In 1999, MTV News’ Alex Coletti sat down with Michael Jackson in New York to talk about the creative inspirations behind his songwriting and music video concepts. One of the more fascinating facts uprooted by the interview was the fact that one of the driving forces behind Jackson’s video concepts was the work of an unlikely trio. “My dream was to always make short little films, because I’m a big fan of the Three Stooges, and I love watching Curly, who I think is wonderful. They make these 15-minute shorts, and I said, ‘I’d love to do something like that some day,’ and ["Thriller"] was my opportunity.”

Check out the rest of the interview here — including Jackson’s thoughts on the videos for “Bad,” “Beat It” and “Black or White.”

By Daniela Capistrano

It’s no secret that that “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart will be playing rock legend Joan Jett in the upcoming biopic, “The Runaways.”

With the rest of the band’s lineup finally cast, the real Joan Jett has been on the set in a producing role, making sure that the film will stay true to the pioneering girl rockers legacy.

What you might not know is that the rock vet’s label Blackheart Records is home to what could be this generation’s Runaways: Texas trio Girl In A Coma.

The band is excited about Kristen Stewart playing their hero and have some friendly advice for the actress. “If you’re going to play Joan you have to have that stare,” explains drummer Phanie Diaz. “It’s an I-can-see-through-into-your-soul stare. If Kristen has that locked, then she’s on her way.”
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Foo Fighters have been on hiatus since their last tour wrapped, but they’ll play one show this weekend out of civic duty. Rolling Stone reports that the band will play a short set this Saturday, July 4, on the South Lawn of the White House. Foos frontman Dave Grohl, who grew up in the Washington D.C. area and got his start playing in local hardcore band Scream, is no stranger to the political realm: He and his band played voting drives for the Obama campaign and expressed his ire over John McCain’s use of “My Hero” during tour stops.

There are plenty of Foo Fighters songs that can act as inspiration tunes for President Obama (”My Hero” and “Best of You” among them), but there are a handful of tunes in the Foos catalog that they should probably avoid.

“Long Road to Ruin”
In the age of hope, this sentiment would probably be a little too pessimistic.
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Welcome to the weekly Newsroom Poll, where we will give you a sneak peek into the lives and minds of some of the correspondents, writers, editors and producers here at MTVNews.com. Every week, they’ll answer a poll question that will reveal some of what we talk about behind the scenes here in the newsroom. Enjoy!

The death of Michael Jackson has hit the MTV News staff pretty hard, and will continue to as we sort through the aftermath of last week’s shocking news. It’s been a crazy week for celebrity death, as Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, pitchman Billy Mays and actor Karl Malden have all passed away in the past week.

Dealing with death is always difficult, but the passing of a public person is surreal. How do you deal with the loss of somebody you only knew through a body of work? So we passed around this week’s poll question: What’s the one celebrity death that has hit you the hardest, and why? Check out the staff’s answers below, and be sure to leave your own stories in the comments.

Sabrina Rojas Weiss
I was in high school when I heard that River Phoenix had died of a drug overdose the night before. It was on Channel One News, the news program for young people they used to air in school. I had never cried before about anyone dying, celebrity or not — I don’t even think I knew anyone who had died at that point. But I did right there, in the middle of class. Totally embarrassing! He was just 23, and so beautiful and perfect to me. At that age, I was just starting to think I was too mature to idolize celebrities, but his death felt like a personal blow.
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Okay, so Lady Gaga professed having a crush on the Jonas Brothers, saying she thought of them as a new version the Beatles and how much she’d like to personally show them her adulation for what they do in a very intimate kind of way. We’re sure Kevin’s new fiancé wouldn’t like that very much, nor would Miley Cyrus or Camilla Belle. Or, us for that matter.

Let’s also not forget that Adele has also publicly professed her love for the boys. “The Jonas Brothers’ choruses are really catchy. They make shameful pop — and I f—ing love them.”

But it’s the boys’ latest admirer that has us scratching our heads: Detroit rocker and enemy of wildlife Ted Nugent admits that he is “moved” by the Jonas Brothers.

“Even though I can’t stand the songs themselves, I’m quite moved by what I’ve seen the Jonas Brothers guys do,” he told Spinner. “They play with soul. I don’t like the songs but they certainly play with a lot of authority and they seem to have good chops.”

Okay, so he’s not saying he sits at home with Lines, Vines and Trying Times on repeat like some of us, but even talking about them in any positive way feels a little odd, especially considering we can’t remember the last time we saw Nick Jonas using a crossbow. We just hope it leads to an unlikely collaboration. It would sound a lot like Damn Yankees, right?

Eminem called into his own Sirius/XM satellite radio station Shade45 to drop a little bit of news. First and foremost: Slim Shady will be performing his only show of the year at the Voodoo Festival, the annual three-day concert event in New Orleans. He’ll be sharing the bill with Kiss, Jane’s Addiction and the Flaming Lips.

But that’s not all, as Em was calling from his studio in Detroit where he is working on the sequel to his recently-released, already-platinum Relapse. He said he’s still working on music, but his second album of the year should be out “by the fourth quarter,” just in time for holiday sales.

When hosts Rude Jude and Lord Sear asked whether the incident at the MTV Movie Awards was his idea or Brüno’s, he told them, “He hit me up and asked me if he could put his balls in my face, and I said ‘Certainly.’” They even inquired about the smell, which Em summed up in one word: “Delicious.” Check out the full call here, but be warned: It’s a pretty graphic bit of audio.

U2 may have one of the biggest tour stages of all time, but it doesn’t look nearly as cool as Kanye West’s newest construction. The rapper launches a European tour tomorrow, and he’s bringing along a sci-fi set that looks like it has borrowed a lot from the pyramid his friends in Daft Punk used a few years ago.

West has always been a performance-minded MC, but his last few tours have really added visual flair. His Glow in the Dark Tour was a watershed trek that not only featured N.E.R.D., Rihanna and Lupe Fiasco but also Kanye telling a narrative story on a set that looked like an alien planet. The new set looks like the inside of a crystal from the future, complete with massive video screen and what promises to be a complex light show.

West’s tour begins tomorrow night in Denmark, then moves on to France, the U.K. and Switzerland. In addition to promoting 808s & Heartbreak and his new book, he’s been working with a number of other up-and-coming artists, including Mr. Hudson and Drake.

Auction site Profiles in History have announced that they will be auctioning off a number of Michael Jackson-related items in October. The top item? A glove Jackson wore on the 1984 “Victory” tour, which according to curator Joseph Maddalena should sell for at least $60,000. It’s a pretty amazing piece of memorabilia: Made as a one-of-a-kind item by a designer named Ted Shell (who also went on the tour to take care of the item), it is lined with 50 tiny lights that are connected to a battery in the cuff and twinkle randomly thanks to a series of circuits.

The auction, scheduled for October 1 and 2, also contains a fedora worn by Jackson and the motorcycle jacket and gold belt from the “Bad” video.

As a tribute to their contributions to music, Run-DMC will receive their own street in Queens, New York, where the group first came together. 205 Street, in the Hollis neighborhood, will be renamed “Run-DMC Way.” The re-naming will also act as an appreciation for Run-DMC member Jam Master Jay, as 205 Street is the location of the mural that memorializes the DJ, who was killed in a still-unsolved shooting in 2002.

In addition to the members of his own family, Michael Jackson collaborated with a number of top performers like Paul McCartney and the cast of “We Are the World”. But one of his better (and stranger) guest spots was on the hit single “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell (currently heard in remix form on those Geico commercials).

Rockwell was born Kennedy Gordy, the son of Motown founder Berry Gordy. Though he was signed to his father’s label, he supposedly managed to secure a deal without Berry’s knowledge.

Jackson (who was a childhood friend of Rockwell’s) sang the hook for “Somebody’s Watching Me” but doesn’t appear in the video. That clip, however, is legendarily strange. It features a paranoid Rockwell wandering through his house, hallucinating animals, watching footage of his own kidnapping and, uh, taking a shower.

Rockwell never had another hit, but his surreal video — and his even stranger accent — is forever.