News Ticker: Drake, CMT Awards, Travis Barker, Bounty Killer

Drake's hotly anticipated debut Thank Me Later will be released on June 15th, the Canadian rapper confirms to MTV. For more on his Away From Home tour, check out Rolling Stone's preview.

Dave Matthews and Kenny Chesney's "I'm Alive," John Mellencamp and Karen Fairchild's "Ride Back Home" and Brooks & Dunn with ZZ Top's "Honky Tonk Stomp" have been nominated for Collaborative Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards. Jason Aldean, Sugarland and Lady Antebellum lead the June 9th awards with four nods apiece.

The National Transportation Safety Board will meet today to discuss the possible causes for the 2008 Learjet crash in South Carolina that seriously injured Travis Barker and DJ AM and killed four people, the AP reports.

Jamaican dancehall star Bounty Killer has been arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. Bounty Killer was previously booked on possession of firearms, marijuana and assault. He'll be arraigned tomorrow, the AP reports.

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Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”

More Song Stories entries »

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