Eminem Reveals Rehab Confidant Was Elton John, "Relapse" Bonus

Eminem has launched his Relapse pre-order page with a bonus: anyone who buys his new four-star album from the official Relapse site gets a copy of the grisly "3 A.M." video now. Plus, for some added incentive, "I'm giving away an extra free song with my album if you buy the Relapse CD. I'm still on the run, my darling," Eminem said on his Twitter page. However, the preorder page says that he album comes with "2 bonus song downloads," so Em is wrong in a good way. There's also a Limited Edition Deluxe version on the album, which features the CD, 12'' vinyl, all the downloads, plus an autographed print and a collectible Relapse pill bottle.

In other Eminem news, the rapper's 1996 debut Infinite is being offered a free download via 50 Cent's ThisIs50 website right now, MTV reports. The album was originally limited to just vinyl and cassette, but has been heavily bootlegged over the past decade. "I recorded Infinite in 1995, my first album," Eminem said in his autobiography The Way I Am. "It sold maybe 70 copies and didn't get great feedback. A lot of people said it sounded like Nas, and he was a heavy influence at the time. But I had an album out, and I could say that."

Eminem also spoke to Detroit's Metro Times about how his former "Stan" duet partner Elton John helped him recover from his pill addiction. "I talk to Elton a lot. We became friends and I talk to him about things, career wise. And he had a substance abuse problem in the past," Em said. "He's somebody who's in the business and can identify and relate to the lifestyle and how hectic things can be. He understands like the pressure and any other reasons that you wanna come up with for doing drugs, you know. Me and him have had similar lives and stuff. So I reached out to him and told him, 'Look, I'm going through a problem and I need your advice.' "

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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