'Lost In The '90s' Revisits Impact Of Kurt Cobain's Death On A Generation

Posted 5/3/12 11:26 am EST by in books


Lost in the 90s

The new book "Lost in the '90s" tells the story of a teenage boy from 2012 named Kurt who travels back in time to April 1994, on the eve of Kurt Cobain’s death, where he meets his teenage parents and helps them fall in love.

While the effects of that tragic day ultimately factor heavily in the novel, author Frank Anthony Polito didn't necessarily plan it that way when he started writing it. "I knew that I wanted the story to open at a school dance where the main character, Kurt, and his '90s cover band, The Pogs, would be playing," Polito tells MTV News. "So I chose April 2012 and April 1994 would be the time he travels back to. I picked a Saturday night, April 7, and when I began researching what happened in April 1994, I realized that April 8th was the day that MTV’s Kurt Loder broke the news of Kurt Cobain’s tragic suicide. There was no way I could ignore such a HUGE event when it came to telling a story set in April 1994 – especially one that involved high school-aged characters."

Cobain's death has a huge impact on the characters that populate "Lost in the '90s," specifically Kurt's father, who "loses all hope" after the Nirvana icon's suicide. We talked to Polito about the effect Cobain had on a generation, the reverence for the '90s that marks the book and how revisiting Cobain's music and legacy while writing gave him a new appreciation of Nirvana.

"When I first heard Nirvana back in the day, I chalked them up to another Guns ‘N’ Roses-type 'head banger' band," Polito explains. "But now, I’ve taken the time to actually listen to Cobain’s lyrics, and read about what he was doing musically, and he truly was revolutionary in his thinking."

Read on for our full interview. Read More...

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Beyonce Now Has a Journalism Award To Join Her 16 Grammys In Stacked Trophy Case

Posted 5/3/12 9:32 am EST by in awards, Beyonce


In the lead up to the release of her fantastic album 4, Beyonce was all about spreading the word about how awesome it was to take several months off. (If only we were all lucky enough to take months and months off!)

>> Jessica Simpson And Beyonce: From One Mommy Mogul To Another

Bey needed to recharge her batteries, so she disappeared from the spotlight for nine months. The break turned into a spiritual journey and "creative reawakening" for the "Love on Top" singer, which she cataloged for her "Year of 4" documentary and put in writing in an Essence magazine article, titled "Eat, Play, Love."

>> Beyonce Named People's Most Beautiful Woman

Now, her July 2011 Essence cover story has won the star a prestigious New York Association of Black Journalists prize, which will be awarded at a May 15 gala.

"She's a real writer," Essence entertainment director Cori Murray told The New York Daily News. "We had to edit her, but everyone gets edited except Toni Morrison."

>> Beyoncé's Year Of Change Had Us Counting To 4

Congrats, Queen Bey! Check out "Year of 4" below for more on Beyonce's time away from the spotlight.

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Adele's 21 Overtakes Michael Jackson's Thriller On U.K. All-Time Bestseller List

Posted 5/3/12 8:47 am EST by in Adele, Michael Jackson


Adele

Adele's unstoppable 21, which is closing in on 9 million in sales in the U.S. (making our prediction that it will likely become the first diamond record in the states since Usher's 2004 Confessions set on the nose), just blasted past Michael Jackson's 1982 classic Thriller on the U.K. all-time bestseller list, according to NME.

21 is now the fifth best-selling album in the U.K. with staggering sales of 4,274,300 copies since its release in January 2011, besting Thriller's sales by about 500 units.

Her sales are not that far off the next two albums – Oasis's What's the Story Morning Glory and ABBA's Gold: Greatest Hits – on the list either, though she's got a ways to go before she reaches the list's top two spots, which are owned by The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band at #2 (5.04 million) and Queen's Greatest Hits at #1 (5.83 million records sold).

In the 15 months since its release, 21 has spent 65 non-consecutive weeks at #1 in the U.K. and, having outsold Amy Winehouse's Back To Black, is the top selling album of the 21st Century in the country.

Check out some behind-the-scenes footage (set to the album's banner single "Rolling in the Deep," for added awesomeness) of the making of 21 after the jump! Read More...

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Pharell, Santigold And More Create Music Pins At CNNCTD Launch Event

Posted 5/2/12 5:20 pm EST by in Music


By Uptin Saiidi (@uptin)

I see you. Yeah, you. Listening to your iPod on your new Beats headphones.

You're in the zone, shutting out the world.

What makes you you isn't the physical iPod though, nor is it the headphones. It's all the tracks you’ve chosen for the iPod. You're one of a kind because you take comfort in the fact that no one in the world has the same songs you have on your device.

But for Roman Grandinetti, a DJ and entrpenuer, the physical form of the iPod as an expression of art wasn't good enough. So for the past few years he's been working with a team to create pins. That's right, the same type of pin worn at that Occupy Wall street march last month ... except different in that it’s an MP3 player that an artist can record anything on and then release them to fans.

Anything can be recorded on the pin: a song, a poem or their barking dog.

The device, called a play button, has alerady been embraced by artists including Santigold, Pharrell, Yoko Ono and Azelia Banks. Roman hopes people will wear the pins as accessories and staples of their own individuality.

Last night (May 2) in NYC’s Lower East Side, the pins of 100 "influencers" were launched at an event called CNNCTD. The name symbolizes the idea that music, fashion and art all are connected in multiple ways.

"That's what we wanted to do, we wanted to just show you how everything intertwines and how one generation can influence the next," Roman, who also was the curator of the event, said.

The art exhibit will be traveling around the world, heading next to Paris.

Josh Penn, 25, hopes that trend will not only take off but also remain a platform for emerging artists. "We defintely think that it's going to be the next medium for releasing music. We're people, we like things, we're very physical," he said. "I still carry my iPhone around with me, but there's no personality there, and this is a way to combine digital and physical."

In an industry that's gone mostly digital, it's certainly a step in the opposite direction. Of course, it's not so much a practical device, as it is a fashion accessory.

"It’s not just wearing a T-shirt, it's being able to wear the music, so it's awesome."

Would you wear a pin if your favorite artist released it? Sound off in the comments!>

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Madonna's Italian Vanity Fair Cover

Posted 5/2/12 4:49 pm EST by in Madonna


Madonna has been famously laying low when it comes to promoting her MDNA album. She hit Facebook for a chat with Jimmy Fallon and, well, that's about it. No magazines, no talk shows.

(Maybe she's letting the set's great reviews and that killer Super Bowl performance do the talking for her?)

Across the pond, however, she is covering at least one mag, but with a twist. According to a tweet from her manager Guy Oseary, her cover image for Italian Vanity Fair is from the same Mert & Marcus photo shoot as the print ads for her Truth or Dare fragrance. That Madonna, always multitasking.

Check it out:

Photo by Mert & Marcus; Guy Oseary, Twitter

Related:

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>> Madonna Plans To Address Anti-Gay Russian Law During St. Petersburg Concert
>> Madonna Shows Off Tour Rehearsal Injuries (Photos)

Read More...

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Alanis Morissette Prepping Return to Form With First Disc In Four Years, Havoc and Bright Lights

Posted 5/2/12 1:25 pm EST by in Music


Alanis

By Zachary Swickey

Former keeper of Ryan Reynold’s affection, pop-rock singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, is preparing to release a new studio album, her first since ‘08’s Flavors of Entanglement (which was inspired by her and Reynolds calling off their engagement).

Morissette’s newest effort will be her first release not on Warner Music Group with Collective Sounds releasing her seventh disc, Havoc and Bright Lights on August 28.

The "Ironic" singer seems to be taking a different (perhaps more current and commercial) direction with her latest release, teaming with UK producer Guy Sigsworth, an eclectic producer who has worked with Bjork, Madonna and helped start Seal’s career, and Joe Chiccarelli, who skews rock having helmed works for Young the Giant, The Strokes and Jazon Mraz, for the album.

We will have to wait until May 15 before the album’s first single, “Guardian,” becomes available on iTunes store (and four days later on radio). However, a new Morissette tune “Magical Child” was released just last week as part of Starbucks’ Every Mother Counts Volume 2 Mother’s Day compilation. The tune is rather lullaby-esque but might help shine some light on the direction of the singer’s new album.

Read on to listen to "Child" and check out the tracklisting for Morissette's new album. Read More...

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Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way Ball' Stage Biggest Ever Built To Tour

Posted 5/2/12 10:29 am EST by in Lady Gaga, Tour Dates


Lady Gaga's "Born This Way Ball" launched with a controversial bang last week when the pop diva took the stage at Seoul, South Korea's Olympic Stadium in front of 45,000 screaming fans.

All of those fans were adults, as we reported earlier, because the Korea Media Rating Board elevated the age rating for the concert from 12 to 18, prohibiting minors from seeing the show. The Board did not offer a reason why the show – which at the time of the imposed age restriction was still in rehearsals and has not been reviewed publicly – was considered unsuitable for children under 18.

Later, as the concert neared, the likely catalyst for the board's decision came more into focus as protests from a group of conservative Christians calling itself the Alliance for Sound Culture in Sexuality ramped up. The group papered Seoul with posters accusing Gaga of "spreading unhealthy sexual culture" through "lewd lyrics and performances."

So there's that.

The news today though is that her elaborate stage is the "largest scenic structure that's ever been built to tour," according to US Weekly. The stage, designed by Gaga and her creative team Haus of Gaga, took several months to construct and includes an enclosed area surrounded by a catwalk known as "The Monster Pit," a general admission area for hardcore fans who arrive early to the show. The very first Little Monster to arrive is given a commemorative key for the pit. The stage is modeled after a Gothic castle featuring viewing towers, intricate carvings and other medieval trappings.

Check it out below:

Are you loving Mother Monster's amazing stage? Let us know in the comments below!

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Ke$ha Tells V Magazine She Wants To Work With Justin Bieber

Posted 5/2/12 12:05 am EST by in Music


Ke$ha covers V Magazine's upcoming Americana Issue, on newsstands May 10, and opens up about everything from breaking in to the music business to her aversion to the Internet and television. "I don’t watch television at all," she tells the mag. "I’m not really on the Internet because it scares me.”

Talking about where she fits in the spectrum of pop music, the singer, who was styled for her V shoot by Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele and photographed by Inez van lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, says, "I do feel like there are the pop stars of the world and then I’m like their dirty little sister, running around with s**t on my face in combat boots because I can’t walk in heels."

The magazine also talked to some of Ke$ha's high-profile collaborators for its profile on the star. Britney Spears, who landed one of her biggest hits in years with the Ke$ha co-penned "Till the World Ends," said she loves the "Tik Tok" singer's "carefree, fun-loving spirit" and works out to her beat-driven tracks. "They help me power through my workout," the pop diva tells V.

Photo by Inez van lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin

Read on for an exclusive first look at the spread, including Ke$ha's thoughts on her new record, her working-class background and who she wants to work with (hint: she's after a very popular young male poster). Read More...

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Queen Wants No Part In Resurrecting Freddie Mercury Via Hologram

Posted 5/1/12 12:53 pm EST by in Music, tour


Queen

By Zachary Swickey

It’s been weeks since Tupac Shakur was brought back to life in video form via a hologram at this year’s Coachella Music Festival, and the eye-popping technology has brought out both enthusiasts and detractors of the idea. Queen fall firmly in the latter category and want to make it clear that you won’t be seeing a digital Freddie Mercury on stage with the legendary band anytime soon.

Queen drummer Roger Taylor says the group will never be performing alongside a holographic image of Mercury, and instead prefer a flesh-and-blood frontman. The group recently brought in “American Idol”-alum Adam Lambert to provide vocals for a new tour this summer.

Questioned by Billboard, Taylor said the idea of a Mercury hologram “did not sit well” with him and that you’ll never see him onstage appearing alongside one.

“I don’t think I want to. It just doesn’t sit well with me,” he told Billboard. “I don’t want to appear with a hologram of my dear friend. It’s the real one or no hologram for me."

He added: “I think it’s an amazing effect when used properly, obviously in darkness. Were somebody [else] to use a hologram of Freddie, I would have no objection.”

While Queen and Roger Taylor aren’t nuts about the prospect of using a hologram, many band are looking into the technology as a viable option or “solution.” Take TLC, for example. They just announced their plans to resurrect the late Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes in digital holographic form for a world tour.

Additionally, the remaining Jackson family obviously liked what they saw at Coachella and now they are hoping to bring out a hologram form of the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, on what would be the world’s creepiest reunion tour ever for the Jackson Five.

Taking the idea to its extreme, System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian was talking about getting into the hologram game back in '08 due to rising touring costs and the pollution tours can cause, telling Rolling Stone, “I think we could reduce our need to travel if we could project ourselves into meetings and concerts. We have the technology, and we're not using it right now.

"It would open up a whole new world for touring. There would be no travel costs, so bands with very little money could play shows, and tickets would cost less," he continued while also stressing that the fans wouldn't mind seeing a hologram perform live as "it's not like the audience can touch me, anyway."

Why anyone would pay anything to watch a hologram image sing when they could just watch a performance online or on television is another question entirely. Half the fun of a concert is being there with your idol and catching something that is, despite setlists and rehearsals, unique in some way each time. It doesn't matter that you can't touch them – they were there doing what they do best and you were there to witness it.

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