MTV VMAs Select Host: Brit Comedian Russell Brand

First, the MTV Video Music Awards revealed their first performer, current RS cover boys the Jonas Brothers. Now, we know who will be hosting the festivities: British comedian/actor Russell Brand. A huge figure in his native England, Brand is best known (perhaps only known) to audiences in the States as the British rocker from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Besides being a comedian, Brand is also a renowned actor, columnist and radio host. Brand was also once the host of an MTV UK show called Dance Floor Chart, but was fired after showing up to work dressed as Osama bin Laden on September 12th, 2001. Almost seven years after getting the boot, MTV rehires him to host only their most important telecast of the entire year. This year's VMAs will take place September 7th live from Los Angeles' Paramount Studios.

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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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