Britney Spears Among Nominees for VMA's Video of the Year

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It's shaping up to be A Tale of Two VMAs for Britney Spears. A year after the singer had the audiences eyes rolling with a jaw-droppingly-bad performance of "Gimme More," Brit will have a shot at redemption at this year's VMA as she's up for Video of the Year after her "Piece of Me" was named among the five nominees. Joining Spears in the top category are the Jonas Brothers' "Burnin Up," Chris Brown's Wrigley-sponsored "Forever," the Pussycat Dolls' "When I Grow Up" and the Ting Tings' "Shut Up and Let Me Go." Spears role at the awards show is still undefined, but her nomination likely guarantees she'll be appearing at the September 7th live broadcast from Los Angeles. It's not like she's on tour or anything. She is crafting her "best work ever," however.

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

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