Would you buy a used car from Saul Goodman?

Okay, how about from Bob Odenkirk, the actor who plays the shadiest lawyer on the planet on "Breaking Bad?" The Black Keys seem to think you would, which might explain why they dressed Odenkirk up in the cheapest-looking polyester suit they could find and hired him to help hawk their upcoming Danger Mouse-produced album, El Camino.

Odenkirk does his damndest to get the right car in the frame during the fake one-minute ad allegedly shot in December 1996, but all he succeeds in doing is creating one of the best viral video album spots in recent memory.

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Katy Perry

Music videos can thrill, shock, confound and elate, but when they weave in a serious message they can also make a difference and teach us a little something. That's why MTV is proud to introduce a new category at this year's 2011 Video Music Awards, Best Video With a Message, which will spotlight clips from Lady Gaga, Pink, Katy Perry, Eminem, Taylor Swift and Rise Against that have a pro-social message.

The new category spotlights the intersection of music and social activism, highlighting artists who've made videos with positive messages that raise awareness of some of the most pressing issues facing today's youth, from bullying and LGBT discrimination to domestic violence and self-image struggles.

“During the past year, we’ve seen a remarkable number of artists create music videos that went above and beyond simply offering entertainment value,” said MTV President Stephen Friedman. “Instead, these artists used their influence and voices to explore deeply personal experiences and issues they were passionate about to create meaningful music that resonated with millions inspiring life anthems for their fans.”

Each clip nominated for Best Video with a Message will be accompanied by some action steps from MTV Act – MTV’s online platform designed to amplify youth efforts to make things better – where the MTV audience can learn more about and take action on the issue addressed.

Read on for the nominees. Read More...

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Last night, Cher alerted us to the fact she is in the recording studio AND recording a song by Lady Gaga and super producer RedOne called “The Greatest Thing.” So that’s cool.

What’s kind of weird though is that the song comes over five years after Cher wrapped up her massive Living Proof: The Farewell Tour, which she claimed would be her final concert tour. Three years later, of course, she began a very successful three-year residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, so it was really less of a “farewell” than it was a “see you guys in a bit.” And last fall while promoting her film Burlesque, she told a few interviewers she wanted to hit the road again for another tour – that she preferred arena crowds to the tourist-heavy audiences attracted to shows in Vegas.

Sure, the living legend never swore off recording (and thank goodness!), but it got us thinking about stars who announce their retirement … and then never really retire. Sure, they might go away for a hot second, but then they come back, often as big as ever, making the whole retirement hubbub look like an elaborate ruse. Read More...

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Leo DiCaprio

By Stefan Doyno

What's crazier than Clint Eastwood directing a musical? Well, not much – except if in that same film, Leonardo DiCaprio co-starred opposite Beyonce. That would really get people talking.

Well, it might be happening. Eastwood and DiCaprio got along so well on the set of J. Edgar, the upcoming biopic of infamous FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, that DiCaprio is in discussions to join Eastwood’s remake of the musical A Star Is Born. Eastwood and DiCaprio are tremendously talented and Beyonce has since proven her acting chops with Dreamgirls and Cadillac Records, so maybe this will turn out to be really interesting.

Here are some other director-musician superstar pairings we'd like to see happen.

Martin Scorsese and Eminem

One word comes to mind: violence. These two could make a killing (pun intended) at the box office.
With Eminem's talent in both the music and acting fields (he was amazing in 8 Mile) and Scorsese's brutal direction, these two would definitely make an action-packed Oscar winner.

Steven Speilberg and Justin Bieber

Hello, an E.T. remake, anybody? Ok, maybe not, but there is something about this team that kind of screams blockbuster. All we need is an alien and we're good to go.

David Lynch and Lady Gaga

Just imagine what these two could throw together. On second thought, don’t even try; whatever it would be is probably unimaginable. Lynch and Gaga's strange and intriguing imaginations could create something beyond comprehension and truly mind-blowing. Everyone would go to see it … and then spend three days trying to understand it.

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By Stefan Doyno

Rihanna, J.Lo, Britney and Mariah all have one, and now the Biebs has one too. Yup, celebrity fragrance lines are officially the next big thing, and Someday by Justin Bieber is the newest scent to hit the market. The ad just hit the Net and from the looks of things, it's set to be the best fragrance ever.

According to the commercial, Someday will not only leave you smelling good, but it will also give the wearer the ability to fly. Although the 17-year-old music sensation's perfume is aimed at his female fans, it's unclear what it will smell like. But we wouldn't be surprised if it was inspired by his girlfriend, Selena Gomez who was recently spotted on a Hawaiian vacation with the Biebs.

The fragrance will retail for $45 and is set to be released on June 20. Can you smell the anticipation? Well, here are some other celebrities we think are overdue for a fragrance line.

Eau de Eminem
What it smells like: rage, relapse and recovery. (She'll love the way you lie — and the way you smell.)

Tamed by Miley Cyrus
What it smells like: sugar, spice and Disney starlet nice.

Sacrifice by Bruno Mars

What it smells like: musk, Motown and bravery. You'll be able to catch a grenade AND put your hand on a blade for the one you love.

Moments by Nicki Minaj
What it smells like: the color pink ... and Revenge.

W by Wiz Khalifa
What it smells like: Pot. (Did we even have to tell you?)

Who do you think should have their own bottled scent? Tell us in the comments!

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By Kara Warner

Although we don't technically need a reason to celebrate our favorite men in music, we were inspired by the happy news that Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill married Lily Aldridge last week and the even happier news that there is still one King on the market: Jared Followill.

In honor of Jared's commitment to bachelorhood (however long it may last), we present our favorite bachelors in music. Also, before the comments section lights up with "He has a girlfriend!" "He's dating so-and-so!" statements, please note that the term "bachelor" refers to an unmarried man, girlfriend or no). Here they are, in no particular order:

Adam Levine: pop-star playboy
Those who've been following Levine and his band Maroon 5 know that the frontman has a certain spunk and smolder about him (Exhibit A: the "Makes Me Wonder" video), but thanks to his judging stint on "The Voice," we've been seeing a fun new side to him.

Jared Followill: Southern gentleman with a bad-boy edge
Not that Mr. Followill is a bad boy, by any means, but there's something about Jared ... not only his talent and good looks, but a playful mischievousness. Although if his tweets are to be believed, he might not be on the market for long.

Click here for more sexy bachelor photos.

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EminemLate Monday night (or early Tuesday morning), the folks behind Lollapalooza revealed the lineup for the 2011 edition of the fest, a top-heavy bill featuring headliners like Eminem, Foo Fighters, Coldplay and Muse that makes me feel like this.

Yes, I am having an existential, Tommy-Lee-Jones level crisis about Lolla 2011, which, in case you weren't aware, is also the 20th anniversary of the fest. It's not really because I have a problem with any of the headliners per se, it's just that, well, it would've been nice if any of them actually had ties to Lolla's past. Sure, there's some nods to recent history — Muse played the fest in 2007 — and plenty of synergy in the second-tier of bands (A Perfect Circle played the fest in 2003, Ween played in 2006, My Morning Jacket played in '06 and '07), but overall, it looks like Perry Farrell and Co. have largely ignored the past 20 years ... aside from a hard-to-navigate "Time Capsule" on Lollapalooza's official site, that is.

And, sure, maybe in the weeks leading up to the fest — it's set for August 5-7 in Chicago's Grant Park — all that will change, and organizers will announce a slew of nostalgia acts (surely, Psychotica could clear their schedule). Or maybe they won't, because they prefer to look forward ... and, really, that's their prerogative. But looking at this lineup as is, I just feel very Ed Tom Bell: world weary, saddened by the inevitable march of time, longing for the days of yore, yet bracing for the future. I am a man without a country, or a purpose. I am an anachronism.

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By Zachary Swickey
Last week, we marveled at actor Emile Hirsch's homemade, frequently skeevy video for Daft Punk's "Alive" and wondered, amongst other things, how he'd top himself the next time out. Would there be even more dudes without shirts?

As it turns out, the answer is no. There's nary a bare-chested guy in Hirsch's brand-new music video, for Eminem's 2000 track "Kill You" (give him credit for choosing a song from the last decade this time around). But there is one seriously cute cat, some dogs, illicit catnip use, a mean-spirited middle-aged woman and even a cameo from the director herself.

What does Hirsch's video have to do with Em's ultra-violent track (in which he fantasizes about raping his mother and murdering his ex-wife)? Well, nothing, really. Instead, Eminem is played by Kiki, a gray and white cat, who battles a pair of dogs who dare infringe on her(?) turf, hits the catnip hard and even attempts to smother her owner while she sleeps. Still, it's filled with clever nods to Em's lyrics — when he spits "They say I can't rap about coke no more," Kiki traipses around some empty Diet Coke bottles, and when he laments "Here we go again, we're out of medicine," Kiki thrashes around in her last bit of catnip — and, at the video's end, there's even a cat bath, which, it should be noted, Kiki handles it with like a pro.

Clearly, much like Hirsch, this isn't her first music video. And hopefully, it won't be her last, either.

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Usually when an artist releases a new album, he or she will assault the press with the message that the new release is the best thing the artist has ever done, and will undoubtedly be something the fans will adore and newcomers will get into. Such is not the case with the new (and long-awaited) Lupe Fiasco album L.A.S.E.R.S.. The process of creating the album was such a struggle that he could really take it or leave it at this point, and in interviews he has been honest about his ambivalence.

"I hate this record, the process of making this record, and I love this record," Fiasco told the Chicago Tribune. "What I had to go through was not fun, the ugliness I saw in people. But I love the manifesto." Fiasco went even deeper in the pages of Complex. "A lot of the songs that are on the album, I'm kinda neutral to. Not that I don't like them, or that I hate them, it's just I know the process that went behind it. I know the sneaky business deal that went down behind this song, or the artist or singer or songwriter who wrote this hook and didn't want to give me this song in the first place," he said. "So when I have that kind of knowledge behind it, I'm just kind of neutral to it like, 'Another day, another dollar.' As opposed something like The Cool, which is more of my own blood, sweat, and tears, and my own control."

Of course, Fiasco isn't the first artist to have mixed feelings about his own work (though in most cases, artists tend to bury their own stuff in retrospect, not in real time). Here are some of the more notable groups who have thrown their own work under a bus.

Foo Fighters, One By One
While Foo Fighters' fourth album was a commercial and critical hit, it left a bad taste in the mouth of frontman Dave Grohl. In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2005, Grohl said of the album, "Four of the songs were good, and the other seven I never played again in my life. We rushed into it, and we rushed out of it." He has been true to his word, as recent Foo Fighters set lists have only included One By One tracks "Times Like These" and "All My Life."

U2, Pop
When U2 released Pop in 1997, it was hailed as the album that was supposed to bridge the gap between rock music and electronica. That particular marriage was not successful, and the songs from Pop have mostly been retired in favor of the rest of the band's extensive catalog. The quality of Pop remains a sticking point between the members of the band (Bono still defends it, though).

Weezer, Pinkerton
While Rivers Cuomo never formally buried his band's second album, it did drive him away from making music for a while. It wasn't so much that the songs were bad (in fact, they represent some of his best songwriting) but that they were far too personal for Cuomo to handle. The band disappeared for a few years and didn't play Pinkerton songs live for a while, though they eventually made their way back into the fabric of Weezer.

Eminem, Relapse
Eminem had been gone for a minute when Relapse came out, and though that album was greeted with excitement and enthusiasm, it ultimately left a lot of people wanting more. Apparently, those people included Eminem himself, who dissed the album on his next release Recovery.

Mandy Moore, So Real, I Wanna Be With You and Mandy Moore
Of all the teenage singers who made it big at the turn of the century, nobody was more frustrated by her early work than Moore. Read More...

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Another week is over and another huge batch of stories and events have unfolded in the pop culture universe. There was a new music video from Dr. Dre, a new hair style for Justin Bieber and a new group of people to vote for on "American Idol." And for those of you who are movie buffs, we're going to keep delivering stories all weekend, as the next two days brings the Independent Spirit Awards (which MTV News will be at on Saturday night, February 26) and the Academy Awards (which will air Sunday, February 27, preceded by a live stream hosted by "After Hours" host Josh Horowitz that will be live on MTV News). Along the way, there will be no shortage of results, interviews, analysis and party reports from the red carpets and back stage at some of the biggest film events of the year.

But before you finalize your Oscar picks and start preparing your seven layer dip that somehow pays homage to "Winter's Bone," check out what you might have missed this week on the MTV Newsroom blog.

» Justin Bieber trimmed his trademark locks this week, likely with the hope that he'll end up on the left side of this handy hair-based infographic.

» The Bieber haircut was the talk of the Internet for most of the week, and it reminded us of when Joe Jonas made his own dramatic decision about his mane.

» Bieber's follicles weren't the only conversations happening online this week — in fact, a lot of them were devoted to videos of Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke dancing. (We still haven't gotten tired of that conversation.)

» After weeks of seemingly endless auditions, we finally know the 24 people who are this season's "American Idol" finalists.

» Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" continued its assault on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, spending another week at the top spot. Will anything be able to unseat it?

» The NBA trade deadline passed this week, but not before a flurry of deals, one of which sent Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks.
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