Search Results for: GRAMMYs

The trophy is a silly Moonman. Treasured memories include girl-on-girl kisses, a flying Fartman and the bobbling of a pasty-covered breast. Where other shows confer honors and respect, this one relishes gaffes, guffaws and giggles. Forget “The envelope, please.” It’s time to push the envelope. MTV’s Video Music Awards is among the most irreverent of awards shows. Which may be precisely why it matters. “It’s pop music; how seriously can you take it?” said MTV news correspondent Kurt Loder. “It’s not Martin Heidegger or something. There’s a lot of empty pomp associated with other shows, like the Oscars and even… Read more »

After you’ve disrobed Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl, and presumably disrobed Cameron Diaz someplace, can you really go back to being just one of the boys? For Justin Timberlake, the answer is no, per a report in the new People magazine. Timberlake “doesn’t want any part” of a planned ‘N Sync reunion, a source says in People. “Justin said he’s not in the mood and doesn’t think it will work,” the spy tells the magazine. ‘N Sync, with the Backstreet Boys, the leading boy band of the teen-pop explosion of the late 1990s/early 2000s, has been on hiatus since… Read more »

Four years after the launch of “Survivor,” the show’s chief, Mark Burnett, is reuniting with CBS in search of a rock star. After a healthy bidding war, CBS has landed an untitled reality series described as a cross of “American Idol,” “Big Brother” and “Survivor” set in the world of rock music. It will feature aspiring musicians competing for the chance to become the new lead singer of Australian rock band INXS, a gig that opened up after the 1997 suicide of frontman Michael Hutchence. After a multicontinent search with auditions in cities throughout the United States and Canada as… Read more »

MTV will take its irreverent Video Music Awards to Miami this year. The live event, in its 21st year, will be held Aug. 29 at the AmericanAirlines Arena, the cable television network announced Friday. It will be the first time the show is held outside Los Angeles or New York, which has hosted the awards in recent years. But because the Republican National Convention is scheduled for Aug. 30 to Sept. 2, having the VMAs in New York would have been difficult, said the VMA’s executive producer, Salli Frattini. “There were very, very limited venue possibilities in New York because… Read more »

Avril Lavigne has been previewing songs from her upcoming album Under My Skin during her Avril Live And By Surprise mall tour. The singer has typically performed five of the new songs-“Don’t Tell Me,” “He Wasn’t,” “My Happy Ending,” “Take Me Away,” and “Nobody’s Home.” Under My Skin comes out May 25. Lavigne revealed that Under My Skin will have a somewhat different feel than her 2002 debut, Let Go. “My singles are like pop songs, but the rest of the record is just, like, dark and it’s just my type of music,” Avril said. “I’ve got, like, dark piano… Read more »

Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl flash lasted less than three seconds, but the impact continues to ripple through Viacom, the media giant that broadcast the game. Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, right-wing radio commentators and outraged citizens are calling for stricter decency standards – and the artists and executives who make a living from edgy music, performances and videos are in retreat. MTV in particular, which produced the Super Bowl halftime show, is in the midst of a wide-scale re-evaluation of its musical, news and dramatic content. Within a week of the game, MTV – no stranger to criticism, most recently… Read more »

Ozzy Osbourne may be famous for biting a head off a bat, but he’ll never bite the hand that feeds him-that is, his fans. Chomping at the bit to get back onstage again since his near-fatal ATV crash late last year, the Prince of F-king Darkness has confirmed plans to headline this summer’s Ozzfest, the monstrously successful heavy metal touring festival he founded in 1996, Billboard.com reports. Details are still sketchy but the bill is also said to include such other headbangers as Slayer, shock-rockers Slipknot and enduring British metal mavens Judas Priest, who recently reunited with vocalist Rob Halford… Read more »

Beyoncé Knowles, multiplatinum sweetheart of the music award show circuit this year, was exhausted. She’d just appeared on the Vibe Awards and breathlessly arrived across town just in time to change clothes and take bows at the VH1 Awards. “Too many,” she said as she leaned against a wall backstage. Bad planning by VH1 and Vibe? Not really, there were four award shows that week including the American Music Awards and they were bound to butt heads somewhere. With television networks relentlessly reaching for younger viewers, an unprecedented 26 music award shows are now on cable and network TV. “There’s… Read more »

U.S. album sales rose 10.4 percent in the first month of 2004, Nielsen Soundscan reported, welcome news to the music industry after a three-year slump marked by costly litigation, rampant piracy and consolidation. The uptrend began late last year, a development hailed by Sanford Bernstein analyst Michael Nathanson in a recent report. But he said he was hesitant to say declines were over. Other analysts note that comparisons were easy with last year when U.S. album sales fell. But many saw signs the music business – led by big record labels at Time Warner, Bertelsmann AG, EMI Group Plc, Sony… Read more »

Among the latest performances announced for the 46th Annual GRAMMY(R) Awards telecast are Prince, The Black Eyed Peas with Justin Timberlake, and Beyonce; a special segment celebrating the 40th Anniversary of The Beatles’ first U.S. appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” featuring Sting, Dave Matthews, Vince Gill, and Pharrell Williams; and a tribute to late singer/songwriter Warren Zevon with Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris, Timothy B. Schmit, Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam and Jorge Calderon, it was announced today by the Recording Academy(R). In addition, Britney Spears, Keith Urban, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, and Joshua Bell will make appearances as presenters. The… Read more »