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Kid Rock Has A Rough Night Out: Wake-Up Video

Posted 2/16/11 8:30 am EST by in Wake-Up Video

Living the rock and roll lifestyle can be sort of complicated. After all, that level of excess can sometimes be overwhelming. But it's necessary for the sake of entertainment, and the best ones — like Axl Rose or Vince Neil — aren't afraid to occasionally brush up against the law every once in a while. Kid Rock is one of the few superstars who is totally willing to push the envelope, and on this day in 2005, he was arrested after a spectacular night of debauchery and rock and roll excess.

The evening began at a strip club in Nashville, Tennessee called Christie's Cabaret. Rock was there partying when at some point he assaulted a guy named Jay Campos, the club's DJ (supposedly, Rock was upset with Campos' choice of music). By the time police had arrived at Christie's, Rock had already taken off to make his way to a second strip club. On the way, he was even pulled over by a police officer who did not detain Rock (though did get his autograph).

After taking time to sober up at the second club, Rock returned to an apartment he had been renting in town, where he turned himself in. Rock pleaded no contest, and his bail was set at $3,000. It wasn't the last time Rock found himself in trouble because of a scuffle, as he got into a dust-up with Tommy Lee at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards and also got into a brawl at a Waffle House in Atlanta that same year.

Rock was going through a musical transition at the time, moving from his early rap-rock leanings to a more classic rock-influenced, country-kissed sound of his last few albums (including 2010's Born Free). But he hasn't lost the edge that let him cut hits like "American Bad Ass," a track from 2000's The History of Rock that borrows the riff from Metallica's "Sad But True."


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Whitney Houston Knows Hot To Get To Number One: Wake-Up Video

Posted 2/15/11 9:00 am EST by in Wake-Up Video

When Lady Gaga took the stage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles to receive the award for Best Pop Vocal Album at Sunday night's (February 13) Grammy Awards, she gave a shout-out to a very special diva who has been relatively under the radar as of late. While accepting her award (one of three she took home on Sunday night), Gaga noted that she was picturing Whitney Houston singing "Born This Way" when she wrote it. "I need to say thank you tonight to Whitney Houston," Gaga said. "I wanted to thank Whitney because when I wrote 'Born This Way,' I imagined she was singing it because I wasn't secure enough in myself to imagine I was a superstar. So Whitney, I imagined you were singing 'Born This Way' when I wrote it."

"Born This Way" will likely be at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 this week, but on this day in 1986, Houston herself was at the top of the chart heap with "How Will I Know." The fourth single from her self-titled debut album (which was released on Valentine's Day in 1984), "How Will I Know" found Houston hitting an incredible groove. "Saving All My Love For You" had already gone to number one, and Houston would end up dropping an unprecedented streak of seven consecutive chart-topping singles ("Saving All My Love For You" and "How Will I Know" were followed by "Greatest Love of All," "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go").

"How Will I Know" spent two weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 before it was replaced by Mr. Mister's "Kyrie." The video became a big hit for Houston, and it's easy to see why. Since she was mostly known as a balladeer, it was eye-opening to watch her cut loose in a fun environment.


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Arcade Fire's The Suburbs Wins Album Of The Year: Wake-Up Video

Posted 2/14/11 9:00 am EST by in Wake-Up Video

Sunday night's (February 13) 53rd Grammy Awards were full of surprises, from Esperanza Spalding's Best New Artist victory to Mick Jagger's alarmingly sharp performance during his tribute to the late Solomon Burke. But the show saved the biggest shocker for last, as Arcade Fire's The Suburbs took home the hardware for Album of the Year. The Canadian band, who had the smallest profile of any artist nominated in the category, scored the victory in between their two electric performances — including one that ended the show.

It's been something of a long time coming for Arcade Fire, who have been nominated for several Grammys in the past but have never won. Their 2004 debut Funeral was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album in 2006 (it lost to the White Stripes' Get Behind Me Satan) and their sophomore release Neon Bible got a nod for the same award in 2008 (they were bested a second time by the White Stripes, who won for Icky Thump). In a strange twist, Arcade Fire's The Suburbs were also nominated for Best Alternative Music Album this year, though it lost to the Black Keys' Brothers. (How an album could be the best overall but not in the Alternative category is a mystery, but so are many of the decisions made by Grammy voters.)

The win for Album of the Year wraps up an incredible run for Arcade Fire, who saw their album debut at the top of the Billboard chart (an amazing feat for a band on an independent label) and who headlined Lollapalooza and sold out Madison Square Garden. In honor of their big win (and the huge chart bump they are likely to pick up this week), check out the video for the title track to The Suburbs, which proves that they're not only musical geniuses but visual innovators as well.


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Pavement Shine A Light: Wake-Up Video

Posted 2/11/11 9:30 am EST by in Wake-Up Video

Considering the amount of devotion they receive and the level of enthusiasm that greeted their return last year, Pavement's recorded output is actually wildly inconsistent. The band recorded and released two absolute classics for their first two albums (1992's Slanted and Enchanted and 1994's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain), then finished their recording career with three albums that are pretty spotty. However, just because they're not as good as the classics doesn't mean that they're worthless, and in fact the remainder of Pavement's recorded output has always been just slightly underrated. On this day in 1997, the band dropped one of those under-loved opuses in Brighten the Corners.

After turning up the volume a bit on 1995's Wowee Zowee, Pavement took a step back on Brighten the Corners. Their fourth album is a little more subdued than their previous work, but it found frontman and chief songwriter Stephen Malkmus focusing more acutely on melody rather than shambling grooves. As a result, Brighten the Corners is one of the sleepier entries in the Pavement catalog (though not as casual as the moody Terror Twilight).

That being said, Brighten the Corners is hardly boring, and it contains some signature tunes in the Pavement canon: the pretty "Type Slowly," the shambling "Date w/ IKEA," the slow-burning "Starlings in the Slipstream" and the awesome "Stereo," which features one of the greatest lyrics in the history of rock music in "What about the voice of Geddy Lee/ How did it get so high?/ I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy?/ (I know him and he does!)/ And you're my fact-checkin' cuz."

But the centerpiece of Brighten the Corners is undoubtedly "Shady Lane," a lively little ramble of a tune that does everything right.


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MC Skat Kat (And Paula Abdul) Hits Number One: Wake-Up Video

Posted 2/10/11 9:30 am EST by in Wake-Up Video

In the pantheon of cartoon cats, only a handful stand out as true legends. Sylvester's adventures with Tweety are of course legendary, and Garfield would certainly have his visage carved into the Mount Rushmore of animated felines (likely alongside Felix, Cheetara from "Thundercats" and Gargamel's pet kitty Azrael on "The Smurfs"). But though the exploits of all those cats will live on, do any of them have a song that sat on top of the Billboard Hot 100? MC Skat Kat does, as on this day in 1990, his tag-team smash with Paula Abdul "Opposites Attract" found itself in just such a position.

"Opposites Attract" was one of the centerpiece tracks of Abdul's 1988 debut album Forever Your Girl. It was also the last of four singles to take the top spot on the Hot 100, as "Straight Up," "Forever Your Girl" and "Cold Hearted" all made their way to the top of the heap. The actual male vocals on "Opposites Attract" were handled by Bruce DeShazer and Marv Gunn, a duo who called themselves the Wild Pair. But when it came to the public face of "Opposites Attract" (including the famous video, which found itself in extremely heavy rotation on MTV), it was all about MC Skat Kat.

Created by Michael Patterson (one of the animators responsible for a-ha's groundbreaking video for "Take On Me") and animated by a team from Disney lead by Chris Bailey (who worked on "The Lion King," "The Littler Mermaid" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks"), MC Skat Kat became something of a cultural phenomenon for a few years. In fact, MC Skat Kat was so popular that he inspired an entire album called The Adventures of MC Skat Kat and the Stray Mob, still the only rap album recorded by a cartoon cat. That album wasn't much of a success, but "Opposites Attract" lives on.


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Toad The Wet Sprocket Was A Very Strange Band Name Indeed: Wake-Up Video

Posted 2/9/11 8:30 am EST by in Wake-Up Video

Think what you will about the alternative rock revolution of the 1990s, but you can't deny that it made mainstream pop and rock slightly more interesting. A mainstream radio band — the old versions of something like Maroon 5 or the Fray — could look a little bit shaggy and sound a little bit dirty. It split the difference nicely, and while bands like Gin Blossoms are often remembered as mild diversions, they actually sounded way more rocking than anybody remembers.

For the sake of shortcuts, let's call it "Friends" rock, as just about all the bands who fall into that category (including Hootie and the Blowfish, the Rembrandts, Barenaked Ladies and the like) appeared on the soundtrack to "Friends" (and would have been enjoyed by fans of the long-running sitcom). Toad the Wet Sprocket also falls into that category, and though the California quartet (who recently reunited for a full-time return to business) didn't do anything special on this day, it's hard to argue with their particular form of quirkiness.

Lead by frontman and songwriter Glen Phillips, Toad the Wet Sprocket took their name from a Monty Python bit and chipped away at the rock club universe for years before scoring big with their commercial breakthrough Fear in 1991 (the same year Pearl Jam's Ten and Nirvana's Nevermind started making what was referred to as "college rock" into mainstream cool). "All I Want" and "Walk on the Ocean" became big hits on radio and MTV, and though Toad the Wet Sprocket graduated from small clubs to much larger venues, they maintained a heavy touring schedule, as they had developed a reputation as a killer live act.

Two more hit albums followed (1994's Dulcinea and 1997's Coil) before the band broke up in 1998. Ironically, one of the band's biggest hits — the jaunty "Good Intentions" — came from the group's 1995 b-sides compilation In Light Syrup.


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Green Day Take Home Grammy For Record Of The Year: Wake-Up Video

Posted 2/8/11 9:30 am EST by in Wake-Up Video

Like any awards show, the Grammys are often hit and miss, with some years completely vanishing into the ether while others live on in the imaginations of music fans everywhere. The 2006 version of the show is one of the latter, as it featured a clean sweep by U2 (they won all five awards they were nominated for, including Album of the Year for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb) and one of the biggest lineups of performances ever (including Madonna, Paul McCartney, Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Kanye West and an all-star tribute to Sly & the Family Stone). It also represented a peak for Green Day, who on this day in 2006 took home the prize for Record of the Year (often considered the top award of the night) for the American Idiot track "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."

Originally released as the second single from Green Day's watershed 2004 album American Idiot, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" almost instantly became a signature track for the trio. In the narrative of American Idiot, it comes from the perspective of St. Jimmy and is meant to be a comedown from "Holiday," the track that precedes it on the album. (In the stage version of "American Idiot," the song is one of the centerpieces of the entire show.) Not only did it win the Grammy, but "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" also became a lightning rod for Green Day in spheres both commercial (it sold over two million copies and topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts) and charitable (following Hurricane Katrina, Green Day donated proceeds from iTunes sales of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" to the American Red Cross).

Even the Samuel Bayer-directed music video picked up some awards (including Video of the Year at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards), an appropriate prize for a gripping set of images.


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Madonna's 'Open Your Heart' Ascends To Number One: Wake-Up Video

Posted 2/7/11 8:30 am EST by in Wake-Up Video

The year 2011 is going to be a good one for divas. New albums from Britney Spears and Lady Gaga are already within view, and it's quite likely that we could end up getting new music from Beyoncé before these 12 months are up. Madonna could also check in with new music this year, perhaps adding to her already-large docket of chart-topping hits (she has a dozen to her name so far). On this day in 1987, she picked up her fifth career number one on the Billboard Hot 100 when "Open Your Heart" ascended to that position.

"Open Your Heart" was the fourth single to come from Madonna's massive third album True Blue (which was released back in the summer of 1986). Two of those singles — "Live to Tell" and "Papa Don't Preach" — had already topped the chart, and the title track from True Blue came up just short (it ended up at number three). According to songwriters Gardner Cole and Peter Rafelson, the song was written with Cyndi Lauper in mind (the original title was "Follow Your Heart"), though they never actually presented the track to her. Madonna scooped it up, added her own lyrical twist and laid down one of her most confident vocal performances over a punchy pop track.

Not only was the song a big success on radio, but the video also ended up in heavy rotation on MTV (as most of Madonna's videos always did) and picked up plenty of critical acclaim (Madonna was praised for making the clip less about sex and more about innocence and escape). "Open Your Heart" is probably best remembered as the song that accompanied the Material Girl's legendary conical bra during her 1990 Blonde Ambition World Tour, but the video remains one of Madonna's best narratives.


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Mark Zuckerberg Launches 'The Facebook': Wake-Up Video

Posted 2/4/11 9:30 am EST by in Wake-Up Video

It has to be sort of weird to wake up in the morning and be Mark Zuckerberg, doesn't it? Being worth billions of dollars and having your professional life story (or at least a version of it) plastered on movie screens around the world has to mess with your head just a little bit. No matter what is true about "The Social Network" and what is a flourish of fiction, one thing has to be certain: Zuckerberg could not have known exactly how huge Facebook would get when he launched the site on this day in 2004.

The story of the rise of Facebook (at least as told in "The Social Network") is, in many ways, the definitive success story of the 21st century. Zuckerberg began his first dalliance with social networking while he was a sophomore at Harvard and hacked into the school's network to create Facesmash, a kind of "Hot or Not" site. Though the site was a huge success, Facesmash ran afoul not only of many of the students represented on the site (whose photos were obviously used without permission) but also of the school's administration (who did not appreciate Zuckerberg the security breach, which essentially crippled their network for a while).

Undaunted, Zuckerberg continued, eventually developing Facebook (which at launch was called "TheFacebook"). Along the way, he ran into massive success, tremendous influence and, of course, a series of lawsuits. But considering nearly half of the United States has a Facebook account (a remarkable statistic), Zuckerberg has easily become the most influential man on the Internet. Not bad for a guy who is only 26 years old.

One of the joys of "The Social Network" is its score, crafted by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The moody soundscapes have almost no relationship to Reznor's early work in Nine Inch Nails, but that doesn't stop "Down In It" (from Reznor's debut album Pretty Hate Machine) from being pretty great.


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Happy Chinese New Year! Enter The Year Of The Rabbit With Man Man

Posted 2/3/11 10:30 am EST by in Wake-Up Video

Happy Chinese New Year, everybody! From now until January 23, 2012, consider it the Year of the Rabbit (with the Year of the Tiger having just wrapped and the Year of the Dragon on the horizon). In China, the celebration of the new year is a 15-day affair, so hang out your red lanterns (to ward off the mythical man-eating beast Nian) and prepare to party.

The 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig) are each meant to inform the personalities of the people born during their particular years. People born during the Year of the Rabbit (which includes anybody born in 1975, 1987 and 1999) tend to be soft-spoken, sensitive, artistic and reserved. But which celebrities are denizens of the Rabbit? The list from 1975 includes 50 Cent, Eva Longoria, Enrique Iglesias, Jack White, "Mad Men" star Christina Hendricks, 2010 MTV Video Music Awards host Chelsea Handler and "Tosh.0" host Daniel Tosh, while the list from 1987 features "Gossip Girl" actress Blake Lively, tennis sensation Maria Sharapova, Zac Efron, Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby, Hilary Duff and Jesse McCartney.

In order to properly celebrate the Chinese New Year, we're going to turn to our friends in Man Man, an brilliant envelope-pushing experimental rock band from Philadelphia. They are best known for providing the background song to a memorable Nike advertisement starring Rainn Wilson, but they are one of the strangest, most thrilling acts on the planet, and their video for "Rabbit Habits" is equally fascinating and weird.


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