive because it contains two single take shots running concurrently and also has some backwards tape effects thrown in for good measure.
Read More...

Tags , , , , , , , , ,

MTV News' Musical March Madness: Sweet 16 Voting Closes Tonight

Posted 3/30/10 11:50 am EST by in Music


There won't be any new polls put out today, but the voting for the Sweet 16 round of MTV News' Musical March Madness continues today. All polls will close at 10 p.m. on Tuesday night (March 30), at which point the Elite Eight will be set. Most of the Sweet 16 match-ups are still pretty tight, so even if you're favorite band is behind in the standings, there's plenty of time to stage a comeback with some well-organized clicking. Take a look at how we got here, and then give a gander at the current slate of games.

(6) Phish vs. (15) Coheed and Cambria
A heated head-to-head. Coheed and Cambria currently leads the race, but the Phish fans in the comments section keep declaring "P.A.W.: Phish Always Win." Can they follow through on their promise?

(9) Adam Lambert vs. (13) Alice in Chains
The grunge veterans currently have a commanding lead over Lambert, though you can never count the Glamberts out of any competition involving their favorite "Idol" star.

(2) Muse vs. (14) AFI
AFI went on an early run, but the people who turned Muse into a stadium-filling international phenomenon have also put them ahead in the standings. But it's still anybody's game.
Read More...

Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Celebrate Passover With George Michael, Darius Rucker And Bad Brains

Posted 3/30/10 11:00 am EST by in Music


Monday evening (March 29) began the annual feast of Passover, a key event for Jewish people around the world. The holiday is set aside to commemorate the Hebrews' escape from enslavement in Egypt. (Secondarily, it also celebrates the onset of spring and the new harvest.) There are any number of traditions surrounding the holiday depending on where you are in the world and what particular brand of Judaism you practice, but it centers around the Passover seder, a traditional meal that is also used as a stage for retelling the Biblical story of Exodus.

As with any festive celebration (especially one that involves this much wine drinking), Passover needs a handful of tunes to get into the spirit of the day. Hence the following video playlist that focuses on the themes of the holiday and the story wrapped up in it. There's Good Charlotte's "Festival Song," two tracks about plagues (as the story goes, God sent 10 plagues to inflict the Pharaoh's people as a means of setting the Hebrews free) and plenty of songs about rising up to overcome adversity (like Bad Brains' "Rise" and Shadows Fall's "Still I Rise"). There's even Darius Rucker's "Exodus," just for good measure.

But Passover is essentially about freedom, which is why the playlist kicks off with George Michael's "Freedom," an ode to the importance of liberation and to helping the oppressed overcome.

Tags , , , ,

Happy Birthday, Eric Clapton!

Posted 3/30/10 10:00 am EST by in Music


If you should spot Eric Clapton in the next few hours, be sure to throw some streamers at him and find out what flavor ice cream cake he prefers, because the legendary guitarist turns 65 years old today. The man who was called both "Slowhand" and "God" back in the 1970s has laid out an unbelievable career for himself, contributing to some of the most iconic rock bands and songs of all time.

In the '60s, he moved around from band to band, serving time in the Yardbirds (a haven for iconic guitarists who later gave work to both Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck), John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (where Clapton had his first real chart success), Cream (a retroactive supergroup that featured fellow Bluesbreaker Jack Bruce and legendary drummer Ginger Baker) and Blind Faith (another supergroup that also featured Traffic guitarist Steve Winwood). The list of songs that feature Clapton on guitar reads like a greatest hits of the '60s, including "Sunshine of Your Love," "White Room," "Crossroads," "Born Under a Bad Sign," "What'd I Say" and "For Your Love."

In the 1970s, Clapton formed Derek and the Dominos (who hit it big with "Layla") before finally setting off on his own. He scored a chart-topping hit with a cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" and later hit it big with tracks like "Wonderful Tonight" and "Cocaine."

Along with Jimi Hendrix (a close friend) and only a handful of others, Clapton is on the Mount Rushmore of rock guitarists, and his influence can be heard in everybody who has ever tried to rock up a blues lick. A case could be made that he accidentally invented heavy metal, though one of his most iconic performances was during a taping of "MTV Unplugged" back in 1992. The album scored him six Grammy Awards (mostly for the song "Tears in Heaven," a tribute to his late son Conor) and showed Clapton as the blues purist that he was. He blended together his own classics with blues greats like Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me."

Tags ,

'Seward's Folly' Brings Alaska Into The Fold: Wake-Up Video

Posted 3/30/10 9:00 am EST by in Wake-Up Video


When Thomas Jefferson struck a deal with France for the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, it was a huge step forward for American expansion. And a relative deal, too — the United States swapped 15 million dollars for roughly 828,000 square miles of land, which ended up making up parts of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Louisiana. There were even parts of Canada in there. It was a massive instant expansion and lead to a period of great American prosperity that pushed the country towards the Pacific Ocean.

But not all acquisitions were treated as genius. On this day in 1854, Secretary of State William Seward signed a deal with Russia to acquire Alaska for seven million dollars. It was instantly referred to as "Seward's Folly" and "Seward's Icebox" because of it's remote location and troublesome climate. The U.S. Senate barely ratified the treaty (it passed via a single vote) and the country eventually took possession of the territory six months later. It was thought of as an arctic wasteland until the discovery of gold in 1898, and a number of other natural resources were eventually discovered, making Seward look more like a visionary as time went on.

In hindsight, Seward had an impressive career as a politician and also survived an assassination attempt on the same night that Lincoln was murdered. In honor of his vision and foresight, here is Dr. Dog's "Alaska," a fine ode to our 49th state.

Tags , ,

MTV News' Musical March Madness: Phish Vs. Coheed And Cambria, Adam Lambert Vs. Alice In Chains

Posted 3/29/10 6:00 pm EST by in Music


It's Musical March Madness! The sprawling bracket — both a parody and a tribute to the NCAA basketball tournament, masterminded by MTV News' James Montgomery — takes the 65 biggest names in rock, splits them up into four regions, assigns them seeds and puts them up against one another in a single-elimination series of match-ups in a winner-take-all contest. We're leaving it to you to decide an actual champ in this field of 65. Over the next few weeks, we will present a series of polls that will allow you to vote for the match-ups presented in MTV News' Band Bracketology. You vote for the winners, we'll keep advancing the seeds and, in the end, we'll have some sort of champion. What will the winner receive? Little more than our esteem (as well as that of the fans) and some Internet bragging rights.

It's the last of the Sweet 16 pairings, this time in the South bracket. This particular section of the tournament has been especially cutthroat, with a lot of close calls and even more trash talk between fan bases. Who will move on? Only you can decide!

(6) Phish vs. (15) Coheed and Cambria
Even with Panic! at the Disco and the Young Veins going at it elsewhere in the tournament, the biggest showdown of the Sweet 16 is right here. Perhaps anticipating the match-up, the hardcore fans were already building a case for their favorites in the middle of second round voting. But which group of fans will rally stronger to put their favorite group over the top?

(9) Adam Lambert vs. (13) Alice in Chains
Each of these two teams overcame surging opponents in the second round to make their way to the Sweet 16. Lambert crushed a surging Creed, while Alice in Chains kept the dream alive by topping Nick Jonas (proving that sometimes experience does pay dividends). Will the grunge veterans keep pushing forward, or will they be toppled by the online army of Glamberts?

Tags , , , ,

Why Elton John Should Replace Simon Cowell On 'American Idol'

Posted 3/29/10 5:20 pm EST by in Music


After a lot of initial whispering when Simon Cowell first announced he would be exiting the show after the season was over, there hasn't been a whole lot of talk about who could possibly be the new alpha judge on "American Idol." We made a few suggestions and put together a special case for Neil Patrick Harris, but there is one person who seems like an absolutely perfect fit for the show: Elton John.

Cowell isn't an easy person to replace, as he has a very particular blend of personality traits that make him a unique presence on television. He has to be helpful enough to make the competition legitimate but also has to entertaining enough to sustain the interminable audition episodes. The judge needs to have had experience and success in the music world but not so much where "American Idol" seems like a step down. And most importantly, he has to be English.

OK, so maybe the last one isn't really a necessity, but it doesn't hurt that John has the accent working in his favor. He has been in the music world for four decades, has experimented with a number of different genres (and had success with most all of them) and understands what it takes to make a hit. He has the sensibilities of both a songwriter and performer, and is brutally honest with the time calls for it. He has obviously sold millions of records but lately seems like he could use a boost care of one of the most popular television shows in the world. He could even wear a v-neck shirt if you ask him really nicely.

Of course, having John on the show would theoretically eliminate all of the Elton John material from the "American Idol" songbook (which wouldn't be a problem for some). While the chemistry would probably be a little bumpy in the beginning, it seems like John would get along with Kara DioGuardi, Randy Jackson and Ellen DeGeneres, but they would differ enough to keep it intriguing.

"American Idol" producer Simon Fuller will probably never offer John the job, and even if he did, there's no guarantee that John would be interested. Still, let's keep hope alive.

Who would you hire to fill the "American Idol" chair left by Simon Cowell? Let us know in the comments!

Tags ,

Katy Perry Says Russell Brand Loves Modern Bride: The MTV News Quote Of The Day

Posted 3/29/10 4:30 pm EST by in Music


"He's a total bridezilla. He's like a freak, man. You should see — he's always, like, buying bride magazines. Every time we go out for breakfast he's like, 'Can we just stop and get a bride magazine?'"

-"Waking Up in Vegas" singer Katy Perry, joking about fiancé Russell Brand and his obsession with making his wedding day special. Perry spoke to MTV News on the orange carpet before the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on Saturday night (March 27), prior to getting slimed later on in the evening. She and Brand got engaged at the beginning of the year, though Perry told MTV News' Matt Elias that she has some business to take care of before she can actually focused on getting hitched to the two-time MTV Video Music Awards host and "Get Him to the Greek" star. "I have to plan my [new album, due this summer] first and then I'm going to get to my wedding," she said. "But I'm really excited about that, too."

Perry is pretty pleased with her as-yet-untitled new album, which will be showing up within the next few months and will feature contributions from Rivers Cuomo, The-Dream, Dr. Luke, Ryan Tedder and a host of others. "It's so exciting. It's coming out this summer. It's a summer record," Perry told MTV News. "We nailed it: It's roller-skating! It's '90s! It's Ace of Base! It's Cyndi Lauper! It's like all these colors and more." No matter what, Perry promises that you'll walk away happy. "It's going to be fun," she said. "It's going to be one of those records that is everybody's favorite guilty pleasure."

Are you looking forward to Katy Perry's new album? Let us know in the comments!

Tags , ,

MTV News' Musical March Madness: Muse Vs. AFI, Patrick Stump Vs. The White Stripes

Posted 3/29/10 3:50 pm EST by in Music


It's Musical March Madness! The sprawling bracket — both a parody and a tribute to the NCAA basketball tournament, masterminded by MTV News' James Montgomery — takes the 65 biggest names in rock, splits them up into four regions, assigns them seeds and puts them up against one another in a single-elimination series of match-ups in a winner-take-all contest. We're leaving it to you to decide an actual champ in this field of 65. Over the next few weeks, we will present a series of polls that will allow you to vote for the match-ups presented in MTV News' Band Bracketology. You vote for the winners, we'll keep advancing the seeds and, in the end, we'll have some sort of champion. What will the winner receive? Little more than our esteem (as well as that of the fans) and some Internet bragging rights.

We're half way through the voting for the Sweet 16, so let's move on to the Midwest bracket, where four worthy contenders will attempt to go the distance.

(2) Muse vs. (14) AFI
As the highest seed left in the tournament, Muse have a target on their collective back. But that hasn't stopped them from taking down surging underdogs like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Breaking Benjamin. Meanwhile, AFI have fought through two tough rounds, and though they are a 14-seed, they have to be considered one of the favorites to win (in fact, just about everybody left in the Sweet 16 could end up on top). Which one will continue their run?

(4) The White Stripes vs. (9) Patrick Stump
Stump had a thrilling win over the Hold Steady in the second round (the difference ended up being only a few dozen votes), but could he be exhausted by two straight intense encounters? Meanwhile, the White Stripes have fended off pesky upstarts Rise Against and OK Go in their push to the Sweet 16. Can Stump rally a third time or will Jack White's primary powerhouse stop him in his tracks?

Tags , , , ,

Page 3 of 3012345102030...Last »
SPONSORS
AD:
©2012 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. MTV and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.