Chris Cornell
Photo: MTV News

After working with Timbaland on his forthcoming album, Scream, Chris Cornell has realized something about himself: He doesn't need a band behind him to create great songs.

That's why the former Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman has made the decision to continue working solo for the foreseeable future.

According to Cornell, working with the producer du jour has been an eye-opening experience in more ways than one. "There's this concept that, as a songwriter and a singer, I can't do it without a band," he explained. "This Timbaland/ Chris Cornell album is a perfect example of why I want to be solo. [I've learned that] there's so much, musically, that I haven't done. I've barely scratched the surface, and I have a lot of catching up to do. I feel like I want to fast-forward into my future of musical expression, because there are just so many different things I haven't done yet."

Cornell recorded Scream's 13 tracks with Timbaland over a six-week period, working only at night. He said they would hit the studio at 1 a.m. and record until sunrise. It was all very new to Cornell, who praised Tim's production on the disc.

"Timbaland's diversity — in terms of his feels, the ideas he brought in, the beats, the rhythms, the musical themes and auras of the different songs — was incredible," he said. "His focus was very much, 'I don't repeat myself, and I won't let you repeat yourself.' Being someone that writes songs mainly from an organic platform, I just really didn't know how much is possible in the musical spectrum until I met Timbaland. What he brought in, every day, was a surprise. He would surprise me with ideas he would bring in or ideas he was working on every time. Timbaland's music, coming from someone like me who started in rock music, I view it as being psychedelic music more than hip-hop, more than pop, more than beat-based music. It's atmospheric, like Pink Floyd is atmospheric — he creates a sonic world that you get lost in, and you listen to it and you start to trip out."

While there is still no official release date for Scream, Cornell has been getting ready to tour in support of the disc. He plans to play the whole thing live, from front to back, in one continuous hour of beat-driven rock, because to him, the album is one big song.

"I've been rehearsing this as a musical piece that's an hour long," he said. "I've been rehearsing it with an entire band, and it's kind of taken on a new life. Something happens to a song when you play it live — it sort of transforms over time. And to have a whole album with these different musical interludes and these different mood changes in between the songs ... to perform that whole thing live, it's kind of transformed into this living, breathing animal, which isn't something I expected. It's challenging, but it's really fresh."

Cornell has also shot a video for the album's title track, with director Alan Ferguson (Fall Out Boy, Gym Class Heroes ). Filmed in Orange, California, last month, the clip reflects the feel of the album, he said.

"The idea Alan had for the video, which is pretty ingenious, is sort of capturing the two moods of the music," he said. "There's kind of two things going on. It's a record that's 111 beats per minute, which is fast. But the music and lyrics and the vocals are actually kind of slow and relaxed and flowing over this beat that's pretty uptempo and kind of chaotic and excited. The way Alan's shot the video, he's shooting both at the same time. My role in the video is performing the song in super-slow-motion, where I'm existing in this Zen-like world, singing these song lyrics and everything going on around me is super-fast, super-chaotic, and I'm just suspended in it. It's a filmic piece that has something to say about the song lyrics and the feel of the music. It's going to be very much a cinematic video."

• Chris Cornell
• Timbaland
• Pink Floyd

Chris Cornell
Photo: MTV News

Former Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell has spoken out for the first time about rumors that he's been asked to fill in for Robert Plant on a proposed Led Zeppelin reunion tour. The trek would feature original guitarist Jimmy Page, original bassist John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham taking over on drums for his late father, John Bonham.

Cornell has been mentioned — along with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar, White Stripes mastermind Jack White and Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy — as a potential Plant fill-in. Plant has already said that he wouldn't take part in the tour.

"I have not been approached so far to fill in for Robert Plant on the upcoming Zeppelin tour, but that isn't to say I won't be," Cornell told MTV News. "I've heard that from about 200 people now, and it might be one of those situations where it's just an online rumor or it might be true. But if you see anyone from Led Zeppelin around, let me know. I think I should actually fill in for Jimmy Page on the Robert Plant/ Alison Krauss tour."

Cornell's denial comes just a day after Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford confirmed reports that frontman Steven Tyler recently met with Zeppelin for an impromptu jam session. "They did it for fun," Whitford said during an appearance on the syndicated show "Todd N Tyler Radio Empire." "I actually think Jimmy wanted Steven to come over and play a little bit because I think he was trying to light a fire under Robert."

Rumors of a Zeppelin reunion tour have abounded since the iconic band played a single reunion set last year at London's O2 Arena. Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider added fuel to the fire last month when he revealed that the group was thinking of touring, with or without Plant.

According to Snider, the rest of the band told Plant, " 'We're all rehearsed, we're ready to go. Here's a gazillion dollars on the table. If you don't do it, we're going out with this kid [Myles Kennedy].' "

"And he can sing the sh-- out of Zeppelin," Snider added. "They're going to hope that Robert, at the last minute, will go, 'OK,' and step in."

In a recent interview, Jones told BBC Radio Devon that a new singer was being sought to take over for Plant. "We are trying out a couple of singers," he said. "We want to do it. It's sounding great, and we want to get on and get out there."

But Jones insists that he, Page and Bonham aren't interested in finding a Plant clone. "It's got to be right," he said. "There's no point in just finding another Robert. You could get that out of a tribute band, but we don't want to be our own tribute band. There would be a record and a tour, but everyone has to be onboard."

Of course, even if Zeppelin were to approach him, Cornell might be too busy to take over vocals for the band. His upcoming Timbaland-produced solo LP, Scream, will be released within the next few months. Cornell told MTV News last month that some of his fans might consider Scream something of a departure, but he doesn't see it that way.

"It makes me happy that there's this perception that I have a group of fans that I'm now sort of throwing a curve at and what their reaction will be," he said. "But I've been in this situation so many times already. When I put out [1999's] Euphoria Morning, my main goal was to create an album that sounded like nothing I'd done in Soundgarden, and I did that. I also had that with Temple of the Dog, where I showed up with songs that weren't necessarily riff-based. And then, of course, the pairing of me and members of Rage Against the Machine had everyone sort of speculating about what that would sound like.

"It feels like I've done this so many times that when it's presented to me as being a departure, I feel that's a misconception," he added. "I feel like that's my theme at this point."

• Chris Cornell
• Led Zeppelin

Chris Cornell
Photo: Sergio Dionisio/ Getty Images

NEW YORK — You may not have realized it, but you got a sneak peek of Chris Cornell's upcoming solo LP Scream on Thursday night — so long as you caught the series premiere of "Life on Mars," ABC's Americanized remake of the popular British cop drama, which stars Jason O'Mara, Michael Imperioli of "The Sopranos," Gretchen Mol and Harvey Keitel.

Cornell's tune, "Ground Zero," was not only featured in all the commercials leading up to Thursday night's premiere, but was also played over the pilot's action-packed opening sequence.

A few weeks ago, Cornell was in Brooklyn to shoot a video for the song, which, when finished, will feature tons of footage from "Life on Mars."

"We shot it on the street there, and we didn't have any extras or anything," Cornell told MTV News of the video for the September 11-inspired track. "It was really just a small crew and me, and a lot of it's just me on the streets of Brooklyn, intercut with footage from 'Life on Mars.' So it's kind of like I'm in the same neighborhood, and the footage was shot in a way so it can be intercut with footage from the show, which will have a vintage '70s feel to it. And I interacted with people on the street during the shoot, unbeknownst to them, so it was pretty funny. I'd just walk up to people and shake their hand or start talking to them. Everyone was really polite and didn't know what to do. Most of them were just trying to figure out what the hell we were doing down there."

But don't feel bad if you didn't recognize the former Soundgarden/Audioslave frontman's work. In fact, when fans actually get their hands on the Timbaland-helmed Scream they're going to immediately notice that the album sounds nothing like Cornell's past material. Beat-driven and sprinkled with elements of hip-hop, the album is a drastic departure for Chris — but to his ears, the record is just the next logical step in his ever-evolving career.

"For me, it was sort of a natural thing, to go out and make a record I hadn't made before," Cornell said. "It wasn't a situation where I sat for a long time and thought about what my next move should be. It was quick, and the idea came to me after Timbaland had done a couple of remixes from the Carry On album. It got back to me that he was actually a fan and was interested in doing original material, and I got on the phone with him, and I suggested we go make a whole album. He was interested in that idea, and before I knew it, we were in the studio."

Six weeks later, Cornell and Timbaland were finished writing Scream, and six months later, the record was completely tracked. Unlike Cornell's previous offerings, the disc is one "piece of music with orchestration that ties all the songs together and turns it into this album-oriented piece that, in some ways, I think is similar to albums of the '70s, where people still played an entire album at once."

While several tracks from the record are available for preview on sites like YouTube, Cornell said he's puzzled by the perception that Scream is a complete shift away from the sound his fans expect from him.

"It makes me happy that there's this perception that I have a group of fans that I'm now sort of throwing a curve at and what their reaction will be," he said. "But I've been in this situation so many times already that, to me, it doesn't really seem any different. When I put out [1999's] Euphoria Morning, my main goal was to create an album that sounded like nothing I'd done in Soundgarden, and I did that. And I got the same questions then. I also had that with Temple of the Dog, where I showed up with songs that weren't necessarily riff-based. And then, of course, the pairing of me and other members of Rage Against the Machine to do a band and everyone sort of speculating about what that would sound like — what Soundgarden and Rage fans would think. It feels like I've done this so many times that, when it's presented to me as being a departure and as being a new concept, I feel that's a misconception. I feel like that's my theme at this point."

According to Cornell, he wanted to be able to do things differently and learn a completely new style of songwriting. The idea of working with Tim excited him and helped him achieve the goal he's always strived toward: not repeating his past.

"It's the most prolific I've been in such a short period of time, because I was working with someone who does nothing but create music," Cornell explained. "I was told by other people to be prepared. I actually felt like they were concerned that I would be some rock guy who would come in and lag behind, because Tim is a workaholic. I knew that was the right partner to make an album with when I heard that, because I've always been that way and rarely have I been in a position where I worked with somebody else who had that type of focus. And when I listen to this album, it sounds nothing at all to me like other Timbaland productions."

Cornell said Scream is a record that combines various influences that "I don't think have ever been put together before." Working with Timbaland helped shape his lyrics as well, because the "mood of the music is so different from anything I've written, so it brought stories and characters out of me that never really had a voice before."

Before judging, Cornell challenges fans to listen to Scream in its entirety, because the album was designed to be an experience.

"It's a musical journey — like watching a great movie — where you sort of forget about the normal format and get lost in the experience of the album," he said, adding that he's already conceived another album's worth of material during his sessions with Timbaland. "We have a lot more songs than are on this record, and he's already talking about doing more. Every time we sat down to write a song, we'd come up with something we both really liked."

• Chris Cornell
• Timbaland
• Soundgarden
• Audioslave

Chris Cornell
Photo: Getty Images/ Frank Micelotta

Erstwhile Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell will be hitting the road next month with the unlikely collaborator from his forthcoming solo LP — producer du jour Timbaland — for a string of eight live gigs, the first of which is scheduled for October 17 in Denver.

The rocker, who worked with Timbaland on Scream over a six-month period, said the shows will be similar to those he played around the release of his first solo effort, 1999's Euphoria Morning.

"I wanted to get out and do some special shows for fans, where it's just the new record and introducing that live, which isn't really the first time I've done that," he said. "With Euphoria Morning, I played pretty much nothing but my first album for the first tour, and with the first Audioslave record, we toured for a year and did nothing but that record. This is also a very special record."

Cornell will not be playing any tracks from his previous offerings on this brief Verizon Wireless-sponsored West Coast run, which wraps in his hometown of Seattle November 2. Cornell plans on playing the entire LP, from the first note to the last, without any pauses between songs.

"This album, I think, needs to be performed from beginning to end, because on the record, once the music starts, it never stops," he explained. "So it's literally a situation where you start playing the record from the first song, and it's just an hour's worth of music that keeps going until it's done, and it's something that's difficult to present in this day and age. Everything is sound bites and one song at a time, and people sort of downloading one song at a time, and more than any album I've ever made, this is an album that's really designed to be listened to from beginning to end, in one sitting.

"I think the smartest thing for me to do is go out and perform it that way, so people get it, because people haven't really understood that yet," Cornell continued. "I've been talking about it in interviews, and people need to understand that it's a different thing. Musically, definitely, it's a departure, not only for me but maybe for anybody. People are asking me what kind of music it is, and there's no real answer for that."

Cornell's forthcoming disc sounds nothing like his fans might suspect. It mixes elements of hip-hop (compliments of Timbaland) and rock in a rather unique manner.

"The initial conception and perception of this record was mixing two worlds — rock and hip-hop, or beat-based music with fuzzy guitars," Cornell explained. "But it really isn't just that at all. It's a mixture of a lot of different influences."

Timbaland said he's "so excited to be on the road with Verizon and Chris," adding that he "can't wait for everyone to hear [this] great new music."

Over the weekend, Cornell was in Brooklyn, New York, shooting a video for "Ground Zero," a song inspired by the tragic events of September 11.

"To me, it's sort of about the lingering aspect of [9/11] that is used to kind of create support for things that haven't been very good for our country or the citizens of our country," said Cornell, who now resides in Paris. "I've felt like, with the Bush administration, whenever they're in crisis, they'll suddenly pull out a terror alert — a code-orange scenario, which I run into constantly, because I'm in airports so often. They don't ever have to say why, just that it's a matter of national security. And with the conservative right, part of the platform right now in the election is 'Be afraid of terror, be afraid of terrorists. Look at 9/11 — we need an administration and a president who knows how to go out, kick ass, take names and keep us safe.' That's what got us into Iraq in the first place. [That tactic] certainly helped, and I think [9/11 was] a key factor in Bush winning a second term. To me, the song is about how awful 9/11 was, but stresses that we've got to let go of that to move on peacefully."

Chris Cornell/ Timbaland tour dates, according to Cornell's publicist:

» 10/17 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
» 10/18 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Avalon Theater
» 10/19 - Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
» 10/24 - Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
» 10/25 - Los Angeles, CA @ House of Blues
» 10/26 - San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
» 10/31 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
» 11/2 - Seattle, WA @ The Showbox

• Chris Cornell
• Timbaland
• Soundgarden
• Audioslave

Timbaland and Chris Cornell
Photo: Frank Micelotta/ WireImage

What would you get if you took one of the most iconic voices in modern hard rock and mixed it with one of the hottest producers of the past decade, known for his thick hip-hop beats and tricky time signatures?

If the singer is leather-lunged former Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell and the knob-twiddler is none other than Timbaland, well, you'd get ... songs that kind of sound like Chris Cornell singing over Timbaland beats. After months of hype and head-scratching among Cornell fans, the first results of the oddball pairing that both artists have said produced the best music of their careers were unveiled Tuesday on Matt Pinfield's radio show on New York's 101.9 FM. . (Take a look at other bizarre cross-genre collaborations in the MTV Newsroom blog.)

Cornell's Scream is due out in the fall, and based on the 30-second snippets of songs he previewed during the show, the results are sure to stir up controversy among the singer's fans. The first single, "Long Gone," opens with laser-effect keyboards over a Coldplay-like piano figure as Cornell's tweaked-out vocals echo in the background and an unmistakable Timbo stutter-step beat bubbles up.

Cornell told Pinfield that it was his brother-in-law Nick, a nightclub owner in Paris, who originally suggested Timbaland might be a good person to remix some songs from Cornell's previous solo album, Carry On. But Cornell said once he approached Tim, the producer wasn't into doing just a few songs — he wanted to make a whole album.

"He was super into that ... and we got into the studio and made a whole album," Cornell said of the LP, which they wrote and recorded in six weeks. "But then we went off in this direction of musically, sort of conceptually tying the whole thing together [so that] it almost harkens back to albums that I listened to when I was a kid, where the music never stops. It's really an album-oriented album."

More than any other album he's made, Cornell said Scream begs to be listened to on headphones all the way through. The title track at first seems like a more traditional Cornell offering, with an ominous, vaguely churchy-sounding buildup of keyboards and glitchy tick-tock rhythms, which again segue into one of Tim's patented funky drum-machine rhythms. Cornell said the theme of the song is about how in relationships, "we get sort of lost in the arguments and the fights about things that could easily just be talked about and ended."

Aside from connecting on a musical level, Cornell said he and Timbaland share an affinity for constantly creating new material, which is why the pair were able to cook up so many songs so quickly. Unlike many of the other producers he's worked with over the years — most of whom he said he ignored — Timbaland struck Cornell as someone who "comes in with actual musical ideas. He's somebody who's also a musical genius and a songwriter and records in very unorthodox ways. ... He's sort of reinventing the way he does things at the same time as working with an artist. You can't compare him to anyone."

Cornell described the tune "Ground Zero" as having a style he's been trying to nail his entire career, with lyrics about trying to stop the people who use the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as an excuse to "do a lot of bad things." Amid handclapping, foot-stomping and Tim's beatboxing, Cornell sings, "When it all falls down/ And the law don't count/ And it don't seem fair/ And the people don't care," in his ragged voice, tinged with some soul-man flair.

The other songs Cornell unwrapped during the appearance were the life-on-the-road tune "Never Far Away," a pure Timbaland classic with a big, fat, Justin-worthy club beat and swirling keyboards that nearly drown out Cornell's silky "whoa, whoa" moans, and "Watch Out," a cowbell-clanging banger that wouldn't be out of place on a Pink or Britney album.

Cornell said the reaction so far from fans has been "really good" and that he feels like they're ready for artists to mix things up. "I just want to have fun with music and do what I'm inspired by and ... if I'm inspired by it, then someone else will be," he said. "If you get into a kind of comfortable corner, where you're doing what you're used to — you're doing what you know how to do — you can get locked in that corner and stuck there and you're done. That's never going to happen to me."

• Audioslave
• Soundgarden
• Timbaland
• Chris Cornell

Linkin Park's Chester Bennington
Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Linkin Park weren't sure they'd be able to top last year's Projekt Revolution tour, but with a lineup that includes veteran rap and rock performers Busta Rhymes and Chris Cornell, as well as the Bravery and Ashes Divide, this year's bill may prove to be their most eclectic yet.

"We just pick groups that we think would be a good match together," Linkin Park MC Mike Shinoda said of the tour, which will hit 24 cities, kicking off July 16 in Mansfield, Massachusetts, and wrapping up August 24 in The Woodlands, Texas. "We want to create a bill that we think we'd enjoy seeing this summer."

After collaborating with Linkin Park on "We Made It," the first single off his eighth album, Blessed, Busta Rhymes was determined to join them on tour.

"Apparently, Busta was telling people, 'You don't understand, I'm going to be on that tour; you need to get me on that tour,' " Shinoda recalled. "I was saying to our touring committee ... with the single, it would be really great to do at least some shows with Busta."

Rhymes laughed at his efforts. "I was going hard, though, shamelessly," he said. "I wanted this bad."

"Busta, he's a performer," Shinoda said. "This isn't a DJ on the stage playing records."

With Rhymes and Linkin Park spending so much time together on the tour, are other collaborations on the horizon? "Absolutely. Why not?" Rhymes said. "Make an album, a couple of albums. Make a movie together. You know what I'm saying?"

Cornell decided to join the tour after enjoying his brief time with Linkin Park in Australia last October. "It's not that easy to find bands or artists [that are musically] different from what you do but that you like and your fans are going to like them, and it all makes sense but it's completely different," Cornell explained.

The former Audioslave and Soundgarden frontman described his spontaneous approach to creating a set list. "I sort of decide on the moment what the set list will be and sometimes even when we're onstage — it depends," Cornell said. "The funny part is when I'll forget. There will be a song that everybody loves that everyone expected to hear, and I forgot that song existed."

Cornell may also be debuting material from his recent collaboration with chart-topper Timbaland, who is producing Cornell's third solo album, which is planned for a September release.

"The idea of playing some new material is good," Cornell said. "Not every day is the same for me. Sometimes an audience feels different, so for me it requires a couple of different songs. You never know."

Metal band Atreyu will headline the tour's smaller Revolution stage, where 10 Years, Hawthorne Heights, Armor for Sleep and Street Drum Corps will also play.

"We just kept sending manila envelopes full of $1 bills," Atreyu lead singer Alex Varkatzas joked of how they made the lineup.

Before the U.S. leg of the tour begins, Projekt Revolution will head to Europe for the first time in the tour's five-year history, with a completely different lineup that includes N.E.R.D., the Used, H.I.M., the Blackout, InnerPartySystem and Enter Shikari. After three stops in Germany (June 21, 27, 28), the tour meets up with Jay-Z in Milton Keynes, England, on June 29.

"For some reason, there's an interest in this tour, there's an interest in what it means, and I think that it's translating in other places," Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington said. "We've never showed up to the U.K. and sold 50,000 tickets, but when we say we're doing Projekt Revolution and we have these different bands, all of a sudden it's, like, awesome."

One thing that hasn't changed since last year is Linkin Park's commitment to making the tour "green" by donating $1 from every ticket purchased to help reduce global warming through their charity, Music Relief.

Even after five years of putting this tour together, Linkin Park are excited to hit the road again. "When all the musicians on a tour feel like this is really an opportunity, and we're probably not going to be able to do this again, you're living in that moment, and you're being present with the fact that this is a really special thing we get to do," Bennington said. "It's just like I'm living out a fantasy."

• Linkin Park
• Busta Rhymes
• Atreyu
• The Bravery
• Chris Cornell

OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder (file)
Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/ Getty Images

Before last week's "American Idol" finale, where they took the stage at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live to perform their hit song "Apologize" alongside 17-year-old David Archuleta, the guys in OneRepublic didn't count themselves among the "Idol" faithful. In fact, they only started paying attention to the televised talent competition the previous week, when they found out they'd be appearing on one of the highest-rated programs of 2008.

"We were in London last week, and we got a call right before we came back to the States saying, 'You're not going to believe this, but you're playing the "American Idol" finale,' " recalled frontman Ryan Tedder, who hobbled his way down the "Idol" red carpet on crutches, having torn his Achilles tendon ("I was on the beach, and these baby seals were getting clubbed, and I ran up and stopped the clubbing, and they clubbed me," he joked).

Tedder, who called his injury "so painful" and one of "the worst things" he'd experienced, said the band just returned from Paris, where they shot a video for their next single from Dreaming Out Loud, "Say (All I Need)." Tedder — who has written songs for Jennifer Lopez, Natasha Bedingfield, Ludacris, Hilary Duff, Timbaland and Jennifer Hudson — revealed that the clip features a grunge icon.

"We have a little cameo in the video: Chris Cornell shows up in the first few frames," he said. "We shot it in the old section of Paris. The song's about living in Los Angeles the last five years, and we were in Europe and wanted to make the video. We've been lucky enough to have as much success overseas as we've had in the States, so we thought, when else are we going to have time to shoot a video in Europe?"

In the clip, the boys are seen wandering the streets of Paris, ending up on a rooftop. The video was shot half in color and half in black and white. "We wanted to make a piece of art and do something beautiful and inspiring," said Tedder, who is now working with Kelly Clarkson. "We've just started promoting it, and it's my favorite track on the record. People who liked 'Apologize' will love it."

In fact, the band asked the "Idol" producers if they could play "Say (All I Need)" during the finale, but it didn't work out. "They wanted us to do 'Apologize,' so it was a bit of a trade-off," Tedder said. "But in the end, we figured, 'Whatever, let's do it.' "

• OneRepublic
• Chris Cornell

Madonna
Photo: Gareth Davies/Getty Images

Madonna finalized her massive 10-year deal with Live Nation on Tuesday (October 16), although the exact terms have yet to be disclosed. The deal involves her new studio efforts, tours, merchandise, DVD releases, sponsorships, licensing agreements, fan club, Web site, and TV and film projects. "The paradigm in the music business has shifted, and as an artist and a businesswoman, I have to move with that shift," she said in a statement. "For the first time in my career, the way that my music can reach my fans is unlimited. I've never wanted to think in a limited way and with this new partnership, the possibilities are endless. Who knows how my albums will be distributed in the future? That's what's exciting about this deal — everything is possible. Live Nation has offered me a true partnership, and after 25 years in the business, I feel that I deserve that." She did, however, have some kind words to say about former label Warner Bros.: "I appreciate their hard work and value the many relationships I have developed over the years with the label in the U.S. and around the world. I have an album coming out with them next year, and I'm excited about it. We still have work to do together." And Warner Bros. returned the enthusiasm in its own Tuesday statement: "We congratulate Madonna on her future plans. She is one of the most remarkable artists of our time. We are excited to issue her upcoming album next year. We are also honored to own her catalog of recordings from the past 25 years, as well as to manage her library of songs for an extended period of time. From all of us at Warner Music Group, we thank Madonna for a valued and enduring partnership." Live Nation also announced a new Artist Nation arm that will launch with Madonna and have divisions dedicated to dealing with an artist's recorded music, merchandise, concert tickets, sponsorships, marketing and more. ...

Foxy Brown (real name: Inga Marchand) pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to assault charges stemming from the alleged cell phone-throwing incident that took place in July, The Associated Press reports. The rapper, who is serving a one-year jail term at New York's Rikers Island Correctional Facility for violating her probation, entered the plea in a Brooklyn state Supreme Court. On Friday, she refused to get on a correction-department bus twice for a court arraignment. Brown allegedly hit neighbor Arlene Raymond after they got into a fight over Brown blasting her car stereo outside her home in Brooklyn. ...

One of 50 Cent's employees was arraigned in Hartford, Connecticut's Superior Court on Monday on two counts of carrying a pistol without a permit, two counts of second-degree assault and one count of weapons in a motor vehicle, according to The Hartford Courant. Dwayne "Hove" McKenzie, who has been jailed since early Sunday on $1.5 million bail, is expected to be released as early as Monday after the bail amount was cut in half following the arraignment. The charges stem from incidents over the weekend in which McKenzie, who resides at Fif's Farmington mansion, is accused of pistol-whipping a nightclub promoter. Four days later, McKenzie was found with a 9mm Glock and another handgun when police stopped him in downtown Hartford to serve him a warrant on an unrelated weapons charge. Two months ago, McKenzie lost his right to carry a pistol after firing a gun at a man who robbed him. His cases have been continued until November 6. ...

Need another Shakira fix? The singer has slapped together a live DVD/CD, simply called "Oral Fixation Tour," for release on November 13. The disc immortalizes her l40-city, 2006-'07 world tour — which more than 2.5 million people attended, according to her publicist — and features 17 performances, including ones with Wyclef Jean and Alejandro Sanz. Bonus video clips, behind-the-scenes footage and a documentary capturing her trip to Colombia in support of her Pies Descalzos child-education program are also tucked onto the DVD, while the CD has a batch of live songs. The main program will also be screened at select theaters starting November 12. ...

Talk about "girl power" — the Spice Girls are putting a very feminine touch on their upcoming Greatest Hits set by selling it exclusively at Victoria's Secret stores. The November 13 release will be available elsewhere in downloadable form beyond VictoriasSecret.com, but the physical copies will only be at VS stores or via a pre-order on the aforementioned Web site starting midnight Wednesday and ending midnight Thursday. The group is also taking part in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which tapes November 14 in Los Angeles and airs December 4 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. ...

Last we heard from Weezer, they were planning to hit the studio in July to record album number six and get it out next year. Now comes news — via a post on frontman Rivers Cuomo's blog — that Geffen has agreed to put out a disc of his favorite demos he recorded from 1992-2007. "I hope you enjoy it. I may also be able to put out more demo CDs in the near future," reads the post. RollingStone.com reports that the collection, due December 11, will be called Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo. Cuomo's planned book has been postponed to a later date. ...

The Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica, Linkin Park and Chris Cornell are among the big names who'll be featured on the forthcoming Live Earth - The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis CD/DVD package, due November 20. Recorded July 7 at Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore's Live Earth concerts, which served to raise awareness about the climate crisis, the set will also include performances by the Black Eyed Peas, the Foo Fighters, Kelly Clarkson, Dave Matthews Band, Beastie Boys, Bon Jovi and John Mayer. Net proceeds will benefit the Alliance for Climate Protection, whose mission is to persuade the public about the importance and urgency of adopting and implementing effective and comprehensive solutions for the climate crisis. ...

It looks like the "Hannah Montana" ticket controversy is spurring the government to act on ticket scalpers. On Monday, a federal judge prohibited the use of automated software to buy mass tickets from Ticketmaster, Reuters reports. The move was provoked by a suit Ticketmaster lodged in April against Pittsburgh's RMG Technologies before tickets for the Miley Cyrus tour went on sale. Ticketmaster argued that the company's software allows scalpers to move ahead of other customers in line and purchase mass amounts of tickets that can be resold at higher prices. "They're cheating consumers out of a fair shot at these tickets, and we're not going to stand for it anymore," said Joe Freeman, a lawyer for Ticketmaster. U.S. District Court Judge Audrey Collins has issued a preliminary injunction against RMG that bars the company from "creating, trafficking in, facilitating the use of or using computer programs or other automatic devices to circumvent" the Ticketmaster Web site's copy-protection system. State attorneys general are also figuring out if ticket resellers have broken consumer-protection laws in at least three states: Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Missouri. ...

U2 are planning quite the birthday bash for their classic LP The Joshua Tree. The album will be reissued in multiple configurations — as a single CD, two-CD package, as a collectible box with an additional DVD, and as a double-vinyl set — on November 20, Billboard reports. Rare material including B-sides, demos, alternate takes and more are expected to appear on the updated versions of the album, which originally came out March 9, 1987. The DVD will reportedly featured a July 4 show held that year at the Paris Hippodrome, in addition to the Brian Eno-produced documentary "Outside It's America." The package housing two CDs and a DVD will also have five portfolio prints, and bandmembers have scribbled up new liner notes for the reissues. ...

Let the jokes begin: Clay Aiken is joining the cast of "Monty Python's Spamalot" on Broadway. The "American Idol" runner-up will play one of the lead roles, Sir Robin — which was previously taken on by David Hyde Pierce — from January 18 through May 4 in the production, which was spawned by "Python" member Eric Idle and directed by the esteemed Mike Nichols. "Let's not lie, the chance to work with legendary creative minds like Mike Nichols and Eric Idle is, on its own, a reason to jump at this opportunity," he told The Associated Press. ...

Don Imus is likely to return to radio December 3 on New York City's WABC-AM, the country's biggest talk-radio station, according to Variety. His deal with the station — also home to another inflammatory jock, Rush Limbaugh — is expected to be finalized this week and will also involve a TV element that could allow him to regain his national platform. ... Idlewild guitarist Rod Jones sustained a hairline fracture in his arm in an accident last weekend, according to a post on the band's Web page. Jones tripped and took a tumble down a flight of stairs backstage at the Carling Academy in Liverpool, England. He iced the injury and still took the stage with the band, fumbling his way through its set. A post-show visit to the doctor revealed it was a minor break, and Jones plans to continue playing with the band on its latest tour. ...

Hot Chip will issue their next LP, Made in the Dark, on February 5. Look for the electronic indie-pop group's third effort to feature 13 cuts, including first single "Shake a Fist," "One Pure Thought" and "Wrestlers." ... The Hellacopters have thrown in the towel, according to the band's MySpace page. In a statement, the band revealed that "the reasons behind this very difficult decision are many and too personal to go into here." Still, the band's seventh and last studio album will be released, sometime early next year. "We feel like we wanna say one last goodbye to you and throw in the towel with a bang, so we're aiming to do a farewell tour through Europe and Scandinavia sometime in the spring." ...

YouTube has come up with a new way to fight video piracy and leaks — by employing new technology that would automatically remove copyrighted material from the site, AP reports. Hoping to appease angered movie and TV studios, the site will feature filtering tools crafted to allow the owners of copyrighted videos to block their material from appearing on YouTube. But if the owners want to keep their copyrighted material on the site, the new technology also allows them to sell ads surrounding it. ...

First Angelina Jolie lost her husband in a movie, now she's losing her son. The actress — who recently played the wife of slain reporter Daniel Pearl in "A Mighty Heart" — will star in Clint Eastwood's "The Changeling," an upcoming drama about a woman whose son goes missing in Los Angeles in the 1920s, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film, based on a true story, will also star John Malkovich. ... The Academy Award for Best Screenplay that Orson Welles won in 1941 for "Citizen Kane" — the greatest movie of all time, according to the American Film Institute — is going up on the auction block. The prize will be displayed at Sotheby's in New York on December 7-10 and sold December 11 for an estimated $800,000 to $1.2 million.

10.15.07

Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds came out way back in September 2006, but he doesn't want you to forget about him this holiday season. The singer has compiled two new gifts for fans: a special edition of the album and a new DVD to boot. FutureSex/LoveSounds Deluxe Edition, due November 27, will feature his "Until the End of Time" duet with Beyoncé and other to-be-named bonus tracks featuring big-name artists. The reissue will also house a bonus DVD with unreleased concert footage, making-of clips, director commentaries and more. The double-DVD "FutureSex/LoveShow Live From Madison Square Garden," on the other hand, will drop a week earlier — and only be available at Best Buy. Expect to see the August 15 concert in full on the disc, as well as before and after footage, song-by-song commentary from JT, backstage clips, interviews and more. ...

Britney Spears is inviting her fans — the ones who haven't been too turned off by VMA performance or new video, at least — to an open casting call for dancers on Monday (October 15) at the Millennium Dance Complex in North Hollywood, California. The tryouts will be held from 5-9 p.m., with "all styles welcome," according to "Access Hollywood." The tryouts will be for an upcoming tour and her next video, although it's not yet known for which song it will be. Spears reportedly planned to hold the auditions last week but was a no-show. ...

Lindsay Lohan has filed a countersuit against a man who accused her of negligence and drinking when she hit his parked van in West Hollywood, California, in October 2005. According to CBS' Los Angeles TV affiliate, the actress is asking for more than $75,000 in damages for the repair of her car and the cost of renting other vehicles after she hit the vehicle owned by Raymundo Ortega, who subsequently sued Lohan for at least $200,000 in damages. She also says Ortega made an illegal U-turn and that he and an unspecified number of defendants were "negligent in the ownership, operation, repairs and maintenance" of his van, according to the suit. As for Ortega's claim that she drove drunk, Lohan says the California Highway Patrol report — which his lawyers have called hearsay — does not support that allegation. The suit says Ortega made the drunk-driving claim "as a battering ram to force a settlement." A trial date for both suits has been set for April 7. ...

50 Cent got real with a roomful of high school students in Connecticut on Friday, which was named "50 Cent Curtis Jackson Day" in Bridgeport, the Connecticut Post reports. More than 50 juniors and seniors from three high schools were invited to Mayor John M. Fabrizi's office for what they were initially told was a discussion with city and school officials about services for young people, but they got a surprise visit from 50, who told them to look past some of his lyrics and judge him by the man he has become. "I say in one of my songs I hate cops. I don't hate cops," he said, reportedly nodding to Bridgeport Chief of Police Bryan T. Norwood. "But I am expressing the feelings of a young boy who sees the cops take his brother away, and hates them for it." When asked how he could rectify his beliefs with some of his other lyrics, he said, "Rap is very competitive. You can't show your vulnerabilities, or another artist will use that against you in their content. Also, you don't paint the whole picture at one time, with one color. I want to show more of my character, but it has to come out over time." 50, who has been in Bridgeport filming a new movie, "Righteous Kill," said he's been wanting to get involved in the city — so he presented a $25,000 check from his G-Unity Foundation to an education program called Hall Neighborhood House. During the events, 50 made two more interesting remarks — he suggested his feud with Kanye West was actually just a marketing ploy ("His label and my label are both owned by Universal Music Group"), and replied to a question about his moniker with a pun: "50 Cent is a metaphor. It means change." ...

Ashlee Simpson might have broken out a few tunes from her upcoming, yet-untitled LP over VMA weekend, but apparently it's not quite there yet. The singer had originally aimed for the LP to come out in November, but her label has now slotted it for a first-quarter 2008 release. ... Taking a cue from Avril Lavigne, Ashley Tisdale is on a mall tour to support her debut album, Headstrong. The "High School Musical 2" star's trek kicked off Sunday in Columbus, Ohio, and runs through November 1 in Dallas. ... Beyoncé is heading to Shanghai. The singer will perform at the Chinese city on November 3 as part of her international tour — despite the fact that she previously had to scrap a show in Malaysia after it was preceded by dress-code problems. China previously canceled a show by boyfriend Jay-Z after calling his lyrics too "vulgar," and officials also told the Rolling Stones in the past not to perform their racier material. Beyoncé is set to play Wednesday in Ethiopia and Saturday in Romania, after which she'll hit Turkey, India, Thailand, Indonesia and then China — first on November 1 at Macau — Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan. ...

Q-Tip brought out Stevie Wonder for his encore Sunday night at the Key Club in West Hollywood, California. The two performed "Superstition," with DJ Scratch from the legendary EPMD on the ones and twos. ... John Legend has pegged February 12 as the release date for Estelle's Shine, the first album to come via his HomeSchool label through Atlantic, Billboard reports. Legend acts as executive producer on the effort, while Wyclef Jean, Will.I.Am, Swizz Beatz and Mark Ronson also contribute production, and Kanye West and Cee-Lo make guest appearances. Legend told the mag he's three songs into his next, yet-untitled album, which he hopes to have out in the summer. ...

Pink knows how to party like an animal. The ardent People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals supporter hosted a party for the activist group's president, Ingrid Newkirk, in Los Angeles over the weekend. The bash, which featured pink champagne and veggie "not" dogs among its offerings, served to boost Newkirk's new book, "Let's Have a Dog Party," and Bill Maher, Kevin Nealon — and Pink's dogs — were also in attendance. In other PETA news, the Suicide Girls will soon be seen in the group's noted "We'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" series — they are posing Monday for photos that will be used in the nude-ad campaign and other advertising efforts. ...

Paris Hilton felt "empty" as a partygoer, and now she wants to "leave a mark on the world," she told Newsweek for its new issue, which hits stands Monday. In the article — called "Ms. Hilton Gets Serious. Please Stop Laughing." — she maps out plans for a five-day trip to Rwanda that will have her visiting schools and health-care clinics. "I'm scared, yeah. I've heard it's really dangerous," she said about going abroad. "I've never been on a trip like this before." Scott Lazerson, founder of Playing for Good — the children's charity the heiress will be traveling with — added that, "She's using her celebrity and the cameras that follow her for the good of humanity." The article also reveals that Lazerson is planning to film the trek and sell it as a reality show, called "The Philanthropist," that would feature other celebrities helping the poor. ...

What's a Radiohead? That's what at least one member of the Bush White House is wondering after Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto revealed that he's a big fan of the band and plans to pick up its new album, In Rainbows, according to The Washington Times. Another deputy press secretary, Scott Stanzel, called himself an "appreciator" of Radiohead's music as well, while National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe added that he's "90 percent sure" he's got a few of their songs on his iPod — although none from 2003's Hail to the Thief, which is widely considered to be a slam on the president. When Press Secretary Dana Perino was asked about the group, she replied, "I don't even know what that is. Is that a band?" ... Kirsten Dunst, Blondie frontwoman? Works for Deborah Harry. The group's singer said she's given Dunst her blessing to take on the role for an upcoming, yet-untitled Michel Gondry flick. "She's probably capable of a lot of things she hasn't been asked to do yet, and doing something that's sort of left of center would be great for her," Harry told AOL's Spinner. "I've met with her a couple of times and hung out with her socially. She's just a sweetie." ...

The Arcade Fire joined none other than Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band onstage at a Sunday show in their native Canada, Billboard reports. The indie-rockers joined the more seasoned squad for a rendition of "State Trooper," then performed their own song "Keep the Car Running" with backing from the E Street Band at Ottawa's Scotiabank Place. ... Marilyn Manson's Chatsworth, California, mansion is on the market and can be yours for a cool $1.1 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. The five-bedroom abode features a recording studio, an office-library and a "bonus room." There's also a pool and a covered barbecue. ... Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, who checked into a rehab facility over the summer, botched his lines when he made an unexpected appearance on "Saturday Night Live" over the weekend. Host Jon Bon Jovi did his best to salvage the appearance by bringing his band onstage to play music. ...

More good news for Led Zeppelin fans — not only is the band getting back together for a November 26 reunion gig, but it will soon be shaking up the digital sphere by making its songs available online. On Monday, Zep announced plans to make all their LPs available — as full albums, or à la carte — through all digital-music services on November 13. Their songs will soon be available as ringtones and mobile features in an exclusive deal with Verizon Wireless as well. The band also launched its MySpace page on Monday. In a separate deal, the band is expected to receive $60 million in exchange for lengthening its ties to music publisher Warner/ Chappell Music for at least 10 years, according to The New York Times. ... The Police have put the kibosh on two more shows — their Monday and Tuesday concerts in Manchester, England — due to frontman Sting's throat infection. The band's Friday and Saturday shows, set for Cardiff and London, respectively, will go ahead as planned. ...

Houston rapper Big Moe (born Kenneth Moore) died on Sunday, The Associated Press reports. The 33-year-old rapper, a member of DJ Screw's Screwed Up Click posse, was best known for his 2002 single "Purple Stuff," from his second album, Purple World. ...

Remember the Mighty Mighty Bosstones? Well, the long-dormant ska-core kings will return December 30 for a performance at the Hometown Throwdown in Cambridge, Massachusetts, following "numerous threats of bodily injury from the under-18 crowd," the band joked on its MySpace page. No word on whether the band plans to write and record, but we'll keep you posted. ...

A pair of concerts slated to take place simultaneously in Tel Aviv, Israel, and the West Bank town of Jericho on Thursday — to support the call for a solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict — have been scrapped. The free shows, due to be headlined by Bryan Adams, were called off after Palestinian supporters reportedly said they were threatened over the stance of the show's organizer, the One Voice group, which some Palestinians say ignores their perspectives on lasting peace and Palestinian refugee issues. The Jericho gig was canceled last week, according to a BBC News report, and Israeli organizers followed suit. ...

Universal Music Chairman/CEO Doug Morris is hoping to join forces with other record companies to create an industry-owned music-subscription service to compete with iTunes, BusinessWeek reports. The magazine says Morris has already roped in Sony BMG Music Entertainment as a potential partner and is talking with Warner Music Group as well. The labels control a combined 75 percent of the music sold in the States. Morris also reportedly wants to involve wireless carriers and plans to name the service Total Music. ...

Could Jon Peter Lewis be getting a second wind? The former "American Idol" contestant self-released his first album, Stories From Hollywood, in November 2006 after he didn't have any luck scoring a major-label record contract after participating on the show. But now the disc is getting wider distribution thanks to a new deal with Iowa indie label Authentic Records. Lewis also has a new tour in the works — it starts November 15 in, fittingly, Cedar Falls, Iowa. ...

And just when you thought you'd heard the last from Corey Clark, the former "Idol" contestant faces up to two years in jail and a potential fine of up to $150,000 after pleading guilty to a felony charge of harassment. Four other charges were dismissed as part of the plea deal. The harassment charge stems from Clark's violation of a court order by placing calls to his father-in-law in August 2006. Months earlier, his wife, Monica Rodriguez Gonzalez, filed for the order — which banned him from contacting her or eight other people, including their child — after claiming he had abused her. Clark will be sentenced in early November in an Arizona court.

[This story was originally published at 2:28 p.m. ET on 10.16.2007]

• Madonna
• Foxy Brown
• 50 Cent
• Linkin Park
• Miley Cyrus

Mariah Carey
Photo: Mariah Carey/Getty Images

Mariah Carey got a win in court last week when a federal judge decided that a copyright-infringement case against her had no merit. Singer Rachele Chafir had sued Carey in April 2006, claiming that Carey's hit "It's Like That" was copied from her song "Sexy" and lifted key pieces, including the music, for the chorus. Chafir, who copyrighted the song in 2004, claimed Carey had access to "Sexy" since it was available on a Web site, but U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood decided that wasn't proof Carey or her collaborators had gone to the Web site or lifted the material, which wasn't "strikingly similar" enough to be considered infringement. With "no genuine issues of material fact," Wood closed the case. "It was the right decision," Carey's lawyer Ilene Farkas told MTV News. "The record was clear in this case." Meanwhile, Carey is moving on with her yet-untitled follow-up to The Emancipation of Mimi, which her record label confirmed is now due December 4. ...

Going, going ... to Cooperstown. And with an asterisk on it. Baseball star Barry Bonds' record-breaking home-run ball, which was purchased two weeks ago in an online auction by hip-hop fashion mogul Marc Ecko, will be heading to the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum after all. Ecko bought the ball and launched a Web site giving fans the chance to vote on the ball's final destination: outer space or to Cooperstown, with or without an asterisk signifying Bonds' alleged steroid use in helping him become the all-time home-run king. The announcement was made Wednesday morning (September 26) on the "Today" show after a week of voting. According to Vote756.com, over 10 million votes were cast, of which 47 percent chose to send the tagged ball to the famed baseball museum. ...

The twisted saga of the investigation into the unsolved 1997 murder of the Notorious B.I.G. took another turn this week when Waymond Anderson, an inmate serving life for murder, recanted testimony in which he had implicated the Los Angeles Police Department in the rapper's murder. The Los Angeles Times reports that Anderson said in a recent deposition that he lied about LAPD involvement as part of a "scam" cooked up with two other convicts to get a big monetary settlement from the city of Los Angeles. Most shockingly, Anderson accused the rapper's family — which has filed a wrongful-death suit seeking damages from the city — and its lawyer of taking part in the scheme and offering to pay him a percentage of the settlement for false testimony against the LAPD. In the August 20 testimony, Anderson said he had never met the officers he implicated, despite earlier statements in which he described conversations with the two disgraced ex-LAPD cops. A lawyer for Biggie's family, Perry Sanders, called Anderson's allegations "100 percent, demonstrably false," adding yet another twist to the already-knotted-up story by saying that Anderson appeared to be changing his story at the behest of Chuck Philips, a Times reporter who has written extensively about the murder investigation and has questioned the theory of LAPD involvement. Phillips and the Times dismissed the allegations. ...

In other Biggie news, the recently released documentary "The Notorious B.I.G.: Bigger Than Life" follows the rapper's life from his early days to his death with interviews from many of the behind-the-scenes music-industry figures and friends who watched the rapper rise from a street-corner hustler to one of the biggest rap stars in the world. The film also features several minutes of previously unreleased footage shot by a bystander of the scene on the night Biggie was gunned down. The fan's video — which director Peter Spirer ("Beef," "Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel") said has been reviewed by authorities — doesn't capture the moment Biggie's car was shot at, but it does have audio of the shots and shaky footage of the chaotic aftermath. ...

Embattled football player Michael Vick is facing stricter release conditions after testing positive for marijuana earlier this month, The Associated Press reports. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson imposed the new conditions, which include restricting Vick to his home between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. with electronic monitoring and making him submit to random drug tests. He was ordered to continue participating in substance-abuse and mental-health counseling. Vick was put under pretrial release supervision in July, and the restrictions included refraining from the use of narcotic drugs or other controlled substances. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback, who pleaded guilty in August to federal dogfighting charges, is awaiting sentencing December 10 — and Vick's violation of the conditions of his release could be taken into consideration by the judge. He faces up to five years in prison for the federal charges, and has been indicted on additional state charges in Virginia as well. ...

A second woman has filed a lawsuit against Lil Wayne over a melee that broke out during one of his shows at Morgan State University in Baltimore in October. According to an AP story, Carlisa Dixon said she was impaled on a metal pole after the crowd surged to snatch up money that was being tossed from the stage. Dixon is seeking $1 million from Wayne's record label and touring companies, and another $1 million from the university, claiming she underwent surgery for a puncture wound as a result of the crowd surge. A lawsuit was filed in August by another woman who claimed she was trampled in the same money-throwing incident. A spokesperson for Wayne could not be reached for comment at press time. ...

A man died at a Smashing Pumpkins concert in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Monday night in what police think may have been a crowd-surfing or moshing accident. The Canadian Press reports that Vancouver police say the man was unconscious when he was dragged out of the crowd at the Pacific National Exhibition Forum during the show and worked on by first-aid personnel on site before being transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police have ruled out foul play. ... The Voodoo Music Experience is shifting locations, but just slightly. The fest, to take place October 26-28, has a new site in New Orleans City Park to accommodate ongoing restoration and improvement of the park. The shift brings the fest closer to Tad Gormley Stadium, where Voodoo was first held in 1999. ...

Do you march to Nelly's beat? The rapper is cobbling together a marching band for his performance at the BET Hip-Hop Awards on October 13. Auditions will be held Sunday starting at 11 a.m. in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Orleans and St. Louis, and Nelly is looking for girls who can play drums, tri-toms, bass drum, tuba or trumpet. Prospective players need to know how to perform his song "Grillz" and move to the beat of the song while playing their instruments. Final auditions will be held October 8 in Atlanta, and those who can't make the auditions in person can post a one-minute video clip on Nelly's drum-line-audition site. ... If you've been doubting Swizz Beatz's fashion sense, think again — Gap has tapped the hugely popular producer for its spring ad campaign. ...

VH1 Rock Docs picked up its first Emmy win on Monday as "DMC: My Adoption Journey" earned the award for News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming. The program, which revolves around the Run-DMC member's search for his birth mother, premiered in February 2006 and will re-air on VH1 on Saturday at 10 p.m. ... Have you already imported Babyface's Playlist into your own playlist? Then mark you calendar — the singer is putting together a tour in support of his recently released LP. Babyface will play a gig in the Philippines on October 13, followed by a stretch in Japan; after that he'll hit Oakland, California, on November 23, and Sparks, Nevada, the following day. ...

During a recent visit to "The Howard Stern Show," Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx spoke out about drummer Tommy Lee and his apparent departure from the band. He told Stern that Lee quit, and Sixx blamed the current legal problems the band is having with one of its former managers for the turmoil. Sixx said that, since Lee isn't the Crüe's frontman or chief songwriter, the band should be fine without him. He added that he harbors no ill will toward Lee. ... Snow Patrol keyboardist Tom Simpson was expected to appear in court in Glasgow, Scotland, on Tuesday to answer to drug-possession charges filed against him this summer. While the charges weren't dropped, the prosecution doesn't intend on taking "further action," meaning the charges will either have to be re-raised again or dropped altogether. ...

Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard's side project Brad are getting back together for a one-night-only show on October 17 at New York's Webster Hall. The benefit event will also feature Billy Bragg and be hosted by Tim Robbins. It is being held to support Woody and Marjorie Guthrie, and the 40th anniversary of the Huntington's Disease Society of America, which was founded by Marjorie. ... Puddle of Mudd aren't ones for Southern hospitality, apparently. Frontman Wesley Scantlin has been banned from Memphis' Graceland after hopping in the pool in Elvis Presley's mansion during a tour on Monday. ...

The Eagles will perform on an awards show for the first time when they take the stage at the Country Music Awards, which will air November 7 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Carrie Underwood is also slated to perform. ... The Rolling Stones' recent tour didn't just carry the band to the top of Forbes' list of biggest-earning music acts — it landed them in the Guinness World Records, according to Reuters. The classic-rockers' A Bigger Bang tour took $437 million dollars to give them a new record, for the world's most successful music tour. ...

Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God will be teaming up for a late-fall co-headlining tour, which is set to kick off November 28 in Lowell, Massachusetts, with dates booked through December 17 in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. DevilDriver and Soilwork will open on all dates. ... Chris Cornell has added another round of dates to his North American tour, which began in the spring. He has booked another 28 gigs, meaning the trek will continue through November 23, when he's expected to perform at the Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. ...

A photo from Elton John's collection has been pulled from a British gallery where it was to be displayed over concerns by police that it might be child pornography. The photo — which was taken by award-winning American photographer Nan Goldin — shows two young girls, one with her legs spread apart, and was to be displayed at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in northern England before it was seized by police, according to London's Times Online. John released a statement, explaining, "The photograph entitled 'Klara and Edda belly-dancing' (1998) is one of 149 images comprising the 'Thanksgiving' installation by renowned U.S. photographer Nan Goldin ... The photograph exists as part of the installation as a whole and has been widely published and exhibited throughout the world [and] has been offered for sale at Sotheby's New York in 2002 and 2004, and has previously been exhibited in Houston, London, Madrid [Spain], New York, Portugal, Warsaw [Poland] and Zürich [Switzerland] without any objections of which we are aware."

09.25.07

While her fellow Black Eyed Pea Will.I.Am is hyping his new project, Songs About Girls, Fergie isn't slowing down with her own solo affair, last year's The Dutchess. The singer just shot a clip for the song "Clumsy" with directors Marc Webb (Diddy, the Pussycat Dolls) and Rich Lee (Chamillionaire, Dashboard Confessional). The surreal, humorous clip features Fergie falling head over heels — get it? — for love in various scenarios. ...

A House panel cast a congressional light on hip-hop lyrics on Tuesday (September 25), with David Banner and Master P giving sharply different views. The Associated Press reports that the latter rapper (real name: Percy Miller) told the Energy and Commerce subcommittee that he is determined to create clean lyrics. "I want to apologize to all the women out there. I was honestly wrong," he said of his prior material. Banner (real name: Levell Crump), on the other hand, defended his profane lyrics, saying, "Change the situation in my neighborhood, and maybe I'll get better." But while P and Banner didn't see eye to eye in terms of who is responsible for derogatory language in hip-hop, they agreed that the government shouldn't censor lyrics. "If by some stroke of the pen hip-hop was silenced, the issues would still be present in our communities. Drugs, violence, sexism and the criminal element were around long before hip-hop existed," Banner said. According to AP, the hearing was similar to the 1985 event in which late rocker Frank Zappa made a feisty appearance also railing against censorship. ...

Like the sound of the "Rocawear Arena" instead of the "Continental Airlines Arena"? Yeah, so does Jay-Z. The ambitious hip-hop mogul is bidding for the arena's naming rights, according to New Jersey's Star-Ledger. Although he is the co-owner of the New Jersey Nets and his Rocawar is a sponsor of the NBA team — which currently plays at Continental — sportswear maker Southpole has made the highest bid so far, $2 million. But there's a catch: The reason the name is up for grabs is because Continental is backing out of its deal with the arena, and both the Nets and hockey team the New Jersey Devils are planning to move to other venues. ...

Life isn't getting any easier for Britney Spears. Kim Robard-Rifkin, the reported woman whose car the singer hit in August — for which she was charged with two misdemeanors on Friday — has spoken out to CelebTV.com. "I was not surprised with the criminal charges — this is what happens when somebody hits your car and runs — especially when it is all caught on video," she said in a statement. Spears' former bodyguard Tony Barretto also spoke out on Monday, telling "Today" show host Matt Lauer that he had witnessed her using drugs on two occasions. While Barretto did not specify which drugs he supposedly saw her taking, he said both incidents occurred at a nightclub in Los Angeles, one at the table she was sitting at and the other in a private restroom. When Lauer asked him about a third incident in which he alleges to have seen her strung out in a Los Angeles hotel room, Barretto replied, "I did." ...

Sarah Silverman was surprised by the reaction that met her controversial VMA monologue, in which she flung derogatory insults at Britney Spears, among others, she told Us Weekly. Regarding one of her saltiest remarks — that Spears' kids "are the most adorable mistakes you will ever see" — Silverman replied, "The joke that everyone was upset about ... was the most innocuous joke. It never occurred to me that [it] would be deemed hurtful or over the line." She also told the magazine for its new issue, which streets Friday, "I don't want to get into feuds with girls half my age. I'm in it to be funny and not for the drama. It's embarrassing." ...

Look, up in the sky, it's a new Gnarls Barkley album! And as Cee-Lo recently told MTV News of the follow-up to St. Elsewhere, "It sounds otherwordly. ... It sounds like an original, if I do say so myself. The theme is progression and how there's a first time for everything. You just have to go for it." Beyond that, though, Cee-Lo didn't want to give up too much. Asked about collaborators, he demurred: "Danger Mouse is my special guest. He's my counterpart in the enigma of Gnarls Barkley." No duh — we meant, anyone else? "Let me continue to surprise you," Cee-Lo smiled. For those who caught Cee-Lo's take on Prince's "Darling Nikki" with the Foo Fighters at the VMAs, he wants fans to know that his performance at the show was supposed to be a surprise appearance with Amy Winehouse, "believe it or not." But since she had to bail from the show, he's saving that collaboration for a future appearance. ...

The Sex Pistols — who just tacked two more gigs onto their upcoming November reunion in London, according to BBC News — have another trick up their collective sleeve: A newly recorded rendition of their punk staple, "Anarchy in the U.K." The band entered the studio for the first time in 30 years to record the track, which will surface on "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock." ... As I Lay Dying clearly have more than a few gasps left — the metal band edged out Switchfoot, Jason Mraz and others to win the San Diego Music Award for Artist of the Year. AILD nabbed the same honor in 2005. ... Canadian singer/songwriter Patrick Watson and his band have pulled off an arguably more impressive feat: The Montreal quartet have nudged by Arcade Fire and Feist to land the Polaris Music Prize for Best Album. ...

Despite the recent head injuries sustained by guitarist Brent Hinds, Mastodon have booked a gig, opening for the Queens of the Stone Age on October 29 in Los Angeles. The band is also scheduled to appear at the Vegoose festival on October 27 in Las Vegas, where Hinds was jumped following Mastodon's performance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. Police claim Hinds was attacked outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on September 10 during an encounter with System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian and his friend William Hudson. According to police, Hudson assaulted Hinds, and Odadjian witnessed the incident. ... While at the VMAs, Mastodon told MTV News that they wrote their best song ever — even though it's not quite finished yet — while on the way to the big show. "It's pretty much the best record we've yet to write," guitarist Bill Kelliher said before singing a couple of the riffs with Hinds. "That's how it goes — du-duh-du-duh na-nah-nah. We wrote it in the car on the way over here, at least the intro of it. Part one. We're at the really beginning stages. It's going to be awesome, though. Everything we do is amazing." ...

The Game entered his expected not-guilty plea on Tuesday to three felony counts stemming from a pickup basketball game in Los Angeles in February. The rapper (real name: Jayceon Taylor) is free on $50,000 bail and has a pretrial hearing set for October 30. ... Jack Bauer might not be such a hero after all: Kiefer Sutherland was arrested early Tuesday morning for drunken driving in Hollywood, Reuters reports. The actor was pulled over after making an illegal U-turn and blew more than the .08 legal limit upon taking a breathalyzer test. He posted $25,000 bail at a Hollywood police station and is due in court on October 16. ...

The Phil Spector murder trial is in the hands of the jury now, but that hasn't stopped more bizarre developments from emerging in the case. According to AP, over the weekend, a threatening post appeared on a MySpace page possibly belonging to the music producer's wife, Rachelle. "I love Phil Spector!!! The Evil Judge Should Die!!!! Xoxo Chelle," read the post, a police spokesperson told the news outlet. The page, which features an image of Rachelle wearing a "Team Spector" tee, was referred to a sheriff's department unit that investigates such threats. The post has since been removed. ...

Amazon's new digital-music store is up and running, with songs going for 89 to 99 cents and albums selling for around $6-$10. The songs, which don't have copyright protections, can be burned onto CDs and copied to multiple computers. Record-label giants Universal and EMI, in addition to a flood of indie labels, are selling their songs through the site. ... A former trustee in James Brown's estate might have misappropriated up to $7 million of the late music legend's money, special administrators told a South Carolina judge on Monday. State Circuit Judge Jack Early told David Cannon, the former co-executor of Brown's will, to pay $400,000 and produce additional documents. Early also said Brown's family could pursue the claims. ...

The Cult will headline the fall installment of the Jägermeister Music Tour, which is set to launch October 17 in Pala, California, and run through mid-December, with the full list of dates coming soon. Rounding out the bill will be Vietnam, the Cliks and Action Action. ... Former L7 leader Donita Sparks is going out on her own with her debut solo effort, Transmiticate, due January 22. The effort, which will feature her new backing band, the Stellar Moments, shifts away from the grunge and metal sounds that defined L7 and tinkers with more pop and dance elements. ...

Fans of Los Angeles ska act Hepcat are mourning the passing of bassist Dave Fuentes, 36. While details are scarce, the band did issue a statement, saying, "We are sad to announce that our brother, beloved bandmate and amazing friend, David Fuentes, is no longer with us. He will be missed by everyone but especially everyone in the Hepcat family." He leaves a wife, Yohanna, and two sons, Andrew, 7, and Darren, 3. A memorial fund has been established to help his family. ... A special-effects technician working on the set of the Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" was killed when a truck carrying a camera platform rammed into a tree on Monday in London, AP reports. Filming was not taking place at the time of the accident, which is under investigation.

• Mariah Carey
• Notorious B.I.G.
• Lil Wayne
• The Smashing Pumpkins
• Killswitch Engage

Rihanna's <i>Good Girl Gone Bad</I>
Photo: Island Def Jam

Ready for one crazy summer? The first day of the season is still a couple of weeks away, but that isn't stopping the summer stars from busting out their sizzlin' new slabs. Grab your sunscreen, beach blanket and thong — the forecast calls for ridiculously high temps.

Summer Jams: Rihanna and Jay-Z reigned at the MTV Movie Awards with a steamy version of her "Umbrella," and she can credit the infectious track for making her Good Girl Gone Bad LP the most anticipated R&B release of the week, despite the gritty competition. Her third album in two years also features Ne-Yo ("Hate That I Love You"), "Don't Stop the Music," "Breakin' Dishes," "Question Existing" and more.

Daddy Yankee has a special delivery too: El Cartel: The Big Boss. Beyond the English-language-titled "Plane to PR," "Bring It On" and the obligatorily named "Who's Your Daddy?," the set features 18 additional tracks that are all titled in Spanish. Kicking it with Daddy Yankee — one of Time magazine's 100 most-influential people, in case you forgot — are Fergie, Akon, Jim Jones, Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger, Scott Storch and Will.I.Am.

T-Pain is throwing a beach party of his own, and he's also invited Akon — as well as Yung Joc, Ray and Shawnna. T-Pain — who told MTV News he's been mixing it up with Britney and Usher lately too — is counting on the wildly popular street track "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" to anchor his Epiphany, but he also makes room for "Yo Stomach," "Backseat Action" and "Shottas."

And don't forget about Carl Thomas — although he isn't too lonely these days either, from the looks of it. Brandy, E-40 and Dave Hollister are making his new album So Much Better.

Return of the Rockers: Marilyn Manson might not be the Christian Right's target du jour anymore, but that doesn't mean the thin white goth isn't still relevant — after all, his 2003 LP, The Golden Age of the Grotesque, charted at #1 on the Billboard albums chart. Manson's graphic, self-directed "Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)" clip with Evan Rachel Wood should shock fans into buying Eat Me, Drink Me, which also features "Are You the Rabbit?," "Mutilation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery" and "You and Me and the Devil Makes 3."

Chris Cornell is also getting reborn, so to speak. Following Audioslave's implosion, the frontman is redefining himself as a solo artist — which he actually did before, by releasing 1999's Euphoria Morning in between his time in Soundgarden and the 'Slave. He finds optimism again with Carry On, crooning a slow version of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" — no, that's not a misprint — plus "You Know My Name," which he crafted for "Casino Royale," and more.

Quick Hits:

· Psychobilly scrappers Tiger Army have clawed their way onto mainstream-rock radio lately and are tearing it up on the Warped Tour this year. In addition to dropping a new LP this week — Music From Regions Beyond — the band crops up on the Vans Warped Tour - 2007 Tour Compilation alongside the Used, Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying and more.

· Shout Out Louds cover the Pogues' "Streams of Whiskey" with the Essex Green on the Louds' new Merge EP, Tonight I Have to Leave It. Meanwhile, labelmates the Ladybug Transistor apparently Can't Wait Another Day to put out their sixth album, which features "Always on the Telephone" and "Here Comes the Rain."

· You probably know Sean Na Na — who plants Family Trees or Cope We Must this week — better as Ron Jeremy-esque funkster Har Mar Superstar.

· Expect Paul McCartney and Dream Theater also to do some chart damage next week. McCartney's Memory Almost Full is his 21st solo album but first for Hear Music, the new label formed by Starbucks and Concord Music. Dream Theater have hopped from Atlantic to the hard-rocking Roadrunner for their latest prog-rock opus, Systematic Chaos.

· Hair-metal survivors have a new reason to live: Poison belt out renditions of their favorite Cars, Stones and Bowie tunes on Poison'd! Not crazy about those covers? Try Tesla — they also pay homage to the Stones (as well as Zeppelin, the Beatles and other classic rockers) on their own set of tribute songs, Real to Reel.

· Yeah, that really is Tiffany you're seeing below. Everyone's favorite '80s carrot top is issuing Just Me on the way-indie imprint 10 Spot Record.

Uneasy Listening: Steve Albini probably isn't greasing up his bod for the summer in Chicago — even if his iconic noise-rock trio, Shellac, are trotting out their Excellent Italian Greyhound this week. The band usually takes a few years between releases — but seven could be a stretch for some (fans age, y'know). That said, this is the band's longest LP and is said to be its hardest too (we'd tell ya, but the group notoriously doesn't do press or issue promotional CDs). Fans who have dug Shellac's mantra over the years — they put much more emphasis on their LP releases compared to CDs — will be shocked to learn that Shellac are part of the digital era. That's right, this album will be available on Touch and Go's Web site.

Neurosis and Oxbow have recorded with Albini a bunch of times over the years, and both those Bay Area bands crank out their own ear-splitting releases this week. Neurosis recorded Given to the Rising with Albini, in fact, shaking up their noted sludge sound with strains of prog and psych. Don't miss singer/guitarist Scott Kelly's 29-second-long scream midway through the album.

Arguably the scariest band in the San Fran underground, Oxbow — known as much for the restraining orders they get slapped with as their music — are chasing last year's Love That's Last set with The Narcotic Story, produced by Grammy winner Joe Chiccarelli (Frank Zappa, the Raconteurs). In a statement, frontman Eugene Robinson called the band's new set, The Narcotic Story, "a disturbing stroll through a place where everything's broken." Trust us that "disturbing" is an understatement.

Pelican, who are heavily influenced by Neurosis and on the same label as Oxbow, take a turn this week with their delayed City of Echoes. Having got sick of playing extensive songs in concert, the band mixes it up with pop-radio-length tracks — although they're still way too doomy for radio. Tunes include "Spaceship Broken - Parts Needed," "Dead Between the Walls" and "A Delicate Sense of Balance."

Song Title of the Week:

"Entrails of a Rotting Sky" from Unholy's Blood of the Medusa

New Releases:

· 12 Girls Band - Shanghai (live; Manhattan)
· Above & Beyond - Anjunabeats Volume Five (two CDs; Ultra)
· Acoustic Alchemy - This Way (Narada)
· The Aggrolites - Reggae Hit L.A. (Hellcat)
· Belly - The Revolution (two CDs; CP)
· Big & Rich - Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace (Warner Bros.) [Buy Now]
· The Birthday Massacre - Nothing & Nowhere (Metropolis)
· Black Light Burns - Cruel Melody (I AM: Wolfpack)
· Black Strobe - Burn Your Own Church (Play Louder)
· Bonde Do Role - With Lasers (Domino)
· Bronze Nazareth - The Unknown (Wanderluxe)
· Jonathan Butler - Brand New Day (Marathana)
· Chris Caffery - Pins and Needles (Locomotive)
· Joey Calderazzo - Amanecer (Marsalis Music/Rounder)
· C-Bo - West Side Ryders III: The Southeast Connection (West Coast Mafia)
· The Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur (Domino)
· Eli Cook - Miss Blues'es Child (Valley)
· Chris Cornell - Carry On (Suretone/Interscope) [Buy Now]
Read: "Chris Cornell Ready To Carry On As Solo Artist: 'I'm Best In My Own World' "
· Cowboy Troy - Black in the Saddle (Warner Bros.)
(Misra)
· Elvis Crespo - Regreso el Jefe (Machete)
· Critical Rhythm - Singular: Two (two CDs; MVD Audio)
· Daddy Yankee - El Cartel: The Big Boss (El Cartel/ Interscope) [Buy Now]
Read: "Daddy Yankee Hoping To Light Up Next Album With Diddy, Dre"
· Dälek - A Purge of Dissidents (with DVD; Ipecac)
· Dappled Cities - Granddance (Dangerbird)
· The Dear Hunter - The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding (East West)
· Deemi - Soundtrack of My Life (Atlantic)
· Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos (special edition also available; Roadrunner) [Buy Now]
· Eldar - Re-Imagination (Sony BMG Masterworks)
· Chris Fortier - As Long as the Moment Exists (E.Q.)
· Fourth of July - Fourth of July on the Plains (Range Life)
· Richie Furay - The Heartbeat of Love (Friday Music)
· Towner Galaher - Panorama (Towner Gallaher Music)
· Sara Gazarek - Return to You (Native Language)
· Grendel - Harsh Generation (Metropolis)
· Stefano Greppi - Technologies in House (MVD Audio)
· Meral Guneyman with Dick Hyman - Playful Virtuosity (Rykodisc)
· Tord Gustavsen Trio - Being There (ECM)
· Hallelujah the Hills - Collective Psychosis Begone (Misra)
· Daniel A.I.U. Higgs - Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot (Thrill Jockey)
· Holy Roman Empire - The Longue Durée (Hewhocorrupts)
· Iced Earth - Overture of the Wicked (EP; SPV) [Buy Now]
· In Theory - This Is It (Adrenaline)
· The Rocco John Group - Don't Wait Too Long ... (self-release)
· Junior - Are We Famous Yet? (Toucan Cove)
· Kaipa - Angling Feelings (Inside Out)
· Kamelot - Ghost Opera (two CDs; SPV)
· The Ladybug Transistor - Can't Wait Another Day (Merge)
· Leyode - Fascinating Tininess (Eastern Developments)
· The Long Blondes - Someone to Drive You Home (enhanced; Beggars Banquet)
· The Loose Salute - Tuned to Love (Graveface) · W.W. Lowman - Plain Songs (Who-Hey)
· Marilyn Manson - Eat Me, Drink Me (Nothing) [Buy Now]
Read: "Marilyn Manson Reveals He Came Close To Suicide; LP 'Was My Salvation' "
· The Martino Conspiracy - Hope in Isolation (Aspirion)
· Matriden - Matriden (Candlelight)
· Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full (deluxe limited edition comes with bonus CD; Hear Music) [Buy Now]
· Glenn Mercer - Wheels in Motion (Pravda)
· Mithras - Behind the Shadows Lie Madness (Candlelight)
· Moon Maan - Moon Maan (Catlick)
· Neurosis - Given to the Rising (Neurot)
· O.A.R. - Live From Madison Square Garden (two-CD set and two-DVD set; Everfine/Lava/Atlantic) [Buy Now]
· Oxbow - The Narcotic Story (Hydra Head) [Buy Now]
· Pantheon-I - The Wanderer and His Shadow (Candlelight)
· Pelican - City of Echoes (Hydra Head) [Buy Now]
· The Phoenix Foundation - Horsepower (Young American)
· Pipettes - Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me (EP; Interscope) [Buy Now]
· Pissed Jeans - Hope for Men (Sub Pop) [Buy Now]
· Poison - Poison'd! (EMI/Capitol) [Buy Now]
· Praxis - Tennessee 2004 (ROIR)
· Quivver - Controlled Substance (MVD Audio)
· Rihanna - Good Girl Gone Bad (Island/Def Jam) [Buy Now]
Read: "Rihanna Loses Good Girl Image, Thanks To Jay-Z, Justin, Timbaland, Ne-Yo"
· Carina Round - Slow Motion Addict (Interscope) [Buy Now]
· Royce Da 5'9" - The Bar Exam (Traffic Entertainment) [Buy Now]
· Serena Ryder - If Your Memory Serves You Well (Back Porch)
· Sean Na Na - Family Trees or Cope We Must (Dim Mak)
· Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound (Touch and Go) [Buy Now]
· Shout Out Louds - Tonight I Have to Leave It (EP; Merge) [Buy Now]
· Sister Hazel - Bam! Volume One (Rock Ridge)
· Richard Smallwood - Journey: Live in New York (Verity)
· Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band - Live in Dublin (two CDs; Columbia) [Buy Now]
· The Start - Ciao, Baby (Metropolis)
· Stroke 9 - The Last of the International Playboys (Rock Ridge)
· Sullivan - Cover Your Eyes (Tooth & Nail)
· James Talk - Thinking Out Loud (MVD Audio)
· Tesla - Real to Reel (Tesla Electric Company)
· They Shoot Horses Don't They? - Pick Up Sticks (Kill Rock Stars)
· Carl Thomas - So Much Better (Bungalo)
· Tiffany - Just Me (10 Spot)
· Tiger Army - Music From Regions Beyond (Hellcat) [Buy Now]
· T-Pain - Epiphany (Jive) [Buy Now]
Read: "T-Pain Mixes It Up With Usher, Britney, More: 'I Dish It Out For Everybody' "
· Udo - Mastercutor (Candlelight)
· Unholy - Blood of the Medusa (Lambgoat)
· Porter Wagoner - Wagonmaster (Anti-)
· Various artists - Anchored in Love: A Tribute to June Carter Cash (Dualtone)
· Various artists - ArtDontSleep Presents: From L.A. With Love (Milan)
· Various artists - Vans Warped Tour - 2007 Tour Compilation (two CDs; Side One Dummy)
· Various artists - We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song (Verve)
· Various artists - "Ocean's Thirteen" soundtrack (Warner Bros.)
· Various artists - "Surf's Up" soundtrack (Columbia)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

· Afghan Whigs - Unbreakable (A Retrospective 1990-2006) (Rhino)
· David Bowie - Young Americans (special edition; with DVD; Virgin/EMI)
· James Brown - Gold (two CDs; UMe/Polydor)
· The Clash - The Singles (Epic/Legacy)
· Stewart Copeland - The Rhythmatist (A&M/UMe)
· Ella Fitzgerald - Love, Ella; Lullabies of Birdland; The Original Versions; and Sweet and Hot (Verve)
· Andrew Hill - Change (Blue Note)
· Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye (special edition with bonus CD; Domino)
· The Mugwumps - The Mugwumps (Hepcat)
· Tom Petty - Highway Companion (special edition; Lost Highway)
· The Police - The Police (two CDs; A&M/UMe)
· Elvis Presley - Elvis at the Movies (two CDs; RCA)
· Pretenders - Get Close and Learning to Crawl (Rhino)
· Marty Stuart - Compadres: An Anthology of Duets (Superlatone/Hip-O/UMe)
· Andy Summers & Robert Fripp - I Advance Masked (UMe)
· Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra - Strange Strings (Atavistic)
· Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter & James Cotton - Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down (Epic/Legacy)
· True West - Hollywood Holiday Revisited (Atavistic)
· Frankie Valli & the 4 Seasons - Jersey Beat: The Music of Frankie Valli & the 4 Seasons (three CDs and one DVD; Rhino)
· Various artists - Chasing the Sun: The Greatest Songs of Summer (three CDs and one DVD; Time Life)
· Various artists - More Motown Classics - Gold (two CDs; Motown/UMe)
· Various artists - New Wave - Gold (two CDs; Hip-O/UMe)

Music DVDs:

· Andromeda - "Playing Off the Board" (MVD Visual)
· Apache Indian & the Reggae Revolution - "Time for Change Tour" (MVD Visual)
· Scott Cossu Trio - "Islands" (MVD Visual)
· Vic Damone - "On the Street Where You Live" (MVD Visual)
· Colin Dunne - "Celtic Feet" (MVD Visual)
· Eurythmics - "Sweet Dreams - The Video Album" (Lightyear)
· Gil Scott-Heron & Amnesia Express - "The Paris Concert" (MVD Visual)
· Jefferson Starship - "The Definitive Concert" (Lightyear)
· The Jesus Lizard - "Live" (MVD Visual)
· The Killers - "Leaving Las Vegas" (MVD Visual)
· Kristin Korb - "Live in Vienna" (MVD Visual)
· Frankie Laine - "That Old Lucky Sun" (MVD Visual)
· Lake - "Live!" (MVD Visual)
· Greg Lake - "Greg Lake Live" (two DVDs; Image)
· Neo - "Broadcast" (MVD Visual)
· Stevie Nicks - "Live at Red Rocks" (Lightyear)
· Pendragon - "Past and Presence" (MVD Visual)
· Lou Reed - "A Night With Lou Reed" (Lightyear)
· T.G. Sheppard - "In Concert" (MVD Visual)
· Justin Timberlake - "Just Hanging Out" (Video Music)
· U2 - "The DVD Collector's Box" (two DVDs; MVD Visual)
· Rick Wakeman - "Amazing Grace" (MVD Visual)
· Various artists - "25 Years at New Morning" (MVD Visual)
· Various artists - "Caliente y Picante: A Latino Session (Time Life)
· Various artists - "Cruisin' Hits of the 60's" (MVD Visual)
· Various artists - "Metalmania 2006" (MVD Visual)
· Various artists - "Moogfest 2006" (MVD Visual)
· Various artists - "New Morning - 25th Anniversary 1981-2006" (MVD Visual)
· Various artists - "Soulvation: The Best of Northern Soul" (MVD Visual)

Digital Releases:

· The Blue Jackets - Shadows of the City (EP; self-release)
· Surrounded - The Nautilus Years (Digital First)

Coming Attractions:

June 12:
· Fabolous - From Nothin' to Somethin' (Def Jam) [Preorder]
Read: "Fabolous' 'All-Stars' Jay-Z, Jeezy, Rihanna Make LP Somethin' To Be Reckoned With"
· Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris [Preorder]
· Various artists - Instant Karma: The Campaign to Save Darfur

June 19:
· Mandy Moore - Wild Hope (Firm) [Preorder]
· Tomahawk - Anonymous (Ipecac)
Read: "Tomahawk Actually Starting To Sound Like An American-Indian Band"
· White Stripes - Icky Thump (Warner Bros.) [Preorder]
Read: "White Stripes Reveal Icky New Album Details"

June 26:
· Beastie Boys - The Mix-Up (Capitol) [Preorder]
· Kelly Clarkson - My December (RCA) [Preorder]
Read: "Kelly Clarkson On Her Revealing New LP: 'I'm Not Even This Open With Boyfriends!' "
· Metric - Grow Up and Blow Away (Last Gang) [Preorder]

• Rihanna
• Daddy Yankee
• Marilyn Manson
• Chris Cornell

2009 Grammy Weekend Parties

• Lil Wayne
• Rihanna
• Akon
• T.I.
• Cassie

MTV.com Exclusive: Chris Cornell

• Chris Cornell

2006: The Best of Studio Photos

• Lil Jon
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Kelis
• Beck
• Nelly Furtado

MTV.com Exclusive: Chris Cornell Photos 11.07.2006

• Chris Cornell

Chris Cornell: "You Know My Name"

• Chris Cornell

Soundgarden: Where Ya Been?

• Soundgarden
• Chris Cornell
• Audioslave

• Chris Cornell