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Song Of The Summer: Vote Now For Your Favorite

Posted 8/31/11 4:53 pm EST by in Music, Newsroom Poll


Can you guys believe summer is just about over? This is it! The end. That means it's also our last chance to reflect on the hot and heavy season that was.

All summer long we've been watching the charts to see which songs took off and which ones missed the boat, and now it's time to assess the damage.

We know Katy Perry made history when "Last Friday Night" moved into the No. 1 spot, giving her a fifth chart topper from her Teenage Dream record and tying Michael Jackson's record for most number ones from a single album. We also sat back and watched as Britney Spears' Femme Fatale gave the VMA-winning pop princess more top tens than any other record in her career.

This summer also marked hip-hop's return to the top of the charts, as its two biggest stars, Jay-Z and Kanye West, collaborated on a hit album, Watch The Throne, while Nicki Minaj scored her biggest smash yet ("Super Bass") and Eminem and Royce Da 5'9" joined forces for Bad Meets Evil and scored a hit with "Lighters" featuring Bruno Mars.

Then there were those undeniable tracks, songs that were ubiquitous at radio. Chief among these, of course, was Adele's "Rolling In The Deep," a song that spent pretty much the entire summer in the top ten, peaking at No. 1 for several weeks in late-May and early-June. LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" has been an inescapable summer surprise, just like Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory" – a song that was not originally intended as a single, but caught on so quickly after Mother Monster released it ahead of Born This Way that she corrected course, shot a video and watched it perform better at radio than her album's two lead singles, "Born This Way" and "Judas."

If there's one thing that's certain, it's that it's been a great summer for music. There's been so much good stuff that we in the MTV Newsroom can't decide what song to crown the Song of the Summer … so we're leaving it up to you. Vote in our Songs of Summer 2011 poll after the jump and let us know your fave. Polls are open now and close at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 7. Vote now. Vote often. Tell your friends and take it to Twitter with the hashtag #MTVSOS. Read More...

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Things We're Looking Forward To This Fall

Posted 8/31/11 3:30 pm EST by in listicle, Lists, Movies, Music, Television


Today is the last day of August and that means fall is just around the corner. Not only is it our favorite season, it means all of our favorite TV shows will soon be returning, Oscar-caliber movies will start hitting theaters and some hot records will drop.

It was an awesome summer for entertainment. At the movies, we saw the biggest film franchise ever come to a fitting, well-made and moving conclusion with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," a bunch of blockbusters turned out to be better than expected ("Thor," "Captain America") and some legitimately good films turned into surprise box office success stories ("The Help," "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," "Bridesmaids," "Midnight in Paris").

As good as this summer's movies were, for us, however, this summer was all about music. We got a great collaboration record from Jay-Z and Kanye West, Watch The Throne, plenty of dance jams from Lady Gaga's Born This Way and our favorite album of the year so far landed in late June – Beyonce's 4.

Seriously, watch this and tell us she isn't the best thing since sliced bread:

So what is waiting in the wings this fall? Read on to see what we are most looking forward to in music, TV and movies. Read More...

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Jack White Teams Up With Insane Clown Posse (Yes, Seriously) For Single

Posted 8/31/11 2:10 pm EST by in collaborations


Jack White and ICP

By Zachary Swickey

Jack White never fails to surprise us, but he has taken it to a whole other level with the announcement of a collaboration with the foul-mouthed crew Insane Clown Posse (yes, you read that correctly).

Fresh off helping Danger Mouse with his spaghetti-western project, Rome, White has issued a press release detailing the unimaginable hook-up with the Faygo-dousing clowns, who are generally viewed as outcasts from mainstream music.

A single titled “Leck Mich Im Arsch,” (which supposedly translates to “Lick me in the arse"), will be going on sale as a 7” vinyl and digital download on September 13 via White’s Third Man Records. The tune reportedly uses a classical melody dating back to 1782 from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A teaser of the track sounds about as strange as you’d expect. Read More...

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Game To Release Book Detailing History Of Oft-Delayed 'R.E.D. Album'

Posted 8/31/11 1:00 pm EST by in Game


The Game

By Zachary Swickey

It took L.A. rapper Game (he dropped the “The”) longer than expected to release his fourth studio record, The R.E.D. Album – which includes the returning partnership of Dr. Dre on a few key tracks – and to make up for it, the rapper is releasing his first book. Available in most digital forms with the paperback forthcoming, “The Making of Game’s R.E.D. Album” gives a detailed look in the studio and the obstacles Game faced that caused nearly two year’s worth of album delays.

“I wanted to give my fans a behind-the-scenes look of how my new album came to be. These are my stories in my own words,” the intimidating rapper stated in a press release. “This book is the only place where you’ll learn all the stories behind the music – how I got the beats, what inspired the lyrics and how the album was put together.”

To co-write the book, Game had the help of knowledgeable hip-hip journalist Soren Baker, who has written about Tech N9ne and Jay-Z in his esteemed “I’m the White Guy” book series.

Rappers entering the book business is nothing new. Read on for more. Read More...

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Foo Fighters' 'Hot Buns' Video Has All Hot And Bothered

Posted 8/31/11 11:38 am EST by in Foo-Fighters, Music


Foo Fighters

Blame it on our post-VMA hangover (Jay-Z was in the mood to celebrate!) but despite it premiering on Monday, we're just getting around to marveling at the Foo Fighters' brand-new "Hot Buns" video today.

And, wow. Just ... wow. In theory, it's an announcement for the band's upcoming fall tour, but in actuality, it's so much more: a steamy, soapy, frequently NSFW shower scene that features the Foos as road-weary truckers who relax with some good-natured man-on-man action in a rest-stop bathroom. As the title implies, there are most definitely some buns on display (a whole lot of them), not to mention a few "drop the soap" jokes and even a pixilated shot of someone's junk. And, as pop-culture site After Elton puts it, it's "one of the most overtly homoerotic (and just plain weird) things we've ever seen."

Of course, it's not all that shocking to us. Because, really, the Foo Fighters have had something like this in them for years. In fact, their back catalog is loaded with songs that rank pretty high on the old homoerotic scale. For proof (and as a way of scrubbing the image of the band's pasty backsides from your memory,) we've thrown together a little list of other Foo songs that could've gotten the "Hot Buns" treatment. Read More...

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Poll Results: Favorite 2011 VMA Performance

Posted 8/30/11 4:11 pm EST by in Lady Gaga, VMAs


You sure did love Jo Calderone Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars!

We asked which 2011 MTV Video Music Awards performance was your favorite and, as usual, you responded like gangbusters. We received 286,579 votes in just 27 hours (it was originally supposed to be 24 on the nose, but you guys were still voting so we didn’t want to screw up the fun), and while everyone got a little love, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga accounted for just over 94 percent of the total tally. BOOM!

While we’re not surprised that Gaga and Mars dominated (there’s no denying that both performances was fantastic), we are a little shocked that our girl Beyonce didn’t snag a little more attention. Baby bump reveal aside, she sounded amazing during her simple-but-lively take on the amazing 4 album track “Love on Top.”

Maybe next time, Bey. For now, things are coming up Mars and Gaga. Check out who took the crown as well as the final breakdown of all voting results, after the jump. Read More...

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Review: Identity Festival In Dallas

Posted 8/30/11 2:41 pm EST by in Festivals, Music


Photo By Zachary Swickey

Photo By Zachary Swickey

By Zachary Swickey

DALLAS – In the past year electronic dance music has wiggled its way back into the mainstream in a way it hasn’t done since the mid-90’s enthusiasm for hard-banging house acts like the Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers, who have both weathered changing musical trends and are still around today. What better time than now for the inaugural run of a new touring digital music festival?

Case-in-point, the Identity Festival. “Grandfathered” by EDM legends Kaskade and Steve Aoki, who helped pick out the jaw-dropping lineup, Identity has been sweeping the U.S. with rotating slots featuring the likes of White Shadow, Holy Ghost, Datsik, the Disco Biscuits, Rusko, DJ Shadow, Skrillex, Pretty Lights and, of course, Kaskade and Aoki themselves at select spots.

Things were off to a slow start at the Dallas stop on Sunday, considering the temperature was a mild 107 degrees. Heading to the main stage, I caught the wild stylings of Afrobeta – a guy/girl duo who could resemble Nelly Furtado’s hot younger sister and Paul Giamatti’s sequin-emblazoned cousin. Concocting pop music with some banging low-end bass, the crowd ate up everything Afro served – including a dubstep version of the “Looney Tunes” theme song and a complete pop reinvention of Nirvana’s “Lithium.”

Next up was the more subdued Holy Ghost – an electropop duo who already have our attention – bringing with them a full backing band (something scarce on this DJ-friendly tour) to flesh out their disco sounds. “Do It Again” and “Hold On” were crowd favorites that helped inject some energy into the set as the fans were already melting in the early afternoon. Frontman Alex Frankel provided additional percussion on a few tracks, which helped give the easy-going show a little extra bang. Read More...

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Beyonce's Album Sees Sales Surge After VMA Performance Of 'Love On Top'

Posted 8/30/11 11:34 am EST by in Beyonce, VMAs


It was the moment of the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. Beyonce took the stage and announced, “I want you to feel the love that's growing inside of me,” before tearing the roof off of Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre with her performance of “Love on Top,” a much-loved non-single (so far) track from her acclaimed album 4. As she wrapped up the song, Queen Bey unbuttoned her retro sequined purple jacket to reveal a baby bump, and the crowd went wild.

The camera panned quickly to B’s hubby Jay-Z, who was beaming alongside friend Kanye West in the audience. That evening, Beyonce set the record for the most mentions on Twitter per second with 8,868, and helped this year’s VMAs become the most-watched broadcast in MTV history, pulling in 12.4 million viewers.

The performance also did something else – something Beyonce was no doubt hoping for all along. It drew a massive amount of attention back to her album and pushed “Love on Top,” a song many had never heard before the VMAs, into the iTunes top 5. It’s not even an official single and it is already the highest charting song from 4 on iTunes and the album has returned to the top 10 and is currently, perfectly, sitting at No. 4 on the iTunes album sales chart.

Will Beyonce’s baby news provide the attention necessary to push 4 back up the charts, help it go platinum and give her a hit single? It looks like it may, and that’s a very good thing. Read More...

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LMFAO Play VMA Word Association Game, 'Party Rock' Scavenger Hunt

Posted 8/29/11 4:03 pm EST by in VMAs


The show might be over, but our hangover hasn't even stelled in yet! Before the 2011 Video Music Awards kicked off, MTV News caught up with VMA nominees LMFAO for a little pre-gaming action.

RedFoo and SkyBlu know how to work catchy lyrics into their party rock, so we thought we'd challenge them to play a VMA Word Association Game. What's the first thing the guys think of when they hear the words Adele, Jo Calderone, Foster the People, Justin Bieber and Cage the Elephant? Watch the video to see.

The responses, as one might imagine, are funny and unexpected, much like their video for "Party Rock,” which was up for Best Choreography at the show (competing with Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Bruno Mars and Beyoncé). Read More...

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Some Advice Straight From Beyonce's Song Catalog For Baby BeyJay

Posted 8/29/11 2:30 pm EST by in Beyonce, Jay-Z


From Hollywood Crush:

By Amy Wilkinson

There were plenty of water-cooler moments during last night's MTV Video Music Awards, but the one that undoubtedly left the most tongues wagging was Beyoncé's onstage reveal that she and hubby Jay-Z are expecting their first child together. Congrats to the soon-to-be parents!

Now, we can only guess at the kinds of feverish preparations underway in anticipation of the arrival of Baby Knowles-Carter, but if we were the wagering sort, we'd bet it includes copious reading bouts of "What to Expect When You're Expecting" punctuated by shopping outings for infant-size leotards.

But, really, we don't think Beyoncé needs to stress it. She's got plenty of maternal musings stockpiled into her prolific song catalog. So, as Auntie Crush's baby gift to Bey and Jay, we've rounded up five gleaming gems.

Song: "Girls (Who Rule the World)"

Lyrics: "Who runs the world? Girls / Some of them men think they freak this like we do / But no they don't"

Takeaway: On the surface, this powerhouse seems like pointed girl-power propaganda for Beyoncé Jr., but really, it's just as much a cautionary tale for boys who think they are all that. Best be listenin' up, Jay Jr.

Read More...

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