Quick ‘n’ Dirty Music News: 09.18.09

Posted by Mitch Michaels on 09.18.2009

All about Kanye West and his VMA f-up, we look at the fallout, was it a work?, the beautiful result and how VMA scandals have affected the careers of folks like Kid Rock, Eminem, 50 Cent, Rage Against The Machine, Van Halen, Fiona Apple, Motley Crue and more! Plus, Aubrey O’Day vs. Lily Allen in Battle of the Babes, chart news, the Top 10 Workout Songs and Shakira and her hips are our Piece of the Week!

What's up my friends? We're ass deep in September now, summer is taking its last gasps (in the Northern Hemisphere anyway), the stores finally have all of their Halloween stuff on the shelf and I couldn't be happier. Fall is, without a doubt, my favorite season of the year. But Mitch, you cry - no bikinis in the fall! That's what the Caribbean is for kids!

Anyway, it's another wild week on 411, but before we get to the news and views you love, a little few points of interest.

First, we just wrapped up our contest for a brand new copy of Guitar Hero 5. Let me just tell you - this game rocks. The very sexy Mrs. Michaels is rocking out on it as I'm writing this, actually. If you're not into playing 45 Beatles songs (yawn), pick this thing up, which is by far the most varied when it comes to set lists of all the games. 85 songs from literally all over the place. So yeah - as I said, we wrapped up the contest, but I'm also gonna let you know I haven't picked a winner yet. Just saying.

Also, as always, make sure to follow us on Twitter (Mitch, 411mania, 411 Music) or Facebook (Mitch, 411mania). I got no special reason this week, just do it if you wanna be cool.

If you missed it Sunday night, I did a live review of the MTV Video Music Awards and we had a blast. Listen - the only way you're gonna get a more detailed report is to watch the videos, and who has time for that?

And finally, check me out in this week's Music Fact or Fiction, where we go over the VMAs ad nauseum. Well, hopefully not nauseum, cause we got more below.

It's quick, it's dirty, it's news.

Let's go…



STAND BY…FOR NEWS!

All news items are from 411 Music's newswire:

Well, last Sunday was the MTV VMAs. Now, normally, I wouldn't be able to tell you who won anything five days later because, let's face it, it's all about the performances and the spectacle. This year, however, I don't think there's anyone in America who doesn't know that Taylor Swift won for Best Female Video. Why? Well, because of this:

MTV Shows

Now, in case you are living under a rock. I'll give you the short version. Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" won Best Female Video. Taylor got up to accept her award. Kanye West got up on stage while she was talking and took the mic. Kanye told the crowd, "Yo Taylor, I really like you. I'm gonna let you finish talking. But Beyonce had one of the greatest videos of all time! One of the greatest videos of all time!"

At this point, Taylor Swift just stood there looking both stupid and mortified (and for anyone calling this a staged event, this at least proves that Taylor wasn't in on it). The producers of the show seemed dumbfounded too, as they cut to a wide shot, Taylor stood there for a second, they cut to a video, then rewound the video twice before going ahead with it. It definitely came off as a panic.

For the rest of the night, the mere mention of Kanye drew boos. When Beyonce won for Video of the Year, she asked Taylor to come out and give her speech, thus distancing herself from the stink of this outburst and proving again why she's the most savvy woman in show business who's name isn't Oprah.

So, OK, there's the story. The VMAs always generate some water cooler talk, so I wasn't surprised people were talking about this one the next day. Then - yeah, I kinda got surprised.

Not only was the Kanye West incident covered by every media outlet around, but it was discussed by EVERYONE. And when I say everyone, I mean fucking everyone. Girls in the music world were pissed. (Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry). Guys in the music world were pissed (Kings of Leon, Tim McGraw, Joe Jackson). Gays in the music world were pissed (Adam Lambert). Billionaires were pissed (Donald Trump). Non-celebrities were pissed (Wolf from "American Gladiators"). And PRESIDENTS were even pissed (Carter, Obama).

The controversy even helped the season premiere of "The Jay Leno Show" pull a monster rating because it coincidentally featured a performance by Kanye with Jay-Z. Jay was pissed, asking what Kanye's dead mom would think. "The View" was pissed - they booked Taylor on the show and were shocked to learn that, as of Tuesday, Kanye had yet to personally apologize (he called shortly after the show).

So yes - it is not hyperbole to say that literally everyone was talking about the Kanye West incident. In fact, with our comprehensive coverage of the backlash, Monday became the biggest traffic day for 411 Music of ALL TIME, doubling the traffic of the day Michael Jackson died.


So is this huge news? Yes, but not because some (possibly drunk) hip-hop star embarrassed a teenage country singer on a cable awards show. This is huge news because, for the first time in too long, the whole nation - nay, the world - united together in one undivided voice this week to declare:

"Hey Kanye West - we think you're an asshole."

So that's the whole deal. But what is the longterm fallout from this?

Obviously, Taylor Swift is enjoying a big bump in popularity, as she's being mentioned by every news outlet in the world. Too bad that Fearless reissue is still a few weeks away, cause this chick is going to be moving some extra units.

But what about Kanye? Right now, he seems absolutely fucked. Sure, Kanye has acted like an asshole before - even in VMAs related incidents. Remember how he cried the two years before about how he didn't win an award?

But let's face it - Kanye isn't the first guy to get people talking after the VMAs. Let's check out some other examples and see how their career was affected:

Andrew Dice Clay - Dice hosted the 1989 VMAs and gave the censors a run for their money when he started throwing in some of his classic adult nursery rhymes. MTV responded with a lifetime ban. It's hard to say if the negative publicity is what killed the movie he was promoting - The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, but that one totally bombed (unless you live in Hungary or Norway). Dice didn't really show up again in TV or the movies until Brainsmasher in 1993, and that one did even worse.

Vince Neil - Also at the 1989 VMAs, Motley Crue's Vince Neil sucker punched Guns N' Roses' Izzy Stradlin as he was leaving the stage following a performance with Tom Petty. Stradlin had allegedly made a pass at Neil's wife earlier in the night. This led to a long war of words between GN'R frontman Axl Rose and Neil. You can't say it hurt Vince or the Crue's career, as they had just released Dr. Feelgood, which went on to be their best selling album ever. Of course, it also turned out to be the swan song of their heyday, but the crash didn't really begin until 1991.

RuPaul - Remember this motherfucker? RuPaul was a presenter at the 1993 VMAs along with TV legend Milton Berle. Rumor has it that the two got into an argument twice backstage, so during the show, RuPaul took a shot at Uncle Miltie with the ad-libbed line, "So you used to wear dresses, but now you wear diapers." People didn't like the young guy taking on the old guy, which made RuPaul the bad guy in this one. It's hard to say if RuPaul's 15 minutes were just up at this point, but he never had another hit outside a couple Top 10's on the Dance chart.

Van Halen - It's kind of hard to say who was in the wrong on this one, but in 1996, Van Halen reunited with David Lee Roth on stage to present a VMA. The audience went nuts at the prospect of Diamond Dave back in Van Halen after eleven years, but it wasn't to be. Before the night was even over, the group was trashing Roth to the press and Eddie and Dave nearly came to blows. Thus ended the VH/Roth reunion, which would take another ten years. DLR went back to doing what he does solo (which wasn't much by the 90's) and VH recorded that album with Gary Cherone. Yikes.

Fiona Apple - Fiona won the Best New Artist award in 1997, but decided to use her speech as a condemnation on the entire industry. She said, "What I want to say is, everybody that's watching this world ... this world is bullshit, and you shouldn't model your life about what you think we think is cool, and what we're wearing and what we're saying. Go with yourself." Seems like a good message, but the media branded her as a hypocrite and a potty mouth. Once again, it could just have been the end of her 15 minutes, but Fiona didn't have another Top 40 hit after the show, despite some decent album sales.

Rose McGowan - In 1998, Rose McGowan showed up with her boyfriend Marilyn Manson wearing a see-through dress. I got nothing to say about this one, I just like the pic.




Lil Kim - 1999, same stunt, different girl. Her career kept chugging along for a few years, and I think this faux nudity helped.


Tim Commerford (Rage Against The Machine) - RATM bassist Tim Commerford's behavior at the 2000 VMAs was just bizarre. As Limp Bizkit accepted their Best Rock Video award, Tim climbed the stage scaffolding and threatened to jump. After the show went to break, Commerford was forcibly removed and spent the night in jail. Rage broke up just weeks later, with rumors that Commerford's stunt drew the ire of Zack de la Rocha.

Eminem - 2002 was the year of Eminem at the VMAs. He picked fights with both Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (seriously) and Moby (yes, seriously). People still cheered Em, though many would later look at his behavior that night and say he needed to lighten up. Looking back, this was probably one of Em's big drug usage periods, but, career-wise, the ridiculous beefs didn't hurt a bit.

50 Cent - Who can forget the year that 50 Cent launched into a rant on Fat Joe, who had made a crack about G-Unit's large security entourage. The spring of 2005 was the year The Massacre shot to the top of the charts, but it was ultimately the year that 50 Cent got way overexposed. Fiddy is still going strong today, but not near the heights he was reaching before his MTV VMAs tirade.

Kid Rock - Holy flash back. At the 2007 MTV VMAs, Kid sucker punched Motley Crue's Tommy Lee off camera during the show, causing a huge fight. Both were escorted out, but I do believe Kid Rock made his way back in. The reason for the fight isn't clear, but both are ex-husbands of Pam Anderson, who was with Rock at the time. Since the incident, Kid had "All Summer Long" blow up and Rock N Roll Jesus sell like hotcakes (or waffles), so you can't say this little tussle hurt.

Russell Brand - Russell Brand hosted the 2008 VMAs and made some disparaging jokes about the Jonas Brothers and their promise rings. People hated on his throughout the show and the next week for picking on the young guys. Sound familiar? Despite completely bombing as host, Brand was brought back to host this year.

So there you have it. Is there a correlation? Yeah, but it doesn't really have to do with VMA incidents. People are gonna do what they're gonna do and go on as they were meant to go on. Few people have gotten famous over VMA controversies alone - Britney Spears, maybe, who played a game of how close can I get to fucking onstage throughout this decade.

In the end, yeah, Kanye is going to draw some heat, but it's because people were ready to call him an asshole anyway. It was no surprise.


This week's Battle of the Babes is between Aubrey O'Day - looking smoking hot in an promo shots for Peepshow - and Lily Allen, who was very foxy at a recent UK festival. It's back vs. front this week!




If you've been reading me long enough, you may have realized that I am an ass guy. And that comes into play this week. It's a tough call, because Aubrey is the definition of fine. But it's nice to see Lily with her dark hair, looking healthy and showing off that caboose. Lily all the way for me. What do you think?

Workout Songs

My mom has been over a couple different fitness centers over the years and she said something interesting to me recently - "The Biggest Loses starts this week, the gym will be packed." And it's no lie, either, and heck, I've found myself hitting the (notably more crowded) gym more latetly despite not even being into the show.

So I figured it was time to get your BPM's up with this list of surefire crunchers, shredders and heart thumpers.

Mitch's Top 10 Workout Songs
1	Three 6 Mafia	"Some Bodies Gonna Get It"
2	T.I.	"What You Know"
3	Alice In Chains	"Man In The Box"
4	LL Cool J	"Mama Said Knock You Out"
5	Saliva	"I Walk Alone"
6	Kid Rock	"Bawitdaba"
7	Kanye West	"Stronger"
8	Limp Bizkit	"Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)"
9	Eminem	"Lose Yourself"
10	Survivor	"Eye Of The Tiger"

QUICK ‘n' DIRTY CHART NEWS



NEW RELEASES FOR SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

WHAT EVERYONE WILL BUY

Pearl Jam - Backspacer - This one comes with kind of a price. Next week is looking pretty slim as far of major releases. Any Pearl Jam album can be considered a major release, but with this one, the boys have jumped in bed with Target as their exclusive major retailer. There's no use in looking at the track record of Target and comparing it Walmart in deals like this - there's no comparison. Walmart makes events out of their exclusives - Target reserves a little space in their sales ads. However, this is Target's first REALLY big one, so maybe they'll turn it around. Either way, most people buying new albums this week will have to stop by Target to pick this one up - unless you have a mom and pop nearby that hasn't been run out of business.

WHAT WILL BE NUMBER ONE

It didn't take a blind man to see that Jay-Z would top the charts this week, and top them he did, pulling in somewhere around 475,000, making The Blueprint 3 the third biggest first week of the year behind Eminem and U2. Not too shabby. The Beatles would have posted something like five albums on the Top 10 if it weren't for that 18 month rule - Abbey Road was the third biggest selling album of the week and Sgt. Pepper's, the White Album, Rubber Soul and Revolver also sold more than the second half of the Top 5 this week. As it stands, Brooks & Dunn's compilation also fell into the Top 10 at #5. I missed the Raekwon album, which landed at #4 this week, and Boys Like Girls actually managed to come in at #8. I overestimated Phish, however, as their long anticipated reunion album topped out at #13.

Next week will no doubt see Jay-Z on top again. BP3 has another 170k - 200k in it, and there's nothing looking to move anything like that that hit the stores last Tuesday. That's not to say nothing big is new on the shelves. Kid Cudi, Muse and Megadeth should all see some Top 10 love.

WHAT YOU SHOULD BUY

Nick Cave – The Death Of Bunny Munro: A Novel: Our first book recommendation in the QnD I believe. If you are into Cave's style, this book will grab you. I got it yesterday and have already hit Chapter 8. I'd be reading it right now if it weren't for this damn column. If you're into morbid tales of an aging sex fiend, Bunny Munro is your guy.

Three Days Grace - Life Starts Now: It's good to see this band coming back, as, in my opinion, their one of the best new mainstream rock bands to break out in the last five years or so. The first single, "Break", is really good and a bunch of other tracks are streaming online. Go find them - they're worth hearing.

WHAT'S HOT ON THE DIAL?

Billboard has about a million charts, so each week I'm gonna round up the #1s from each format. That way, no matter WHAT station you flip to when not using your presets, you'll be aware of what you might hear. Newly crowned #1s are in bold:

BILLBOARD #1 SINGLES
CHART	SINGLE	WEEKS
POP/OVERALL
HOT 100	The Black Eyed Peas – "I Gotta Feeling"	14
RADIO SONGS	The Black Eyed Peas – "I Gotta Feeling"	14
POP SONGS	The Black Eyed Peas – "I Gotta Feeling"	15
HEATSEEKERS SONGS	Gucci Mane feat. Plies or OJ Da Juiceman - "Waster"	6
DIGITAL
DIGITAL SONGS	The Black Eyed Peas – "I Gotta Feeling"	14
RINGTONES	Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West - "Run This Town"	4
R&B/HIP-HOP
R&B/HIP-HOP SONGS	Maxwell – "Pretty Wings"	20
RAP SONGS	Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West - "Run This Town"	8
COUNTRY
HOT COUNTRY SONGS	Jason Aldean – "Big Green Tractor"	18
ROCK
ROCK SONGS	Alice In Chains – "Check My Brain"	5
ALTERNATIVE SONGS	Muse – "Uprising"	6
ADULT CONTEMPORARY
ADULT CONTEMPORARY SONGS	Miley Cyrus – "The Climb"	27
CHRISTIAN
CHRISTIAN SONGS	Phillips, Craig & Dean – "Revelation Song"	20
GOSPEL SONGS	BeBe & CeCe Winans – "Close To You"	18
DANCE
DANCE/CLUB PLAY SONGS	Madonna - "Celebration"	6
JAZZ
JAZZ SONGS	Darren Rahn – "Talk Of The Town"	19
LATIN
LATIN SONGS	Nelly Furtado –"Manos Al Aire"	9
REGIONAL MEXICAN SONGS	Espinoza Paz – "Lo Intentamos"	22
LATIN POP SONGS	Shakira – "Loba"	11
TROPICAL SONGS	Shakira – "Loba"	9
INTERNATIONAL
EUROPEAN HOT 100	David Guetta feat. Akon - "Sexy Chick"	7
JAPAN HOT 100	Dreams Come True feat. Fuzzy Control - "Sono Saki he"	N/A
UNITED KINGDOM SONGS	Pixie Lott - "Boys And The Girls"	N/A
GERMANY SONGS	Marit Larsen - "If A Song Could Get Me You"	N/A
FRANCE SONGS	Tom Frager & Gwayav - "Lady Melody"	N/A
CANADIAN HOT 100	The Black Eyed Peas – "I Gotta Feeling"	14
WEB
iLIKE LIBRARIES	The Black Eyed Peas – "I Gotta Feeling"	14
iLIKE PROFILES	Lady GaGa – "Poker Face"	34
LALA.COM	The Black Eyed Peas – "I Gotta Feeling"	10
AOL RADIO	Taylor Swift – "You Belong With Me"	14
YAHOO AUDIO	Taylor Swift – "You Belong With Me"	9

	Mitch's Picks
	1. Captain Clegg & The Night Creatures - "Macon County Morgue"
	2. Muse - "Uprising"
	3. Coldplay - "In My Place"

Ah, the end already? Ah well. This week, Shakira is using those hips to promote her new album She Wolf, already a hit on the Latin charts. She didn't do much with her spot on the VMAs but make lame wolf references with a kid from Twilight, but she made up for that with an awesome performance on "America's Got Talent". Check it out:


And that kind of booty makes her our sexy Piece of the Week!

THE END


That's all for this week. Make sure to comment on what you liked, didn't like, etc. Till next week, keep your ears to the ground.