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Whenever people talk about the biggest bands of the grunge era, it always comes down to the quartet known as the "Big Four," consisting of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. The latter always comes at the end, mostly because they were never quite as good nor as culturally transcendent as the other bands on that list. However, in many ways, Alice in Chains defined that era better than anybody, as they combined the thick sludge of Sabbath-inspired metal and crossed it with a freewheeling sense of fun that left room for punk explorations, noise jams and acoustic experiments alike. On this day in 1994, Alice in Chains released one of the key collections of the era in the Jar of Flies EP.

Alice in Chains were already cresting on a huge wave of success thanks to their breakthrough 1992 album Dirt, perhaps the greatest album about addiction ever written (even the songs that aren't explicitly about heroin, like the post-traumatic stress anthem "Rooster," still seem to be about an obsession with smack). Dirt was an exceptionally loud, punishing collection of tunes that still managed to pack in big hits (especially on the singles "Would?" and "Them Bones"). Following the 1993 Lollapalooza tour, the band decided to jam on some acoustic instruments in a studio for a few days as an experiment (the finished product was never meant to be released). The band's label liked the results and put together the seven song EP, which ended up becoming the first EP to ever sit on top of the Billboard album chart.

Jar of Flies ditched the feedback and sludge of Dirt but retained Alice in Chains' way with melody and its haunting sense of askew beauty. Without the crutch of the volume, the band was able to spread themselves out and experiment a bit more (which continued with their self-titled 1995 album), and there was plenty of strife, as the EP's breakout single "No Excuses" — perhaps the breeziest song the band ever recorded — was about the rocky relationship between the group's co-leaders Jerry Cantrell and Layne Staley.

Tags Alice in Chains, video

The teams are set, the halftime show is booked and now one of the last performance aspects of Super Bowl XLV has fallen into place. Christina Aguilera will be taking the field at the Super Bowl for the second time in her career, this time to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the game kicks off on Sunday, February 6 (she was last a part of the big game back in 2000, when she participated in a halftime show that also featured Phil Collins, Enrique Iglesias and Toni Braxton). Aguilera joins the Pittsburgh Steelers (AFC Champions), the Green Bay Packers (NFC Champions) and the Black Eyed Peas (mega-platinum halftime entertainment) as the main participants in the Super Bowl, which will be staged live at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" is always a difficult song, though Aguilera's pipes should have no trouble with the tune's epic dynamics. In fact, it's sort of old hat for the singer, who first kicked off a sports event with the song back in 1992 when she performed it before a playoff game between the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks.

Aguilera performed the song for her hometown Penguins, as she grew up in nearby Wexford, Pennsylvania, and the Packers should really consider her presence at the Super Bowl to be an unfair advantage, as the Penguins ended up winning the Stanley Cup (they swept the Blackhawks in four games thanks to incredible performances from Mario Lemieux and Kevin Stevens). Could her good luck extend to the Pittsburgh Steelers?

Who do you think will win Super Bowl XLV? Let us know in the comments!

Tags Christina Aguilera, Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Super Bowl, video

"We met with Bono, and I was really excited, really honored because he proposed me to maybe produce some tracks for the next U2 album. I've been more and more open to different styles of music, and obviously electronic music is still my main thing, but I just love music. If it's good, it doesn't matter what style. After those collaborations with all these urban artists, I thought it would be a real challenge for me to try to go in that direction."

-Internationally renowned electronic music artist David Guetta, commenting on his latest collaboration partners (who happen to be one of the biggest bands in the world). Guetta has been in-demand as of late, mostly because of his keen ability to apply dance music tropes to any number of contexts, most notably modern hip-hop and R&B (just check out the Akon-assisted "Sexy Chick" or the Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling" for proof).

Guetta joins some pretty high-profile company on the list of people who have been working with U2 on some forthcoming tracks. The band, who have said that they want to get back into the dance world after dabbling with it throughout the '90s, have also been linked to the likes of will.i.am, mind-bending hip-hop producer Danger Mouse and Lady Gaga knob twiddler RedOne. U2's remixes in the 1990s were a real treasure," Bono explained to Australian newspaper late last year. "So we wanted to make a club-sounding record. We have a pile of songs."

As far as Guetta goes, he has most recently been working with Rihanna and Flo Rida, and plans to put out a new album of his own material some time this summer.

What do you think a collaboration between U2 and David Guetta would sound like? Let us know in the comments!

Tags David Guetta, Quote, U2

The movie awards season always sets out to reward the excellence in the film world every year (culminating with the Oscars, whose nominations will be released on Tuesday morning, January 25), but considering most of the movies that come out over the course of a year are middling-to-terrible, there should also be awards that recognize failure as well. That's where the Razzies come in. For 31 years, the Razzies (or rather, the "Golden Raspberries") have been recognizing the worst in cinema every year. Past winners of Worst Picture include notorious busts like "Howard the Duck," "Hudson Hawk," "The Postman" and "Showgirls," and this year's nominees include problematic releases like "The Bounty Hunter," "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," "Sex and the City 2," "The Last Airbender" and "Vampires Suck." There are also awards for Worst Actor and Actress, Worst Screenplay and Worst Director (in addition to the new-this-year Worst Eye-Gouging Misuse of 3-D, which features entries like "Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" and "Clash of the Titans").

But strangely, there's no award for Worst Score or Worst Original Song. It wasn't always this way, as the award was given out from 1980 until 1999 (and then came back in 2002 — apparently just to take down Britney Spears' "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman"). Past "winners" of that award include Frank Stallone's problematic "Peace in Our Life" (from "Rambo: First Blood Part II"), MC Hammer's "Addams Groove" (from "The Addams Family") and Tag Team's "Addams Family Whoomp!" (from "Addams Family Values").

While 2010 was a great year for music in movies (lead by Trent Reznor's score for "The Social Network," which won the Nine Inch Nails founder a Golden Globe and will likely score him an Oscar), but there were plenty of messes over the course of the year. Here are what the nominees should be for Worst Original Song (each of which are taken from the shortlist for the Academy Awards).

Landon Pigg, "Darling I Do" (from "Shrek Forever After")
The "Shrek" series has a history of terrible music (including extending the careers of both Smash Mouth and Counting Crows), but "Darling I Do" is all sugar and no melody.

Alanis Morissette, "I Remain" (from "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time")
Instantly forgettable tune from an overdone mess of a movie.

Dido, "If I Rise" (from "127 Hours")
Another too-ethereal entry that actually ends up distracting from the slow-burning drama on screen.

Most anything from "Burlesque"
No argument needed.

What would you nominate for Worst Original Song? Let us know in the comments!

Tags alanis-morissette, Dido, Razzie Awards, Trent-Reznor

It's not the first time that the name of one of the hottest young actors in the world has been linked to one of the most iconic musicians of the past 20 years, but it has been brought up again. The Daily Express is reporting that Robert Pattinson (star of the "Twilight" series as well as the upcoming "Water for Elephants") is lobbying hard to play late singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley in a biopic about the iconic musician's life (and one of the film's producers has acknowledged that he has indeed expressed interest, along with the likes of James Franco and Jared Leto).

Buckley, who passed away in 1997 before he could complete his second album, is a much-beloved artist whose debut album Grace is largely considered to be one of the finest of the end of the 20th century. His music was full of gorgeous melody and dynamic energy shifts that centered on his incredible, gentle voice. Though 1994's Grace is a stone cold classic as a full album, Buckley's lasting legacy in music is his version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," which has been copied repeatedly and is largely considered the definitive version of the song (even more than Cohen's original).

Pattinson would make an excellent Buckley, as not only does he physically resemble the singer, but he also possesses the same kind of ethereal vibe that Buckley carried. His popularity was mainly rooted in his music, but he also had a mysterious quality that made him a fascinating character. Can Pattinson sing as well as Buckley? There's no evidence to suggest that he can. However, it seems like the man who breathed life into Edward Cullen can handle the moody, romantic vibe that Buckley gave off. Take a look at this performance of "Forget Her" (recorded during the Grace sessions but not released until 2004) and see if you can't picture Pattinson sliding into that role.

Of course, the other named mentioned on the short list for the role would probably work well also, though everybody else seems to be flawed in some way. Franco has probably played too many iconic roles to play Buckley (he's created so many great fictional characters that it'd be hard to accept him as playing a real person) and James Marsden (of "X-Men" fame) doesn't have that same air of mystery. Leto would probably be a good choice, as he has the musical chops to go with his left-field approach to performances.

Who would you like to see playing Jeff Buckley? Let us know in the comments!

Tags Jeff Buckley, robert-pattinson, video

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.

The Super Bowl match-up is set for Sunday night, February 6. Those of you tuning in (and considering the ratings for the big game as well as the audience for the NFL, it could be a record-breaker) will not only see an entertaining game between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers but will also get all of the high profile commercials (what will top last year's Betty White ad?) and what promises to be a memorable halftime show starring the Black Eyed Peas. The group's live shows are always dynamic and eye-catching, and they have no shortage of gigantic singles to roll out over the course of the show. Over the weekend, BEP members will.i.am and apl.de.ap hit the red carpet at the 2011 NRJ Awards at the Palais des Festivals et des Congres in Cannes, France. Usher and Shakira also joined the international crowd celebrating France's favorite music.

They weren't the only stars joining the jet set, as hundreds of stars (including 50 Cent) floated around the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and Avril Lavigne landed in Tokyo, Japan to start the promotional tour for her upcoming album Goodbye Lullaby and the soon-to-be-released video for the first single "What the Hell." Click here for these photos as well as the entire "Spotted" archive, which features over 500 candid shots of stars like Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Jay-Z, Katy Perry, Madonna, Eminem, Rihanna, the Jonas Brothers and Kanye West!

Tags black-eyed-peas, photo, Spotted!, Will.I.Am.

After a weekend of disappointingly dull football, Super Bowl XLV has its match-up. On Sunday, February 6, the Pittsburgh Steelers will meet the Green Bay Packers at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas to decide which team is this year's best NFL team. On Sunday (January 23), the Steelers handily took down the New York Jets to earn the right to represent the AFC and the Packers held off a late surge from the Chicago Bears to win the NFC bid. The Super Bowl promises to be an excellent game, as the Steelers and Packers are evenly-matched squads that rely on excellent quarterback play, hard-nosed defense and a dynamic offensive strategy.

However, the Steelers may have the advantage when it comes to the big game, as they have an anthem in Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow." While the team wasn't involved in the Pittsburgh MC's breakout single (which continues to climb the Billboard Hot 100 and could easily make a move into the top spot over the next two weeks), the rapper's song is one of the many tunes about this year's Steelers squad to pop up and grab some attention.

What sort of competition does it have? It's pretty thin, but here are some of the "highlights."

Roger Wood, "Here We Go (2011 Version)"
This particular Steelers anthem keeps popping up every few years, with slight variations to reflect changes in the roster over time. It's simultaneously grating and catchy, which means you should listen to it at your own risk.

Evolushun, "Steelers Fans"
This is an a cappella parody of the theme song to "Spider-Man" that is interrupted by some sort of PA announcement. It's troublesome.
Read more...

Tags Football, video, Wiz Khalifa

Really, you should be listening to music every day, but thanks to Twitter, Monday has become the best day of the week to discover new songs, show some love to the tune currently dominating your iPod playlist and quietly judge the listening habits of your closest friends. Yes, it's #MusicMonday, one of Twitter's most enduring trending topics. Hence "MTV News' #MusicMonday," a weekly look at the songs we are currently crushing on.

This week, Talib Kweli makes it rain in his own unique way.

Ever since he first made a name for himself as one half of Black Star, Talib Kweli has had an unusual career as one of the most underrated and under-appreciated rappers in the hip-hop game. Kweli possesses a unique flow that breezily jumps from woozy, hallucinatory streams of thought to biting, intense spit wars.

Following the underground buzz surrounding the Black Star album (where he split time with Mos Def), Kweli released his first solo album Quality in 2002. It scored both critical and commercial success thanks to Kweli's stellar flow and the excellent Kanye West-produced single "Get By." He spent the rest of the decade dropping excellent-but-ignored albums both by himself (2007's Eardrum was especially strong) and as a collaborator (his 2007 Madlib tag-team Liberation and the 2010 team-up with DJ Hi-Tek Revolutions Per Minute are both instant classics).

Kweli is about to drop his latest solo album Gutter Rainbows, another killer slab of lyricism that features some excellent beats from a batch of under-the-radar producers (including Ski Beatz, Marco Polo and 88-Keys). The first single, "Cold Rain," is a perfect distillation of Kweli's approach to hip-hop, equal parts playful and exquisitely executed.

What's your #MusicMonday jam? Let us know in the comments!

Tags #MusicMonday, talib-kweli, video

Now that Conan O'Brien has been back on the air for a few months and his shows have not only had the same kind of water cooler following as ever but are also putting up big ratings numbers, you can expect the late night arena to heat up sooner or later. It's uncertain who will fire the first shot, but now that we're a year out from 2010's great late night war, it's time to get back to the business of figuring out exactly who is going to be on top.

With the stakes so high, why is David Letterman on vacation this week? It leaves Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show" at the forefront of the game this week, and he will certainly be delivering big names, including "The Mechanic" star Jason Statham (Tuesday, January 25), Golden Globe winner Annette Bening (Wednesday, January 26) and international pop sensation Justin Bieber (Friday, January 28). (Bieber won't be performing but rather chatting about his upcoming film "Never Say Never.")

Over on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," the host will welcome "Glee" actor Cory Monteith (Monday, January 24), "The Rite" star Anthony Hopkins (Tuesday) and "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest (Thursday, January 27). Kimmel will also have a solid music week, with performances from Cold War Kids (Wednesday) and Cage the Elephant (Thursday). Letterman may not be working this week, but Craig Ferguson is, and he's talking to Jennifer Love Hewitt (Tuesday), Betty White (Wednesday) and Helena Bonham Carter (Friday) on "The Late Late Show." The comedian's conversation with White should be especially entertaining and well worth losing some sleep.

In the cable universe, Jon Stewart will talk to James Franco (Tuesday) and the always delightfully crazy T. Boone Pickens (Thursday) on "The Daily Show," while Stephen Colbert will turn the tables on Charlie Rose on Monday's edition of "The Colbert Report." It's a big week for interviewing the interviewers apparently, as Chelsea Handler will talk to Piers Morgan on Tuesday's episode of "Chelsea Lately" and Conan O'Brien will welcome Larry King to Monday's episode of "Conan." Other "Conan" guests include Iron & Wine (Monday), Patton Oswalt (Tuesday) and Mötörhead (Wednesday). And George Lopez will continue to kill it on "Lopez Tonight" with the likes of Grace Potter & the Nocturnals (Monday), "Glee" star Kevin McHale (Tuesday) and a performance from rapper Wiz Khalifa (Wednesday).

Tags Cage the Elephant, Conan O'Brien, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Justin Bieber, Late Night, Talk Shows, Wiz Khalifa

Before 2004, the only people who really knew who Jenny Lewis was were people who held the 1989 film "The Wizard" (a cult favorite among kids of the era) in high esteem. The film co-starred a young Lewis, who since the turn of the century had re-surfaced as the singer of Rilo Kiley, a killer shape-shifting indie rock band who were slowly picking up followers in and around their Los Angeles home. In 2004, the band dropped More Adventurous, which elevated them from quiet favorite to crossover success (based largely on the strange ubiquity of the song "It's a Hit"). On this day in 2006, Lewis broke away from Rilo Kiley and released Rabbit Fur Coat, a stunning solo album that established Watson as one of the greatest female voices in the indie world.

With an assist from the Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat took the quirky melodies and conversational tone of More Adventurous and stripped it down to its core. Sparse but never desolate, the songs on Rabbit Fur Coat exist in a universe somewhere between folk rock, country, roots rock, blues and classic singer-songwriter tropes. (The fact that it contains a Traveling Wilburys cover is telling, as that band is a pretty clear antecedent to the album's sound.) Lewis' voice sits at the center of everything, authoritatively infusing the songs with powerful confessions and just the right amount of melancholy. Most of the tunes sound simultaneously triumphant and heartbreaking — especially the breakout single "Rise Up With Fists!!"

Lewis can currently be heard as part of one half of Jenny and Johnny, her tag-team effort with boyfriend Jonathan Rice.

Tags Jenny Lewis, Rilo-Kiley, video