The kids from High School Musical, the continually overrated Scarlett Johansson, and the guy who played McLovin' have been added to the Video Music Awards' lineup of presenters. In addition, "famous" knob-twiddler DJ AM and TMZ staple Travis Barker will do that thing where Barker plays a drum part along with a popular song; they'll be accompanying the likes of the Ting Tings, T-Pain, and Katy Perry. I guess one year is the precise amount of time for something to develop from "somewhat amusing YouTube sensation" to "co-opted by the NFL" to "appropriate fodder for the Video Music Awards." [antiMUSIC]
Latest by n/a: Man....get Christian Slater to host again with Poison forgetting to play the right song. At least that would make for some good anonymous commenting the next day. more »
The technical categories for this year's Video Music Awards—Best Choreography, Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Special Effects, Best Cinematography, and Best Art Direction—were announced today, and the big winner, inexplicably, is the Pussycat Dolls' "When I Grow Up," which received nods for Choreography, Direction, Cinematography, and Art Direction. Why five minutes of dayglo-framed midriffs and Nicole Scherzinger making stupid faces set to some of the most grating beats to come out of Darkchild's studio laboratory is worthy of not just attention, but accolades, is an utter mystery to me. Perhaps someone on the nominating committee was a big fan of "Cold Hearted," and appreciates the Dolls—and director Joseph Kahn's—efforts to bring back "sexy" synchronized dancing on scaffolding? [Full list of nominees]
Both Britney Spears' people and MTV's publicity department want you to know that, despite her appearance in ads for the awards show and the promise of a "surprise" that night, the maybe-rising-again pop star will not be performing on the Sept. 7 telecast, at least according to a statement her manager Larry Rudolph gave to Ryan Seacrest yesterday. Whether or not this is all part of a dis-dis-disinformation campaign crafted for the purpose of item-hungry entertainment reporters to have something to chew on in this cursed final week of August or the truth is anyone's guess at this point—maybe we're all supposed to analyze, Nixon tapes-style, the fact that Rudolph used the word "perform" instead of "appear" in his statement to Seacrest? [Reuters]
MTV's new competitive-reality series—the Mario Lopez-hosted MTV's Top Pop Group, in which "nine of the greatest undiscovered music groups... compete for a chance to win $100,000 and the title of 'MTV's Top Pop Group' "—debuts this Sept. 11. Too easy? [People]
Seat-filling site 1iota.com is looking for Jonas Brothers fans to stuff the audience ranks for the boys' Video Music Awards performance, and as if seeing their favorite Jersey-raised brothers isn't enough of a carrot for these kids, the site hints that people selected to be in the audience will get to see what the site is billing as a "Top-Secret Finale." (Caps theirs.) But which performer could actually shock the Red Bull-and-IM-frazzled children of today into being, well, surprised? Poll after the jump.
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Sure, gossip pages around the world are hoping against hope that Britney Spears will come full circle from last year and have a big redemptive moment at this year's Video Music Awards. But I'm glad for my own live-blogging sake that the spitfire outfit Paramore has been added to the Sept. 7 telecast's bill, if only because whatever song from Riot! they'll be performing should take some of the pain away from having to hear that Kid Rock mash-up and that new Pink single, the latter of which oh my Lord you guys it just gets worse every time I hear it. [MTV / YouTube]
Latest by ObtuseIntolerant: They HAVE to perform Misery Business...when I saw them live 2 weeks ago the rest of their songs (which I was trying really hard to enjoy) were a dull, sonic mishmash. The crowd agreed and started to disperse, at more »
I've had MHD, the MTV Networks-powered high-definition channel, for a few months now, and its offerings at present seem to be a hodgepodge of electronic press kits, recent material from the vaults, stuff that's shown on MTV's European outlets, and concerts and movies that are available on DVD. (The movies, it probably should be noted, are interrupted by ads for either the channel itself or local businesses.) Between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m., MHD shows six hours of music videos—which would be great if any of the clips in rotation had come out in 2008, and if there were more than 50 videos in the running for airtime. (I mean, I appreciate the chance to see a three-year-old video by the Click Five now and again, but every day is a bit excessive.) Well, today MTV Networks announced that it would be rebranding the channel and getting more aggressive about actually programming the thing. Behold: Palladia!
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Latest by iheargood: I am fascinated by MHD. It's such a flasjback to MTV's 80s birth--full of weird animation, concerts by artists people haven't cared about in years (so much Bon Jovi and DMB), and the occasional surprise, like FNMTV Premiers, which I more »
More Video Music Awards nominations came down the pike on Friday night. Along with the Best New Artist category, which will pit sensations from different tween demographics (Miley Cyrus for the kids, Taylor Swift for the country girls, Tokio Hotel for the beauty-school aspirants) against each other, we have the Best Dancing In A Video category, which has dispensed with crediting the choreographers who came up with the honored routines as it ditched the word "choreography" from its name. What gives with that development, hm? If I were the person charged with making the Pussycat Dolls swing and sway in unison, I'd be a little bit cheesed off—especially since that means I'd have been charged with having to hear "When I Grow Up" all day as part of my job. Anyway, all the announced nominees so far are after the jump.
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Latest by DocStrange: You know, I went onto as many computers as possible to rig the poll results so that "Young Love" by Mystery Jets and Laura Marling could've at least had a chance. Nope, Tokio frigging Hotel gets the nod instead of, more »
Did you guys know that MTV's sorta-live daily countdown show TRL is on at 11 a.m. these days? Neither did I, until I heard that the boys who make up the inexplicably popular German rock outfit Tokio Hotel would be co-hosting the show all this week (well, during its airings Tuesday, yesterday, and today, since I guess the power of Tokio Hotel's popularity meant that everyone could take Monday off). I missed Tuesday and Wednesday's episodes thanks to that scheduling snafu, but all was not lost when I found out that today's show would be marked by the band performing live! Perhaps they will sound even better than last time! Since you all are probably in actual offices and deprived of cable, I figured I'd take the lead and live-blog this quasi-historic event. (Plus there's really not much else going on.) Full coverage afer the jump!
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Latest by n/a: You know what, I'm in my 30's and I remember seeing the Ready, Set, Go video a few months ago and it caught my attention. It's not that the lyrics are so great or the sound or any one more »
Brassy showstopper Bette Midler is not happy with what MTV has done to the world of live music performance: "After MTV came along, people were seeing their favorite singers in videos, and suddenly there was a certain vision of a song—how it should sound, how it should look. Then [in concert], there was no room for improvisation—everyone wanted an exact replica," she told the New York Daily News. While I see her point in a sense—although one could argue that recording music, and widely disseminating said recordings, also sets up a similar false expectation among audiences—MTV did play the awkward video for Midler's take on the Stones' "Beast Of Burden," which features a true=to-embarrassing-'80s-form Mick Jagger. And they played it a lot. I mean, I'd think Midler's audiences would be savvy—not to mention devoted—enough to know that Jagger wouldn't show up for every one of her performances, but maybe she's still feeling the sting? [NYDN / YouTube]
As sorta-predicted in this space Friday, MTV is using the Best Pop Video category in this year's Video Music Awards to promote a big showdown between the morose Germans of Tokio Hotel and the fresh-faced American boys that make up the Jonas Brothers. Thanks to the online efforts of their fanbases, both bands have clips nominated in the Best Pop Video category, where they'll do battle with the previously nominated Britney Spears, the shrillly omnipresent Danity Kane, and the more popular than their Soundscans might indicate Panic At the Disco. MTV has also announced the nominees for Best Hip-Hop video, and among them are the earth-shattering collaboration between Kanye West, Coldplay's Chris Martin, and Hype Williams and Flo Rida's deathless "Low." (Click on the moonman for the two categories' full slates.)
Inexplicably enigmatic German outfit Tokio Hotel has apparently snagged the first Video Music Awards nomination of its career, with the band's clip for "Ready, Set, Go!" getting nominated in the Best Pop Video category. This victory-before-the-victory was no doubt assisted by the fact that Internet fan voting helped determine said division's picks, what with Tokio Hotel fans rivaling only Jonas Brothers diehards in the current pantheon of "bands who have crazed, computer-equipped teen girl squads as their fanbases." And hey, given that the Jonas Brothers have already been announced as a performer on the Sept. 7 broadcast, and that MTV—no stranger to the fans of those two bands waging war on behalf of their beloved musicians—wants the broadcast to make a Britney-sized ratings splash again this year, I suspect this is all going to lead up to some sort of wresting match. Or at least a hairdo-off of some kind. The "Ready, Set, Go!" clip is after the jump, just so you all know what we'll be getting into a month from now.
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The first sets of nominees for this year's Video Music Awards were announced during FNMTV on Friday, and perhaps what's most impressive is the fact that bubblegum star Chris Brown got nominated in both announced categories, despite one of them being Best Female Video. (His duet partner Jordin Sparks' "No Air" got one of the nods.) But aside from that, the big, obvious question posed by both "Piece Of Me" and "I Kissed A Girl" being up for Best Female Video is this: Will Britney Spears be coaxed out of her hermitude and forced to kiss Katy Perry? And if the smooch does happen, does that mean the Madonna Curse will be passed on? We can only hope. The full list of nominees for Best Female Video and Best Male Video—complete with director info!—after the jump.
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Each week, dozens of songs and albums from up-and-coming (or just plain unknown) bands debut on the world's music charts. Some of these bands will never be heard from again; some may become the next little thing. That's why we have Chuck Eddy exploring the world beyond the Billboard 200, where he'll look for diamonds in the MySpace rough. This week out, he tackles new R & B, a few rock bands whose names seem like word jumbles, someone from the most recent season of The Real World, and a singer who dreams of winning the lottery while wearing a backwards baseball cap. More »
Latest by cockfightbarmitzvah: Wow, that Lee Brice song is just amazingly awful. Can't wait for Pt. 2 when the "lottery winner curse" kicks in and he's singing about the methlab in his basement, how his relatives robbed him blind and that all more »
The Jonas Brothers! They're everywhere, and they're going to be in even more places very soon, what with their recent booking on the MTV Video Music Awards and their Tiger Beat-ready mugs gracing the cover of the new Rolling Stone. (Nice that the editors gave a tip of the hat to last year's Efron shirt-tug in the cover photo.) Now, obviously we've been covering the boys' ascent since they first got sucked into Disney's pop machine. So why is there something about all this JB love that seems a little, well, weird, even though it's synced to the Aug. 12 release of their next album, A Little Bit Longer?
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Latest by n/a: Is it wrong that I've never come across any of their music before, or is it just some strange vehicle for Disney to scrounge about for some money? more »
MTV has announced that it's opening nominations for this year's video music awards to the fans, presumably because July and August are low-traffic months for Web sites all over the planet and they need to boost the traffic to MTV.com somehow. Eight categories will have their nominations receive "help" from the clicking hordes: Best Male Video; Best Female Video; Best Hip-Hop Video; Best Pop Video; Best Dancing In A Video (apparently the word "choreography" is too syllable-filled for Generation TXT); Best New Artist; Best Rock Video; and Video Of The Year. Given past online skirmishes between crazed fans, it looks like the final category is going to play host to a bloody, yet well-coiffed, showdown between the Jonas Brothers and Tokio Hotel. But what of the other battles?
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Latest by DocStrange: oh good they have the genre awards back instead of those stupid ones they had last year. Not like i'm going to watch. I'm an MTVu kind of guy. more »
Not-So-Subtle HintsMTV-owned blog pens post saying that Lil Wayne "absoluteamentely needs to host the 2008 MTV VMAs" for a variety of reasons, including his previous appearances on the channel, his forthcoming line of bubbly and his unabashed willingness to wear two-year-old Urban Outfitters offerings on TV. So this means that the announcement will happen what, next week or so? [Buzzworthy / Photo via FNMTV]
Idolator
The kids from High School Musical, the continually overrated Scarlett Johansson, and the guy who played McLovin' have been added to the Video Music Awards' lineup of presenters. In addition, "famous" knob-twiddler DJ AM and TMZ staple Travis Barker will do that thing where Barker plays a drum part along with a popular song; they'll be accompanying the likes of the Ting Tings, T-Pain, and Katy Perry. I guess one year is the precise amount of time for something to develop from "somewhat amusing YouTube sensation" to "co-opted by the NFL" to "appropriate fodder for the Video Music Awards." [antiMUSIC]
Nominees for the MTV Video Music Awards, which take place Sept. 7 in Los Angeles:
