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There was a point – midway through the writing process of Paramore’s new album – when they almost gave up. Racked by doubts that they had anything left in the tank, struggling to write material that matched the ferocity of their breakout Riot! album and smothered by unspoken tensions that had simmered ever since they nearly split in early 2008, they were treading water in their hometown of Franklin, Tennessee. And with deadlines – not to mention a tour with No Doubt – looming on the horizon, the situation was getting dire. “We went through a lot of heavy stuff… Read more »

The 2006 suicide of Megan Meier, which came after the girl was harassed online, spurred a flurry of new state laws aimed at cracking down on “cyber-bullying.” Now some members of Congress are pushing for a federal law against the practice. The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act was first introduced last year. But it died in committee. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., introduced the measure again last month and says she believes she has enough support to make the bill law. “Schoolyard bullies – at least when you went home for the day, you could escape that,” Sanchez… Read more »

Why be at odds when there’s music to be made? Back on the same page after months of legal wrangling over royalties, 30 Seconds to Mars is once again recording for longtime label Virgin Records. The Jared Leto-fronted rock band’s third studio album currently titled This Is War, is slated for a fall release following a truce between the EMI-owned label – which had sued the group for $30 million – and talent, who in turn had really lashed out at Virgin. “So here we are, after almost a year at war, and the time has come,” Leto wrote yesterday… Read more »

For Taking Back Sunday, New Again is more than an album title, it’s a declaration. “We kicked around a bunch of different titles, but that one always remained the top of the list, and that’s because it really does feel like a new band,” vocalist Adam Lazzara said. Taking Back Sunday is not turning their collective back on what is already a storied past. The rejuvenated group is looking clearly to the here and now. “Leading up to this record we took the biggest break that we’ve taken since we started touring just to kind of learn how to be… Read more »

Guess who’s back? Eminem appears on the cover of the latest issue of XXL magazine dressed as the Punisher – and, judging from the interview excerpts published on the magazine’s Web site, Em kept up with what was going on in hip-hop during his absence. “I stayed up on the music, and obviously I watch TV and saw what was going on,” he said. “And without naming any names, it just felt like hip-hop was going downhill. And it seemed like kinda fast. You know, in them three years, it was like everybody just cares about the hook and the… Read more »

Over the last few decades, a veteran music act’s best shot at platinum magic usually consisted of pairing up with younger hitmakers (a la Santana) or covering treasured classics (like Rod Stewart. These days, another kind of vehicle has become a path to best-selling success – teaming up with box store chains. Garth Brooks ‘ started the trend in earnest back in 2005, with an exclusive Wal-Mart deal, and the Eagles and AC/DC had multiplatinum-plus success over the last two years by exclusively selling new CDs at Wal-Mart. Guns ‘N Roses sold about a million copies with a special Best… Read more »

Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown”– the band’s eighth studio record and first since 2004’s Grammy-winning “American Idiot” – has a firm release date: May 15. While Tuesday is the traditional release day for albums in the U.S., the band is following the lead of labelmates Metallica and dropping its album worldwide on a Friday. First single “Know Your Enemy” will hit idobi Radio and digital retailers in April. “’American Idiot’ marked a really high bar for us,” Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong tells Rolling Stone. “It’s easy to go, ‘OK, we can just write a collection of songs.’ But… Read more »

NEW YORK –  Longtime New York radio newsman  George Weber  was found stabbed to death in his  Brooklyn  apartment Sunday morning, cops said. The bloody body of Weber, a passionate fan of the city who spent a decade doing local news on WABC morning radio, was found just after 9 a.m. when he didn’t show up for work. “I used to hear his voice in the top and the bottom of the hour. It’s a voice New Yorkers know. Now that voice has been silenced,” said  Aaron Katersky, 33, an ABC colleague who found himself covering a friend’s murder. Weber,… Read more »

When the Silversun Pickups were writing “Swoon,”  the follow-up to their breakout “Carnavas” album, they were given access to parts of the universe where mere mortals dare not tread. And they soaked in them. “We were on jets that landed on hovercrafts that rolled us onto Jacuzzi-shaped planes,” frontman Brian Aubert laughed. “And on one Jacuzzi plane, there was a submarine, and that was the VIP, and that was going crazy. And that’s where we wrote the album. We wrote “Swoon” on the backs of hookers. In crayon.” He’s kidding. But there’s no denying that the past few years have… Read more »

Jesse McCartney is looking to take his career from boy-next-door pop singer to edgy R&B crooner, and his new single seems to be paving the way for the transition. Usually known for sugary pop hits like “Beautiful Soul,” McCartney decided that wanted to work with Ludacris for the remix of his song “How Do You Sleep?” Now the pair promise that the Sean Garrett-produced track is going to be the jam of 2009. “We’re setting the bar high for 2009 features,” McCartney told MTV News on the set of the track’s video. “It’s gonna be a big year. It’s gonna… Read more »