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Lady Gaga may have lost out to Gloriana for the Breakthrough Artist Award at last night’s American Music Awards — a loss so crushing, Gaga unleashed her anger by using a mic stand to smash a plate glass window during her AMAs performance — but there was some potential good news for The Fame Monster singer: According to EW’s Music Mix, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was going to consider a rule change to make her eligible for the Best New Artist category at the 2010 Grammys, even though Gaga’s “Just Dance” was nominated for Best Dance Recording in 2009. Unfortunately, by this afternoon, a Grammys rep debunked EW’s report and told Rolling Stone Gaga is still ineligible for the honor.

Check out Lady Gaga’s wildest wardrobe moments.

“The awards and nominations committee meets to review the rules every year. We change the rules frequently,” Grammy President Neil Portnow told EW. “We recognize that situation is not perfect, and we are looking at ways to figure it out.” Because “Just Dance” was nominated at the 2009 Grammys, Gaga is technically ineligible to be nominated for Best New Artist, even though that single was merely the opening salvo in what has pretty much become Gaga’s breakout year. (more…)

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When presented with four words —Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl — Jack Black’s mind leaped to food. “It’s a strange combination but it’s one of those that could end up being delicious,” he told Rolling Stone before the Beatle and Foo Fighter took the stage at last night’s Grammy Awards. “I’m sure the first time they put peanut butter and jelly together they were worried but then they tasted it and we like, wow!”

As for McCartney, he revealed he’s making his U.S. festival debut at Coachella this year for one simple reason: he was asked. “I heard it was a really cool festival, and the dates worked, so I could do it,” he said. “Everyone tells me it’s a beautiful location, it’s a really great show and great audience. That’s enough for me.” As for his set, “I don’t know. I’m just going to play whatever seems right on the day. I never plan it too much.”

While McCartney will surely give a few thousand concertgoers some incredible memories at the fest in April, he gave one famous fan a thrill last night. “I had a chance to meet Paul McCartney just now,” B.B. King told Rolling Stone. “I met all the Beatles except him until today!” (Catch photos of the big names mingling behind the scenes in our Grammy backstage gallery.) King also reminisced about his first-ever Grammy win, for “The Thrill is Gone.” (more…)

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Amid fizzling sales and dwindling business, the music industry responded with a Grammy show thick on collaborations, stirring performances and once in a lifetime moments.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss took home the most hardware, but the night’s performances provided the bulk of this morning’s Grammy water cooler conversation. If you need a refresher, you can find images from these unforgettable moments in our Grammy gallery or skim through some of our favorite moments:

• U2 show off their new “Boots” — The band jumpstarted the Grammy telecast with the first single from No Line on the Horizon.

• Jennifer Hudson’s triumphant return — After a year of unimaginable personal tragedy, Hudson returned to the Grammy stage for a breathtaking performance of “You Pulled Me Through.” It’s hard to imagine there was a dry eye in the house (or among the millions of viewers at home).

• McCartney and Grohl revisit the Beatles — The night before the 45th anniversary of the Beatles debut on the Ed Sullivan Show, McCartney and Grohl showed that “I Saw Her Standing There” can still electrify a room.

• Coldplay and Jay-Z — An intimate performance of “Lost” took on a new urgency when Jay hit the stage. (more…)

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When the pageantry of the 51st Annual Grammy Awards wrapped at Los Angeles’ Staples Center, the stars headed off into the night to party — or enjoy a nice quiet dinner, as Dave Grohl described his post-show plan. Radiohead took off for their Hollywood Hills house party, where members of Maroon 5 gathered, while Jason Mraz dropped off his mom (his Grammy date) and headed to the Sunset Marquis for what he described as a more mellow hang.

At the private Kings of Leon post-Grammy party at the exclusive Teddy’s in the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel, Kid Rock held court in a roped off area reserved for his crew, which included ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. Before the end of the night, the bearded legend had made Kings bassist Jared Followill’s day: “Billy Gibbons gave me his slide!” he excitedly told us. When asked about the Kings’ Grammy win, Nathan sarcastically replied, “Finally, after nine long years!”

The Kings’ bash also drew out Kirsten Dunst, Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds, and Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel. Katy Perry arrived in a silver sparkly flapper dress at 12:45 a.m. with a massive posse and headed to the back to smoke cigarettes with Johansson, while Suge Knight chatted with Kid Rock and Slash made his way over to Timberlake. (more…)

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While Chris Martin was kissing up to Paul McCartney and Kanye West was showing off his mullet onstage at tonight’s Grammy Awards, Rolling Stone was hanging out backstage and in the press room at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where newcomers like Miley Cyrus, Adele and Carrie Underwood rubbed shoulders with legends like Paul McCartney, B.B. King and the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart (check out photos of the behind-the-scenes action in our Grammy backstage gallery). It was the kind of environment that made stars want to open up, and Cyrus happily confessed her crush on Kings of Leon’s bassist Jared Followill. “He’s pretty good looking,” she said. “I’m not usually one to freak, but me and Taylor [Swift] last night were like, ‘Holy smoke!’ ” Don’t expect the two teen pop stars to hook up with the Kings anytime soon, though: “Katy Perry was like, ‘They have super hot girlfriends.’ I was like, ‘Dang it!’ ”

A more jovial Paul McCartney joked with reporters about the Beatles’ relatively modest Grammy haul. “I’m very annoyed,” he said. “I didn’t come here to win it. I’ve come to be in it!” Later on, RS caught up with another jokester — Adele — after she came offstage with her Best New Artist win. “I was ecstatic and really shocked,” she said. “It’s surreal. I got a little emotional.” The British neo-soul singer admitted to getting teary onstage, but says she fought the emotions by admitting to her crush on the Jonas Brothers, who she beat in the category. (more…)

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Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Lil Wayne and Coldplay were the big winners at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards on a night of all-star performances, big surprises and some pre-ceremony drama. Plant & Krauss grabbed five Grammys, including the night’s biggest award, Album of the Year for Raising Sand. “In the old days we would have called this selling out, but it’s a good way to spend a Sunday,” Plant said while accepting the show’s final honor. The Led Zeppelin frontman and bluegrass singer also won Record of the Year for “Please Read the Letter” and Best Pop Collaboration for “Rich Woman,” both tracks from Raising Sand. Coldplay scooped up three awards, including Best Rock Album and Song of the Year for “Viva La Vida.” During their Song acceptance speech, the band half-joked, “Thank you and sorry to Paul McCartney for blatantly recycling the Sgt. Pepper outfits.”

The man with the most nominations, Lil Wayne, took home four awards, most notably (and predictably) Best Rap Album for Tha Carter III, but also Best Rap Song for “Lollipop,” Best Rap Solo Performance for “A Milli” and his verse on “Swagga Like Us” scored him Best Rap Performance By A Group. Radiohead nabbed the prize for Best Alternative Album for In Rainbows, which also won Best Deluxe Packaging. (Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, whose Ghosts I-IV was up for the latter category, responded via Twitter: “Ghosts DESTROYS In Rainbows deluxe package. No debate.”) Metallica won Best Metal Performance, while the Mars Volta grabbed the prize for Hard Rock Performance and Kings of Leon received the honor for Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Weezer, Justice, Bruce Springsteen, Ne-Yo, Duffy and John Mayer also left the Staples Center with new Grammy hardware.

Aside from blink-182’s announcement that they are indeed reuniting, the show’s performances were the night’s biggest stories, and there were plenty of them. (For photos of all the show’s winners and performances, check our 2009 Grammy gallery.) (more…)

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“Isn’t it great to see the Jonas Brothers and Stevie Wonder back together again,” blink-182’s Mark Hoppus joked as his band — together again — took the stage at the Grammy Awards to present the trophy for Best Rock Album to Coldplay. “We used to play music together, and we decided to play music together once again,” added Travis Barker. The bottom line: “Blink-182 is back.”

A statement released just after their Grammy appearance reads, “Hi. We’re blink-182. This past week there’ve been a lot of questions about the current status of the band, and we wanted you to hear it straight from us. To put it simply, We’re back. We mean, really back. Picking up where we left off and then some. In the studio writing and recording a new album. Preparing to tour the world yet again. Friendships reformed. 17 years deep in our legacy.” (more…)

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Rihanna has canceled her performance at tonight’s Grammy Awards, though details are sketchy on why the Barbadian singer had to pull out of the show. While producers scramble to fill her slot on the telecast (the latest rumors say Justin Timberlake or Al Green will fill in), the “Disturbia” singer’s publicist issued this vague statement: “Rihanna is well. Thank you for concern and support.”

Rihanna and boyfriend Chris Brown were spotted (and photographed) together at last night’s Clive Davis pre-Grammy bash, where Whitney Houston made her return to the stage. This afternoon, unconfirmed rumors spread that Rihanna had been in a car accident. By evening, word broke that Rihanna would not be attending the Grammys, and shortly thereafter the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that Brown is under investigation for an alleged domestic battery that happened approximately 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning. (more…)

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There are plenty of jaw-dropping collaborations to look forward to on tonight’s Grammy Awards — Coldplay with Jay Z, Jonas Brothers with Stevie Wonder, Radiohead with the USC Marching Band, the all-star swagga of M.I.A., Kanye West, Lil Wayne and T.I. — but perhaps most anticipated is the pairing of Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney.

Grohl will be back at the drum set for the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There,” but at Friday night’s MusiCares Person of Year gala honoring Neil Diamond, the Foo Fighters frontman played it cool, recounting a phone conversation he had with McCartney earlier in the week. “He tells me, ‘So we’ve got this rehearsal space for, like, three hours, but I like to play rock & roll for a couple hours just to get warmed up.’ I was like, ‘Fuck, okay. Let’s do it, dude!”

But by Saturday’s Clive Davis party, which he and McCartney attended immediately following a final run-through at Staples Center, Grohl was giddy as a teenager. (Check out photos from the party — and Grammy rehearsals — in our pre-Grammy gallery.) That three-hour rehearsal in Burbank turned into one sick jam session, Grohl revealed, which kicked off with “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” then made its way through “I Saw Her Standing There,” “Honey Don’t,” and Wings’ “Let Me Roll It.” (more…)

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At one table, Paul McCartney bros down with Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl. A few feet away, Diddy is jumping a banister to say hello to the Jonas Brothers, while out on the balcony, Duffy shares a smoke with Slash. Welcome to the Clive Davis pre-Grammy party — the hottest ticket in town for music makers and the most difficult to score for those who work with them. That’s because the annual gala features intimate performances by some of music’s biggest names (all of Davis’ choosing) in a Beverly Hilton ballroom packed to the gills with celebrities and industry VIPs. It’s one hell of a schmooze-fest, but also an unforgettable display of talent. (See it for yourself in our Grammy pre-party and rehearsal photo gallery.)

“There’s nobody that’s not here,” said repeat attendee Akon on the red carpet early on in the evening. “You literally could take the [Grammy] trophies, grab everyone who’s nominated and give them their award tonight. Seriously.” Indeed, a quick scan of the guest list revealed at least a couple dozen nominees, including Kanye West (who slipped in mid-show with Dr. Dre), Jennifer Hudson, Estelle, Josh Groban, Leona Lewis, Taylor Swift, Chris Brown and Rihanna. And there were also plenty of Grammy winners past and present, among them: Rod Stewart, Prince, Barry Manilow, Herbie Hancock, and, yes, a comeback-ready Whitney Houston.

For first-timers, however, the sheer star power can be a little overwhelming. Pre-fame Katy Perry had that experience. “I actually crashed the Clive party five years ago,” she confessed. (more…)

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The most commonly heard phrase spoken by attendees and artists alike at Friday’s MusiCares tribute to Neil Diamond? “Feels like a Bar Mitzvah!” Or the biggest karaoke party ever, but rather than having to suffer through your drunk friend’s closing time rendition of “Sweet Caroline,” instead some 2,500 music industry VIPs got the man himself backed by Grammy vets like Coldplay, Tim McGraw, Foo Fighters, Faith Hill and Chris Cornell, along with newcomers the Jonas Brothers, Jennifer Hudson and Adele. (Check out photos of the night’s big performers onstage and off in our Grammy party gallery.)

The rah-rah — or ba-ba-ba — atmosphere made the sometimes stuffy gala more of a swinging soiree, and that excitement was palpable on the red carpet, where, despite heavy rain, many of the evening’s performers came out to soak up a little of Neil Diamond’s love light. “He’s the master of the three chord song,” said Urge Overkill singer Nash Kato, who reprised the Pulp Fiction version of “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” later in the night. “He was our version of punk rock.” Foo Fighters‘ Dave Grohl couldn’t agree more. In fact, he credits Urge Overkill for helping him see the light. “When Urge fuckin’ rocked that song is when I thought, ‘Oh my God, Neil Diamond’s fucking cool!’,” Grohl said. “Because Nirvana toured with them early on and we quickly realized that Urge Overkill were the raddest dudes you could ever meet, so if they like him, he’s gotta be cool.”

That sentiment was shared by Chris Cornell, who went one step further, suggesting that maybe it’s time for a tribute album. (more…)

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Coldplay will have a surprise supporter rooting them on at this Sunday’s Grammy Awards: Joe Satriani. The guitarist has accused Chris Martin and Co. of stealing from his song “If I Could Fly” for the band’s “Viva La Vida.” But Satriani’s lawyer Howard King told MusicRadar, “We hope Joe Satriani’s song wins a Grammy. In fact, we hope Joe has a very big Grammy night!” Nice sarcasm, guys. Coldplay are up for seven awards, but none mean more to Satriani than the band’s “Record of the Year” nod for “Viva.”

As for rumors that Satriani and his lawyer would serve Coldplay with lawsuit papers on the Grammys’ red carpet because the band has been otherwise unreachable, King says that crisis has been averted because the band hired U.S. reps that are more communicative than Coldplay’s British lawyers. (more…)

Before he takes the stage in front of an audience of millions at this Sunday’s Grammy Awards, Lil Wayne gave a sneak preview of what Americans can expect from the dread-locked, grillz-wearing rapper by reading the Top 10 list on last night’s Late Show With David Letterman. The “Reasons I’m Looking Forward to the Grammys” countdown itself wasn’t that funny, with “Number eight, I’m nominated in the category of ‘Littlest Wayne’” probably the most LOL of the bunch.

Overall, the Top 10 list would’ve been a lot better had the newly rocking rapper used Auto Tune as he counted down to Number One. We hate to poke fun at Weezy, but the definite highlight is Wayne’s obvious inexperience using teleprompters, accidentally reading the “Pause” cue following “I get to hang with the Jonas Brothers. Have you seen those guys? They’re adorable.” (Or, as the commenters are telling us, in hip-hop lingo saying “pause” is meant to deflect any gay implications, which is news to us.)

Wayne will make a startling different television appearance this Sunday as one of Katie Couric’s interviewees during her pre-Grammy special. (Watch a clip after the jump). (more…)

Lil Wayne, Coldplay and this year’s Grammy class will hit L.A.’s Staples Center on Sunday in hopes of trading in their nominations for some hardware. Sure, the stakes are high for them, but what’s in it for us? Let’s face it — an award show just isn’t the same unless there’s something riding on it. Not money, mind you (that would be wrong… very very wrong). Instead, we prefer to play for bragging rights.

So as the Grammy Awards draw near, we’re hunched over our ballots, each of us marking the predictions that we are sure will lead us to victory in the RS office Grammy pool. But this time, we thought we’d share. We’re posting our Grammy pool ballot here, complete with picks from our resident expert, Austin Scaggs. We focused on the top rock, pop, R&B and rap categories (sorry country fans). As you can see Austin’s calling a big night for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, two wins for Kings of Leon and a major coming out party for Duffy. Other experts and artists have already made their Grammy predictions, but what about you? How many of his eight nominations can Lil Wayne really cash in? Will the night bring a gold rush for Coldplay? And more importantly, do you think you can beat Austin? (Grab your ballot here!)

Print out your ballot, make your picks and see if you can beat our man on the ground (or if you really want to put yourself out there, post your picks in the comments section). Check in all weekend long for our reports from inside all of this year’s Grammy events, and don’t miss our other essential Grammy coverage on our Grammy hub.

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The Grammys have managed to coax blink-182 out of their five-year hiatus — sort of. The punk trio will appear at this Sunday’s ceremony… as presenters. A Grammy rep confirmed to Rock Daily that blink-182 will take the stage in some capacity, but wouldn’t elaborate on the details. Blink last appeared together onstage in December 2004, two months before the band went on an indefinite hiatus. Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker went on to from +44 while Tom DeLonge formed Angels & Airwaves.

Following the 2008 jet crash that nearly took the life of Barker and DJ AM, Hoppus had blogged that the he was hopeful that a Blink reunion might be on the horizon, and recently admitted that he and DeLonge were once again friends. The revelation that blink-182 would reunite to present together at the Grammys was casually thrown into a roll call of other presenters added to the event, including Kate Beckinsale, Green Day, LL Cool J, Natalie Cole and Diddy. (more…)