Rewind: The Week in Rock Daily

11/20/09, 6:38 pm EST

Weekend Rock List: Phone Songs

11/20/09, 5:25 pm EST

Lady Gaga and Beyoncé teamed up recently to record not one but two songs dedicated to phones, “Video Phone (Remix)” and The Fame Monster’s “Telephone,” which was then followed by actor Jason Segel turning his phone number into a chorus at the Swell Season show. In honor of Alexander Graham Bell’s suddenly tuneful invention, we’re dedicating this weekend’s Rock List to all things telephone. Tell us your favorite songs that are in any way phone-related, and on Monday we’ll reveal the Readers’ List of Phone Songs. Before we put you on hold, check out our favorites below:

• Electric Light Orchestra – “Telephone Line”
• Blondie – “Hanging on the Telephone”
• Tommy Tutone – “867-5309 (Jenny)
• Steely Dan – “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”
• The Replacements – “Answering Machine”

“Michael”: Rolling Stone’s Ultimate Jackson Book Is in Stores Now

11/20/09, 4:50 pm EST

When Michael Jackson died suddenly on June 25th, the stunned and saddened Rolling Stone team snapped to action and devoted a commemorative issue to the King of Pop. Now the magazine’s editors are proud to present an even bigger version of that special edition of RS: Michael, a book devoted to Jackson’s life and career that features more than 100 rare photographs from his Jackson 5 days through his troubled later years.

RS contributor Jon Dolan writes about Bad, Jackson’s last truly great album, and Alan Light examines the making of Thriller, the biggest album of all time. Rob Sheffield contributes a guide to Jackson’s videos and the 25 moments that defined his career. Michael also includes tributes from Slash, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones and others who worked with and admired Jackson.

Order the book, and dive into our special Michael Jackson coverage right here on RollingStone.com, too:

Michael Jackson: The Rolling Stone Covers
Photos: Michael Jackson’s Life and Career

Flashback: White Stripes Before Jack White’s Calendar Filled Up

11/20/09, 3:49 pm EST

Has any artist this decade been busier than Jack White? The past 10 years alone have seen White emerge from relative obscurity to front three marquee bands — the White Stripes, the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather (with whom White is already plotting a new album) — plus produce country legends like Loretta Lynn and Wanda Jackson. On the big screen, White has rocked out alongside Jimmy Page and the Edge in It Might Get Loud and the Rolling Stones in Shine A Light, plus showed off his acting chops in Cold Mountain and Walk Hard. This week’s Flashback looks back at White at the beginning of the millennium, with Meg and Jack performing their De Stijl standout “Hello Operator” in December 2000 at Chicago’s Empty Bottle.

Bonus Flashback: The White Stripes cover Iggy Pop’s “I’m Bored” in 1999 at their hometown Detroit’s Gold Dollar: (more…)

The Roots’ ?uestlove on Life on “Jimmy Fallon” as Late Night’s Hottest House Band

11/20/09, 3:21 pm EST

Photo:Edelson/NBC

As Jay Leno, David Letterman and Conan O’Brien battle for late-night supremacy, one thing has become clear: Jimmy Fallon has the hottest house band. In their eight months on the air, the Roots have played with everybody from Paul Simon to Christopher Cross to Weird Al Yankovic, and have been hilarious in skits. As the group preps for a show featuring Hulk Hogan and Edward Norton, ?uestlove reveals that the network was initially skittish about bringing them onboard. “All they knew of us was ‘rap group,’ ” the drummer says. “They were a tad bit worried if we had range or not. In the beginning they were throwing a lot of debris and Hanna Barbara-style Acme TNT obstacles at us to see if we could obstacle the course. On a whim, four hours before the show they said to us once, ‘We’re going to do a Broadway song. Can you learn it? Here’s the sheet music.’ I was like, ‘Wait a minute, you guys are trying to get rid of us. You think we cant do this.’ ”

In those early days, NBC also put the group on 13-week contracts. “Once we did [the sketch] ‘Freestyling With The Roots’ for the first time, they knew we were there for life. At this point they have complete faith in us.” (For even more on the Roots’ Fallon gig, grab the current issue of RS.)

?uestlove’s Fallon countdown: his favorite all-star jams, celebrity slams and more. (more…)

Miley Cyrus’ Tour Bus Driver Killed in Virginia Accident

11/20/09, 2:30 pm EST

Photo: Gilkas/FilmMagic

Miley Cyrus‘ tour bus was reportedly involved in a fatal accident this morning at 8:15 a.m. ET, outside of Richmond, Virginia. Cyrus was not on the bus at the time of the crash. According to NBC 12, the bus driver, whose identity has been withheld until next of kin are informed, was killed after the tour bus overturned. Nine people were on the bus, including members of Cyrus’ production crew, and one passenger sustained minor injuries.

The bus was driving southbound on I-85 when it ran off the left side of the road and overturned, eventually coming to rest on its right side. The cause of the crash is under investigation. The bus was one of four in a fleet heading to Greensboro, North Carolina, for the Hannah Montana star’s concert there Sunday, November 22nd. According to reports, the Greensboro concert will still take place as scheduled.

First Anthology for “Deep Blues” Author Robert Palmer

11/20/09, 2:03 pm EST


In 1980, music journalist Robert Palmer was invited to drop by the sessions for John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Double Fantasy in New York. When Palmer arrived, Lennon was adding background vocals to “(Just Like) Starting Over.” Palmer noted that Lennon had sung his parts perfectly in key. Lennon, impressed by Palmer’s ear, said, “You’ll do.”

As Lennon learned, Palmer — who died in 1997 of complications from liver disease at 52 — led a life immersed in music. He was an author (of Deep Blues, a history of Mississippi Delta music), a record producer, a documentary filmmaker, a college professor, even a horn player. But Palmer was foremost a critic equally skilled at writing about John Contrane, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Philip Glass — and his work has been anthologized for the first time in Blues & Chaos: The Music Writing of Robert Palmer. (more…)

Maroon 5’s Adam Levine on Actor Jason Segel’s Musical Endeavors

11/20/09, 1:27 pm EST

Forgetting Sarah Marshall star Jason Segel made a surprise appearance at the Swell Season’s November 18th concert at the Wiltern in Los Angeles, entertaining the ladies in the audience with a love song featuring his phone number as the chorus. In case anyone in the crowd couldn’t make out the digits, as evidenced by the video above, Swell Season’s Marketa Irglova held up a sign with Segel’s number around the stage like she was a boxing match’s ring girl. This is the second time in a week Rolling Stone is reporting on Segel’s musical endeavors: The How I Met Your Mother actor will also serve as special guest when Maroon 5 play Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve.

Get a look at more actor-rock stars, from Johnny Depp to Juliette Lewis.

Segel recently joined Maroon 5 onstage when the band performed at St. John’s University in Queens, New York, in early November. “Jason was a little apprehensive about playing with us because we were playing a super religious school,” Maroon 5’s Adam Levine tells RS. “There was a hall monitor that told him not to curse earlier. But I knew the crowd would love him.” (more…)

Single Minded: Lady Gaga Mashed With David Bowie, Full Rihanna Set

11/20/09, 12:17 pm EST

Photo: Shearer/WireImage
Lady Gaga vs. David Bowie, “Let’s Just Dance” [Mashup]
DJ Terry Urban treats mashups like Cage treats composition, dropping just a micro-fragment of Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” behind Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance” — to startling effect. This also marks the first occasion for either artist where subtlety has served as an asset.

Kids in the Hall vs. Grizzly Bear, “Leisure Man” [New Track/Mashup]
Well, Grizzly Bear’s entré into hip-hop is officially complete; first Jay-Z shows up at a Brooklyn show, now Kidz in the Hall are rapping over “Two Weeks.” Be honest: did anyone see this coming? And if you did, is there any way we can solicit your insight on, say, the next 15 World Series? (more…)

Website Selling Beatles Catalog Shut Down After Court Ruling

11/20/09, 11:52 am EST

Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty
A federal court has issued a preliminary injunction against the digital music vendor Bluebeat after the site offered up high-quality MP3s of the Beatles’ catalog without permission. According to the Los Angeles Times, the judge overseeing the case, which came after EMI Music and Apple Corps. issued a copyright infringement lawsuit against Bluebeat, said there was no distinct difference between the Beatles’ recordings and the “psychoacoustic simulations” that Bluebeat claims they added to the music that would have allowed them by a legal loophole to sell the Beatles catalog digitally.

Explore the Beatles’ full catalog in our album guide.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, Bluebeat was recently selling the newly remastered Beatles catalog for a mere 25 cents per track on its now-defunct Website, even though the owners of the Fab Four’s music have yet to agree to any digital deal. Bluebeat was also selling the entire Beatles in Mono box set digitally for only $53.25, well below the market value the Beatles would command on either an iTunes or Amazon MP3 store. (more…)

Rihanna’s Cabin Fever Led to Recording “Personal” “Rated R”

11/20/09, 10:11 am EST

Photo: Mockford/FilmMagic
With Rihanna’s new album Rated R out on Monday, November 23rd, the “Russian Roulette” singer discussed when she knew she was ready to record the LP after being assaulted by then-boyfriend Chris Brown on On-Air with Ryan Seacrest. “Right after the Grammys this year, I would say months later, I kind of got tired of just hanging out in the house and I got cabin fever, so I was like ‘I have to work.’ I called the label and said ‘I’m ready,’ ” Rihanna told Seacrest.


Rihanna’s fierce fashions: check out photos of the star onstage and off.

Lyrically, Rihanna at first tried not to broach the subject of love in her new music, but she found it hard to avoid. “We went into the studio and first thing we did was figure out the sound. I was having mixed emotions about what I wanted to talk about. I did not want to talk about love at all, because it was sort of expected and I didn’t really believe in love at that point, so I tried to go the other way,” Rihanna said. “But when I went into the studio, it was my peace and my way to vent, so all these real emotions started to come out, so it’s really raw. The album is a roller coaster of emotions. It’s a really personal album and I wouldn’t have made it any other way.” (more…)

Green Day Record “21 Guns” With “American Idiot” Musical Cast

11/20/09, 9:04 am EST

Photo: Shearer/WireImage
Before the American Idiot musical travels cross-country from Berkeley to Broadway, Green Day will shoot a video for a new version of the 21st Century Breakdown single “21 Guns” with the cast of the show, the band announced on their official Website. The band rerecorded the track with the stage performers, with Billie Joe Armstrong producing. The new version of the song is expected to hit radio and digital services by the end of November.

Go backstage with Green Day: exclusive tour photos.

After premiering on September 4th, the American Idiot musical was extended several times due to “record-breaking sales and unprecedented demand for seats” at California’s Berkeley Rep. American Idiot went on to become the Rep’s top-grossing show in its history. (more…)

News Ticker: Chris Brown, Susan Boyle, Roger Daltrey, Interpol

11/20/09, 8:32 am EST

Photo: Dowling/Getty

  • Yesterday a Los Angeles judge said Chris Brown is complying with the terms of his probation. The singer’s next legal check-in is February 18th, the L.A. Times reports, and there’s no worries about Brown running into Rihanna at Sunday’s American Music Awards — he’ll be out on tour. Rolling Stone will have a full report from the big awards show.

  • Britain’s Got Talent breakout star Susan Boyle’s November 24th debut album I Dreamed a Dream has set the record for most global pre-orders in Amazon’s history, Reuters reports.
  • Roger Daltrey is considering writing an autobiography. The Who frontman told the Rock Radio, “The only trouble is, the people usually want the salacious crap and I don’t know if I’m prepared to dig that, y’know?”
  • Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino tells Paste the band’s next album will hit stores in early 2010, and it will hearken back to their debut, Turn on the Bright Lights.

Eminem Releasing “Relapse: The Refill” Instead of “Relapse 2 ” in December

11/19/09, 5:30 pm EST

Photo: Brecheisen/WireImage
Eminem will release Relapse: The Refill — and not Relapse 2 — on December 21st, the rapper announced on his official website today, November 19th. The Refill will include the entire Relapse, plus seven songs that didn’t make the album. The DJ Hero exclusive “Taking My Ball” and the Drake/Lil Wayne/Kanye/Eminem collaboration “Forever” will be included on Refill, Rap-Radar reports, with the other five songs being previously unreleased. So essentially, it’s Slim Shady’s The Fame Monster.

Check out photos of Eminem onstage at the Voodoo Festival.

As Rolling Stone reported in March, Eminem promised not one but two doses of the Dr. Dre-prescribed Relapse would be released in 2009, but with the scheduling of the first installment’s Refill, it appears Relapse 2 is now slotted for release in 2010. “I want to deliver more material for the fans this year like I originally planned. Hopefully these tracks on The Refill will tide the fans over until we put out Relapse 2 next year,” Eminem said. “I got back in with Dre and then a few more producers, including Just Blaze, and went in a completely different direction which made me start from scratch. The new tracks started to sound very different than the tracks I originally intended to be on Relapse 2, but I still want the other stuff to be heard.” (more…)


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