Donnie Wahlberg
Photo: CBS

New Kids on the Block probably wouldn't have existed without The Jackson 5, and that is a statement that New Kid Donnie Wahlberg won't argue against. The Jackson 5, in many respects, laid the groundwork for bands like New Edition, NKOTB, the Backstreet Boys and 'NSYNC.

"Michael Jackson was the first musical artist that I looked up to, aspired to be like," Wahlberg said. "He was the first person to ever really inspire me to dream to what's bigger than what was in front of me."

He explained that there's a clear line drawn from the Jackson 5 to the New Kids on the Block. "There's an obvious chain of influence there," he said. "There's always someone who sets the bar. ... Michael Jackson was a child and he was a superstar. Rather than kids across America and across the world looking at adults performing, they were looking at someone like them performing. You could become like Michael Jackson ... suddenly the whole playing field changed."

He continued that "from the Jackson 5's influence on New Kids on the Block, his personal influence on me to his personal influence on other members on the group" has been substantial. According to Wahlberg, It's been equally substantial on a number of other artists making music today. "I defy anyone to find an artist today who's out there making music who's not somehow influenced by Michael Jackson," he said. "There's no artist today who wasn't impacted by Michael Jackson. It's his swagger."

Don't miss "Michael Jackson: Picking Up the Pieces," Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, featuring a special report from MTV News.

For complete coverage of the life, career and passing of the legendary entertainer, visit "Michael Jackson Remembered."

Share your Michael Jackson memories by uploading video and comments to Your.MTV.com or joining the discussion below.

• Remembering Michael Jackson
• Michael Jackson's Video Legacy

• Michael Jackson: A Life In Photos

• Donnie Wahlberg
• Michael Jackson
• The Jackson 5
• New Kids on the Block

The New Kids on the Block on the "Today" show on Friday
Photo: Bryan Bedder/ Getty Images

They may be two decades into their career as pop's preeminent boy band, but New Kids on the Block showed the Jabbawockeez, the masked season-one winners of "America's Best Dance Crew," that even veterans of the music industry can still shimmy their way into the hearts of women everywhere.

Pumping out their classic "Hangin' Tough" NKOTB shared the stage with tourmates the Jabbawockeez for their Friday (May 8) appearance on the "Today" show. It's a collaboration that New Kid Donnie Wahlberg revealed was a long time in the making.

"We've actually been fans of Jabbawockeez since 'America's Best Dance Crew,' " he told MTV News at the groups' "Today" show rehearsal on Thursday. "We had explored working with the Jabbawockeez for [our first 'Today'] appearance. This is like a week after they won the finals on 'America's Best Dance Crew.' We couldn't make the schedules work."

But after some hustling, both groups finally made it happen. "We kept looking into it, and suddenly, after eight or nine months, their agents called us," Wahlberg said. "For us it was a no-brainer. It was good mixing of [fan] exposure."

On "Today," the New Kids also brought out their older favorite "Call It What You Want," as well as their newer single "Dirty Dancing." The two groups will be hitting the road for NKOTB's summer tour, beginning on May 15 in Miami.

• NKOTB Team Up With The Jabbawockeez

• New Kids On The Block And The Jabbawockeez Perform On The "Today" Show

• New Kids on the Block

New Kids on the Block
Photo: Shirlaine Forrest/ Getty Images

When the New Kids on the Block hit the road this summer, starting May 15, they'll be bringing along with them a masked dancing troupe as their opening act. That troupe is none other than "America's Best Dance Crew" vets, the Jabbawockeez.

And, believe it or not, the New Kids are learning just as much from the Jabbawockeez, if not more, because they are still so fresh-faced — well, actually, masked. "It's a blessing," Donnie Wahlberg told MTV News on Thursday (May 7). "In their eyes they're coming out on the road with an established act, but they're superstars to us."

He added that much like the NKOTB the Jabbawockeez come from humble origins, and he likes that they're living out their dreams the same way the New Kids are, more than 20 years after their commercial heyday. "There's an appreciation," he said. "And we're all out there living our dreams."

Fellow New Kid Joey McIntyre agrees with his Beantown homie. He thinks that working with a group of guys who are so green to fame and celebrity has made them understand how awesome it must be to be out there making girls scream. "They have a great spirit," he said. "They know how to work the crowd. There's a happiness to it."

In addition to learning how to once again appreciate how fun performing can be they also have taught the guys a thing or two about teamwork. "And they're all wearing masks," he continued. "You can't get more team than wearing masks. It's all for one, and that's what being a group is all about."

• Jabbawockeez Rehearse For NKOTB Tour

• New Kids on the Block

New Kids' Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, Jordan Knight and Jonathan Knight
Photo: Jason Squires/ WireImage

They may not be kids anymore, but the New Kids on the Block are not slowing down. The boys from Boston announced that they'll be hitting the stage this summer for a tour, and they'll be bringing "America's Best Dance Crew" season-one winners the Jabbawockeez on the road with them.

The Full Service Tour kicks off May 28 in Atlanta and makes stops all across the U.S., wrapping up July 18 in the Woodlands, Texas. Tickets for the tour go on sale Friday.

The band is offering a variety of ticket packages, including the VIP Experience, which gets fans a backyard BBQ with the New Kids. In a video on the band's Web site, Donnie Wahlberg said, "Full Service — you want it, you're gonna get it."

Last year, the guys reunited for a successful reunion tour. Back in May, the guys spoke to MTV News about the reunion. "Everything is just really flowing," Joe McIntyre said. "I feel like we're in a good place, and we're doing it for the right reasons and we're having a good time."

For the last tour, Jordan Knight said they didn't want to give the fans the same old thing they've been doing for the past 20 years. "We've performed those songs so many times that we want to give 'em a slight twist," he said. "We don't want fans to not have that feeling they had when they were young. We want to re-create that for them."

New Kids on the Block Full Service Tour dates, according to NKOTB.com:

» 5/28 - Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Amphitheatre
» 5/29 - Pelham, AL @ Verizon Wireless Center
» 5/30 - Tampa, FL @ Ford Amphitheater
» 5/31 - West Palm Beach, FL @ Cruzan Amphitheatre
» 6/2 - Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
» 6/3 - Raleigh, NC @ Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion
» 6/5 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
» 6/6 - Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna Bank Center
» 6/7 - Bristow, VA @ Nissan Pavilion
» 6/10 - Scranton, PA @ Toyota Pavilion
» 6/11 - Burgettstown, PA @ Post Gazette Pavilion
» 6/12 - Wantaugh, NY @ Jones Beach Theater
» 6/13 - Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
» 6/14 - Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
» 6/16 - Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
» 6/18 - Uncasville, MA @ Mohegan Sun
» 6/19 - Mansfield, MA @ Comcast Center
» 6/21 - Toronto, ON @ The Molson Amphitheater
» 6/23 - Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
» 6/25 - Clarkston, MI @ DTE Energy Music Center
» 6/26 - Tinley Park, IL @ First Midwest Bank Amphitheater
» 6/27 - Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
» 6/28 - Noblesville, IN @ Verizon Amphitheatre
» 7/1 - Maryland Heights, MO @ Verizon Wireless Music Center
» 7/2 - Memphis, TN @ Mud Island Amphitheatre
» 7/3 - Wichita, KS @ Hartman Arena
» 7/7 - Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheater
» 7/9 - Concord, CA @ Sleep Train Pavilion
» 7/10 - Irvine CA, @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
» 7/11 - Las Vegas, NV @ Pearl Concert Theater
» 7/12 - Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Wireless Pavilion
» 7/15 - Englewood, CO @ Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre
» 7/17 - Dallas, TX @ Superpages.com Center
» 7/18 - The Woodlands, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

• New Kids on the Block

Aubrey O'Day
Photo: Valerie Macon/Getty Images

Aubrey O'Day is never one to shy away from controversy. The singer and sometime Broadway star earned the #7 slot in MTV News' Women of 2008 list in part by posing suggestively in Complex, possibly doing the same for Playboy and getting kicked out of Danity Kane after Diddy accused her of hogging the spotlight with her over-the-top antics.

Romantically, she's also been linked to former boss Diddy, Donnie Wahlberg and Jesse McCartney. But, now it seems O'Day is not confining herself to hooking up with famous men. Rumors began surfacing late last week that O'Day has been getting more than friendly with ladies, and in a new interview, O'Day isn't confirming or denying the speculation about her sexuality.

"At this point in my life, I wouldn't say one way or another what my preference is sexually," O'Day told UsMagazine.com, addressing the rumor that at a Hollywood party last Wednesday she was referring to the girl she was with as her "girlfriend." This was after O'Day brought another female companion with her to a party in New York City.

"The only thing I'm looking for in life is incredible passion and honest love, no matter what options are on the table," she continued. "All I really operate on is the way I feel in my heart when it comes to love."

In October, Diddy was the one who shocked Danity Kane fans everywhere when he booted O'Day and D.Woods out of his hugely successful girl group Danity Kane. After news broke on the "Making the Band 4" season-three finale, O'Day famously told everyone, "I would rather be hated every damn day of my life for being real than loved for being something I'm not."

So what do you think of Aubrey's annoucement? Sound off in the Newsroom blog!

• Danity Kane
• Diddy
• Jesse McCartney
• New Kids on the Block

Young Jeezy's <i>The Recession</i>
Photo: Def Jam

There are some weeks where the race for Billboard's coveted peak position is a close one. Take last week's chart battle for instance: Slipknot's All Hope Is Gone narrowly beat out the Game's L.A.X. for the #1 spot, by a margin of fewer than 2,000 copies. Other weeks, there's a clear-cut winner, whose ascension to the top goes largely unchallenged.

This week's chart falls under the latter category. Rapper Young Jeezy's The Recession is slated to enter next week's albums chart at #1, with first-week sales clocked at close to 260,000 copies. Jeezy's nearest competitor? The reunited New Kids on the Block, whose new one, The Block, debuts at #2, marking the first time in 14 years that one of the band's studio efforts has entered the top 200. According to the latest Nielsen SoundScan sales totals, NKOTB's latest sold 95,000 copies, meaning Jeezy's run for #1 wasn't much of a race.

The Recession is Jeezy's second consecutive album to bow at #1, following 2006's The Inspiration, which opened on top with 352,000 sold. In 2005, his debut, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, entered the chart at #2, scanning 172,000 copies.

Slipknot may have spanked the Game on last week's chart, but this week, it's the Game who outsold the 'Knot. L.A.X. falls one spot to #3 on next week's chart, selling 89,000 copies during its second week in stores, while Slipknot's All Hope Is Gone plunges four chart positions to #5 with 75,000 sold. Wedged between those two LPs, we find Kid Rock's Rock N Roll Jesus, which falls one place to #4 with a reported 79,000 in sales. Jonas Brothers' A Little Bit Longer slides two spots to #6, with 57,000 sold, followed at #7 by the "Mamma Mia!" soundtrack, which sold another 56,000 units. Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III rounds things out at #10, having scanned another 47,000 copies.

Jeezy and NKOTB's latest offerings weren't the only newcomers to next week's chart. Two other releases debuted in the top 10: Underoath's Lost in the Sound of Separation opens at #8 with week-one sales of 56,000, and Chris Tomlin's Hello Love follows at #9 with 52,000 scans. A dozen other new releases impact next week's chart, including Diddy protégé Donnie Klang's Just a Rolling Stone, which enters at #19 with 22,000 sold.

Hollywood Undead's debut Swan Songs enters the chart at #22, on the strength of 21,000 scans, while actor Terrence Howard's debut LP, Shine Through It, bows at #31 with 14,000 sold. The soundtrack to Joss Whedon's Web miniseries "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" comes in at #39 with 12,000 copies sold. Meanwhile, Back by Blockular Demand: Serve & Collect II, the second studio album from Slim Thug's group Boss Hogg Outlawz, enters the chart at #48, with close to 10,000 sold.

• Game
• Slipknot
• New Kids on the Block
• Young Jeezy

New Kids on the Block
Photo: MTV News

Unless you are a glacier or a giant sequoia, 15 years is a long time. In the music business, it's a very long time. In the teen-pop world, it's an eternity. And the past 15 years have been a time of such dramatic, fundamental change in the music industry that today the "biz" looks like a different "biz" altogether.

So you'll forgive Jordan Knight, of the newly reunited senior citizens of boy-band-dom, New Kids on the Block, when he speaks of a "new CD" coming out in the fall, or of the band's new single called "Summertime" that's "climbing the charts." It's quaint, but somewhat antiquated language.

"Wait! Do they even have 'charts' anymore?" chimes in Donnie Wahlberg. "No, it's 'we put our song into a computer bank. And you can go download it onto your — your not Walkman." (Now that's more like it!)

Yes, much has changed since 1993, the last time the NKOTB performed together, and until recently few would have taken the bet that we would have ever seen the quintet at it again. But sure enough, in only nine months, it's gone from Wahlberg discovering a song ("Click Click Click" — on his birthday, actually) that he figured might be the right one for a reunion, to the guys finishing up a full album, beginning preparations for a fall tour — and making comeback appearances on the "Today" show and at two radio station concerts, in New Jersey and Boston.

Backstage at the Jersey show — Z-100's "Zootopia" concert — the new New Kids seem excited, gratified and humbled by the frenzied reaction to their return from many now 30-something fans. They seem to be in something of a zone.

"Everything is just really flowing," says Joe McIntyre, who always, along with Jordan, was one of the two strongest singers in the group. "I feel like we're in a good place, and we're doing it for the right reasons and we're having a good time."

The right reasons. That, in a nutshell, is why an NKOTB reunion is happening now, when one might least expect it, when seemingly few people — OK, actually quite a few people — were clamoring for it, and in the absence of any demonstrable boy-band wave like we saw in the late 1990s and early '00s. Heaven knows, plenty of people — outside parties, including the MTV Video Music Awards and VH1 — tried to make it happen in the past. Pleas were made, checks were no doubt waved, but Wahlberg — ever the heart, soul, conscience and mouthpiece of the New Kids — says he wasn't interested. "Every attempt in the past ... they weren't real. They were for other people's agendas, you know? It was always to serve someone else."

Not one to hold back, he continues, "You know it was 'Backstreet's huge, 'NSYNC's huge ... why don't you guys reunite on the MTV Awards?' And that's what our old record company [Columbia Records] wanted. Well, why don't you just put us in the studio and finance an album and let's see if that'll work? As opposed to throwing us onstage and seeing if we get cheered or booed. You know what I mean? It was to serve their agenda. It didn't matter. If Chris Rock ripped us up and it turned into a disaster that we reunited on the MTV Awards, what was our record company gonna do the next morning? What would they do? They'd be like 'Bye, guys! Enjoy your flight home.' And I personally was not gonna put myself in that position, or us in that position."

That kind of self-respect, Wahlberg says, was not always there, but was borne of having pulled himself up in the mid-'90s, post-New Kids, and having fashioned a career as a respected Hollywood actor ("The Sixth Sense," "Band of Brothers," "Ransom"). He didn't "need" to do a reunion but says he never closed himself off to it, if it went down the "right way." "And for me it was never gonna be 'Let's go onstage and let's go on tour and scoop up all the money that's out there.' It was gonna be about, 'Let's make a record.' "

As for that record, tracks reportedly include "Click Click Click," "Looking Like Danger," "Big Boy/Big Girl" and, of course, "Summertime." While the single is nostalgic, evoking memories of 1988, the guys seem intent on focusing on the here and now.

Jordan says they're looking forward to busting out vintage hits on the fall tour, though some will be reworked: "We've performed those songs so many times that we want to give 'em a slight twist, not to get so far off where it's unrecognizable, because we don't want fans to not have that feeling they had when they were young. We want to re-create that for them."

When it comes to their place in the pubescent pop pantheon, having paved the way for the boy bands that followed, Danny Wood says he's proud that New Kids left their "little stamp" on the music business. But he adds that he does not envy the 24/7 microscope of TMZ Nation that the Mileys, Britneys and Jonases of today must contend with.

"The way the Internet is, there's all the sites that are always trying to get dirt on everyone, so they got it a lot different than we did. That's the part that's a little unfair, because you're walking on eggshells these days."

Wahlberg concurs and knows that teen idol status ain't all roses. "I can relate to somebody being put in a fishbowl and sort of being told by the world who they are, what they are, and wanting to not be that. You know, and fighting for that autonomy. I know what that's like, you know, so I can relate to it on many levels."

That does not, however, mean he would presume to give them advice. Donnie says that back in the day, he wasn't really interested in advice from his predecessors like Donny Osmond and wouldn't dole it out today. Or if he ever did, he would do it in private.

"I'm not gonna do it walking down the red carpet for 'Entertainment Tonight.' Like, 'What do you got to say to Britney?' You know, I'll say it to Britney, I'm not gonna say it to you. You know what I mean? I'll talk to her. It's just false. Sure, I probably could give a lot of people advice. But it's like all of this: It's gonna be for the right reason and in the right way."

Seasoned wisdom from a onetime — and future — New Kid.

• MTV News Raw: New Kids On The Block

• New Kids on the Block

New Kids on the Block on the "Today" show Friday
Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

NEW YORK — "You realize no one can hear you," Donnie Wahlberg said.

That's because the hundreds of people gathered around Rockefeller Center Plaza were still screaming — screaming unintelligible noises, screaming marriage proposals, screaming that they love Donnie, Joey, Jordan, Jonathan and Danny, even after 14 years. The New Kids on the Block are back together, as they announced on the "Today" show early Friday morning (April 4) after months of rumors.

"Boy bands are always getting made fun of, but they made it OK and cool to be into them," explained one 30-year-old fan who showed up at 6 a.m. to stand in the rain for two-and-a-half hours to catch a glimpse of her grown-up teen idols, the youngest of whom is now 35. Blockheads, as the fans are called, flew in from as far as California and Texas, while others said they drove in from Pennsylvania and Chicago. Of course, there were even some fans that drove in from Boston, the band's hometown, since NKOTB were slated to perform together for the first time since they broke up in 1994.

NKOTB fans have been lighting up our Newsroom Blog all week. Yet this group wasn't that disappointed when, due to the wind and the rain, the performance was canceled. Instead, they treated it "as if it's a beautiful, sunny day," Joey McIntyre marveled. "I lost a glove and I'm freezing," one 20-year-old fan said, but she didn't mind, because when she got a chance to shake the bandmembers' hands, which meant she got skin-on-skin contact, "It was so worth it," she smiled.

"Jonathan, call me!" one 28-year-old fan cried out while holding a sign reading, "Marry Me. I'm legal now!"

So many of those gathered had missed seeing NKOTB at their peak, with some fans claiming they had been as young as 2 when the boy band won them over. But the wait won't be much longer: NKOTB assured the crowd that they would return to New York to perform on the "Today" show May 16 and would launch a tour in the fall to support a new album, mostly written by Wahlberg with some contributions from McIntyre and Jordan Knight. They've been recording since August with producers and writers Bryan-Michael Cox, Emmanuel Kiriakou, RedOne, Fernando Garibay, and Nazaree, and will release the album on Interscope Records.

On the tour, the bandmembers said that they plan to mix new material with the old favorites, which fans were already singing on the sidelines. "You got the right stuff, baby," one girl sang, as another next to her chanted, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, hangin' tough."

"They're the original boy band," said 25-year-old fan Mike DiVito, who said he didn't care that he was one of the few males showing their appreciation. "They're bigger than 'NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, and they rule. They're the original. They broke the mold."

What about New Edition or the Jackson Five? "They're the original in our hearts," his 22-year-old girlfriend, Kristen DeGrietto, quickly retracted. And it was a matter of hearts over minds, since for so many, nostalgia for their long-past childhoods, determined much of their NKOTB excitement now.

"This reunion was necessary because this was our youth," said Robin O'Brien, a 30-year-old fan.

"I had the dolls, the buttons, the lunchbox, the sheets, you name it, I had it," one 18-year-old fan said. "I've been waiting since I was 4 — for 14 years — for this! I was too young to see them when they were big, so my mom had to tape all their appearances for me to watch the next day, because I had to go to bed and go to day care."

"I was 9 when they were big," laughed one 28-year-old fan. "You have no idea what this means to us, that they're all getting back together. We get to feel young again and have that good-time feeling — and of course, the hotness helps. My whole wall was plastered with their posters, and when my mom tore them down, I was so upset. I couldn't go to the concerts then, but my mom can't stop me now. I'm free!"

• New Kids On The Block On The "Today" Show

• New Kids on the Block

Joel Madden in "Head Case"
Photo: MTV News

Joel Madden needs to see a shrink — in an upcoming episode of the new Starz comedy "Head Case," that is. The Good Charlotte frontman and new dad will appear on the February 13 episode of the show, which revolves around a judgmental psychotherapist (Alexendra Wentworth) who sees celebrity clients when she isn't out shopping. If you're already psyched for the show, go to Amazon.com's Unbox section to check out the original short-form episodes that launched it. ...

Thank your lucky stars — the Grammy Awards ceremony will go on this year as planned, according to an interim agreement announced Monday (January 28), The Associated Press reports. While the Grammy telecast was still good to go following last week's announcement that the striking Writers Guild of America would not protest it, the interim agreement means content for the show will be written under a WGA contract. "In the interest of advancing our goal of achieving a fair contract, the [WGA West] Board felt that this decision should be made on behalf our brothers and sisters in the American Federation of Musicians and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists," WGA West President Patric Verrone reportedly said in a statement. "Having our talented writers on the team further ensures the highest level of creativity and innovation, something our audience has come to expect every year," Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow reportedly said in a statement of his own. ...

Miley Cyrus' Saturday show in New Orleans had a bit of a hiccup when the singer otherwise known as Hannah Montana announced that she wasn't feeling well and left the stage, according to a video posted on TMZ.com. Cyrus returned to finish her set, albeit in a seat, and dad Billy Ray sang with her. ...

Rivers Cuomo, Adam Sandler, Tony Hawk, baseball player Nomar Garciaparra and Andy Samberg kicking around a soccer ball together on a Saturday afternoon? According to ESPN.com, that was the scene over the weekend when the celebs took the field at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, for Garciaparra and wife/ ex-soccer pro Mia Hamm's charity Celebrity Soccer Challenge. Cuomo scored his team's first goal, and he later reportedly said, "It was a dream come true. Passing with [the L.A. Galaxy's] Landon Donovan and going against Mia Hamm — it's just unreal. I was terrified, but I was so excited that the excitement overcame the terror." Milo Ventimiglia, Elisabeth Shue, Seth Meyers and others also participated in the event, the proceeds of which went to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. ...

Jim Jones is reissuing his Harlem's American Gangster mixtape, hosted by Dame Dash and featuring the Byrd Gang crew, February 19. Fans are already familiar with the tape, which was previously available in limited form, but it has since been remixed, remastered and bolstered with new tracks, including "Rockefeller Laws." "Some people do soundtracks to the movies about Harlem," he said in a statement. "We do soundtracks to the streets of Harlem, which made us who we are today." His new studio LP will drop in the summer. ...

Modest Mouse and the National have something special to jot down on their calendars: opening dates for R.E.M. The tour will launch after the release of Michael Stipe and the gang's April 1 album, Accelerate. The cities are as follows: Vancouver, British Columbia (May 23); Los Angeles (May 29); Berkeley, California (May 31); Morrison, Colorado (June 3); Chicago (June 6); Toronto (June 8); Raleigh, North Carolina (June 10); Columbia, Maryland (June 11); Mansfield, Massachusetts (June 13); Wantagh, New York (June 14); Philadelphia (June 18); New York (June 19); and Atlanta (June 21). ... Hot Chip, Spank Rock, Peaches and others are liberally reworking classic tracks by the Pharcyde, Masta Ace, Tone Loc and others for a new collection, Delicious Reimagined, due early this year. Raunchy electro-clash singer Peaches — who has collaborated with everyone from Pink to Iggy Pop — remixed Loc's "Wild Thing" almost 20 years after the song originally came out, adding her own new vocals along the way. ...

Hayden Panettiere spoke about the warrant for her arrest — which she was slapped with in the fall after confronting Japanese fishermen to protest the hunting of dolphins — at a related demonstration in Washington, D.C., on Sunday. According to The Washington Post, the "Heroes" actress and Save the Whales Again! Campaign spokeswoman told a crowd, "I was wearing a wetsuit and shoes. I was like, if I'm going to jail, I ain't going to jail in a bikini." ... peta2 has a few new friends you might know: MTV News' own John Norris, as well as the stars of "Rob & Big." Norris stars in a new online video for the youth animal-rights organization that explains why he went vegan, while Rob Dyrdek and Chris "Big Black" Boykin appear in an ad with their dog, Meaty, along with the statement "Have the Balls to Spay or Neuter Your Dog." ...

Black Lips have drooled out an exclusive iTunes Live Session EP that the so-called "flower punk" band recorded over the summer in San Francisco. The Lips are also in the running for Yahoo's User's Choice program, the winner of which will play a performance in the company's studio in Santa Monica, California. And they've also lined up a run that will start February 4 in Seattle and end March 22 in Atlanta. ... The second half of Thrice's four-disc concept album will be in stores in the spring. The Alchemy Index, Vols. III & IV: Earth & Air, is scheduled for release April 15. ... From Autumn to Ashes drummer Jeff Gretz recently suffered two broken bones in his foot and will be forced to sit out the band's tour for the next few months. Flood of Red's Graham Griffith will fill in for Getz for most of the tour's remaining stops. ...

New Kids on the Block fans are going to have to keep "Hangin' Tough" — despite reports over the weekend, the old-school boy band is not planning to stage a comeback. While the once-hugely popular teen heartthrobs' Web site has apparently relaunched, bandmember Danny Wood wrote on his MySpace page on Monday morning, "I wanted to address the rumors of the NKOTB Reunion Tour. There has been no talk of this and you are getting it from the source directly. ... You can't believe everything you read." Still, he added, "Never say never!" Let's keep our hopes up.

1.25.08

Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Whoopi Goldberg and Jessica Biel are among the celebs captured in a new Disney installment of work by esteemed Vanity Fair photographer Annie Leibovitz. In the images, Lopez is portrayed as Jasmine and Anthony as Aladdin in a "Whole New World" scene, while Biel is dressed as Pocahontas, running through a forest. "I was a huge Disney fan growing up as a kid, and Cinderella, Snow White, Pocahontas, Ariel — all those characters were huge for me," Biel said in a statement. The "Disney Dream Portrait Series" will be featured throughout the year at Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida. ...

Gnarls Barkley don't have a release date or name yet for their second album, but it's nearing completion, according to Billboard.com. Danger Mouse is busying himself with other projects in the meantime, including lending production to the Black Keys' Attack & Release; Martina Topley-Bird's The Blue God; and Shortwave Set's new LP, which is tentatively titled Replica Sun Machine. ...

Mary J. Blige recently spoke with MTV Base about the ongoing New York steroid probe in which she was recently named. "I really don't want to clear anything up, because I've been spoken about for so many years — rumors I'm pregnant, I'm a man, I'm this, I'm that, why? At the end of the day, I have nothing to prove to anyone. I am Mary and that's that." A report that surfaced in the Times Union last week claimed Blige was among tens of thousands of people who might have used or received prescribed shipments of steroids and injectable human-growth hormone in recent years, although law-enforcement officials said they don't have any evidence that laws were violated. ...

Krist Novoselic, the former Nirvana bassist who has been politically active in Seattle in recent years, has voiced his support for a 2008 presidential candidate, and it's ... Ron Paul? Novoselic alluded to the Republican long-shot candidate in his Seattle Weekly column earlier this month, saying, "The Internet is already doing this with campaign phenomenon like Howard Dean in 2004, and this year with Ron Paul." The Web site PoliticalBase.com shows that he made a $250 contribution to the candidate in mid-September. ...

Björk has nixed her planned appearance at the Big Day Out on Friday night (January 25) in Sydney, Australia. "Doctors have advised Björk to rest due to swelling of the vocal cords," Ken West and Vivian Lees, who produce and direct the festival, said in a statement posted on the Icelandic singer's Web site. "This is a great disappointment to Björk, who is on her first tour of Australia in 12 years." She is slated to rejoin Big Day Out on Monday for a show in Melbourne, followed by performances February 1 in Adelaide and February 3 in Perth. ...

The Reminder (Feist), Kala (M.I.A.), Neon Bible (the Arcade Fire), Cross (Justice) and Sound of Silver (LCD Soundsystem) have all made the cut as finalists for the Shortlist Music Prize. Also in the running are In Our Bedroom After the War (Stars), Sky Blue Sky (Wilco), Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Spoon), Businessmen and Ghosts (Working for a Nuclear Free City) and Untrue (Burial). The winner will be announced in February. ... Dem Franchize Boyz will bounce back on April 1 with their third effort, Da Point of No Return, which is anchored by the first single, "Talkin' Out Da Side of Ya Neck." Also look for featured appearances by Mannie Fresh on "Mr. Feel Good" and Blaze on "Turn Heads." ...

Marvel Studios is the latest company to reach an agreement with the striking Writers Guild of America, it was announced Friday. "Marvel Studios' signing of an interim agreement with the Writers Guild is more good news for our membership," WGA East President Michael Winship and WGA West President Patric Verrone said in a joint statement. "Marvel is committed to fairly compensating their writers and now they can move forward with their planned production schedule." ... Yes! Will Ferrell has received the James Joyce award in Ireland, where he has been traveling with his dad and brother to trace their family roots, according to The Associated Press. The "Blades of Glory" actor accepted the award — which has been given to Jesse Jackson and others in the past — on Wednesday night and addressed more than 1,000 students at the University College Dublin. "As I perused my leather-bound volumes of 'Ulysses,' 'Finnegans Wake,' 'Dubliners,' 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,' standing in my mahogany library, a lot of feelings ran across my mind. Like: 'Damn, I should have read these books,' " he reportedly said. ...

My Morning Jacket — who sold out their June 20 show at NYC's Radio City Music Hall in just over 20 minutes — have arrived at a title for their new album. Evil Urges, the band's fifth LP, is due June 10. ... Bono hailed Bill Gates on Friday when the Microsoft chairman announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will spend $306 million on environmentally friendly technology and farming techniques to help aid millions of impoverished Africans. "It's a very special moment in time, I think, for Davos, and people here," Bono said in the Swiss city, according to The Associated Press. "This is Bill Gates' last trip to Davos as Microsoft leader, and I think it is an extraordinary thing that this man has not just changed the world once, but has now set aside the next act of his life to change the world again, and I think we should just mark this moment." ...

The summer music-festival scene just got a bit less crowded. Less than two months after announcing their plan to host a three-day camping music festival on a 500-acre farm in Vineland, New Jersey, the forces behind Lollapalooza (C3 Presents) and England's Reading Festival (Festival Republic) have announced that they've pulled the plug on the event. Originally scheduled for August 8-10, the Vineland Festival, which never announced a lineup and had faced considerable opposition from area residents concerned about noise and traffic, will now attempt to launch in 2009. Organizers cited "overall festival traffic in the Northeast"— apparently referring to the just-announced All Points West Festival, which is scheduled for the same weekend in Liberty State Park, New Jersey, and is being coordinated by the people who bring you Coachella every year. Organizers also noted big bands touring the area around the same time as the reason for scrapping the event. ...

Heads up, straight-edge hardcore fans: Ex-Minor Threat drummer Jeff Nelson has thrown up for auction on eBay a bunch of rare and unique items from the band and other hardcore acts. Items include fliers, posters, 7-inches and more. ... Want your name to appear in a Saosin release? The band is launching a contest with mobile marketing company Mozes that will give fans the chance to have their name featured in the credits of the booklet that will accompany their forthcoming "Saosin Live" DVD/CD package. Interested? Text SAOSINDVD to 66937 and join the band's mobile list and follow the prompt. ... UB40 might want to rename themselves "UB39," at least for the time being: The British group, which was huge in the '80s, has lost its frontman. "No words can express how upset I feel today that I have been forced to make this decision," Ali Campbell wrote in a Friday post on his Web site. UB40 said in a statement of their own that they will continue without Campbell, a founding member of the band.

• Joel Madden
• Good Charlotte
• Rick Ross (Hip-Hop)
• Black Lips
• Rivers Cuomo

Four years ago this week, the democratic and often cheeky spirit of the Internet was in full force, as a grass-roots e-mail campaign vaulted an 11-year-old song by '80s heartthrobs-turned-punch lines New Kids on the Block into MTV's "TRL" countdown.

As a result of the digital drive, numerous Netizens visited MTV's Web site to register write-in votes for "Hangin' Tough" (you remember, it's the song on which NKOTB sing, "Listen up everybody if you wanna take a chance/ Just get on the floor and do the New Kids dance" and then proclaim "We're rough!")

"I know it's a very old, very cheesy song, but just think of how funny that would be! To see an old New Kids on the Block song on the top 10!," one version of the chain e-mail read. Apparently plenty of folks agreed, as the song — which was released in 1988 and topped the singles chart in 1989 — landed at #2 on the "TRL" countdown.

One guy who probably wasn't too thrilled with the "write stuff" campaign was former New Kid Jordan Knight, who was working on forging a solo career in 1999.

" 'Hangin' Tough'? I wouldn't go near 'Hangin' Tough.' I wouldn't touch that one," Knight had told MTV News when asked if the set list for his upcoming tour would feature any New Kids nostalgia.

Meanwhile, rapper Ice Cube, who was gearing up to shoot "Next Friday," had just been cast as the lead in "Pimp," a film based on the life of notorious street hustler Robert "Iceberg Slim" Beck. The movie was to be directed by Kevin Hooks ("Passenger 57") and was scheduled to go into production as soon as work on "Next Friday" wrapped up, but as of this writing the movie has not been released.

In related rap and movie news, Dimension Films had just inked a first-look deal with Loud Films, the movie production arm of Loud Records, home of the Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep and Big Punisher. Though no movies had been green-lighted at the time, a film version based on RZA's solo album RZA as Bobby Digital in Stereo was among the projects being considered.

Rappers Naughty by Nature were getting ready to drop their first album in four years in 1999. Like most hip-hop albums of the time (and now), 19 Naughty Nine: Nature's Fury had more collaborators than an Enron executive, including Master P, Silkk the Shocker, Mystikal and Big Punisher.

MTV News caught up with the trio and asked Vinnie Brown to explain how Naughty by Nature convinced so many of their peers to get down with "O.P.P." (other people's projects).

"Well, the thing with [all] the artist collaborations now," he said, "I guess a lot of artists are smarter ... now. A lot of artists were ignorant in the past by 'territorializing' themselves — not wanting to collaborate. But [artists realize] now that it's not about one particular market. One market could be hot this year and be cold the next. So I guess a lot of artists are smarter now in that they're conscious about being diverse and [do so with] collaborations."

For more "This Week In ...", check out the This Week In Archive.

• New Kids on the Block
• Ice Cube
• Naughty By Nature

New Kids On The Block And The Jabbawockeez Perform On The "Today" Show

• New Kids on the Block
• Jordan Knight

New Kids On The Block On The "Today" Show

• New Kids on the Block