'The show will be fine,' season nine winner Lee DeWyze tweeted.By Kara Warner
Lee DeWyze
Photo: Jeff Kravitz/ Getty Images
Reaction to Ellen DeGeneres' announcement that she was departing "American Idol" was swift, with fans and bloggers eager to express their thoughts as soon as the news became public on Thursday (July 29). The talk show host's former "Idol" colleagues, Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest, weighed in as well.
Other celebrities have also joined the conversation, voicing reactions and well wishes. "Idol" season-six third-place finisher Melinda Doolittle was shocked by the news. "I feel like I was tweeting this exact thing around this time last year," she tweeted. "DUDE!
Ellen?!?! DUDE!!!!!"
Doolittle later chimed in with her thoughts on rumored replacements Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. "Randy=my dawg, J.Lo=the best mentor on season 6, & Steven Tyler=my favorite band EVER! If these really are the AI judges, what do you think?" she tweeted to her followers, followed by her number one pick for the judges panel: "PS-I'm not saying these are my choices for judges. I just happen to love all of them. I'm kinda still holding out for Harry Connick, Jr. :-)"
Last season's champ, Lee DeWyze, also took to Twitter to offer a few words on how DeGeneres' departure may affect the show. "The show will be fine," he tweeted in reply to a fan.
Fellow talk show host Conan O'Brien weighed in as well. "Ellen has walked away from a television institution after one year, but I'm sure it's the right decision," O'Brien tweeted about the news, perhaps slyly referencing his own highly-publicized departure from "The Tonight Show" last year. "Now, back to my model rocketry," he wrote.
And finally, Paris Hilton showed Perez Hilton some Twitter love with a support of his dogged personal campaign to join the judges' table.
"You would be Perfect on American Idol with your witty humor and music sense," she tweeted to Perez. "I'd definitely watch! Loves it!
#PerezForIdol"
Who do you think should join the "American Idol" judges' table?
Let us know in the comments!
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BREAKING NEWS!
A photo of Kim Kardashian?s playboy photoshoot has been leaked. The photoshoot wasn?t supposed to appear to viewers until December. It is rumored that this will be the biggest playboy spread ever?..
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The Greatest Summer Jams Of The Modern Era
Just in time for the warm weather, we compile the best sun-drenched tunes since 1991, in Bigger Than the Sound.By James Montgomery
Think back to every awesome/romantic/borderline-insane thing you've ever done during the summer. Chances are, there was music playing when you did it. And it was probably playing very, very loudly.
That's because, perhaps more than any other time of the year, summer is practically made for music. It's when we pump up, strip down, make terrible decisions and basically have the times of our lives. And, somewhat fittingly, music is always there with us. It's the soundtrack to our every hookup, breakdown and tanning mishap. It's what's in the air at the beach, the time-share or the club (well, either that or Axe body spray). It's part of our memories, along with that terrible tattoo you got down in Panama City.
So for a song to become a summer jam, it's got to be great (and slightly stupid, but that's a column for another day). And since the official kickoff of summer 2010 is right around the corner, I've decided to compile a list of the greatest of the great — the best, brightest, dumbest, funnest, lightest, loosest, freakiest, goofiest summer songs of all time. All of them are special, all of them are classics. And yes, I spent waaay too much time working on this. What can I say? I freaking love the summer.
Anyway, rather than just prattle on, I reached out to some of my favorite writers — all of whom are certified summer-jam experts, btw — and had them contribute their favorites too. The only thing I told them was that the cutoff point was 1991 (that's when Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince released their epochal "Summertime," after all), and then I sat back and watched the brilliance flood my inbox. Here's what they submitted, along with my picks. It's a definitive list, as submitted by some of the best in the business. These are the Greatest Summer Jams of the Modern Era.
Amos Barshad, New York magazine's Vulture blog
The Notorious B.I.G., "Hypnotize": He died a month before it was officially released, and I think it was clear then it'd be awhile until someone else would be making this level of lyrically brilliant, commercially viable hip-hop. Also, the mermaid fish tank in the video was awesome.
Young Money, "Every Girl": Too raunchy to actually take the Song of the Summer crown, but hung around for a while last season, probably because the sentiment is so universal.
Rihanna, "Umbrella": If you don't like "Umbrella," do us all a favor and move back to the USSR.
Third Eye Blind, "Semi-Charmed Life": Stephan Jenkins believes in the sand beneath his toes, and so do I.
Adam Stewart, MTV News house-music expert/ dude from New Jersey
Tiësto, "Traffic": When Tiësto released this dance-floor mega-bomb in 2003 under his Magik Muzik, the guido fist-pump was arguably born. I have yet to hear this song go off at the beach club without an ocean of hands in the air and strobe lights blinding every eye in the house.
Robin S, "Show Me Love": Steve Angello — one-third of house music's current holy trinity, the Swedish House Mafia — breathed new life into this timeless sing-along floor-filler in 2008. How could he make one of the best and most iconic dance songs even better? The Midas touch of Angello has ensured "Show Me Love" a place as a summer anthem for many years to come.
Swedish House Mafia (featuring Laid Back Luke), "Leave the World Behind": Speaking of the Swedes, they're responsible for one of the most epic dance anthems the world has ever heard. With the soulful vocals of Deborah Cox and melodic grand-piano stabs, Axwell, Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso will forever be looked to for producing thumping summer beats.
Benny Benassi, "Satisfaction": The quintessential Jersey Shore anthem arrived on our doorsteps in the summer of 2003. It was the first year I ever bought a share in a beach house. I heard this song at least 17 times a day for three months straight, and now, years later, I still call it one of my summer faves.
Sarah McLachlan, "Silence (Delerium Remix)": Honestly, this song can make the biggest guido cry. First released in 1997, it hit U.S. airwaves in 1999, and once Tiësto got a hold of it, the uplifting vocal-trance track became one of the most recognizable tunes to any dance-music aficionado. Ahhh, the memories I have from this song, most of which are not suitable for publication.
David Guetta, "Love Is Gone (Joachim Garraud Remix)": A flashback to the pre-Black Eyed Peas days of mega-producer and DJ David Guetta. Ever hear the beginning riff to "I've Gotta Feeling"? It came from this track, and this explosive club destroyer gives me chills to this day. Almost 100 percent of the time, this song creates an impromptu dance-battle circle on the club floor. Awesomeness.
Christopher R. Weingarten, freelance writer and author of the 33 1/3 title "Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back"
The five best songs that hit #1 on Billboard between June and August, 1991-2010:
5. (tie) Sir Mix-a-Lot, "Baby Got Back," and Destiny's Child, "Bootylicious": Two songs celebrating butts. Your mom probably knows all the words to them (mine does). The summer usually means butts come out of their winter hibernation behind sweatpants, they shed the raincoats giving them protection from spring precipitation, and they fearlessly brave the elements in shorts — or less! There's probably some scientific study that can link the popularity of butt songs with the slow appearance of summer butts. If not, I would like to participate in that study. I cannot lie.
4. Rihanna (featuring Jay-Z), "Umbrella": Holy sh--, Jay-Z's on this?
3. Fergie, "London Bridge": People front like Fergie's terrible (and she generally is), but if these Polow Da Don broken marching-band drums and ecstatic "oh sh--s" were backing M.I.A. or Santigold or something, this would have been the hippest song of 2006, and cheeseball hipster blogs would have had apoplectic fits about their "acute angles" and "Residents-like dissonance." The lyrics are generally nonsense and may be about fellatio.
2. Tupac (featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman), "California Love": Tupac got out of prison and immediately released the most glorious summer-party jam in the history of time. Your move, Gucci Mane.
1. EMF, "Unbelievable": This is pretty much ground zero for your Gnarls Barkleys, M.I.A.s, Sleigh Bells, Andre 3000s and Kid Cudis. Weird streaks of punk, dance, alt-rock, rap and whatever else kind of blur into an inescapable pop moment of screaming and dancing and wearing skateboarder clothes. Sampling Andrew Dice Clay for the "oh!" is either a stroke of genius, an Anthrax-style prank, or dudes just didn't know where to find a James Brown record. Also one of our most postmodern Billboard hits is now in a commercial for Kraft Cheese Crumbles! Which you can use at a summer picnic. Wheels within wheels, people.
Eric Rosenthal and Jeff Rosenthal, ItsTheReal.com
1. The Notorious B.I.G., "Hypnotize": "Yacht Rock" may have its own week on Jimmy Fallon's show, but for us, summer is all about Speedboat Rap. With mermaids in fish tanks and helicopter assassins, "Hypnotize" is a throwback to a time when MTV aired countdown shows like "Most Expensive Music Videos."
2. Nelly, "Hot in Herre": If you're anything like us, then summer 2002 (or should that be "summerr 2002?") was all about rebellion! Nelly and the Neptunes led the charge with their revolutionary anthem, "Hot in Herre." We rebelled against correct spelling! We rebelled against proper pronunciation! Girls rebelled against their clothes! 2002 was the summerr when we changed the worrld.
3. Next, "Too Close": Imagine if Marvin Gaye had two brothers and they all performed as a group. The trio that made up Next were nothing like that, but they did have one ultra-catchy song with some classically to-the-point lyrics. The you-on-me, let's-do-it sex words found in "Too Close" were totally appropriate for when they played the song at my eighth-grade dance.
4. Juvenile, "Back That Azz Up": Summertime marches in the streets for women's equality, this song is not. But who cares?! Nothing makes suburban girls get down like disrespectful lyrics and Mannie Fresh's bouncing drums. Well, except for money and the thought of getting TwitPic'd.
5. LFO, "Summer Girls": LFO were the lacrosse-playing, male equivalent of a Stepford Ke$ha. They were in way over their heads as rappers. They were part of Lou Pearlman's Orlando cult. They name-checked Abercrombie & Fitch. Still, "Summer Girls" is the perfect summer song — for when you meet a nice girl and you just want to take her home.
James Montgomery, MTV News rock editor
10. Sloan, "Money City Maniacs": The air-raid sirens at the beginning. The windmilled guitar chords in the middle. The handclapped breakdown at the end. The general fist-pumping-ness of it all. Proof that they even have summer up in Canada.
9. 69 Boyz, "Tootsee Roll": If you haven't had too much to drink and displaced your pelvis while dancing to this song, then I probably don't want to know you. Dip, baby, dip — indeed.
8. Britney Spears, "Toxic": Only ranked so low because it was released in January of 2004, which sort of makes it the antithesis of a summer jam. Still, there's no denying anything about this song — its longevity included — which is why it's still played at clubs to this day.
7. En Vogue, "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)": This song is built around a James Brown sample, a decidedly funky flute loop and the vocal histrionics of four of the finest female voices in pop-n-b history, but none of that is what makes it great. It's all about the breakdown, which launches this one into the stratosphere. And it still hasn't come back down.
6. Ludacris, "Southern Hospitality": Luda's big coming-out party, an ode to shiny Cadillacs, well-endowed ladies and delicious Arnold Palmers (sweet tea and lemonade mixed together, duh), this is basically everything you'd ever want from a summer song. And don't forget the buzzing, Autobahn beat, courtesy of the Neptunes. The beach never felt so chilly.
5. Jay-Z (featuring UGK), "Big Pimpin' ": The lilting, tilting Caribbean beat; the iconic, laconic chorus; that video — oh, that video. Girl in the black fedora, I'll hold you in my heart forever.
4. Beyoncé (featuring Jay-Z), "Crazy in Love": A fierce, feisty, fun slab of power hip-hop, this one heated up the summer of 2003 (and thanks to it's never-endingly energetic beat, probably caused more than a few hernias), and it hasn't really stopped ever since. Also notable for being the song that basically launched B as a solo star, even if it does feature her (future) husband. History!
3. Rihanna (featuring Jay-Z), "Umbrella": The greatest summer song in recent memory and the tune on which Rihanna made the leap. Dance floors still go nuts from the opening snare line, and it almost doesn't matter that the production work here is downright frigid. Pack your parka, because you'll be hearing this one for the rest of your life.
2. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, "Summertime": There's a reason this one is a classic. Sure, the chorus is legendary, but it also features Mr. Smith's best work — his flow is smooth, sexy and swaggadocious — and Jazzy Jeff's production work (a beach blanket full of horns and chimes and breezy synths) is truly something to behold, even 20 years after the song was released. But that's probably getting too deep — let's just sit back and unwind.
1. Nelly, "Hot in Herre": From the triumphantly cheesy opening notes and the popping, locking beat to Nelly's goofball, stop-n-pop delivery and a chorus so delightfully stoopid that it might actually be brilliant, "Hot in Herre" might just be the most ridiculous song ever recorded — which is also why it's the single greatest summer jam of all time.
Kyle Anderson, MTV Newsroom blog editor
1. Nelly, "Hot in Herre": It begins and ends here. It's got a funky beat and a totally ridiculous chorus about getting naked. What more could you want?
2. Crazy Town, "Butterfly": This song could be heard coming out of every tool's car in my hometown during the summer of 2001, which is a sure sign of a hit. Also, even though it features a guy named Shifty Shellshock rapping about how much he wants to have sex with an underage girl, it holds up kind of well.
3. Pras (featuring Mya and ODB), "Ghetto Supastar": Neat facts about this song: It was on the soundtrack to the forgotten classic "Bulworth," which starred a rapping Warren Beatty and Halle Berry before she was a big deal; ODB drops rapping at the end of his guest spot to just make noises; the full title is "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)," which seems weirdly redundant; the chorus interpolates a song written by the Bee Gees and made famous by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (who were definitely the ODB and Mya of their day).
4. Third Eye Blind, "Semi-Charmed Life": Could act as the soundtrack to your crystal-meth bender or a trip to the beach. Versatile! Seriously, though, this song kind of rules and sounded awesome cranked all the way up on the radio.
5. Will Smith (featuring Sisqo and Kool Moe Dee), "Wild Wild West": Yeah, most people would go with "Men in Black," but I preferred Smith's official jam of the summer of 1999. It borrowed a sample from Stevie Wonder, made Sisqo wail in an awesome chorus and was for a movie that was absolutely awful. Plus, Smith raps about the types of weapons the villain in the movie uses, so it makes utterly no sense now. Truly a song of its time.
Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
Paper Boy, "Ditty": This song, along with pretty much all of Biggie's Ready to Die and Dr. Dre's The Chronic, gives me high school summer nostalgia vibes so hard, I swear I can almost taste the Zima.
Len, "Steal My Sunshine": I did not know that Northeastern Canada had any sunshine to steal, but this brother/sister one-hit-wonder team from Toronto — God, this song is just bam, so summer. Maybe it's the cowbell?
Phoenix, "If I Ever Feel Better": I still don't understand how their last album was so big, but this song wasn't a hit when it came out 10 years ago. Still, in my opinion, the most transcendent slice of French synth-pop bliss — a perfect soundtrack for drive time, dance time, lifetime.
Lumidee, "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)": Another one-hitter, and such a New York-y one: It's block parties, open fire hydrants, double-dutch jump rope and those crazy neon-colored popsicles that give you high-fructose-corn-syrup headaches.
MGMT, "Time to Pretend": I feel like everyone got so burnt on this album in the last couple years, especially the "singles." But this one just feels like this distilled nugget of sun and fun and nostalgia and maximum irresponsibility, a.k.a. youth.
Miley Cyrus, "Party in the USA": Seriously. When I hear the opening chords, it's like a fat kid with a dollar hearing the Good Humor truck jangle — I just lose my sh--.
Maura Johnston, music journalist
5. Beyoncé (featuring Jay-Z), "Crazy in Love": Still a staple at every too-sweaty dance party, thanks to its looped Chi-Lites hook and the "oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-no-no" that gets even the most curmudgeonly attendees shaking their hips. And the bridge is up there as one of the most joyous expressions of love in pop music ever.
4. Fastball, "The Way": It sounds like a lost Elvis Costello track that a car radio settled on after flipping past Jewel and Madonna. But the one megahit by the Texas alt-pop band was a look at two adults who embarked on one last, crazy ride in which they shucked off their responsibilities and took off down the open highway.
3. Hanson, "MMMBop": I still remember the first time I saw this video on MTV, which took place early one morning right before I graduated from college. I was pretty spellbound — not just by the skills of the extremely young drummer on display, but by its ever-bubbling chorus and guitar line, which practically radiated sunlight, its charms were so bright.
2. Rihanna, "Umbrella": A song about rain embodying the hot, sunny season? Well, sure. Thanks to the way its synths push through the speakers, "Umbrella" actually sounds like one of those brief summer squalls that lasts for maybe five minutes, tops, pounding the ground with its rain until almost the exact moment when the sun comes out. Plus, what's summer without a bunch of friends to get you through it?
1. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, "Summertime": There are so many reasons it's the obvious pick: the lyrical shout-out to the season; the lazy-day groove; the descriptions of summertime celebrations that seemed to come straight from Will Smith's old photo albums. Plus, I lived in Philadelphia for two years, and if you claim residence there for more than one summer, you kind of have to take on this track as your top summer song of all time.
Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, author of the upcoming book "Talking to Girls About Duran Duran"
Unrest, "Yes She Is My Skinhead Girl": An old punk-rock summer romance 45 from the days of 1991. I've been playing it a lot because Unrest are doing some reunion shows this summer, and it's incredible how those records hold up. I love how Mark Robinson sings about making out on the beach: "Kiss kissing all over your faces/ Smack smacking on my old Ran Races/ Suck sucking where there are no traces." I have no idea what Ran Races are ... sneakers?
Quad City DJs, "C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)": My all-time favorite Southern house-party choo-choo jam. I love the bass. I love the invitation to Michelle, Tamika and Tanya. I love the parentheses in the title. ("The train," dummy! What do you think we're singing about with all the choo-choos here?) I love how it goes on for five or six or seven minutes, who counts, and only an idiot would fade it out early.
Nicole (featuring Mocha and Missy Elliott), "Make It Hot": What did summer sound like before Missy and Timbaland started making records? I'm not sure I can remember, and I don't care. This has to be the sexiest, swampiest, most paranoid hanging-on-the-telephone song ever, with Nicole asking, "Can I get another shot?" and Timbaland answering, "Oh yes you can." This song never became as famous as it deserves to be, but future generations won't sleep on it.
LCD Soundsystem, "I Can Change": My favorite song this summer. James Murphy busts out his Morrissey falsetto to sing, "I can change/ If it helps you fall in love," which has to be the least Morrissey-ish sentiment imaginable. (Morrissey would claim that he can't change, and that's why you should love him.) Those synthesizer burbles are very early Depeche Mode, and early Depeche Mode is always perfect for summer listening, so it's a no-brainer that I'm going to be playing this song nonstop for at least the next six months.
Britney Spears, "Sometimes": Speaking of sometimes, I sometimes get misty over the pop-radio summer of 1999, the halcyon days when Britney could just spend a whole video dancing around on the dock while her elfin dancer boys pose around her in the shape of a heart. This is one of Brit's most underrated summer hits, along with "Lucky" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy." Sheer genius.
Questions? Concerns? Hit me up at BTTS@MTVStaff.com. And share your picks for the best summer jams in the comments!
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Think back to every awesome/romantic/borderline-insane thing you've ever done during the summer. Chances are, there was music playing when you did it. And it was probably playing very, very loudly.
That's because, perhaps more than any other time of the year, summer is practically made for music. It's when we pump up, strip down, make terrible decisions and basically have the times of our lives. And, somewhat fittingly, music is always there with us. It's the soundtrack to our every hookup, breakdown and tanning mishap. It's what's in the air at the beach, the time-share or the club (well, either that or Axe body spray). It's part of our memories, along with that terrible tattoo you got down in Panama City.
So for a song to become a summer jam, it's got to be great (and slightly stupid, but that's a column for another day). And since the official kickoff of summer 2010 is right around the corner, I've decided to compile a list of the greatest of the great — the best, brightest, dumbest, funnest, lightest, loosest, freakiest, goofiest summer songs of all time. All of them are special, all of them are classics. And yes, I spent waaay too much time working on this. What can I say? I freaking love the summer.
Anyway, rather than just prattle on, I reached out to some of my favorite writers — all of whom are certified summer-jam experts, btw — and had them contribute their favorites too. The only thing I told them was that the cutoff point was 1991 (that's when Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince released their epochal "Summertime," after all), and then I sat back and watched the brilliance flood my inbox. Here's what they submitted, along with my picks. It's a definitive list, as submitted by some of the best in the business. These are the Greatest Summer Jams of the Modern Era.
Amos Barshad, New York magazine's Vulture blog
The Notorious B.I.G., "Hypnotize": He died a month before it was officially released, and I think it was clear then it'd be awhile until someone else would be making this level of lyrically brilliant, commercially viable hip-hop. Also, the mermaid fish tank in the video was awesome.
Young Money, "Every Girl": Too raunchy to actually take the Song of the Summer crown, but hung around for a while last season, probably because the sentiment is so universal.
Rihanna, "Umbrella": If you don't like "Umbrella," do us all a favor and move back to the USSR.
Third Eye Blind, "Semi-Charmed Life": Stephan Jenkins believes in the sand beneath his toes, and so do I.
Adam Stewart, MTV News house-music expert/ dude from New Jersey
Tiësto, "Traffic": When Tiësto released this dance-floor mega-bomb in 2003 under his Magik Muzik, the guido fist-pump was arguably born. I have yet to hear this song go off at the beach club without an ocean of hands in the air and strobe lights blinding every eye in the house.
Robin S, "Show Me Love": Steve Angello — one-third of house music's current holy trinity, the Swedish House Mafia — breathed new life into this timeless sing-along floor-filler in 2008. How could he make one of the best and most iconic dance songs even better? The Midas touch of Angello has ensured "Show Me Love" a place as a summer anthem for many years to come.
Swedish House Mafia (featuring Laid Back Luke), "Leave the World Behind": Speaking of the Swedes, they're responsible for one of the most epic dance anthems the world has ever heard. With the soulful vocals of Deborah Cox and melodic grand-piano stabs, Axwell, Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso will forever be looked to for producing thumping summer beats.
Benny Benassi, "Satisfaction": The quintessential Jersey Shore anthem arrived on our doorsteps in the summer of 2003. It was the first year I ever bought a share in a beach house. I heard this song at least 17 times a day for three months straight, and now, years later, I still call it one of my summer faves.
Sarah McLachlan, "Silence (Delerium Remix)": Honestly, this song can make the biggest guido cry. First released in 1997, it hit U.S. airwaves in 1999, and once Tiësto got a hold of it, the uplifting vocal-trance track became one of the most recognizable tunes to any dance-music aficionado. Ahhh, the memories I have from this song, most of which are not suitable for publication.
David Guetta, "Love Is Gone (Joachim Garraud Remix)": A flashback to the pre-Black Eyed Peas days of mega-producer and DJ David Guetta. Ever hear the beginning riff to "I've Gotta Feeling"? It came from this track, and this explosive club destroyer gives me chills to this day. Almost 100 percent of the time, this song creates an impromptu dance-battle circle on the club floor. Awesomeness.
Christopher R. Weingarten, freelance writer and author of the 33 1/3 title "Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back"
The five best songs that hit #1 on Billboard between June and August, 1991-2010:
5. (tie) Sir Mix-a-Lot, "Baby Got Back," and Destiny's Child, "Bootylicious": Two songs celebrating butts. Your mom probably knows all the words to them (mine does). The summer usually means butts come out of their winter hibernation behind sweatpants, they shed the raincoats giving them protection from spring precipitation, and they fearlessly brave the elements in shorts — or less! There's probably some scientific study that can link the popularity of butt songs with the slow appearance of summer butts. If not, I would like to participate in that study. I cannot lie.
4. Rihanna (featuring Jay-Z), "Umbrella": Holy sh--, Jay-Z's on this?
3. Fergie, "London Bridge": People front like Fergie's terrible (and she generally is), but if these Polow Da Don broken marching-band drums and ecstatic "oh sh--s" were backing M.I.A. or Santigold or something, this would have been the hippest song of 2006, and cheeseball hipster blogs would have had apoplectic fits about their "acute angles" and "Residents-like dissonance." The lyrics are generally nonsense and may be about fellatio.
2. Tupac (featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman), "California Love": Tupac got out of prison and immediately released the most glorious summer-party jam in the history of time. Your move, Gucci Mane.
1. EMF, "Unbelievable": This is pretty much ground zero for your Gnarls Barkleys, M.I.A.s, Sleigh Bells, Andre 3000s and Kid Cudis. Weird streaks of punk, dance, alt-rock, rap and whatever else kind of blur into an inescapable pop moment of screaming and dancing and wearing skateboarder clothes. Sampling Andrew Dice Clay for the "oh!" is either a stroke of genius, an Anthrax-style prank, or dudes just didn't know where to find a James Brown record. Also one of our most postmodern Billboard hits is now in a commercial for Kraft Cheese Crumbles! Which you can use at a summer picnic. Wheels within wheels, people.
Eric Rosenthal and Jeff Rosenthal, ItsTheReal.com
1. The Notorious B.I.G., "Hypnotize": "Yacht Rock" may have its own week on Jimmy Fallon's show, but for us, summer is all about Speedboat Rap. With mermaids in fish tanks and helicopter assassins, "Hypnotize" is a throwback to a time when MTV aired countdown shows like "Most Expensive Music Videos."
2. Nelly, "Hot in Herre": If you're anything like us, then summer 2002 (or should that be "summerr 2002?") was all about rebellion! Nelly and the Neptunes led the charge with their revolutionary anthem, "Hot in Herre." We rebelled against correct spelling! We rebelled against proper pronunciation! Girls rebelled against their clothes! 2002 was the summerr when we changed the worrld.
3. Next, "Too Close": Imagine if Marvin Gaye had two brothers and they all performed as a group. The trio that made up Next were nothing like that, but they did have one ultra-catchy song with some classically to-the-point lyrics. The you-on-me, let's-do-it sex words found in "Too Close" were totally appropriate for when they played the song at my eighth-grade dance.
4. Juvenile, "Back That Azz Up": Summertime marches in the streets for women's equality, this song is not. But who cares?! Nothing makes suburban girls get down like disrespectful lyrics and Mannie Fresh's bouncing drums. Well, except for money and the thought of getting TwitPic'd.
5. LFO, "Summer Girls": LFO were the lacrosse-playing, male equivalent of a Stepford Ke$ha. They were in way over their heads as rappers. They were part of Lou Pearlman's Orlando cult. They name-checked Abercrombie & Fitch. Still, "Summer Girls" is the perfect summer song — for when you meet a nice girl and you just want to take her home.
James Montgomery, MTV News rock editor
10. Sloan, "Money City Maniacs": The air-raid sirens at the beginning. The windmilled guitar chords in the middle. The handclapped breakdown at the end. The general fist-pumping-ness of it all. Proof that they even have summer up in Canada.
9. 69 Boyz, "Tootsee Roll": If you haven't had too much to drink and displaced your pelvis while dancing to this song, then I probably don't want to know you. Dip, baby, dip — indeed.
8. Britney Spears, "Toxic": Only ranked so low because it was released in January of 2004, which sort of makes it the antithesis of a summer jam. Still, there's no denying anything about this song — its longevity included — which is why it's still played at clubs to this day.
7. En Vogue, "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)": This song is built around a James Brown sample, a decidedly funky flute loop and the vocal histrionics of four of the finest female voices in pop-n-b history, but none of that is what makes it great. It's all about the breakdown, which launches this one into the stratosphere. And it still hasn't come back down.
6. Ludacris, "Southern Hospitality": Luda's big coming-out party, an ode to shiny Cadillacs, well-endowed ladies and delicious Arnold Palmers (sweet tea and lemonade mixed together, duh), this is basically everything you'd ever want from a summer song. And don't forget the buzzing, Autobahn beat, courtesy of the Neptunes. The beach never felt so chilly.
5. Jay-Z (featuring UGK), "Big Pimpin' ": The lilting, tilting Caribbean beat; the iconic, laconic chorus; that video — oh, that video. Girl in the black fedora, I'll hold you in my heart forever.
4. Beyoncé (featuring Jay-Z), "Crazy in Love": A fierce, feisty, fun slab of power hip-hop, this one heated up the summer of 2003 (and thanks to it's never-endingly energetic beat, probably caused more than a few hernias), and it hasn't really stopped ever since. Also notable for being the song that basically launched B as a solo star, even if it does feature her (future) husband. History!
3. Rihanna (featuring Jay-Z), "Umbrella": The greatest summer song in recent memory and the tune on which Rihanna made the leap. Dance floors still go nuts from the opening snare line, and it almost doesn't matter that the production work here is downright frigid. Pack your parka, because you'll be hearing this one for the rest of your life.
2. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, "Summertime": There's a reason this one is a classic. Sure, the chorus is legendary, but it also features Mr. Smith's best work — his flow is smooth, sexy and swaggadocious — and Jazzy Jeff's production work (a beach blanket full of horns and chimes and breezy synths) is truly something to behold, even 20 years after the song was released. But that's probably getting too deep — let's just sit back and unwind.
1. Nelly, "Hot in Herre": From the triumphantly cheesy opening notes and the popping, locking beat to Nelly's goofball, stop-n-pop delivery and a chorus so delightfully stoopid that it might actually be brilliant, "Hot in Herre" might just be the most ridiculous song ever recorded — which is also why it's the single greatest summer jam of all time.
Kyle Anderson, MTV Newsroom blog editor
1. Nelly, "Hot in Herre": It begins and ends here. It's got a funky beat and a totally ridiculous chorus about getting naked. What more could you want?
2. Crazy Town, "Butterfly": This song could be heard coming out of every tool's car in my hometown during the summer of 2001, which is a sure sign of a hit. Also, even though it features a guy named Shifty Shellshock rapping about how much he wants to have sex with an underage girl, it holds up kind of well.
3. Pras (featuring Mya and ODB), "Ghetto Supastar": Neat facts about this song: It was on the soundtrack to the forgotten classic "Bulworth," which starred a rapping Warren Beatty and Halle Berry before she was a big deal; ODB drops rapping at the end of his guest spot to just make noises; the full title is "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)," which seems weirdly redundant; the chorus interpolates a song written by the Bee Gees and made famous by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (who were definitely the ODB and Mya of their day).
4. Third Eye Blind, "Semi-Charmed Life": Could act as the soundtrack to your crystal-meth bender or a trip to the beach. Versatile! Seriously, though, this song kind of rules and sounded awesome cranked all the way up on the radio.
5. Will Smith (featuring Sisqo and Kool Moe Dee), "Wild Wild West": Yeah, most people would go with "Men in Black," but I preferred Smith's official jam of the summer of 1999. It borrowed a sample from Stevie Wonder, made Sisqo wail in an awesome chorus and was for a movie that was absolutely awful. Plus, Smith raps about the types of weapons the villain in the movie uses, so it makes utterly no sense now. Truly a song of its time.
Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
Paper Boy, "Ditty": This song, along with pretty much all of Biggie's Ready to Die and Dr. Dre's The Chronic, gives me high school summer nostalgia vibes so hard, I swear I can almost taste the Zima.
Len, "Steal My Sunshine": I did not know that Northeastern Canada had any sunshine to steal, but this brother/sister one-hit-wonder team from Toronto — God, this song is just bam, so summer. Maybe it's the cowbell?
Phoenix, "If I Ever Feel Better": I still don't understand how their last album was so big, but this song wasn't a hit when it came out 10 years ago. Still, in my opinion, the most transcendent slice of French synth-pop bliss — a perfect soundtrack for drive time, dance time, lifetime.
Lumidee, "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)": Another one-hitter, and such a New York-y one: It's block parties, open fire hydrants, double-dutch jump rope and those crazy neon-colored popsicles that give you high-fructose-corn-syrup headaches.
MGMT, "Time to Pretend": I feel like everyone got so burnt on this album in the last couple years, especially the "singles." But this one just feels like this distilled nugget of sun and fun and nostalgia and maximum irresponsibility, a.k.a. youth.
Miley Cyrus, "Party in the USA": Seriously. When I hear the opening chords, it's like a fat kid with a dollar hearing the Good Humor truck jangle — I just lose my sh--.
Maura Johnston, music journalist
5. Beyoncé (featuring Jay-Z), "Crazy in Love": Still a staple at every too-sweaty dance party, thanks to its looped Chi-Lites hook and the "oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-no-no" that gets even the most curmudgeonly attendees shaking their hips. And the bridge is up there as one of the most joyous expressions of love in pop music ever.
4. Fastball, "The Way": It sounds like a lost Elvis Costello track that a car radio settled on after flipping past Jewel and Madonna. But the one megahit by the Texas alt-pop band was a look at two adults who embarked on one last, crazy ride in which they shucked off their responsibilities and took off down the open highway.
3. Hanson, "MMMBop": I still remember the first time I saw this video on MTV, which took place early one morning right before I graduated from college. I was pretty spellbound — not just by the skills of the extremely young drummer on display, but by its ever-bubbling chorus and guitar line, which practically radiated sunlight, its charms were so bright.
2. Rihanna, "Umbrella": A song about rain embodying the hot, sunny season? Well, sure. Thanks to the way its synths push through the speakers, "Umbrella" actually sounds like one of those brief summer squalls that lasts for maybe five minutes, tops, pounding the ground with its rain until almost the exact moment when the sun comes out. Plus, what's summer without a bunch of friends to get you through it?
1. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, "Summertime": There are so many reasons it's the obvious pick: the lyrical shout-out to the season; the lazy-day groove; the descriptions of summertime celebrations that seemed to come straight from Will Smith's old photo albums. Plus, I lived in Philadelphia for two years, and if you claim residence there for more than one summer, you kind of have to take on this track as your top summer song of all time.
Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, author of the upcoming book "Talking to Girls About Duran Duran"
Unrest, "Yes She Is My Skinhead Girl": An old punk-rock summer romance 45 from the days of 1991. I've been playing it a lot because Unrest are doing some reunion shows this summer, and it's incredible how those records hold up. I love how Mark Robinson sings about making out on the beach: "Kiss kissing all over your faces/ Smack smacking on my old Ran Races/ Suck sucking where there are no traces." I have no idea what Ran Races are ... sneakers?
Quad City DJs, "C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)": My all-time favorite Southern house-party choo-choo jam. I love the bass. I love the invitation to Michelle, Tamika and Tanya. I love the parentheses in the title. ("The train," dummy! What do you think we're singing about with all the choo-choos here?) I love how it goes on for five or six or seven minutes, who counts, and only an idiot would fade it out early.
Nicole (featuring Mocha and Missy Elliott), "Make It Hot": What did summer sound like before Missy and Timbaland started making records? I'm not sure I can remember, and I don't care. This has to be the sexiest, swampiest, most paranoid hanging-on-the-telephone song ever, with Nicole asking, "Can I get another shot?" and Timbaland answering, "Oh yes you can." This song never became as famous as it deserves to be, but future generations won't sleep on it.
LCD Soundsystem, "I Can Change": My favorite song this summer. James Murphy busts out his Morrissey falsetto to sing, "I can change/ If it helps you fall in love," which has to be the least Morrissey-ish sentiment imaginable. (Morrissey would claim that he can't change, and that's why you should love him.) Those synthesizer burbles are very early Depeche Mode, and early Depeche Mode is always perfect for summer listening, so it's a no-brainer that I'm going to be playing this song nonstop for at least the next six months.
Britney Spears, "Sometimes": Speaking of sometimes, I sometimes get misty over the pop-radio summer of 1999, the halcyon days when Britney could just spend a whole video dancing around on the dock while her elfin dancer boys pose around her in the shape of a heart. This is one of Brit's most underrated summer hits, along with "Lucky" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy." Sheer genius.
Questions? Concerns? Hit me up at BTTS@MTVStaff.com. And share your picks for the best summer jams in the comments!
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Selena Gomez Told Justin Bieber To 'Embrace' Being Short
'You're short, embrace it,' she advised her fellow pop star.By Jocelyn Vena
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Photo: Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage
Selena Gomez may have temporarily lost her voice, but that didn't stop her from making an appearance on "Lopez Tonight" Monday (July 26). With the help of a Dynavox voice-enhancing machine, Gomez sat down with host George Lopez to talk about her good pal Justin Bieber.
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Selena Gomez
Photo: Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage
Selena Gomez may have temporarily lost her voice, but that didn't stop her from making an appearance on "Lopez Tonight" Monday (July 26). With the help of a Dynavox voice-enhancing machine, Gomez sat down with host George Lopez to talk about her good pal Justin Bieber.
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'Charlie St. Cloud': Dead Zone, By Kurt Loder
Zac Efron in ghost world.
Zac Efron in "Charlie St. Cloud"
Photo: Universal Pictures
Charlie St. Cloud sees dead people. Possibly filing in to watch this movie. Although the storyline of "Charlie St. Cloud" has some nice love-after-death twists, and the imagery — gleaming harbor-town nightscapes and sleek sailboats skudding across the water — has been beautifully rendered, the picture is becalmed by the star performance at its center.
Charlie (Zac Efron) lives for sailing, and as the movie opens, in his briny hometown on the Washington coast, he's preparing to leave for Stanford University in the fall on a sailing scholarship. Despite his resemblance to Zac Efron, Charlie doesn't have a girlfriend. He's entirely devoted to his mother (a minimal appearance by Kim Basinger) and especially his little brother, Sam (Charlie Tahan, talented beyond the call of cuteness). Sam lives for baseball, and Charlie coaches him with daily pitching practice in a clearing in some nearby woods. Charlie tells Sam he'll always be there for him. But then there's a car crash; Sam is killed, but Charlie, although briefly flatlined, survives.
Five years later, we find Charlie working as a caretaker at the local cemetery. He canceled his Stanford plans because ... well, because he told Sam he'd always be there for him. And Sam is still there, turning up in the woods every evening for their regular pitching sessions. Presumably Charlie has decided to spend the rest of his life as an undead-baseball coach. But then he meets the beautiful Tess (Amanda Crew), an avid sailor herself, who's gearing up for an around-the-world race in her elegant yacht. As Charlie and Tess fall in love, Sam, with no other earthly hobbies to occupy his time, watches them with growing unease (possibly even observing the movie's lone sex scene, a coupling so discreet it barely rises to the level of PG-13). "I could feel you forgetting me," he tells Charlie. "Without you, I feel myself start to disappear."
This basic plot conflict grows even slushier following a second tragedy, which introduces another level of lovelorn ambiguity. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of Tahan and Crew (who injects some liveliness into the otherwise turgid proceedings), the real love story at the heart of the picture is the sultry union of Zac Efron and director Burr Steers' camera. Efron, such a charmer in last year's "17 Again," is a hopeless mope here, acting mainly with his burnished tan and his bioluminescent blue eyes, which we all too often see welling with tears. Charlie stares out to sea. He stares into his soul. He suffers and suffers, and his muffled torment, even when backgrounded by glorious coastal sunsets, grows oppressive. We want Efron to jack this character up to another emotional level, to manifest some personality, but he just keeps wallowing in heartbreak. So while Charlie keeps seeing dead people (there's also a deceased buddy on hand), we're left watching a dead movie.
Don't miss Kurt Loder's review of "Dinner For Schmucks," also new in theaters this week.
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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Charlie St. Cloud sees dead people. Possibly filing in to watch this movie. Although the storyline of "Charlie St. Cloud" has some nice love-after-death twists, and the imagery — gleaming harbor-town nightscapes and sleek sailboats skudding across the water — has been beautifully rendered, the picture is becalmed by the star performance at its center.
Charlie (Zac Efron) lives for sailing, and as the movie opens, in his briny hometown on the Washington coast, he's preparing to leave for Stanford University in the fall on a sailing scholarship. Despite his resemblance to Zac Efron, Charlie doesn't have a girlfriend. He's entirely devoted to his mother (a minimal appearance by Kim Basinger) and especially his little brother, Sam (Charlie Tahan, talented beyond the call of cuteness). Sam lives for baseball, and Charlie coaches him with daily pitching practice in a clearing in some nearby woods. Charlie tells Sam he'll always be there for him. But then there's a car crash; Sam is killed, but Charlie, although briefly flatlined, survives.
Five years later, we find Charlie working as a caretaker at the local cemetery. He canceled his Stanford plans because ... well, because he told Sam he'd always be there for him. And Sam is still there, turning up in the woods every evening for their regular pitching sessions. Presumably Charlie has decided to spend the rest of his life as an undead-baseball coach. But then he meets the beautiful Tess (Amanda Crew), an avid sailor herself, who's gearing up for an around-the-world race in her elegant yacht. As Charlie and Tess fall in love, Sam, with no other earthly hobbies to occupy his time, watches them with growing unease (possibly even observing the movie's lone sex scene, a coupling so discreet it barely rises to the level of PG-13). "I could feel you forgetting me," he tells Charlie. "Without you, I feel myself start to disappear."
This basic plot conflict grows even slushier following a second tragedy, which introduces another level of lovelorn ambiguity. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of Tahan and Crew (who injects some liveliness into the otherwise turgid proceedings), the real love story at the heart of the picture is the sultry union of Zac Efron and director Burr Steers' camera. Efron, such a charmer in last year's "17 Again," is a hopeless mope here, acting mainly with his burnished tan and his bioluminescent blue eyes, which we all too often see welling with tears. Charlie stares out to sea. He stares into his soul. He suffers and suffers, and his muffled torment, even when backgrounded by glorious coastal sunsets, grows oppressive. We want Efron to jack this character up to another emotional level, to manifest some personality, but he just keeps wallowing in heartbreak. So while Charlie keeps seeing dead people (there's also a deceased buddy on hand), we're left watching a dead movie.
Don't miss Kurt Loder's review of "Dinner For Schmucks," also new in theaters this week.
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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Oops!... I Did It Again
This photo belongs on the back of 20 Times a Lady.
PS - My friend Mark took this photo and the one below of me and Bev. He's become a master photographer.FSU Cowgirls Gabrielle Union Garcelle Beauvais Genelle Frenoy
PS - My friend Mark took this photo and the one below of me and Bev. He's become a master photographer.FSU Cowgirls Gabrielle Union Garcelle Beauvais Genelle Frenoy
U2, AC/DC, Beyonce Top Forbes 2010 Music Earners List
Lady Gaga debuts on the list at #7, after earning more than Madonna in the past year.By Gil Kaufman
U2's Bono
Photo: Harry Herd/ Getty Images
It just stands to reason that if you put on the biggest rock tour in history, you're going to make some serious coin. That might explain why more than three decades into their career, U2 easily took the top spot on Forbes magazine's list of the world's top-earning musicians, which also included newcomer Lady Gaga, as well as some of the usual suspects like Madonna, Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen.
Like most of the artists on the list, the veteran Irish rockers did it with touring cash, in their case the coin from their gigantic 360 Tour, which netted them $130 million over the past 12 months by selling more than 1.3 million tickets for an average price of $94 apiece in North America. The tour grossed $311 million, and each stop had gross ticket receipts of $10 million, but the band's bottom line was also boosted by healthy merchandise sales, as well as strong radio play for their deep back catalog, which continues to sell well. The outing was temporarily derailed this year due to Bono's back injury, but U2 plan to return to North American shores next summer for a victory lap.
The Forbes tally, which counted earnings between June 2009 and June 2010, had another veteran band at #2: power rockers AC/DC, who stormed back last year with a tour that grossed $2.3 million a night and helped them earn $114 million on worldwide grosses of $226 million.
Making a stand for the ladies, Beyoncé netted $87 million to become the highest-earning female on the list at #3. A healthy dose of her take was courtesy of major endorsement deals with Nintendo and L'Oréal, sales from her House of Dereon fashion line, and the $86 million in gross receipts from her 93-date world tour.
New Jersey rock icon Springsteen also made most of his money on the road, raking in $70 million by selling more than 2 million tickets on his world tour, which grossed $167 million. Heavy radio play and the sales of lots of catalog albums also helped him lock down the #4 slot on the list.
It was another solid year for Britney Spears, who earned the #5 position with the fifth-highest grossing tour of the year, which brought in gross receipts of $130 million. She also rang up big cash for endorsement deals with Elizabeth Arden and Candies, which added to her $64 million in earnings. Jay-Z gave wifey Beyoncé a run for her money, taking the #6 position with $63 million he brought in from his stake in the New Jersey Nets NBA team, 40/40 nightclub chain, the hit Broadway show "Fela!," Blueprint 3 sales and the album's tour, which grossed more than $1 million a night.
Gaga, 24, crashed the list at #7 thanks to strong CD and download sales, her smash worldwide Monster Ball tour and million-dollar endorsement deals with Virgin Mobile, Polaroid, Viva Glam and Monster Cable, which netted her $62 million. She beat out one of her musical and sartorial touchstones, Madonna, who hit the #8 spot with earnings of $58 million thanks to her Sticky and Sweet Tour, the fourth highest-grossing outing of 2009, which raked in $6 million a night for a $138 million gross. The pop legend also made cash from an all-Madonna episode of "Glee" and earned a lump of cash from her lucrative publishing royalties.
Country star Kenny Chesney landed at #9 with $50 million in earnings from a $71 million grossing tour and prominent sponsorships with Corona and MasterCard.
The final spot was a three-way tie between the Black Eyed Peas, Coldplay and Toby Keith, all of whom brought in $48 million. The unstoppable Peas did it with a worldwide tour that brought in $800,000 a night, as well as a raft of endorsement deals with Target, Honda, Bacardi and Apple computers. Coldplay's tour dates for 2008's Viva la Vida grossed more than $105 million as well as millions in merchandise sales. Keith made $30 million in gross concert receipts and earned the rest from a growing chain of restaurants, stakes in several publishing companies and millions a year from publishing royalties.
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U2's Bono
Photo: Harry Herd/ Getty Images
It just stands to reason that if you put on the biggest rock tour in history, you're going to make some serious coin. That might explain why more than three decades into their career, U2 easily took the top spot on Forbes magazine's list of the world's top-earning musicians, which also included newcomer Lady Gaga, as well as some of the usual suspects like Madonna, Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen.
Like most of the artists on the list, the veteran Irish rockers did it with touring cash, in their case the coin from their gigantic 360 Tour, which netted them $130 million over the past 12 months by selling more than 1.3 million tickets for an average price of $94 apiece in North America. The tour grossed $311 million, and each stop had gross ticket receipts of $10 million, but the band's bottom line was also boosted by healthy merchandise sales, as well as strong radio play for their deep back catalog, which continues to sell well. The outing was temporarily derailed this year due to Bono's back injury, but U2 plan to return to North American shores next summer for a victory lap.
The Forbes tally, which counted earnings between June 2009 and June 2010, had another veteran band at #2: power rockers AC/DC, who stormed back last year with a tour that grossed $2.3 million a night and helped them earn $114 million on worldwide grosses of $226 million.
Making a stand for the ladies, Beyoncé netted $87 million to become the highest-earning female on the list at #3. A healthy dose of her take was courtesy of major endorsement deals with Nintendo and L'Oréal, sales from her House of Dereon fashion line, and the $86 million in gross receipts from her 93-date world tour.
New Jersey rock icon Springsteen also made most of his money on the road, raking in $70 million by selling more than 2 million tickets on his world tour, which grossed $167 million. Heavy radio play and the sales of lots of catalog albums also helped him lock down the #4 slot on the list.
It was another solid year for Britney Spears, who earned the #5 position with the fifth-highest grossing tour of the year, which brought in gross receipts of $130 million. She also rang up big cash for endorsement deals with Elizabeth Arden and Candies, which added to her $64 million in earnings. Jay-Z gave wifey Beyoncé a run for her money, taking the #6 position with $63 million he brought in from his stake in the New Jersey Nets NBA team, 40/40 nightclub chain, the hit Broadway show "Fela!," Blueprint 3 sales and the album's tour, which grossed more than $1 million a night.
Gaga, 24, crashed the list at #7 thanks to strong CD and download sales, her smash worldwide Monster Ball tour and million-dollar endorsement deals with Virgin Mobile, Polaroid, Viva Glam and Monster Cable, which netted her $62 million. She beat out one of her musical and sartorial touchstones, Madonna, who hit the #8 spot with earnings of $58 million thanks to her Sticky and Sweet Tour, the fourth highest-grossing outing of 2009, which raked in $6 million a night for a $138 million gross. The pop legend also made cash from an all-Madonna episode of "Glee" and earned a lump of cash from her lucrative publishing royalties.
Country star Kenny Chesney landed at #9 with $50 million in earnings from a $71 million grossing tour and prominent sponsorships with Corona and MasterCard.
The final spot was a three-way tie between the Black Eyed Peas, Coldplay and Toby Keith, all of whom brought in $48 million. The unstoppable Peas did it with a worldwide tour that brought in $800,000 a night, as well as a raft of endorsement deals with Target, Honda, Bacardi and Apple computers. Coldplay's tour dates for 2008's Viva la Vida grossed more than $105 million as well as millions in merchandise sales. Keith made $30 million in gross concert receipts and earned the rest from a growing chain of restaurants, stakes in several publishing companies and millions a year from publishing royalties.
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Friday, July 30, 2010
The Greatest Summer Jams Of The Modern Era
Just in time for the warm weather, we compile the best sun-drenched tunes since 1991, in Bigger Than the Sound.By James Montgomery
Think back to every awesome/romantic/borderline-insane thing you've ever done during the summer. Chances are, there was music playing when you did it. And it was probably playing very, very loudly.
That's because, perhaps more than any other time of the year, summer is practically made for music. It's when we pump up, strip down, make terrible decisions and basically have the times of our lives. And, somewhat fittingly, music is always there with us. It's the soundtrack to our every hookup, breakdown and tanning mishap. It's what's in the air at the beach, the time-share or the club (well, either that or Axe body spray). It's part of our memories, along with that terrible tattoo you got down in Panama City.
So for a song to become a summer jam, it's got to be great (and slightly stupid, but that's a column for another day). And since the official kickoff of summer 2010 is right around the corner, I've decided to compile a list of the greatest of the great — the best, brightest, dumbest, funnest, lightest, loosest, freakiest, goofiest summer songs of all time. All of them are special, all of them are classics. And yes, I spent waaay too much time working on this. What can I say? I freaking love the summer.
Anyway, rather than just prattle on, I reached out to some of my favorite writers — all of whom are certified summer-jam experts, btw — and had them contribute their favorites too. The only thing I told them was that the cutoff point was 1991 (that's when Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince released their epochal "Summertime," after all), and then I sat back and watched the brilliance flood my inbox. Here's what they submitted, along with my picks. It's a definitive list, as submitted by some of the best in the business. These are the Greatest Summer Jams of the Modern Era.
Amos Barshad, New York magazine's Vulture blog
The Notorious B.I.G., "Hypnotize": He died a month before it was officially released, and I think it was clear then it'd be awhile until someone else would be making this level of lyrically brilliant, commercially viable hip-hop. Also, the mermaid fish tank in the video was awesome.
Young Money, "Every Girl": Too raunchy to actually take the Song of the Summer crown, but hung around for a while last season, probably because the sentiment is so universal.
Rihanna, "Umbrella": If you don't like "Umbrella," do us all a favor and move back to the USSR.
Third Eye Blind, "Semi-Charmed Life": Stephan Jenkins believes in the sand beneath his toes, and so do I.
Adam Stewart, MTV News house-music expert/ dude from New Jersey
Tiësto, "Traffic": When Tiësto released this dance-floor mega-bomb in 2003 under his Magik Muzik, the guido fist-pump was arguably born. I have yet to hear this song go off at the beach club without an ocean of hands in the air and strobe lights blinding every eye in the house.
Robin S, "Show Me Love": Steve Angello — one-third of house music's current holy trinity, the Swedish House Mafia — breathed new life into this timeless sing-along floor-filler in 2008. How could he make one of the best and most iconic dance songs even better? The Midas touch of Angello has ensured "Show Me Love" a place as a summer anthem for many years to come.
Swedish House Mafia (featuring Laid Back Luke), "Leave the World Behind": Speaking of the Swedes, they're responsible for one of the most epic dance anthems the world has ever heard. With the soulful vocals of Deborah Cox and melodic grand-piano stabs, Axwell, Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso will forever be looked to for producing thumping summer beats.
Benny Benassi, "Satisfaction": The quintessential Jersey Shore anthem arrived on our doorsteps in the summer of 2003. It was the first year I ever bought a share in a beach house. I heard this song at least 17 times a day for three months straight, and now, years later, I still call it one of my summer faves.
Sarah McLachlan, "Silence (Delerium Remix)": Honestly, this song can make the biggest guido cry. First released in 1997, it hit U.S. airwaves in 1999, and once Tiësto got a hold of it, the uplifting vocal-trance track became one of the most recognizable tunes to any dance-music aficionado. Ahhh, the memories I have from this song, most of which are not suitable for publication.
David Guetta, "Love Is Gone (Joachim Garraud Remix)": A flashback to the pre-Black Eyed Peas days of mega-producer and DJ David Guetta. Ever hear the beginning riff to "I've Gotta Feeling"? It came from this track, and this explosive club destroyer gives me chills to this day. Almost 100 percent of the time, this song creates an impromptu dance-battle circle on the club floor. Awesomeness.
Christopher R. Weingarten, freelance writer and author of the 33 1/3 title "Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back"
The five best songs that hit #1 on Billboard between June and August, 1991-2010:
5. (tie) Sir Mix-a-Lot, "Baby Got Back," and Destiny's Child, "Bootylicious": Two songs celebrating butts. Your mom probably knows all the words to them (mine does). The summer usually means butts come out of their winter hibernation behind sweatpants, they shed the raincoats giving them protection from spring precipitation, and they fearlessly brave the elements in shorts — or less! There's probably some scientific study that can link the popularity of butt songs with the slow appearance of summer butts. If not, I would like to participate in that study. I cannot lie.
4. Rihanna (featuring Jay-Z), "Umbrella": Holy sh--, Jay-Z's on this?
3. Fergie, "London Bridge": People front like Fergie's terrible (and she generally is), but if these Polow Da Don broken marching-band drums and ecstatic "oh sh--s" were backing M.I.A. or Santigold or something, this would have been the hippest song of 2006, and cheeseball hipster blogs would have had apoplectic fits about their "acute angles" and "Residents-like dissonance." The lyrics are generally nonsense and may be about fellatio.
2. Tupac (featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman), "California Love": Tupac got out of prison and immediately released the most glorious summer-party jam in the history of time. Your move, Gucci Mane.
1. EMF, "Unbelievable": This is pretty much ground zero for your Gnarls Barkleys, M.I.A.s, Sleigh Bells, Andre 3000s and Kid Cudis. Weird streaks of punk, dance, alt-rock, rap and whatever else kind of blur into an inescapable pop moment of screaming and dancing and wearing skateboarder clothes. Sampling Andrew Dice Clay for the "oh!" is either a stroke of genius, an Anthrax-style prank, or dudes just didn't know where to find a James Brown record. Also one of our most postmodern Billboard hits is now in a commercial for Kraft Cheese Crumbles! Which you can use at a summer picnic. Wheels within wheels, people.
Eric Rosenthal and Jeff Rosenthal, ItsTheReal.com
1. The Notorious B.I.G., "Hypnotize": "Yacht Rock" may have its own week on Jimmy Fallon's show, but for us, summer is all about Speedboat Rap. With mermaids in fish tanks and helicopter assassins, "Hypnotize" is a throwback to a time when MTV aired countdown shows like "Most Expensive Music Videos."
2. Nelly, "Hot in Herre": If you're anything like us, then summer 2002 (or should that be "summerr 2002?") was all about rebellion! Nelly and the Neptunes led the charge with their revolutionary anthem, "Hot in Herre." We rebelled against correct spelling! We rebelled against proper pronunciation! Girls rebelled against their clothes! 2002 was the summerr when we changed the worrld.
3. Next, "Too Close": Imagine if Marvin Gaye had two brothers and they all performed as a group. The trio that made up Next were nothing like that, but they did have one ultra-catchy song with some classically to-the-point lyrics. The you-on-me, let's-do-it sex words found in "Too Close" were totally appropriate for when they played the song at my eighth-grade dance.
4. Juvenile, "Back That Azz Up": Summertime marches in the streets for women's equality, this song is not. But who cares?! Nothing makes suburban girls get down like disrespectful lyrics and Mannie Fresh's bouncing drums. Well, except for money and the thought of getting TwitPic'd.
5. LFO, "Summer Girls": LFO were the lacrosse-playing, male equivalent of a Stepford Ke$ha. They were in way over their heads as rappers. They were part of Lou Pearlman's Orlando cult. They name-checked Abercrombie & Fitch. Still, "Summer Girls" is the perfect summer song — for when you meet a nice girl and you just want to take her home.
James Montgomery, MTV News rock editor
10. Sloan, "Money City Maniacs": The air-raid sirens at the beginning. The windmilled guitar chords in the middle. The handclapped breakdown at the end. The general fist-pumping-ness of it all. Proof that they even have summer up in Canada.
9. 69 Boyz, "Tootsee Roll": If you haven't had too much to drink and displaced your pelvis while dancing to this song, then I probably don't want to know you. Dip, baby, dip — indeed.
8. Britney Spears, "Toxic": Only ranked so low because it was released in January of 2004, which sort of makes it the antithesis of a summer jam. Still, there's no denying anything about this song — its longevity included — which is why it's still played at clubs to this day.
7. En Vogue, "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)": This song is built around a James Brown sample, a decidedly funky flute loop and the vocal histrionics of four of the finest female voices in pop-n-b history, but none of that is what makes it great. It's all about the breakdown, which launches this one into the stratosphere. And it still hasn't come back down.
6. Ludacris, "Southern Hospitality": Luda's big coming-out party, an ode to shiny Cadillacs, well-endowed ladies and delicious Arnold Palmers (sweet tea and lemonade mixed together, duh), this is basically everything you'd ever want from a summer song. And don't forget the buzzing, Autobahn beat, courtesy of the Neptunes. The beach never felt so chilly.
5. Jay-Z (featuring UGK), "Big Pimpin' ": The lilting, tilting Caribbean beat; the iconic, laconic chorus; that video — oh, that video. Girl in the black fedora, I'll hold you in my heart forever.
4. Beyoncé (featuring Jay-Z), "Crazy in Love": A fierce, feisty, fun slab of power hip-hop, this one heated up the summer of 2003 (and thanks to it's never-endingly energetic beat, probably caused more than a few hernias), and it hasn't really stopped ever since. Also notable for being the song that basically launched B as a solo star, even if it does feature her (future) husband. History!
3. Rihanna (featuring Jay-Z), "Umbrella": The greatest summer song in recent memory and the tune on which Rihanna made the leap. Dance floors still go nuts from the opening snare line, and it almost doesn't matter that the production work here is downright frigid. Pack your parka, because you'll be hearing this one for the rest of your life.
2. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, "Summertime": There's a reason this one is a classic. Sure, the chorus is legendary, but it also features Mr. Smith's best work — his flow is smooth, sexy and swaggadocious — and Jazzy Jeff's production work (a beach blanket full of horns and chimes and breezy synths) is truly something to behold, even 20 years after the song was released. But that's probably getting too deep — let's just sit back and unwind.
1. Nelly, "Hot in Herre": From the triumphantly cheesy opening notes and the popping, locking beat to Nelly's goofball, stop-n-pop delivery and a chorus so delightfully stoopid that it might actually be brilliant, "Hot in Herre" might just be the most ridiculous song ever recorded — which is also why it's the single greatest summer jam of all time.
Kyle Anderson, MTV Newsroom blog editor
1. Nelly, "Hot in Herre": It begins and ends here. It's got a funky beat and a totally ridiculous chorus about getting naked. What more could you want?
2. Crazy Town, "Butterfly": This song could be heard coming out of every tool's car in my hometown during the summer of 2001, which is a sure sign of a hit. Also, even though it features a guy named Shifty Shellshock rapping about how much he wants to have sex with an underage girl, it holds up kind of well.
3. Pras (featuring Mya and ODB), "Ghetto Supastar": Neat facts about this song: It was on the soundtrack to the forgotten classic "Bulworth," which starred a rapping Warren Beatty and Halle Berry before she was a big deal; ODB drops rapping at the end of his guest spot to just make noises; the full title is "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)," which seems weirdly redundant; the chorus interpolates a song written by the Bee Gees and made famous by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (who were definitely the ODB and Mya of their day).
4. Third Eye Blind, "Semi-Charmed Life": Could act as the soundtrack to your crystal-meth bender or a trip to the beach. Versatile! Seriously, though, this song kind of rules and sounded awesome cranked all the way up on the radio.
5. Will Smith (featuring Sisqo and Kool Moe Dee), "Wild Wild West": Yeah, most people would go with "Men in Black," but I preferred Smith's official jam of the summer of 1999. It borrowed a sample from Stevie Wonder, made Sisqo wail in an awesome chorus and was for a movie that was absolutely awful. Plus, Smith raps about the types of weapons the villain in the movie uses, so it makes utterly no sense now. Truly a song of its time.
Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
Paper Boy, "Ditty": This song, along with pretty much all of Biggie's Ready to Die and Dr. Dre's The Chronic, gives me high school summer nostalgia vibes so hard, I swear I can almost taste the Zima.
Len, "Steal My Sunshine": I did not know that Northeastern Canada had any sunshine to steal, but this brother/sister one-hit-wonder team from Toronto — God, this song is just bam, so summer. Maybe it's the cowbell?
Phoenix, "If I Ever Feel Better": I still don't understand how their last album was so big, but this song wasn't a hit when it came out 10 years ago. Still, in my opinion, the most transcendent slice of French synth-pop bliss — a perfect soundtrack for drive time, dance time, lifetime.
Lumidee, "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)": Another one-hitter, and such a New York-y one: It's block parties, open fire hydrants, double-dutch jump rope and those crazy neon-colored popsicles that give you high-fructose-corn-syrup headaches.
MGMT, "Time to Pretend": I feel like everyone got so burnt on this album in the last couple years, especially the "singles." But this one just feels like this distilled nugget of sun and fun and nostalgia and maximum irresponsibility, a.k.a. youth.
Miley Cyrus, "Party in the USA": Seriously. When I hear the opening chords, it's like a fat kid with a dollar hearing the Good Humor truck jangle — I just lose my sh--.
Maura Johnston, music journalist
5. Beyoncé (featuring Jay-Z), "Crazy in Love": Still a staple at every too-sweaty dance party, thanks to its looped Chi-Lites hook and the "oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-no-no" that gets even the most curmudgeonly attendees shaking their hips. And the bridge is up there as one of the most joyous expressions of love in pop music ever.
4. Fastball, "The Way": It sounds like a lost Elvis Costello track that a car radio settled on after flipping past Jewel and Madonna. But the one megahit by the Texas alt-pop band was a look at two adults who embarked on one last, crazy ride in which they shucked off their responsibilities and took off down the open highway.
3. Hanson, "MMMBop": I still remember the first time I saw this video on MTV, which took place early one morning right before I graduated from college. I was pretty spellbound — not just by the skills of the extremely young drummer on display, but by its ever-bubbling chorus and guitar line, which practically radiated sunlight, its charms were so bright.
2. Rihanna, "Umbrella": A song about rain embodying the hot, sunny season? Well, sure. Thanks to the way its synths push through the speakers, "Umbrella" actually sounds like one of those brief summer squalls that lasts for maybe five minutes, tops, pounding the ground with its rain until almost the exact moment when the sun comes out. Plus, what's summer without a bunch of friends to get you through it?
1. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, "Summertime": There are so many reasons it's the obvious pick: the lyrical shout-out to the season; the lazy-day groove; the descriptions of summertime celebrations that seemed to come straight from Will Smith's old photo albums. Plus, I lived in Philadelphia for two years, and if you claim residence there for more than one summer, you kind of have to take on this track as your top summer song of all time.
Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, author of the upcoming book "Talking to Girls About Duran Duran"
Unrest, "Yes She Is My Skinhead Girl": An old punk-rock summer romance 45 from the days of 1991. I've been playing it a lot because Unrest are doing some reunion shows this summer, and it's incredible how those records hold up. I love how Mark Robinson sings about making out on the beach: "Kiss kissing all over your faces/ Smack smacking on my old Ran Races/ Suck sucking where there are no traces." I have no idea what Ran Races are ... sneakers?
Quad City DJs, "C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)": My all-time favorite Southern house-party choo-choo jam. I love the bass. I love the invitation to Michelle, Tamika and Tanya. I love the parentheses in the title. ("The train," dummy! What do you think we're singing about with all the choo-choos here?) I love how it goes on for five or six or seven minutes, who counts, and only an idiot would fade it out early.
Nicole (featuring Mocha and Missy Elliott), "Make It Hot": What did summer sound like before Missy and Timbaland started making records? I'm not sure I can remember, and I don't care. This has to be the sexiest, swampiest, most paranoid hanging-on-the-telephone song ever, with Nicole asking, "Can I get another shot?" and Timbaland answering, "Oh yes you can." This song never became as famous as it deserves to be, but future generations won't sleep on it.
LCD Soundsystem, "I Can Change": My favorite song this summer. James Murphy busts out his Morrissey falsetto to sing, "I can change/ If it helps you fall in love," which has to be the least Morrissey-ish sentiment imaginable. (Morrissey would claim that he can't change, and that's why you should love him.) Those synthesizer burbles are very early Depeche Mode, and early Depeche Mode is always perfect for summer listening, so it's a no-brainer that I'm going to be playing this song nonstop for at least the next six months.
Britney Spears, "Sometimes": Speaking of sometimes, I sometimes get misty over the pop-radio summer of 1999, the halcyon days when Britney could just spend a whole video dancing around on the dock while her elfin dancer boys pose around her in the shape of a heart. This is one of Brit's most underrated summer hits, along with "Lucky" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy." Sheer genius.
Questions? Concerns? Hit me up at BTTS@MTVStaff.com. And share your picks for the best summer jams in the comments!
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Ashley Greene Ashley Olsen Ashley Scott Ashley Tappin
Think back to every awesome/romantic/borderline-insane thing you've ever done during the summer. Chances are, there was music playing when you did it. And it was probably playing very, very loudly.
That's because, perhaps more than any other time of the year, summer is practically made for music. It's when we pump up, strip down, make terrible decisions and basically have the times of our lives. And, somewhat fittingly, music is always there with us. It's the soundtrack to our every hookup, breakdown and tanning mishap. It's what's in the air at the beach, the time-share or the club (well, either that or Axe body spray). It's part of our memories, along with that terrible tattoo you got down in Panama City.
So for a song to become a summer jam, it's got to be great (and slightly stupid, but that's a column for another day). And since the official kickoff of summer 2010 is right around the corner, I've decided to compile a list of the greatest of the great — the best, brightest, dumbest, funnest, lightest, loosest, freakiest, goofiest summer songs of all time. All of them are special, all of them are classics. And yes, I spent waaay too much time working on this. What can I say? I freaking love the summer.
Anyway, rather than just prattle on, I reached out to some of my favorite writers — all of whom are certified summer-jam experts, btw — and had them contribute their favorites too. The only thing I told them was that the cutoff point was 1991 (that's when Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince released their epochal "Summertime," after all), and then I sat back and watched the brilliance flood my inbox. Here's what they submitted, along with my picks. It's a definitive list, as submitted by some of the best in the business. These are the Greatest Summer Jams of the Modern Era.
Amos Barshad, New York magazine's Vulture blog
The Notorious B.I.G., "Hypnotize": He died a month before it was officially released, and I think it was clear then it'd be awhile until someone else would be making this level of lyrically brilliant, commercially viable hip-hop. Also, the mermaid fish tank in the video was awesome.
Young Money, "Every Girl": Too raunchy to actually take the Song of the Summer crown, but hung around for a while last season, probably because the sentiment is so universal.
Rihanna, "Umbrella": If you don't like "Umbrella," do us all a favor and move back to the USSR.
Third Eye Blind, "Semi-Charmed Life": Stephan Jenkins believes in the sand beneath his toes, and so do I.
Adam Stewart, MTV News house-music expert/ dude from New Jersey
Tiësto, "Traffic": When Tiësto released this dance-floor mega-bomb in 2003 under his Magik Muzik, the guido fist-pump was arguably born. I have yet to hear this song go off at the beach club without an ocean of hands in the air and strobe lights blinding every eye in the house.
Robin S, "Show Me Love": Steve Angello — one-third of house music's current holy trinity, the Swedish House Mafia — breathed new life into this timeless sing-along floor-filler in 2008. How could he make one of the best and most iconic dance songs even better? The Midas touch of Angello has ensured "Show Me Love" a place as a summer anthem for many years to come.
Swedish House Mafia (featuring Laid Back Luke), "Leave the World Behind": Speaking of the Swedes, they're responsible for one of the most epic dance anthems the world has ever heard. With the soulful vocals of Deborah Cox and melodic grand-piano stabs, Axwell, Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso will forever be looked to for producing thumping summer beats.
Benny Benassi, "Satisfaction": The quintessential Jersey Shore anthem arrived on our doorsteps in the summer of 2003. It was the first year I ever bought a share in a beach house. I heard this song at least 17 times a day for three months straight, and now, years later, I still call it one of my summer faves.
Sarah McLachlan, "Silence (Delerium Remix)": Honestly, this song can make the biggest guido cry. First released in 1997, it hit U.S. airwaves in 1999, and once Tiësto got a hold of it, the uplifting vocal-trance track became one of the most recognizable tunes to any dance-music aficionado. Ahhh, the memories I have from this song, most of which are not suitable for publication.
David Guetta, "Love Is Gone (Joachim Garraud Remix)": A flashback to the pre-Black Eyed Peas days of mega-producer and DJ David Guetta. Ever hear the beginning riff to "I've Gotta Feeling"? It came from this track, and this explosive club destroyer gives me chills to this day. Almost 100 percent of the time, this song creates an impromptu dance-battle circle on the club floor. Awesomeness.
Christopher R. Weingarten, freelance writer and author of the 33 1/3 title "Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back"
The five best songs that hit #1 on Billboard between June and August, 1991-2010:
5. (tie) Sir Mix-a-Lot, "Baby Got Back," and Destiny's Child, "Bootylicious": Two songs celebrating butts. Your mom probably knows all the words to them (mine does). The summer usually means butts come out of their winter hibernation behind sweatpants, they shed the raincoats giving them protection from spring precipitation, and they fearlessly brave the elements in shorts — or less! There's probably some scientific study that can link the popularity of butt songs with the slow appearance of summer butts. If not, I would like to participate in that study. I cannot lie.
4. Rihanna (featuring Jay-Z), "Umbrella": Holy sh--, Jay-Z's on this?
3. Fergie, "London Bridge": People front like Fergie's terrible (and she generally is), but if these Polow Da Don broken marching-band drums and ecstatic "oh sh--s" were backing M.I.A. or Santigold or something, this would have been the hippest song of 2006, and cheeseball hipster blogs would have had apoplectic fits about their "acute angles" and "Residents-like dissonance." The lyrics are generally nonsense and may be about fellatio.
2. Tupac (featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman), "California Love": Tupac got out of prison and immediately released the most glorious summer-party jam in the history of time. Your move, Gucci Mane.
1. EMF, "Unbelievable": This is pretty much ground zero for your Gnarls Barkleys, M.I.A.s, Sleigh Bells, Andre 3000s and Kid Cudis. Weird streaks of punk, dance, alt-rock, rap and whatever else kind of blur into an inescapable pop moment of screaming and dancing and wearing skateboarder clothes. Sampling Andrew Dice Clay for the "oh!" is either a stroke of genius, an Anthrax-style prank, or dudes just didn't know where to find a James Brown record. Also one of our most postmodern Billboard hits is now in a commercial for Kraft Cheese Crumbles! Which you can use at a summer picnic. Wheels within wheels, people.
Eric Rosenthal and Jeff Rosenthal, ItsTheReal.com
1. The Notorious B.I.G., "Hypnotize": "Yacht Rock" may have its own week on Jimmy Fallon's show, but for us, summer is all about Speedboat Rap. With mermaids in fish tanks and helicopter assassins, "Hypnotize" is a throwback to a time when MTV aired countdown shows like "Most Expensive Music Videos."
2. Nelly, "Hot in Herre": If you're anything like us, then summer 2002 (or should that be "summerr 2002?") was all about rebellion! Nelly and the Neptunes led the charge with their revolutionary anthem, "Hot in Herre." We rebelled against correct spelling! We rebelled against proper pronunciation! Girls rebelled against their clothes! 2002 was the summerr when we changed the worrld.
3. Next, "Too Close": Imagine if Marvin Gaye had two brothers and they all performed as a group. The trio that made up Next were nothing like that, but they did have one ultra-catchy song with some classically to-the-point lyrics. The you-on-me, let's-do-it sex words found in "Too Close" were totally appropriate for when they played the song at my eighth-grade dance.
4. Juvenile, "Back That Azz Up": Summertime marches in the streets for women's equality, this song is not. But who cares?! Nothing makes suburban girls get down like disrespectful lyrics and Mannie Fresh's bouncing drums. Well, except for money and the thought of getting TwitPic'd.
5. LFO, "Summer Girls": LFO were the lacrosse-playing, male equivalent of a Stepford Ke$ha. They were in way over their heads as rappers. They were part of Lou Pearlman's Orlando cult. They name-checked Abercrombie & Fitch. Still, "Summer Girls" is the perfect summer song — for when you meet a nice girl and you just want to take her home.
James Montgomery, MTV News rock editor
10. Sloan, "Money City Maniacs": The air-raid sirens at the beginning. The windmilled guitar chords in the middle. The handclapped breakdown at the end. The general fist-pumping-ness of it all. Proof that they even have summer up in Canada.
9. 69 Boyz, "Tootsee Roll": If you haven't had too much to drink and displaced your pelvis while dancing to this song, then I probably don't want to know you. Dip, baby, dip — indeed.
8. Britney Spears, "Toxic": Only ranked so low because it was released in January of 2004, which sort of makes it the antithesis of a summer jam. Still, there's no denying anything about this song — its longevity included — which is why it's still played at clubs to this day.
7. En Vogue, "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)": This song is built around a James Brown sample, a decidedly funky flute loop and the vocal histrionics of four of the finest female voices in pop-n-b history, but none of that is what makes it great. It's all about the breakdown, which launches this one into the stratosphere. And it still hasn't come back down.
6. Ludacris, "Southern Hospitality": Luda's big coming-out party, an ode to shiny Cadillacs, well-endowed ladies and delicious Arnold Palmers (sweet tea and lemonade mixed together, duh), this is basically everything you'd ever want from a summer song. And don't forget the buzzing, Autobahn beat, courtesy of the Neptunes. The beach never felt so chilly.
5. Jay-Z (featuring UGK), "Big Pimpin' ": The lilting, tilting Caribbean beat; the iconic, laconic chorus; that video — oh, that video. Girl in the black fedora, I'll hold you in my heart forever.
4. Beyoncé (featuring Jay-Z), "Crazy in Love": A fierce, feisty, fun slab of power hip-hop, this one heated up the summer of 2003 (and thanks to it's never-endingly energetic beat, probably caused more than a few hernias), and it hasn't really stopped ever since. Also notable for being the song that basically launched B as a solo star, even if it does feature her (future) husband. History!
3. Rihanna (featuring Jay-Z), "Umbrella": The greatest summer song in recent memory and the tune on which Rihanna made the leap. Dance floors still go nuts from the opening snare line, and it almost doesn't matter that the production work here is downright frigid. Pack your parka, because you'll be hearing this one for the rest of your life.
2. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, "Summertime": There's a reason this one is a classic. Sure, the chorus is legendary, but it also features Mr. Smith's best work — his flow is smooth, sexy and swaggadocious — and Jazzy Jeff's production work (a beach blanket full of horns and chimes and breezy synths) is truly something to behold, even 20 years after the song was released. But that's probably getting too deep — let's just sit back and unwind.
1. Nelly, "Hot in Herre": From the triumphantly cheesy opening notes and the popping, locking beat to Nelly's goofball, stop-n-pop delivery and a chorus so delightfully stoopid that it might actually be brilliant, "Hot in Herre" might just be the most ridiculous song ever recorded — which is also why it's the single greatest summer jam of all time.
Kyle Anderson, MTV Newsroom blog editor
1. Nelly, "Hot in Herre": It begins and ends here. It's got a funky beat and a totally ridiculous chorus about getting naked. What more could you want?
2. Crazy Town, "Butterfly": This song could be heard coming out of every tool's car in my hometown during the summer of 2001, which is a sure sign of a hit. Also, even though it features a guy named Shifty Shellshock rapping about how much he wants to have sex with an underage girl, it holds up kind of well.
3. Pras (featuring Mya and ODB), "Ghetto Supastar": Neat facts about this song: It was on the soundtrack to the forgotten classic "Bulworth," which starred a rapping Warren Beatty and Halle Berry before she was a big deal; ODB drops rapping at the end of his guest spot to just make noises; the full title is "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)," which seems weirdly redundant; the chorus interpolates a song written by the Bee Gees and made famous by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (who were definitely the ODB and Mya of their day).
4. Third Eye Blind, "Semi-Charmed Life": Could act as the soundtrack to your crystal-meth bender or a trip to the beach. Versatile! Seriously, though, this song kind of rules and sounded awesome cranked all the way up on the radio.
5. Will Smith (featuring Sisqo and Kool Moe Dee), "Wild Wild West": Yeah, most people would go with "Men in Black," but I preferred Smith's official jam of the summer of 1999. It borrowed a sample from Stevie Wonder, made Sisqo wail in an awesome chorus and was for a movie that was absolutely awful. Plus, Smith raps about the types of weapons the villain in the movie uses, so it makes utterly no sense now. Truly a song of its time.
Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
Paper Boy, "Ditty": This song, along with pretty much all of Biggie's Ready to Die and Dr. Dre's The Chronic, gives me high school summer nostalgia vibes so hard, I swear I can almost taste the Zima.
Len, "Steal My Sunshine": I did not know that Northeastern Canada had any sunshine to steal, but this brother/sister one-hit-wonder team from Toronto — God, this song is just bam, so summer. Maybe it's the cowbell?
Phoenix, "If I Ever Feel Better": I still don't understand how their last album was so big, but this song wasn't a hit when it came out 10 years ago. Still, in my opinion, the most transcendent slice of French synth-pop bliss — a perfect soundtrack for drive time, dance time, lifetime.
Lumidee, "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)": Another one-hitter, and such a New York-y one: It's block parties, open fire hydrants, double-dutch jump rope and those crazy neon-colored popsicles that give you high-fructose-corn-syrup headaches.
MGMT, "Time to Pretend": I feel like everyone got so burnt on this album in the last couple years, especially the "singles." But this one just feels like this distilled nugget of sun and fun and nostalgia and maximum irresponsibility, a.k.a. youth.
Miley Cyrus, "Party in the USA": Seriously. When I hear the opening chords, it's like a fat kid with a dollar hearing the Good Humor truck jangle — I just lose my sh--.
Maura Johnston, music journalist
5. Beyoncé (featuring Jay-Z), "Crazy in Love": Still a staple at every too-sweaty dance party, thanks to its looped Chi-Lites hook and the "oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-no-no" that gets even the most curmudgeonly attendees shaking their hips. And the bridge is up there as one of the most joyous expressions of love in pop music ever.
4. Fastball, "The Way": It sounds like a lost Elvis Costello track that a car radio settled on after flipping past Jewel and Madonna. But the one megahit by the Texas alt-pop band was a look at two adults who embarked on one last, crazy ride in which they shucked off their responsibilities and took off down the open highway.
3. Hanson, "MMMBop": I still remember the first time I saw this video on MTV, which took place early one morning right before I graduated from college. I was pretty spellbound — not just by the skills of the extremely young drummer on display, but by its ever-bubbling chorus and guitar line, which practically radiated sunlight, its charms were so bright.
2. Rihanna, "Umbrella": A song about rain embodying the hot, sunny season? Well, sure. Thanks to the way its synths push through the speakers, "Umbrella" actually sounds like one of those brief summer squalls that lasts for maybe five minutes, tops, pounding the ground with its rain until almost the exact moment when the sun comes out. Plus, what's summer without a bunch of friends to get you through it?
1. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, "Summertime": There are so many reasons it's the obvious pick: the lyrical shout-out to the season; the lazy-day groove; the descriptions of summertime celebrations that seemed to come straight from Will Smith's old photo albums. Plus, I lived in Philadelphia for two years, and if you claim residence there for more than one summer, you kind of have to take on this track as your top summer song of all time.
Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, author of the upcoming book "Talking to Girls About Duran Duran"
Unrest, "Yes She Is My Skinhead Girl": An old punk-rock summer romance 45 from the days of 1991. I've been playing it a lot because Unrest are doing some reunion shows this summer, and it's incredible how those records hold up. I love how Mark Robinson sings about making out on the beach: "Kiss kissing all over your faces/ Smack smacking on my old Ran Races/ Suck sucking where there are no traces." I have no idea what Ran Races are ... sneakers?
Quad City DJs, "C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)": My all-time favorite Southern house-party choo-choo jam. I love the bass. I love the invitation to Michelle, Tamika and Tanya. I love the parentheses in the title. ("The train," dummy! What do you think we're singing about with all the choo-choos here?) I love how it goes on for five or six or seven minutes, who counts, and only an idiot would fade it out early.
Nicole (featuring Mocha and Missy Elliott), "Make It Hot": What did summer sound like before Missy and Timbaland started making records? I'm not sure I can remember, and I don't care. This has to be the sexiest, swampiest, most paranoid hanging-on-the-telephone song ever, with Nicole asking, "Can I get another shot?" and Timbaland answering, "Oh yes you can." This song never became as famous as it deserves to be, but future generations won't sleep on it.
LCD Soundsystem, "I Can Change": My favorite song this summer. James Murphy busts out his Morrissey falsetto to sing, "I can change/ If it helps you fall in love," which has to be the least Morrissey-ish sentiment imaginable. (Morrissey would claim that he can't change, and that's why you should love him.) Those synthesizer burbles are very early Depeche Mode, and early Depeche Mode is always perfect for summer listening, so it's a no-brainer that I'm going to be playing this song nonstop for at least the next six months.
Britney Spears, "Sometimes": Speaking of sometimes, I sometimes get misty over the pop-radio summer of 1999, the halcyon days when Britney could just spend a whole video dancing around on the dock while her elfin dancer boys pose around her in the shape of a heart. This is one of Brit's most underrated summer hits, along with "Lucky" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy." Sheer genius.
Questions? Concerns? Hit me up at BTTS@MTVStaff.com. And share your picks for the best summer jams in the comments!
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Chloe Marshall Sweet 16 headed to Miss England 2008
Chloe Marshall of the UK has just won the Miss Surrey 2008 beauty pageant. She is now advancing towards the Miss England contest, which is opened to females ages 17-24. If Chloe Marshall can win the Miss England 2008 pageant, she will advance to the Miss
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Chloe Marshall of the UK has just won the Miss Surrey 2008 beauty pageant. She is now advancing towards the Miss England contest, which is opened to females ages 17-24. If Chloe Marshall can win the Miss England 2008 pageant, she will advance to the Miss
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Les News, 072910
Chris Klein extends his stay in rehab. Susan Lucci is writing her memoirs. Marky Mark Wahlberg gets busted by the cops. Top Chef is a great show to hear lots of sexual innuendo. RA-RE form Rumor has it that Jake Gyllenhaal likes to smoke the loco weed. Zoe Saldana gets ENVYous. Robot teachers sound cool. [...]Cheryl Burke
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Last week we saw photos of Madonna, the director, making her exit from the London set of her new film W.E. and today we learn that her Madgesty has moved production of the film to Cannes, France. Here are new photos of Director Madonna overseeing the filming of a scene on a French beach earlier [...]Sarah Michelle Gellar
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'Dinner For Schmucks': Idiot Patrol, By Kurt Loder
Paul Rudd and Steve Carell make the most of a very light comedy.
Steve Carell and Jemaine Clement in "Dinner for Schmucks"
Photo: Paramount Pictures
"Dinner for Schmucks" is as light as a fistful of feathers — as a comedy in the age of Apatow, it's barely there. But the sharp cast is smart enough not to weigh down the airy tale with heavy shtick (which might have been a temptation), and director Jay Roach lays out the story with straightforward simplicity. The movie becomes funnier than you might expect at the beginning; as summer comedies go, it's a small surprise.
Paul Rudd plays Tim, an upwardly mobile finance hotshot at an L.A. investment firm. After he reels in a wealthy new client, an enormously snooty Swiss moneybags named Mueller (David Walliams, of "Little Britain"), Tim's boss (Bruce Greenwood) tantalizes him with the prospect of a big promotion — but on one condition: Tim will have to attend an annual company dinner to which each top executive is expected to bring an idiot — the most pathetic specimen of humanity he can find. The exec with the biggest idiot wins.
Tim's girlfriend, a gallery owner named Julie (Stephanie Szostak), is so appalled by this idea that he promises her he won't take part. For one thing, he's starting to worry that Julie might fall into the clutches of her hottest new artist, the egomaniacal Kieran (Jemaine Clement), whose outsize paintings all feature him in dementedly heroic poses. Finally, though, Tim is overcome by ambition and decides to attend the dinner. Now he just has to find an idiot.
Fortuitously, while driving down the street in his pricey sports car, Tim accidentally runs into Barry (Steve Carell), who turns out to be a perfect goofus. ("I've been hit by a Datsun before," he says excitedly, "but never a Porsche.") Barry is an IRS drone by day, but his real passion is creative taxidermy: collecting dead mice, stuffing them, outfitting them with handmade clothing and then arranging them in elaborate tableaux. (One of these, meticulously housed in a display case, is an all-rodent restaging of the Last Supper.)
Here, unfortunately, the movie, which is a remake of a 1998 French film, hits an unpleasant bump. Barry is supposed to be a complete moron (Carell seems to have derived this toothy nutcake from the Jerry Lewis canon, minus Lewis' abrasive whininess), but his "mouster-pieces," as he calls them, really are inspired. When Tim fails to realize this at first, and pushes ahead with his dinner plan, we begin to question his character in an unsmiling way. He'll eventually have a change of heart — that's the preordained point of the story — but a sour taste lingers.
The movie is naturally pointed like an arrow toward the concluding idiot dinner. Along the way to it, though, we meet some fine daffy characters, among them Barry's IRS boss, Therman (Zach Galifianakis), who has a private passion of his own for mind control (he's written a book called "Your Mind Is My Puppet"); and a lunatic party girl named Darla (Lucy Punch), who has been stalking Tim ever since he drunkenly went to bed with her three years earlier. (She comes on to men
tongue-first.)
Additional oddballs turn up at the idiot dinner itself, of course: a blind fencing enthusiast, a lonely ventriloquist with his wooden-headed "wife," and a dead-pet psychic who disrupts the feast when she starts receiving messages from the main course (broiled lobster). It's no surprise that the dinner collapses into a slapstick fiasco (which goes on a little too long), or that in the end the sleazy guys all get their comeuppance and the idiots emerge as misunderstood sweethearts whose obsessions make sense in the context of their eccentric lives. As Barry puts it, more or less quoting John Lennon: "You may say I'm a dreamer.
But I'm not."
("Dinner for Schmucks" is a Paramount Pictures presentation.
Paramount and MTV are both subsidiaries of Viacom.)
Check out everything we've got on "Dinner for Schmucks."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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Steve Carell and Jemaine Clement in "Dinner for Schmucks"
Photo: Paramount Pictures
"Dinner for Schmucks" is as light as a fistful of feathers — as a comedy in the age of Apatow, it's barely there. But the sharp cast is smart enough not to weigh down the airy tale with heavy shtick (which might have been a temptation), and director Jay Roach lays out the story with straightforward simplicity. The movie becomes funnier than you might expect at the beginning; as summer comedies go, it's a small surprise.
Paul Rudd plays Tim, an upwardly mobile finance hotshot at an L.A. investment firm. After he reels in a wealthy new client, an enormously snooty Swiss moneybags named Mueller (David Walliams, of "Little Britain"), Tim's boss (Bruce Greenwood) tantalizes him with the prospect of a big promotion — but on one condition: Tim will have to attend an annual company dinner to which each top executive is expected to bring an idiot — the most pathetic specimen of humanity he can find. The exec with the biggest idiot wins.
Tim's girlfriend, a gallery owner named Julie (Stephanie Szostak), is so appalled by this idea that he promises her he won't take part. For one thing, he's starting to worry that Julie might fall into the clutches of her hottest new artist, the egomaniacal Kieran (Jemaine Clement), whose outsize paintings all feature him in dementedly heroic poses. Finally, though, Tim is overcome by ambition and decides to attend the dinner. Now he just has to find an idiot.
Fortuitously, while driving down the street in his pricey sports car, Tim accidentally runs into Barry (Steve Carell), who turns out to be a perfect goofus. ("I've been hit by a Datsun before," he says excitedly, "but never a Porsche.") Barry is an IRS drone by day, but his real passion is creative taxidermy: collecting dead mice, stuffing them, outfitting them with handmade clothing and then arranging them in elaborate tableaux. (One of these, meticulously housed in a display case, is an all-rodent restaging of the Last Supper.)
Here, unfortunately, the movie, which is a remake of a 1998 French film, hits an unpleasant bump. Barry is supposed to be a complete moron (Carell seems to have derived this toothy nutcake from the Jerry Lewis canon, minus Lewis' abrasive whininess), but his "mouster-pieces," as he calls them, really are inspired. When Tim fails to realize this at first, and pushes ahead with his dinner plan, we begin to question his character in an unsmiling way. He'll eventually have a change of heart — that's the preordained point of the story — but a sour taste lingers.
The movie is naturally pointed like an arrow toward the concluding idiot dinner. Along the way to it, though, we meet some fine daffy characters, among them Barry's IRS boss, Therman (Zach Galifianakis), who has a private passion of his own for mind control (he's written a book called "Your Mind Is My Puppet"); and a lunatic party girl named Darla (Lucy Punch), who has been stalking Tim ever since he drunkenly went to bed with her three years earlier. (She comes on to men
tongue-first.)
Additional oddballs turn up at the idiot dinner itself, of course: a blind fencing enthusiast, a lonely ventriloquist with his wooden-headed "wife," and a dead-pet psychic who disrupts the feast when she starts receiving messages from the main course (broiled lobster). It's no surprise that the dinner collapses into a slapstick fiasco (which goes on a little too long), or that in the end the sleazy guys all get their comeuppance and the idiots emerge as misunderstood sweethearts whose obsessions make sense in the context of their eccentric lives. As Barry puts it, more or less quoting John Lennon: "You may say I'm a dreamer.
But I'm not."
("Dinner for Schmucks" is a Paramount Pictures presentation.
Paramount and MTV are both subsidiaries of Viacom.)
Check out everything we've got on "Dinner for Schmucks."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related Videos
MTV Rough Cut: 'Dinner For Schmucks'
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Celebrate Wendy O. Williams' Birthday With Bobblehead Doll
What better way to celebrate Wendy O. Williams' 61st birthday on May 28 (if she hadn't blown her head off at age 48) than with a cute, scantily clad bobblehead doll.
Yes, Aggronautix, the company that, in 2009, presented a bobblehead of GG Allin -- the lovable now-deceased counter culture character who beat up audience members, [...]Victoria Beckham Victoria Pratt Victoria Silvstedt Vinessa Shaw
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Lady Gaga Thanks Fans For BET Awards Win With Beyonce
'Thank you so much for my first BET award ever,' Gaga tweeted after winning Video of the Year for 'Video Phone.'By Jocelyn Vena
Lady Gaga in the music video for "Video Phone"
Photo: Columbia/Music World
Jay-Z was nominated for two Video of the Year prizes at the BET Awards, but it was his wife, Beyoncé, who took home the trophy on Sunday night, for "Video Phone," her splashy collaboration with Lady Gaga.
And Gaga — who plays second billing on that particular collaboration, which is not to be confused with their work on "Telephone" — didn't wait too long to take to her Twitter to thank her fans for the prize. She wrote, "Thank you so much for my first BET award ever, with Honey B! Videophone won VIDEO OF THE YEAR! Paws up for B! X Mother Monster."
The girls were up against such other worthy contenders as Jay-Z, Kanye West and Rihanna ("Run This Town"), Jay-Z and Alicia Keys ("Empire State of Mind"), B.o.B. and Bruno Mars ("Nothin' on You") and Melanie Fiona ("...Nicollette Sheridan Nikki Cox Nikki Reed Norah Jones
Lady Gaga in the music video for "Video Phone"
Photo: Columbia/Music World
Jay-Z was nominated for two Video of the Year prizes at the BET Awards, but it was his wife, Beyoncé, who took home the trophy on Sunday night, for "Video Phone," her splashy collaboration with Lady Gaga.
And Gaga — who plays second billing on that particular collaboration, which is not to be confused with their work on "Telephone" — didn't wait too long to take to her Twitter to thank her fans for the prize. She wrote, "Thank you so much for my first BET award ever, with Honey B! Videophone won VIDEO OF THE YEAR! Paws up for B! X Mother Monster."
The girls were up against such other worthy contenders as Jay-Z, Kanye West and Rihanna ("Run This Town"), Jay-Z and Alicia Keys ("Empire State of Mind"), B.o.B. and Bruno Mars ("Nothin' on You") and Melanie Fiona ("...Nicollette Sheridan Nikki Cox Nikki Reed Norah Jones
Photos | 'Michael Jackson's This Is It' Trailer Frames
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Lady Gaga Says She Wrote 'A #1 Record' In Cleveland
Gaga told her audience Wednesday night that she'd spent the day in her bus writing a new hit.By James Montgomery
Lady Gaga performs in concert (file)
Photo: Getty Images
When Lady Gaga took the stage at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday night, she managed not to discuss the town's recently departed superstar LeBron James. But she did announce to the sold-out crowd that earlier in the day, she had written a brand-new song that was destined to be a hit.
"I wrote a #1 record in Cleveland," she told her throngs of little monsters, according to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, adding that she had skipped a private tour of the city's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to work on the song in her tour bus recording studio.
Earlier in the day, she took to her Twitter account to proclaim the same thing, writing, "Emerging from studio coma. Voted no visit to RockNRoll Hall of Fame, rather write a hit that puts me in it."
Gaga didn't actually play the song in question, but she did rip through a rousing version of "You and I," the new song she premiered at Elton John's White Tie and Tiara Ball last month and has been performing at Monster Ball stops ever since. In theory, it's all leading up to Gaga's much-anticipated new album, which, according to a recent Rolling Stone interview, is totally finished but won't be released until "early next year."
Gaga also told the magazine that she plans on getting the title of the album tattooed on her body and then releasing the photo at midnight on New Year's Eve.
What kind of songs do you want hear on Lady Gaga's next album? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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Photo: Getty Images
When Lady Gaga took the stage at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday night, she managed not to discuss the town's recently departed superstar LeBron James. But she did announce to the sold-out crowd that earlier in the day, she had written a brand-new song that was destined to be a hit.
"I wrote a #1 record in Cleveland," she told her throngs of little monsters, according to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, adding that she had skipped a private tour of the city's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to work on the song in her tour bus recording studio.
Earlier in the day, she took to her Twitter account to proclaim the same thing, writing, "Emerging from studio coma. Voted no visit to RockNRoll Hall of Fame, rather write a hit that puts me in it."
Gaga didn't actually play the song in question, but she did rip through a rousing version of "You and I," the new song she premiered at Elton John's White Tie and Tiara Ball last month and has been performing at Monster Ball stops ever since. In theory, it's all leading up to Gaga's much-anticipated new album, which, according to a recent Rolling Stone interview, is totally finished but won't be released until "early next year."
Gaga also told the magazine that she plans on getting the title of the album tattooed on her body and then releasing the photo at midnight on New Year's Eve.
What kind of songs do you want hear on Lady Gaga's next album? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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Led Zeppelin - Kashmir
Kashmir
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Britney Spears Confirms Professional Split From Boyfriend Jason Trawick
Spears rep says the pair want to 'focus on their personal relationship.'By Jocelyn Vena
Britney Spears and Jason Trawick
Photo: Lester Cohen/ WireImage
Britney Spears and Jason Trawick have decided to go their separate ways, at least professionally. Trawick will no longer serve as Spears' agent, but the two confirm that all is fine and dandy in their personal relationship.
The pair "have decided to end their professional relationship and focus on their personal relationship," a Spears rep told People.com.
And while they continue to dodge rumors of their engagement, a source close to the couple added, "They are very happy. Things are really good with them."
Fans, however, might be happier to hear that Spears is hard at work on a follow-up to her 2008 release, Circus. "Since wrapping her recent world tour, Spears has been busy in the studio working on her next album," her rep said. While there had been rumors that the album could be released sometime this summer, the fact that she is still working on it means that fans may have to wait a little longer. While details are scant about the new record, buzz about the album has been floating around the Web for quite some time now.
Several names are attached as possible contributors to what will be the singer's seventh studio album. David Guetta is involved, according to Idolator, as well as frequent Britney hitmaker Max Martin, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins and Sean Garrett.
Spears recently had fans salivating over her leaked demo of Lady Gaga's "Telephone." The song's producer, Darkchild, spoke about the work he's doing with the pop star on the album. "We talked about the direction of her album, [manager Larry Rudolph] gave me some insight into the direction, and he wants me to work on stuff for the album," he said. The producer went on to assert that he's very focused on the pop singer, and he's determined to "write an international smash for her new album.
"I think the fans deserve it, I think Britney deserves it and I can't wait to get back into the studio with Britney. I'm about to go crazy on making something that's so crazy. Since I've had that conversation with Larry Rudolph, I've studied some stuff from her last album and the Blackout album, and that was great stuff, but I think I'm going to bring something a little bit greater. I'm gonna give it my all to deliver something that's crazy, crazy amazing for Britney."
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Britney Spears and Jason Trawick
Photo: Lester Cohen/ WireImage
Britney Spears and Jason Trawick have decided to go their separate ways, at least professionally. Trawick will no longer serve as Spears' agent, but the two confirm that all is fine and dandy in their personal relationship.
The pair "have decided to end their professional relationship and focus on their personal relationship," a Spears rep told People.com.
And while they continue to dodge rumors of their engagement, a source close to the couple added, "They are very happy. Things are really good with them."
Fans, however, might be happier to hear that Spears is hard at work on a follow-up to her 2008 release, Circus. "Since wrapping her recent world tour, Spears has been busy in the studio working on her next album," her rep said. While there had been rumors that the album could be released sometime this summer, the fact that she is still working on it means that fans may have to wait a little longer. While details are scant about the new record, buzz about the album has been floating around the Web for quite some time now.
Several names are attached as possible contributors to what will be the singer's seventh studio album. David Guetta is involved, according to Idolator, as well as frequent Britney hitmaker Max Martin, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins and Sean Garrett.
Spears recently had fans salivating over her leaked demo of Lady Gaga's "Telephone." The song's producer, Darkchild, spoke about the work he's doing with the pop star on the album. "We talked about the direction of her album, [manager Larry Rudolph] gave me some insight into the direction, and he wants me to work on stuff for the album," he said. The producer went on to assert that he's very focused on the pop singer, and he's determined to "write an international smash for her new album.
"I think the fans deserve it, I think Britney deserves it and I can't wait to get back into the studio with Britney. I'm about to go crazy on making something that's so crazy. Since I've had that conversation with Larry Rudolph, I've studied some stuff from her last album and the Blackout album, and that was great stuff, but I think I'm going to bring something a little bit greater. I'm gonna give it my all to deliver something that's crazy, crazy amazing for Britney."
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Rick Ross Calls Kanye West Sessions 'The Chronic All Over'
'This is how it had to be,' says Ross, likening 'Ye recording his next album to Dr. Dre crafting his classic LP.By By Jayson Rodriguez, with reporting by Sway Calloway.
Rick Ross
Photo: MTV News
Kanye West is working with a bevy of talent to complete his next project, the still-untitled follow-up to 808s & Heartbreak. Racking up studio time with him are producers RZA, No ID, Pete Rock and DJ Toomp and artists like Clipse's Pusha T, Nicki Minaj, Consequence and Kid Cudi. And according to Rick Ross, who holed up in the lab with 'Ye for his Teflon Don track "Live Fast, Die Young," the experience was what he imagined it must have been like to watch another famous producer cook up a classic, namely, Dr. Dre.
"It's like everybody is a student: You walk into a session and it's all about the subject at hand," Ross told MTV News during his appearance on the first episode of "RapFix Live."
"I was just like, Wow. I listened to [Kanye's] beats, and we working on what I'm doing, but ...Tessie Santiago Thalía Thandie Newton The Avatars of Second Life
Rick Ross
Photo: MTV News
Kanye West is working with a bevy of talent to complete his next project, the still-untitled follow-up to 808s & Heartbreak. Racking up studio time with him are producers RZA, No ID, Pete Rock and DJ Toomp and artists like Clipse's Pusha T, Nicki Minaj, Consequence and Kid Cudi. And according to Rick Ross, who holed up in the lab with 'Ye for his Teflon Don track "Live Fast, Die Young," the experience was what he imagined it must have been like to watch another famous producer cook up a classic, namely, Dr. Dre.
"It's like everybody is a student: You walk into a session and it's all about the subject at hand," Ross told MTV News during his appearance on the first episode of "RapFix Live."
"I was just like, Wow. I listened to [Kanye's] beats, and we working on what I'm doing, but ...Tessie Santiago Thalía Thandie Newton The Avatars of Second Life
Half a million free condoms made available in Shanghai
This week, local health officials released Shanghai HIV and AIDS statistics. Although there were a number of notable stats, one worth noting is that nearly ?80 percent of HIV carriers and AIDS patients registered in Shanghai caught the virus through unprotected sex,? according to local officials.
read more
Maggie Gyllenhaal Majandra Delfino Malia Jones Malin Akerman
read more
Maggie Gyllenhaal Majandra Delfino Malia Jones Malin Akerman
Michael Jackson Fans Pay Tribute Outside Forest Lawn Cemetery
'He was like my brother, a family member,' one fan says.By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Kelly Marino
Michael Jackson
Photo: KMazur/ WireImage
Michael Jackson was laid to rest at Forest Lawn cemetery September 3. Nine months later, on the one-year anniversary of his death, fans gathered outside the Los Angeles cemetery Friday (June 25) to pay tribute to the fallen pop star and to share recollections of their favorite MJ moments from a career that spanned five decades.
"My first memory, I was about 7 years old. This was the time when Bad came out, and I watched the video performance of it, and from that point, I was almost obsessed with him," Eboni Butler told MTV News. "I even have him tattooed on my leg."
Tallora DiGirolami flew in from Adelaide, Australia, for the occasion and proudly displayed her national flag as she stood outside Forest Lawn. "I started this flag because I had so many friends and fans that couldn't make it," she said. "And we started getting to talking and I said, 'Right, I've got a flag. Do you want to sign it? Do you want to be part of the memorial?' "
The crowd was smaller than the ones that gathered in the days and weeks following Jackson's death, but the sentiments of his fans were no less impassioned. "He means a lot to me," Brian Lopez said. "He was like my brother, a family member. When I heard he died, I didn't eat for weeks, I didn't sleep for weeks, I didn't go out for weeks. ... It's been a very sad loss for me."
Confronted with such a loss, his fans continued to recall memories of the King of Pop. "I saw Michael once in Memphis when he was married to Lisa Marie and they had the Elvis tribute," Sheila Guerrero recalled. "I was crying so bad. He just stopped and came back and told me not to cry. That moment is priceless for me. I thank God for that moment."
Said Jonah Sevilla: "He loved the world, and he wanted it to be a better place because of all the bad things that were happening."
MTV will be remembering the life and music of Michael Jackson all weekend. Don't miss the one-hour special "Michael Jackson's Influence on Music," airing tonight at 6:30 p.m. on MTV.
Related Videos
Remembering Michael Jackson - One Year Later
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Michael Jackson: A Life In Photos
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Camilla Belle Carla Campbell Carla Gugino Carmen Electra
Michael Jackson
Photo: KMazur/ WireImage
Michael Jackson was laid to rest at Forest Lawn cemetery September 3. Nine months later, on the one-year anniversary of his death, fans gathered outside the Los Angeles cemetery Friday (June 25) to pay tribute to the fallen pop star and to share recollections of their favorite MJ moments from a career that spanned five decades.
"My first memory, I was about 7 years old. This was the time when Bad came out, and I watched the video performance of it, and from that point, I was almost obsessed with him," Eboni Butler told MTV News. "I even have him tattooed on my leg."
Tallora DiGirolami flew in from Adelaide, Australia, for the occasion and proudly displayed her national flag as she stood outside Forest Lawn. "I started this flag because I had so many friends and fans that couldn't make it," she said. "And we started getting to talking and I said, 'Right, I've got a flag. Do you want to sign it? Do you want to be part of the memorial?' "
The crowd was smaller than the ones that gathered in the days and weeks following Jackson's death, but the sentiments of his fans were no less impassioned. "He means a lot to me," Brian Lopez said. "He was like my brother, a family member. When I heard he died, I didn't eat for weeks, I didn't sleep for weeks, I didn't go out for weeks. ... It's been a very sad loss for me."
Confronted with such a loss, his fans continued to recall memories of the King of Pop. "I saw Michael once in Memphis when he was married to Lisa Marie and they had the Elvis tribute," Sheila Guerrero recalled. "I was crying so bad. He just stopped and came back and told me not to cry. That moment is priceless for me. I thank God for that moment."
Said Jonah Sevilla: "He loved the world, and he wanted it to be a better place because of all the bad things that were happening."
MTV will be remembering the life and music of Michael Jackson all weekend. Don't miss the one-hour special "Michael Jackson's Influence on Music," airing tonight at 6:30 p.m. on MTV.
Related Videos
Remembering Michael Jackson - One Year Later
Related Photos
Michael Jackson: A Life In Photos
Related Artists
Michael Jackson
Camilla Belle Carla Campbell Carla Gugino Carmen Electra
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Photos | If Britney Spears Was In The 'Telephone' Video
If Britney Spears Was In The 'Telephone' Video
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Photos | Wango Tango 2010
Wango Tango 2010
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EXCLUSIVE: 'I Am Number Four' Director D.J. Caruso Gives A Taste Of What's To Come
The movie isn't out until February 2011, but "I Am Number Four" the book hits stores next week on August 3. I read it several weeks ago and can't recommend it highly enough; it's an easy, fun sci-fi read, one that can be enjoyed equally by teens and adults.
The story follows a young human-like alien [...]Molly Sims Monet Mazur Monica Bellucci Monica Keena
The story follows a young human-like alien [...]Molly Sims Monet Mazur Monica Bellucci Monica Keena
Bridget Moynahan And Will Estes Film Scenes For 'Blue Bloods'
Bridget Moynahan filmed scenes in NYC for her new fall show 'Blue Bloods', with co-star Will Estes ('American Dreams').
The show, which will air on CBS this fall, is centered around a family of New York police officers. Other stars involved in the show: Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg, and Len Cariou.
Are you looking forward to any of the new TV shows? Are you still mourning any cancellations/series endings? I'm always afraid to start watching new shows because if I get hooked, it'll wind up getting axed!
Bridget is also co-starring in the movie 'Ramona & Beezus', which is in theaters now. Did you see it yet? I've heard it's pretty cute!
Photos by INF
Elisabeth Röhm Elisha Cuthbert Eliza Dushku Emilie de Ravin
The show, which will air on CBS this fall, is centered around a family of New York police officers. Other stars involved in the show: Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg, and Len Cariou.
Are you looking forward to any of the new TV shows? Are you still mourning any cancellations/series endings? I'm always afraid to start watching new shows because if I get hooked, it'll wind up getting axed!
Bridget is also co-starring in the movie 'Ramona & Beezus', which is in theaters now. Did you see it yet? I've heard it's pretty cute!
Photos by INF
Elisabeth Röhm Elisha Cuthbert Eliza Dushku Emilie de Ravin
Photos | Wango Tango 2010
Wango Tango 2010
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Meisa Kuroki meets Angelina Jolie: 'I have been inspired by her ambition'
Got something to say? Then speak up! CNNGo is looking to reward 6 smart, lucky readers with free TraVision MileageManager memberships. Rise to the challenge, show your wit, share your tips, leave your thoughts - it?s easy, read our stories, speak your mind and our editors will pick the best readers' comments posted before 23:59:59 29/07/2010.read more
Shakara Ledard Shakira Shana Hiatt Shania Twain
Shakara Ledard Shakira Shana Hiatt Shania Twain
Coachella 2010 Features Blistering Sets By Jay-Z, Muse, Thom Yorke
Faith No More, Gorillaz, Pavement and other age-defying acts heat up the desert fest.By Corey Moss
Jay-Z performs at Coachella 2010
Photo: Lee Barth
INDIO, California — Leave it to the least likely star to grace the Coachella headlining stage to best sum up 2010's festival.
"I wanna be forever young," Beyoncé sang as fireworks erupted Friday, helping husband Jay-Z close his much-anticipated set.
2010 Coachella Music Festival
Not only was there a cavalcade of age-defying acts among the three day festival's 100-some performers, it was often the over-40 club delivering the most commanding sets, Jigga Man included.
Before Jay powered through more than 30 songs on Friday, super group Them Crooked Vultures (featuring Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones and Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme) and Street Sweeper Social Club (starring Rage Against the Machine/ Audioslave guitar hero Tom Morello) both won over large crowds — not with familiar songs, but with sheer performance flair. Ditto Thom Yorke, Faith No More, Devo, the Specials, a reunited Pavement and many more throughout the weekend.
Even Coachella itself has improved with age. Now in its 11th year, the festival set attendance records, selling out 75,000 three-day passes. (Single-day tickets were not available for the first time ever.)
Because flights were grounded overseas due to the ash cloud created by the volcanic eruption in Iceland, seven bands missed Coachella, including the Cribs and Frightened Rabbit, as well as Phoenix's light tech. "So, we're just gonna go simple and make it about the music," Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars said, before deftly staying true to that promise.
Also absent was Dr. Dre, who was widely rumored to guest during Jay-Z's set. Actually, with the exception of Beyoncé and his own 10-piece band, Hova had no guests, a bit surprising considering the tall order at hand as the festival's first hip-hop headliner. Instead, Jay relied on his own swagger and arsenal of hits, beginning with "Run This Town" and ending with, of course, "Encore."
As California first lady Maria Shriver enjoyed the set next to Beyoncé and Hayden Panettiere, video screens showed President Obama doing the "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" gesture.
After cheering from the sidelines (and enjoying a cold beer), Beyoncé took the stage with a giant smile and a punk-rock T-shirt with the Never Mind the Bullocks logo (perhaps a nod to Sex Pistol Johnny Lydon, whose Public Image Limited was playing at the next stage over).
Jay, who entered by rising from a platform below the stage, hardly played a song in its entirety and could have done more for this crowd with his rock-leaning songs like "99 Problems." At Glastonbury in 2008, after Noel Gallagher said there was no place for hip-hop at the festival, Jay opened with Oasis's "Wonderwall." His DJ played that song at Coachella too, but it felt out of place in the middle of his set and without context.
As has been his habit at concerts lately, Jay gave several shout-outs to specific crowd members. "To the guy who looks like The Situation," he said to much laughter. It was a genuine, raw moment the set needed.
It was Saturday's headliner, Muse, who clearly delivered the best performance, giving a master class in energizing an audience, beginning with a rollicking "Uprising." And just to ensure that every single person sang along to the epic tune, the words flashed behind them as singer/guitarist Matt Bellamy hit each one. Heck, the band's light and pyro show was worthy of its own Coachella slot.
Bellamy borrowed from the best throughout the 90-minute set, windmilling around the stage like Pete Townsend and picking through the national anthem like Jimi Hendrix. (The Brit also wore an American flag shirt to go along.) He even paid tribute to big band, a genre memorialized across Palm Springs, by crooning Nina Simone's "Feeling Good" from a clear grand piano.
Coachella's best cover actually came from Faith No More, whose Mike Patton took the stage in a red leisure suit and cane, and sang a deadpan rendition of Peaches and Herb's "Reunited" with the fitting chorus, "Reunited and it feels so good." Somehow the song blended right in among classics like "We Care a Lot" and "Epic." It was difficult to hear their hard-fueled rock and not think of all the bands they influenced, from System of a Down to Incubus, whose Brandon Boyd was spotted backstage.
Gorillaz headlined Sunday and got off to a good start with a video of an animated Snoop Dogg introducing the band, who appeared in the flesh. Damon Albarn was in prime vocal form, but the show lacked the visual excitement expected of the group. The animated members rarely appeared, let alone as holograms or anything else. Bonus points, however, for bringing on some real guests, including De La Soul, members of the Clash and Bobby Womack, who sings on the new single "Stylo."
Headlining Sunday's second stage was Thom Yorke, who showcased his own super group, Atoms for Peace, which includes Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Beck drummer Joey Waronker and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. The virtuosos made Yorke's solo record The Eraser their playground, inflicting jittery beats and funky bass grooves all over the singer's wide-ranging vocals.
At first the blue-haired Flea looked almost bored, but he quickly got into the show, dancing with Yorke, or whatever you call the shaking they did many times through the 90-minute set. For an encore, Yorke returned solo and played a new song on which he layered his own vocals with looping pedals. Then he treated his fanboy audience (which included Jay-Z and Russell Simmons) to a couple of Radiohead tunes, including "Everything in Its Right Place."
Also playing late, although not intentionally, was Sly Stone, who in perfect Sly fashion, missed his 7 p.m. slot, showed up 40 minutes late to his rescheduled 10:30 slot, and then performed what could only be described as a train wreck. He ranted for 10 minutes about his old manager, stopped songs midway through, forgetting lyrics, and abruptly jumped off the stage and left. Axl Rose has got nothing on this guy.
On the opposite end of the spectrum were Matt & Kim, the band happiest to be playing Coachella, or at least the one who showed it the most. The duo recounted their favorite memories from the weekend ("Beyoncé gave me goose bumps," Matt said), shared manscaping tips and had their very own streaker ("Hooray for that man's penis!" Matt cheered). And the music was just as entertaining, like when the drum (Kim) and keys (Matt) duo broke into "Apache" during the middle of their awesome single "Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare." They also pounded ferociously through Gary Glitter's "Rock & Roll Part 2."
Other Sunday stand-outs included French sensation Phoenix, who gathered one of the largest crowds of the weekend and whipped them into a frenzy from the opening "Listomania" to the closing "1901" and everything in between. Spoon had the most sing-alongs, but it was Yo La Tengo and Pavement who educated the main stage audience on alternative rock's roots, while Sunny Day Real Estate, featuring Foo Fighters Nate Mendel on bass, reminded the second stage of emo's origins.
Julian Casablancas ignored the desert heat and donned a black leather jacket for a set that included both solo and Strokes material, while Miike Snow took the stage in matching black suits and white masks, looking like a scene out of a Stanley Kubrick movie, and kinda sounding like one too.
On Saturday, maybe it was that Muse and Faith No More were so good, but the highly anticipated MGMT and Dead Weather sets seemed to fall flat. Both acts waited until mid-show to play their best-known material, which can be risky when there are four other stages going at the same time.
Coheed & Cambria are not exactly hit-makers, but the MTV March Madness champions are performers and proved the perfect warm-up for FNM and Muse. For their closing, the Rush-inspired rockers brought out members of the USC marching band, adding to an already full sound.
Band of Skulls turned in a break-out set, putting a more radio-friendly spin on blues rock. Think Wolfmother or the Black Keys meets Blink-182. Other Saturday afternoon highlights included perennial partiers the Gossip (who were also remixed later in the 2 Many DJs set) and Australian newcomers the Temper Trap, whose "Sweet Disposition" was one of those perfect hot Coachella afternoon anthems.
Friday's show-stealers were Them Crooked Vultures and Street Sweeper Social Club, the former fronted by Indio's own Josh Homme, who mixed some subtly humorous banter in with his guitar shredding. While introducing the band, for instance, he said "and on pretty much everything, John Paul f---ing Jones!" The Zeppelin legend played mostly bass, but opened the show on a stand-up electric slide guitar contraption, and later took to the piano for a beautiful interlude (a nice smoke break for Homme). Grohl's drumming was ferocious from the first beat, a reminder of what Kurt Cobain saw in him years ago. The dude just loves to rock out and it shows.
Similarly, Tom Morello was on fire throughout Street Sweeper Social Club's 5 p.m. set, soloing on nearly every song, pumping his fist like he meant it and leading the charge on a masterful re-creation of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes." Boots Riley could be a slightly better MC, but the band still brings something special live.
LCD Soundsystem are a special live act too, but fell a little short by playing several new songs and saving the favorites for the end. Vampire Weekend followed a similar strategy, but what hurt them most was a 10 p.m. set time. Late afternoon would have been a much better fit for their sun-soaked, eclectic song collection.
She & Him had that slot instead and owned it with a breezy, relaxed set. For an actress, Zooey Deschanel could have a little more stage presence, but her voice is angelic like Jenny Lewis, who has fit in nicely at past Coachellas.
Friday's breakout act was Sleigh Bells, a Brooklyn duo featuring Derek Miller's metal riffs and firecracker Alexis Krauss' rhymes over sampled beats. Sounds odd and very 1999, but it's infectious and fun.
And finally a special shout-out to DJ Lance Rock, who not only spun the kids' songs from his show, "Yo Gabba Gabba," but also brought along all his friends from the show. Forget Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens; Kristen Stewart, John Mayer or Katy Perry. Forget Paris Hilton, Kate Bosworth and Mischa Barton. The biggest celebrities at the fest were the felt favorites Muno, Broobee and Foofa.
Were you at Coachella? Share your own reviews of the fest in the comments below!
Related Photos
2010 Coachella Music Festival
Related Artists
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Pavement
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Nikki Reed Norah Jones Noureen DeWulf Olivia Munn
Jay-Z performs at Coachella 2010
Photo: Lee Barth
INDIO, California — Leave it to the least likely star to grace the Coachella headlining stage to best sum up 2010's festival.
"I wanna be forever young," Beyoncé sang as fireworks erupted Friday, helping husband Jay-Z close his much-anticipated set.
2010 Coachella Music Festival
Not only was there a cavalcade of age-defying acts among the three day festival's 100-some performers, it was often the over-40 club delivering the most commanding sets, Jigga Man included.
Before Jay powered through more than 30 songs on Friday, super group Them Crooked Vultures (featuring Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones and Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme) and Street Sweeper Social Club (starring Rage Against the Machine/ Audioslave guitar hero Tom Morello) both won over large crowds — not with familiar songs, but with sheer performance flair. Ditto Thom Yorke, Faith No More, Devo, the Specials, a reunited Pavement and many more throughout the weekend.
Even Coachella itself has improved with age. Now in its 11th year, the festival set attendance records, selling out 75,000 three-day passes. (Single-day tickets were not available for the first time ever.)
Because flights were grounded overseas due to the ash cloud created by the volcanic eruption in Iceland, seven bands missed Coachella, including the Cribs and Frightened Rabbit, as well as Phoenix's light tech. "So, we're just gonna go simple and make it about the music," Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars said, before deftly staying true to that promise.
Also absent was Dr. Dre, who was widely rumored to guest during Jay-Z's set. Actually, with the exception of Beyoncé and his own 10-piece band, Hova had no guests, a bit surprising considering the tall order at hand as the festival's first hip-hop headliner. Instead, Jay relied on his own swagger and arsenal of hits, beginning with "Run This Town" and ending with, of course, "Encore."
As California first lady Maria Shriver enjoyed the set next to Beyoncé and Hayden Panettiere, video screens showed President Obama doing the "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" gesture.
After cheering from the sidelines (and enjoying a cold beer), Beyoncé took the stage with a giant smile and a punk-rock T-shirt with the Never Mind the Bullocks logo (perhaps a nod to Sex Pistol Johnny Lydon, whose Public Image Limited was playing at the next stage over).
Jay, who entered by rising from a platform below the stage, hardly played a song in its entirety and could have done more for this crowd with his rock-leaning songs like "99 Problems." At Glastonbury in 2008, after Noel Gallagher said there was no place for hip-hop at the festival, Jay opened with Oasis's "Wonderwall." His DJ played that song at Coachella too, but it felt out of place in the middle of his set and without context.
As has been his habit at concerts lately, Jay gave several shout-outs to specific crowd members. "To the guy who looks like The Situation," he said to much laughter. It was a genuine, raw moment the set needed.
It was Saturday's headliner, Muse, who clearly delivered the best performance, giving a master class in energizing an audience, beginning with a rollicking "Uprising." And just to ensure that every single person sang along to the epic tune, the words flashed behind them as singer/guitarist Matt Bellamy hit each one. Heck, the band's light and pyro show was worthy of its own Coachella slot.
Bellamy borrowed from the best throughout the 90-minute set, windmilling around the stage like Pete Townsend and picking through the national anthem like Jimi Hendrix. (The Brit also wore an American flag shirt to go along.) He even paid tribute to big band, a genre memorialized across Palm Springs, by crooning Nina Simone's "Feeling Good" from a clear grand piano.
Coachella's best cover actually came from Faith No More, whose Mike Patton took the stage in a red leisure suit and cane, and sang a deadpan rendition of Peaches and Herb's "Reunited" with the fitting chorus, "Reunited and it feels so good." Somehow the song blended right in among classics like "We Care a Lot" and "Epic." It was difficult to hear their hard-fueled rock and not think of all the bands they influenced, from System of a Down to Incubus, whose Brandon Boyd was spotted backstage.
Gorillaz headlined Sunday and got off to a good start with a video of an animated Snoop Dogg introducing the band, who appeared in the flesh. Damon Albarn was in prime vocal form, but the show lacked the visual excitement expected of the group. The animated members rarely appeared, let alone as holograms or anything else. Bonus points, however, for bringing on some real guests, including De La Soul, members of the Clash and Bobby Womack, who sings on the new single "Stylo."
Headlining Sunday's second stage was Thom Yorke, who showcased his own super group, Atoms for Peace, which includes Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Beck drummer Joey Waronker and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. The virtuosos made Yorke's solo record The Eraser their playground, inflicting jittery beats and funky bass grooves all over the singer's wide-ranging vocals.
At first the blue-haired Flea looked almost bored, but he quickly got into the show, dancing with Yorke, or whatever you call the shaking they did many times through the 90-minute set. For an encore, Yorke returned solo and played a new song on which he layered his own vocals with looping pedals. Then he treated his fanboy audience (which included Jay-Z and Russell Simmons) to a couple of Radiohead tunes, including "Everything in Its Right Place."
Also playing late, although not intentionally, was Sly Stone, who in perfect Sly fashion, missed his 7 p.m. slot, showed up 40 minutes late to his rescheduled 10:30 slot, and then performed what could only be described as a train wreck. He ranted for 10 minutes about his old manager, stopped songs midway through, forgetting lyrics, and abruptly jumped off the stage and left. Axl Rose has got nothing on this guy.
On the opposite end of the spectrum were Matt & Kim, the band happiest to be playing Coachella, or at least the one who showed it the most. The duo recounted their favorite memories from the weekend ("Beyoncé gave me goose bumps," Matt said), shared manscaping tips and had their very own streaker ("Hooray for that man's penis!" Matt cheered). And the music was just as entertaining, like when the drum (Kim) and keys (Matt) duo broke into "Apache" during the middle of their awesome single "Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare." They also pounded ferociously through Gary Glitter's "Rock & Roll Part 2."
Other Sunday stand-outs included French sensation Phoenix, who gathered one of the largest crowds of the weekend and whipped them into a frenzy from the opening "Listomania" to the closing "1901" and everything in between. Spoon had the most sing-alongs, but it was Yo La Tengo and Pavement who educated the main stage audience on alternative rock's roots, while Sunny Day Real Estate, featuring Foo Fighters Nate Mendel on bass, reminded the second stage of emo's origins.
Julian Casablancas ignored the desert heat and donned a black leather jacket for a set that included both solo and Strokes material, while Miike Snow took the stage in matching black suits and white masks, looking like a scene out of a Stanley Kubrick movie, and kinda sounding like one too.
On Saturday, maybe it was that Muse and Faith No More were so good, but the highly anticipated MGMT and Dead Weather sets seemed to fall flat. Both acts waited until mid-show to play their best-known material, which can be risky when there are four other stages going at the same time.
Coheed & Cambria are not exactly hit-makers, but the MTV March Madness champions are performers and proved the perfect warm-up for FNM and Muse. For their closing, the Rush-inspired rockers brought out members of the USC marching band, adding to an already full sound.
Band of Skulls turned in a break-out set, putting a more radio-friendly spin on blues rock. Think Wolfmother or the Black Keys meets Blink-182. Other Saturday afternoon highlights included perennial partiers the Gossip (who were also remixed later in the 2 Many DJs set) and Australian newcomers the Temper Trap, whose "Sweet Disposition" was one of those perfect hot Coachella afternoon anthems.
Friday's show-stealers were Them Crooked Vultures and Street Sweeper Social Club, the former fronted by Indio's own Josh Homme, who mixed some subtly humorous banter in with his guitar shredding. While introducing the band, for instance, he said "and on pretty much everything, John Paul f---ing Jones!" The Zeppelin legend played mostly bass, but opened the show on a stand-up electric slide guitar contraption, and later took to the piano for a beautiful interlude (a nice smoke break for Homme). Grohl's drumming was ferocious from the first beat, a reminder of what Kurt Cobain saw in him years ago. The dude just loves to rock out and it shows.
Similarly, Tom Morello was on fire throughout Street Sweeper Social Club's 5 p.m. set, soloing on nearly every song, pumping his fist like he meant it and leading the charge on a masterful re-creation of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes." Boots Riley could be a slightly better MC, but the band still brings something special live.
LCD Soundsystem are a special live act too, but fell a little short by playing several new songs and saving the favorites for the end. Vampire Weekend followed a similar strategy, but what hurt them most was a 10 p.m. set time. Late afternoon would have been a much better fit for their sun-soaked, eclectic song collection.
She & Him had that slot instead and owned it with a breezy, relaxed set. For an actress, Zooey Deschanel could have a little more stage presence, but her voice is angelic like Jenny Lewis, who has fit in nicely at past Coachellas.
Friday's breakout act was Sleigh Bells, a Brooklyn duo featuring Derek Miller's metal riffs and firecracker Alexis Krauss' rhymes over sampled beats. Sounds odd and very 1999, but it's infectious and fun.
And finally a special shout-out to DJ Lance Rock, who not only spun the kids' songs from his show, "Yo Gabba Gabba," but also brought along all his friends from the show. Forget Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens; Kristen Stewart, John Mayer or Katy Perry. Forget Paris Hilton, Kate Bosworth and Mischa Barton. The biggest celebrities at the fest were the felt favorites Muno, Broobee and Foofa.
Were you at Coachella? Share your own reviews of the fest in the comments below!
Related Photos
2010 Coachella Music Festival
Related Artists
Jay-Z
Muse
Pavement
Devo
Faith No More
Nikki Reed Norah Jones Noureen DeWulf Olivia Munn
Photos | Chris Brown And Usher Perform In Jamaica
Chris Brown And Usher Perform In Jamaica
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Photos | Justin Bieber, Miranda Cosgrove, More Arrive At 2010 Kids' Choice Awards
Justin Bieber, Miranda Cosgrove, More Arrive At 2010 Kids' Choice Awards
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Photos | Janet Jackson Performs A Tribute To Michael Jackson At The VMAs
Janet Jackson Performs A Tribute To Michael Jackson At The VMAs
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Michael Jackson's Estate: What's Coming Next?
Unreleased songs, Cirque du Soleil shows, a video game and much more are on the roster.By Gil Kaufman
Michael Jackson
Like Elvis, Bob Marley and Tupac Shakur, in death, Michael Jackson's popularity has only grown stronger. The singer, who died at age 50 on June 25, 2009, while gearing up for a 50-concert comeback attempt, has generated nearly $1 billion in revenue for his cash-strapped estate since his death. And with a number of projects in the works, it's likely that cash registers will keep ringing for years to come.
Part of the reason the managers of Jackson's estate moved so quickly to cut a number of lucrative deals in the months after the singer's death is because of a $500 million mountain of debt they were facing. According to CNBC, they chipped away at that by launching a four-pronged plan that included generating cash to pay bills, developing long-term projects for regular cash flow, restructuring Jackson's massive debt, and then working to restore the pop star's image, complicated and tarnished by decades of bizarre behavior and two allegations of improper sexual contact with children. A spokesperson for the estate could not be reached for comment at press time to confirm future plans.
One of the biggest deals was a $250 million pact with Sony Music Entertainment to release 10 new products encompassing CDs, DVDs and video games through 2017. The first of those albums, a still-untitled collection of unreleased songs, is due out at the end of this year. A repackaging of the singer's 1979 solo debut, Off the Wall — which was reissued with bonus tracks in 2001 — is expected in 2011 with more outtakes and remixes.
Jackson had been working for years on a follow-up to the poorly received 2001 album Invincible, recording tracks with Lenny Kravitz, Akon and Will.I.Am, among others, some of which have leaked in unfinished demo form. But it's unknown if those songs will be packaged as the album Jackson was working on at the time of his death or if they will be sprinkled in among the future releases. His former label boss, Tommy Mottola, said soon after Jackson's death that there were "dozens" of unreleased tracks that could see the light of day at some point. Reports surfaced this week that a collector discovered more than 200 unreleased Jackson 5 tracks in a warehouse.
The "This Is It" documentary of rehearsals for the 50-date London comeback shows has already generated $300 million at the global box office and millions more on DVD. But concert promoter AEG Live said at the time of Jackson's death, it had shot more than 100 hours of high-definition footage, meaning further repackaging of that material could be coming in the future.
A video game from Ubisoft that will allow fans to re-create Jackson's signature dance moves is due by the end of the year, and two new Cirque du Soleil shows employing Jackson's music are slated to launch by 2012. The first show will be one of the Canadian troupe's traditional traveling extravaganzas hitting the road in 2011, while the other will be anchored in Las Vegas and is expected to open in 2012.
CNBC said the future of Jackson's onetime adult playland, the 2,600-acre Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County, California, is still up in the air. The site is currently owned by Colony Capital, but it could be sold or moved to Las Vegas to create a tourist destination.
Also up in the air is an auction of Jackson's personal effects from Neverland, which he had arranged before his death as a way to raise money to pay off his debts. Plans for the 2009 auction were scrapped at the last minute after the thousands of items had already been put on display by Julien's Auction House in Los Angeles.
MTV will be remembering the life and music of Michael Jackson all weekend. Don't miss the one-hour special "Michael Jackson's Influence on Music," airing tonight at 6:30 p.m. on MTV.
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Michael Jackson
Like Elvis, Bob Marley and Tupac Shakur, in death, Michael Jackson's popularity has only grown stronger. The singer, who died at age 50 on June 25, 2009, while gearing up for a 50-concert comeback attempt, has generated nearly $1 billion in revenue for his cash-strapped estate since his death. And with a number of projects in the works, it's likely that cash registers will keep ringing for years to come.
Part of the reason the managers of Jackson's estate moved so quickly to cut a number of lucrative deals in the months after the singer's death is because of a $500 million mountain of debt they were facing. According to CNBC, they chipped away at that by launching a four-pronged plan that included generating cash to pay bills, developing long-term projects for regular cash flow, restructuring Jackson's massive debt, and then working to restore the pop star's image, complicated and tarnished by decades of bizarre behavior and two allegations of improper sexual contact with children. A spokesperson for the estate could not be reached for comment at press time to confirm future plans.
One of the biggest deals was a $250 million pact with Sony Music Entertainment to release 10 new products encompassing CDs, DVDs and video games through 2017. The first of those albums, a still-untitled collection of unreleased songs, is due out at the end of this year. A repackaging of the singer's 1979 solo debut, Off the Wall — which was reissued with bonus tracks in 2001 — is expected in 2011 with more outtakes and remixes.
Jackson had been working for years on a follow-up to the poorly received 2001 album Invincible, recording tracks with Lenny Kravitz, Akon and Will.I.Am, among others, some of which have leaked in unfinished demo form. But it's unknown if those songs will be packaged as the album Jackson was working on at the time of his death or if they will be sprinkled in among the future releases. His former label boss, Tommy Mottola, said soon after Jackson's death that there were "dozens" of unreleased tracks that could see the light of day at some point. Reports surfaced this week that a collector discovered more than 200 unreleased Jackson 5 tracks in a warehouse.
The "This Is It" documentary of rehearsals for the 50-date London comeback shows has already generated $300 million at the global box office and millions more on DVD. But concert promoter AEG Live said at the time of Jackson's death, it had shot more than 100 hours of high-definition footage, meaning further repackaging of that material could be coming in the future.
A video game from Ubisoft that will allow fans to re-create Jackson's signature dance moves is due by the end of the year, and two new Cirque du Soleil shows employing Jackson's music are slated to launch by 2012. The first show will be one of the Canadian troupe's traditional traveling extravaganzas hitting the road in 2011, while the other will be anchored in Las Vegas and is expected to open in 2012.
CNBC said the future of Jackson's onetime adult playland, the 2,600-acre Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County, California, is still up in the air. The site is currently owned by Colony Capital, but it could be sold or moved to Las Vegas to create a tourist destination.
Also up in the air is an auction of Jackson's personal effects from Neverland, which he had arranged before his death as a way to raise money to pay off his debts. Plans for the 2009 auction were scrapped at the last minute after the thousands of items had already been put on display by Julien's Auction House in Los Angeles.
MTV will be remembering the life and music of Michael Jackson all weekend. Don't miss the one-hour special "Michael Jackson's Influence on Music," airing tonight at 6:30 p.m. on MTV.
Related Videos
Remembering Michael Jackson - One Year Later
Related Photos
Michael Jackson: A Fashion Icon
Michael Jackson: A Life In Photos
Related Artists
Michael Jackson
Portia de Rossi Rachael Leigh Cook Rachel Bilson Rachel Blanchard
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