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Madonna And Mix Master Mike Remember Adam 'MCA' Yauch's Legacy

05 May 2012 16:47:21 EDT

Coldplay, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the New York Mets also pay homage to the fallen music icon.
By Rob Markman

To his fans Adam "MCA" Yauch was a musical genus, who along with Mike D. and Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys, progressively changed the landscape of popular music, seamlessly mixing hip-hop, punk and Rock and Roll. To those that were lucky enough to call him friend, he was all of that, plus more.

"The Beastie Boys were one of a kind! And so was Adam! They were all an important part of my musical history. And integral to the musical revolution that was happening at the time," mega-star Madonna said in statement obtained by MTV News after Yauch passed away on Friday (May 4) after a long battle with cancer. "I'm very sad to hear about Adam's passing. G*D bless him and his family."

Madge included the Beasties as an opening act on her 1985 The Virgin Tour. Madonna had already established herself as a formidable pop act with her first two LPs and the Beasties were just getting started. Their iconic debut album License To Ill wouldn't come until a year later.

Mix Master Mike didn't start out a Beastie, but his legacy before his work with the Boys is well documented. A world champion turntabilist, Mike got the call to work with the Beastie Boys on their 1998 Grammy Award winning album Hello Nasty and has been rocking with the trio ever since. He too was hit particularly hard after Yauch's death. "The music world has lost an Icon and i lost a brother. I give thanks to Adam Yauch for allowing me to be apart of the Beastie legacy. I am so honored to have graced the stage with my idols for 15 historic years," he said in a statement issued to MTV News. "Thank U for your friendship and thank you for picking me to be your DJ. forever I will hold you close to my heart. My Condolences go out to the Yauch family."

There were a number of tributes on Friday night. During Coldplay's concert at Hollywood Bowl last night, Chris Martin and company performed a slowed down, piano-laden rendition of of the Beastie Boys' anthemic "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)."

The Red Hot Chili Peppers also paid their respects during their show at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Friday. "We're playing this show tonight for Adam Yauch," RHCP frontman Anthony Kiedis said to the crowd as reported by Rolling Stone.

Yauch didn't just inspire musicians, last night during their home baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks the entire New York Mets team paid tribute to the fallen Brooklynite by playing the Beastie's music as they each walked up to the plate.

How do you plan to honor Adam 'MCA' Yauch'? Tell us in the comments!

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Dick Clark, Thank You For Introducing Madonna to The World

19 Apr 2012 14:54:39 EDT

Pop star's appearance on 'American Bandstand' remains one of her most legendary.
By John Mitchell

Twenty eight years later, it remains one of the most famous things she's ever said. Asked on "American Bandstand" by TV icon Dick Clark, who died on Wednesday at the age of 82, "What do you hope will happen, not only in 1984 but for the rest of your professional life? What are your dreams? What's left?" Madonna answered simply, famously and with characteristic directness.

"To rule the world," she said without hesitation. And that's what she went on to do ... well, the pop world anyway.

She was on "Bandstand," ostensibly, to perform "Holiday" and promote her self-titled debut, which was released a few months earlier in the summer of 1983, but in retrospect it feels like she was really there to prepare the world for what was coming. Like a Virgin dropped later that same year, and with its release Madonna went from being a well-liked and charismatic pop tart with a few radio hits to the most famous female singer on the planet.

The "Bandstand" crowd went wild for then-25-year-old Madonna's performance, and Clark had a hard time getting a word in. When everyone finally settled down, he asked Madonna about her burgeoning career, including her early years in New York and touring Paris with "Born to Be Alive" singer Patrick Hernandez. "He offered me a tour with him as a background singer and a dancer," Madonna told Clark. "So I jumped on that boat and got into the music industry that way and started writing songs, and here I am."

As news of Clark's passing began to surface, fans started posting the clip all over Twitter and soon enough, Madonna's herself chimed in, posting the video to her Facebook page with the message, "Even though I told him in 1984 that I wanted to rule the world, it's Dick Clark who has ruled the world."

While "Bandstand" wasn't her first TV appearance and Clark certainly didn't discover Madonna -- she was already climbing the charts with "Holiday," which peaked at #16 the week after she appeared -- her visit to the show feels like the first seminal event in what went on to be one of the most legendary careers in pop-culture history. It's where things really began, months before she took the stage in a wedding dress at the first-ever MTV Video Music Awards.

It's also a real showcase for the Madonna many fans love most. Playful, natural, beautiful and — most importantly — brimming with confidence, it's no surprise the emerging pop star on display on "Bandstand" that night went on to score 38 top tens, more than any performer in music history, 12 #1 singles and eight #1 albums, the latest of which, MDNA, debuted in the top spot 28 years, two months and 20 days after her visit to "American Bandstand."

Today, many will be looking back on Dick Clark's many achievements and dissecting the almost immeasurable impact he had on music and television, and we'll remember for how genuinely excited he seemed to be talking to a little-known disco singer on January 14, 1984. His decision to invite her on that night quite literally changed the face of pop music forever, and for that we will always be thankful.

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Madonna's Truth Or Dare Fragrance '15 Or 16 Years' In The Making

13 Apr 2012 14:17:11 EDT

Queen of Pop tells MTV News that scent is for those 'daring enough to tell the truth.'
By John Mitchell, with reporting by Rob Imbriani

Have you ever wanted to smell like royalty? Well, now's your chance.

We may not have kings and queens here in democratic America, but we've made our celebrities — pop stars in particular — our own sort of royalty, and none is more regal than Queen of Pop Madonna.

On the heels of her acclaimed album MDNA and with a massive, largely sold-out world tour looming, Her Madgesty launched her first-ever fragrance, Truth or Dare, Thursday night in New York, and she tells MTV News that the fresh, gardenia-based scent has been a long time coming.

"This is finally the time that I developed a fragrance that I liked the smell of," Madonna said when asked why she was entering the celebrity scent game now. "I've been trying to develop a fragrance for the last 15 or 16 years."

"Madonna's Manager Confirms That 'Turn Up The Radio' Will Be Next MDNA Single"

So who is the scent perfect for? Madonna has a few thoughts.

"Someone who is daring, daring enough to tell the truth," she said before adding, "and someone who likes gardenias."

Some Madonna watchers have found it curious that the always forward-thinking pop diva would draw on something so well known from her past — her historic Blond Ambition Tour documentary "Madonna: Truth or Dare," which recently dropped on BluRay — for the name of her new fragrance. M explained that there's a very simple reason for the name choice.

"My manager [Guy Oseary], he just held a gun to my head and said, 'Call it this or you're not going to have a manager anymore,' and I said OK," Madonna deadpanned.

After clarifying that she was joking (we figured as much: No one tells Madonna what to do!), the singer elaborated that "truth or dare" is "a phrase that is related to me and my work and what I stand for. I think I've had a fairly daring career and I'm pretty honest about my work, so I think that goes with my perfume."

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Madonna's MDNA On Track For Biggest Second-Week Sales Drop Ever

10 Apr 2012 15:05:44 EDT

Album is on pace to suffer an 88 percent drop in week two on Billboard charts.
By Gil Kaufman

It appears that Madonna fans gave the singer all their luvin' two weeks ago, and had little to spare during the most recent Billboard album sales reporting period.

Though final figures will not be available until Wednesday morning, on Tuesday (April 10), Forbes reported that the "Girl Gone Wild" singer was on pace to put up the biggest second-week sales drop in chart history.

Reporter Roger Friedman wrote that he was told that after debuting at #1 on sales of 359,000 copies in its first week, MDNA is on pace to tumble 88 percent to around 46,000 copies for the week ending Sunday. The piece even calls into question whether Madonna truly topped the charts in the first place, noting that "most" of the first-week sales were for albums included in the sale of tickets to the star's upcoming tour. "That promotion artificially inflated Madonna's numbers, putting her first before Lionel Richie and his Tuskegee album," Friedman claimed.

"I do think that all the people involved in the Madonna ticket-CD deal should apologize to Richie for denying him his rightful place at number 1," he wrote. Madonna has done some high-profile promotion of the album, including playing the Super Bowl halftime show, a pop-in at the recent Ultra Music Festival in Miami, a Facebook interview and Twitter Q&A, but the combination of lukewarm reviews and two singles that failed to gain traction may have done the album in.

If the numbers hold, Madonna's drop will outpace one of her biggest acolytes, Lady Gaga, who suffered an 84 percent dip in week two for Born This Way. (That album's sales were goosed by a discount 99-cent sale in its first week.) Then again, Gaga moved more than 1.1 million copies in her bow.

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Katy Perry's 'Part Of Me' Film Inspired By Madonna

06 Apr 2012 15:54:10 EDT

Perry says Madge's 'Truth or Dare' is 'amazing, because it caught her at a time when she was a bit more vulnerable.'
By James Dinh

Much like her pop-star peers, Katy Perry cites Madonna as a big influence, especially on her "Part of Me" 3-D concert movie, which hits theaters July 5, which was partially inspired by the Queen of Pop's 1991 film "Truth or Dare."

In a recent interview with Teen Vogue, the always-colorful starlet spoke about her upcoming big-screen adventure and how "Truth or Dare" led to its creation.

"Madonna is everything to me, and that movie is amazing, because it caught her at a time when she was a bit more vulnerable," Perry said of the film, which chronicled the icon's Blond Ambition Tour. "I wanted to do that too, to capture a snapshot of who I am now so that I can remind myself what I've lost if I ever do become totally jaded."

The topics covered in "Part of Me" include the singer's strict, religious upbringing, being dropped from her label early in her career and her candy-coated California Dreams Tour. Perry, who spent much of 2011 and early 2012 on the trek, explained that her interest in documenting her life began even before the tour started.

"When we started to book these really big venues, I felt like I was going all in," she said. "And I figured that by the end of it, I'd be bankrupt, or else I'd look like the smartest music businesswoman of my age, and I thought either outcome would be interesting."

More importantly, the chart-topper wanted the general public to see how the Katy Perry machine really works.

On Tuesday, the trailer for the anticipated flick surfaced, appeasing Katy Cats for the time being. In the two-minute preview, Katy's rise to stardom remains a key theme of the film as flashback footage and photos of the singer's younger days is shown.

Are you excited for Katy's concert movie? Share your thoughts below!

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Madonna Begs Britney Spears: 'Kiss Me Again'

05 Apr 2012 11:56:26 EDT

Queen of Pop tweets her love to fans and fellow celebs after MDNA's chart-topping debut.
By John Mitchell

It seems Madonna has caught the Twitter bug. On March 26, the day MDNA was released, Madonna hit Twitter under the name @MadonnaMDNADay in what was initially billed as a one-time-only fan event to promote her new record. Well, the news that she topped the album charts for the eighth time was enough to bring her back for another round of fan Q&A. And this time, some famous faces got in on the action.

Katy Perry arrived early in the night and offered up a solid question — one that seemed appropriate for the always-evolving "Part of Me" superstar. "Which evolution of you in your career has been your favorite/ most fulfilling, besides the present?"

"Ray of Light. That was a good moment," Madonna responded. "I wanna see you in the front row somewhere this year. Okay?" She spent a good part of the evening propositioning her celebrity followers to join her on the road, offering up a very specific invitation to Britney Spears after she tweeted her love for Madonna's new album. "Please come on stage and kiss me again. I miss you!!" Madge tweeted. Spears' response? "Tempting..."

But Madonna would not take no for an answer. "Are you gonna make me work for this?" she asked.

She also shouted out to Lionel Richie, who debuted right behind her this week on the Billboard chart — their first meeting in the top ten since 1986. And things quickly got a little ... suggestive.

"There is no one I would rather be on top with. Congratulations!! I am so happy for you," Richie tweeted. Madonna's response was nothing if not characteristic: "OK, but as long as I'm on top."

"I wouldn't have it any other way!!" Richie Internet winked.

Elsewhere, we learned that Madonna is an excellent driver ("I've never gotten a ticket. Except for having tinted windows too dark"), she was Minnie Mouse for Halloween last year, she seems to want Quentin Tarantino to direct the video for "Gang Bang," she loved the weather in NYC yesterday and "calla lilies, gardenias [and] tuberose" are her favorite flowers (well, we already knew they certainly weren't hydrangeas).

She also gave MTV a shout-out after we tweeted our love to the superstar. "Thank you. We started together," she replied.

The diva tweeted love at her MDNA producers Martin ("Professor Polanski") Solveig and William ("Billy Bubbles") Orbit, continued her friendly affair with Ultra Music Festival pal Avicii and pleaded with Skrillex to join her on the road. "I worship you," the pop queen tweeted to the Grammy-winning DJ/producer. "Why won't you open up for one of my shows?"

She expressed the most gratitude to her fans repeatedly and even offered up a picture and video of herself alongside her tour dancers and crew surrounded by balloons, sipping champagne and about to dig in to some cake to celebrate MDNA's #1 debut.

Asked by @Billboard how it felt the first time she hit #1, Her Madgesty tweeted, "The same way that I feel now. Elated, grateful, like all my Christmases have come at once."

What questions do you have for Madonna? Leave your comment below!

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Madonna's MDNA: Behind The 'Eclectic' #1 Album

04 Apr 2012 15:28:52 EDT

Producer Martin Solveig opens up to MTV News about working with the Queen of Pop on her latest chart-topping opus.
By Jocelyn Vena

Madonna released her latest chart-topping album, MDNA, last week, and whatever special magic she cast in the studio seemed to work.

The dance-heavy album sits pretty at #1 this week, selling a whopping 359,000 units, proving that Madonna still is the Queen of Pop. The album is full of dirty and chugging production, with Madge lamenting about her broken heart on some songs and seeking vengeance against a former lover on others.

The album gets production assists from William Orbit, Benny Benassi and Martin Solveig, among others, but it's the contributions from those three that stand as the highlights. Both Solveig and Benassi had a hand in the album's first two singles, "Girl Gone Wild" (Benassi) and "Give Me All Your Luvin" (Solveig), while Orbit brings some emotional gravitas to the record, recalling their work on Ray of Light.

Solveig recently stopped by MTV News and opened up about creating the chart-topping album with Madonna. "We were working with no limits. I think the only thing that she said when we started was 'I just want people to be able to dance to my music and connect easily with my music,' and also probably to take some risks at some point," he explained. "Other than this, it was open to any kind of experimentation."

What Solveig wanted to focus on when it came to experimenting with her was rhythm. "This is why I explored mainly the BPM thing," he said, referring to the beats per minute of his tracks. "You have slow BPM, very fast BMP songs, twisty and more four to the floor, and I thought it was interesting to explore this, because she hasn't done that a lot on the past albums. And actually, William did a little of the same. It's very eclectic. Every song has a little story. It's a collection of songs that are very different, but you are excited to listen from beginning to end."

With a hit record on her hands, Madonna will have a moment to breathe before she kicks off her world tour later this year. The trek will begin May 29 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Madge will land Stateside August 28 in Philadelphia.

Did you pick up Madonna's latest album this week? Share your reviews in the comments!

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Madonna At #1 Again With MDNA

04 Apr 2012 12:44:51 EDT

Madge's 12th studio album sells 359,000 copies, giving singer her fifth straight #1.
By Gil Kaufman

Madonna will retain her claim to the pop throne next week when her 12th studio album, MDNA, debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. This will be the singer's fifth straight #1 album, and its sales of 359,000 were more than enough to outpace the #2 debut from fellow veteran Lionel Richie.

Richie marks a return to the upper reaches of the charts with his hook-up with country artists on Tuskegee, which sold 199,000 copies, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan.

With her latest chart-topper, Madonna, 53, joins Barbra Streisand as the only woman to top the Billboard albums chart at least eight times; Streisand holds the record with a total of nine #1 albums.

Two seasoned rock bands also debut in the top 10, with Shinedown hitting #4 with Amaryllis (106,000) and the Used returning to the charts at #8 with Vulnerable (32,000).

The rest of the top 10: Adele, 21 (#3, 121,000), "Hunger Games" soundtrack (#5, 64,000), One Direction, Up All Night (#6, 46,000), the deluxe version of Katy Perry's Teenage Dream (#7, 33,000), Bruce Springsteen, Wrecking Ball (#9, 28,000) and NOW 41 (#10, 25,000).

The week after they debuted at #3, the Shins drop 11 spots to #14 as business for Port of Morrow dipped by 71 percent to 22,000. Meanwhile, noisemeisters the Mars Volta land at #15 with their latest, Noctourniquet (21,000). All-American Rejects bop in at #18 with Kids in the Street (18,000), and last season's "American Idol" winner, Scotty McCreery, got a big boost after appearing on the show last week, sending his debut, Clear as Day, up 46 spots to #21 as sales picked up by 172 percent to 16,000.

Look for a new #1 next week as Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded crashes the charts.

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How Madonna Got 'Badass' Nicki Minaj, M.I.A. On MDNA

30 Mar 2012 06:53:10 EDT

Producer Martin Solveig tells MTV News about recording 'Give Me All Your Luvin,' 'I Don't Give A' and 'B-Day Song' with three fierce ladies.
By Jocelyn Vena

As if just having Madonna on her own album wasn't enough, the Queen of Pop enlisted the help of two hip-hop princesses to up the girl-power quotient on MDNA.

As she sat down with producer Martin Solveig to whip up tunes for her latest studio album, when it came time to bring more feistiness to the already-sassy album, she knew the only two artists who could perfectly compliment her were Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. (Maya Arulpragasam). Solveig explained to MTV News how the twosome came to appear alongside Madge on the album's lead single, "Give Me All Your Luvin."

"I had this idea of just creating this sort of mini-gimmick that you could very easily use in the stadium or arena," he said of the cheerleader-inspired chant in the song. "And so I thought of that, which was very basic. ... That was the start.

"In the first place, it was just the intro, and then it became a bit more of a gimmick, and she liked it, and so she thought, 'We should have sidekicks to perform with me on the this.' ... She thought of very naturally Nicki and Maya to perform this because they are badass girls.

"I was very surprised [it was the first single], and then it made it totally sense with her Super Bowl [performance] because, yes, it was definitely the Super Bowl song. And when we started, it was definitely not the case," he explained. "We wanted to do something like this. It was a little surf-y. Then I guess when the Super Bowl was confirmed, they thought it would work for that, and I think it did."

Solveig broke down the recording sessions he and the ladies had for not only "Give Me," but also the scathing "I Don't Give A," which features Nicki, and the funky "B-Day Song," which has M.I.A.

"We were the studio both one day with Nicki and two days with Maya," he said. "They have both very strong personalities and very different. Nicki's very pro. She's like, once she arrives and she spends some time, she writes, seriously, her stuff and then she records very quickly, and she's like bang.

"And with Maya, she's a bit more arty," he said. "I didn't see them together. I would have loved to witness this. Definitely, [Madonna] was definitely the perfect [middle]."

The "I Don't Give A" collaboration got a lot of press, thanks to its seemingly overt reference to Madonna's life and her split from director Guy Ritchie.

"A few days after I finalized the song, she finished the lyrics of 'I Don't Give A,' and I could feel there was a lot of references to her life," he said. "Nothing that I really know of, because you don't know that kind of stuff, but then I saw it was very commented everywhere."

In the end, when it's all said and done, Solveig noted that working with Madge was pretty awesome. "I got a call last year from [her manager] Guy Oseary, and he wanted to know if I was in town working, and that was the phone call of a lifetime when you're a producer, when you heard all the legend and all the story. So I took the next plane and went to meet with Madonna, and I quickly got to work.

"In the first place, it's very confus[ing] because everything that's all together, you have a very kind person in front of you, [and] you're like, 'Can you imagine who you're talking to?' and she's very natural," he continued. "She's very easy-going, so you tend to forget it. But, of course, the first time, it's crazy."

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Madonna/deadmau5 Feud: MDNA Producer Weighs In

29 Mar 2012 16:25:51 EDT

'She has this dry sense of humor, which sometimes makes her say or do things that are a little bit shocking,' Martin Solveig tells MTV News of Madge.
By Jocelyn Vena

Earlier this week, Madonna and EDM star deadmau5 were in a war of words after a comment the Queen of Pop made at Miami's Ultra Music Festival.

For those who haven't been following along at home, when Madonna took the stage to introduce Avicii, she asked the room, "How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?" Molly is another term for the illegal drug MDMA (ecstasy). That reference angered 'mau5, who took to his Facebook to call out Madonna for seemingly linking dance music and drug use, a persistent stereotype.

Eventually, the two settled the argument when Madonna took to Twitter, explaining that she was actually referring to the song "Have You Seen Molly" by Cedric Gervais, not the drug. deadmau5 seemed fine with her clarification, and all was cool between the once-beefing twosome.

When MTV News caught up with one of Madge's MDNA producers, fellow EDM DJ Martin Solveig, he weighed in on the short-lived, yet headline-making, tiff.

"She's a lot more ironical than a lot of people think, and ... she has this dry sense of humor, which sometimes makes her say or do things that are a little bit shocking, which is also the reason why everyone loves her," he said of Madge.

Solveig also showed support to 'mau5 (real name Joel Zimmerman).

"Joel probably read the whole thing a bit more first-degree and was a little bit angry, and there's nothing wrong with that," he continued. "And about him saying the things that he wants to say, I mean, I'm totally with him on that. No one here is promoting drug use, and maybe it was important to say this. I know Madonna enough to know that she is, like, completely at the opposite of supporting drug use, but it's a little bit of a chitchat."

What did you make of the Madonna/'mau5 feud? Let us know in the comments!

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