The Week In Music: Events Long Overdue

This week, long overdue events finally came to pass. The Beatles posted their catalog on iTunes. Two songs from Dr. Dre's endlessly delayed LP Detox finally hit the web. Amy Winehouse announced tour dates. Jim Morrison was to be given a pardon for trumped-up obscenity charges. Michael Jackson's duet with Akon finally surfaced. And Lil Wayne's first post-prison track appeared... okay, that didn't take too long.

In slightly less surprising — but equally amazing — news, Bruce Springsteen jammed with the Roots on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon . We then followed up with Jimmy Fallon and ?uestlove.

We also watched a cool video from Arcade Fire, a previously lost one from Michael Jackson and a clip of Nicki Minaj on Letterman. We decided on the 11 greatest rock star feuds of all time, and sorted through some photos of the White Stripes on tour between 2001 and 2005.

What else? Oh, yes: T.I. declared that he's "mother f*cking tired of going to jail." And Joan Baez fell out of her treehouse.

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  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
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  MOVIES 'Star Trek' Is Crazy Good
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  TV 10 Shows to Watch This Summer
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  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

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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