Amplifier
  • Go on, try it! The sort of abstract 10-string guitar on Google's main search page today is an innovative tribute to musical pioneer Les Paul, who was born June 9, 1915 (he died August 12, 2009). Google built their playable doodle to bring attention to Paul's achievements, which include developing the solid-body electric guitar, improving multitrack recording, and experimenting with tape delay. In short, if you enjoy the sounds of an electric guitar and recorded music, you owe a debt to Les.

    The 10-toned virtual guitar is nearly ready for some Kelly Clarkson action (the large third string from the top will get you started), but it's missing a few key notes to get the whole song together. It's possible to press the black "compose" button to record up to 30 seconds of strumming, so if anyone figures it out, please share your url! Here's some Les Paul doodle in action:

     

    Update: This is even cooler when Tom Morello does it:

    Read More »from Try to Play ‘Since U Been Gone’ on Google’s Les Paul Doodle
  • Gucci Mane might have rewritten the history books when it comes to rappers and traffic violations (previous authors: DMX, T.I.), but Flo Rida definitely broke the law with more style. The dude who subjected us to "Right Round" was arrested at 3:30 a.m. this morning on suspicion of driving under the influence. After failing those "touch your nose" and "recite the alphabet backwards" tests, a breathalyzer later showed that Flo's blood alcohol levels were more than double the legal limits (.185, which is also a crappy batting average). If this was a case where Flo was DUI-ing in Miami -- yes, Flo Rida was arrested in Florida -- with a Ford Escort, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. However, it was Flo's choice of vehicle last night that makes drunk driving an even worse idea: a $1.7 million Bugatti.

    According to TMZ, getting pulled over by the cops is probably the best thing that could've happened to Flo, since police saw the rapper swerving all over the road in a car that costs more

    Read More »from Flo Rida Drove Drunk in a $1.7 Million Bugatti
  • If Rolling Stone can be the subject of a coming-of-age movie, why can't Pitchfork be the center of a dramatic thriller? Pitchfork, The Movie! -- OK, the working title is simply Pitchfork -- a proposed film by Mark and Jay Duplass (The Puffy Chair, Cyrus) would tell the story of an indie rocker who becomes the victim of the website's infamous snark as well as a car accident. After his death, the unlucky musician's mother goes after the P4k writer who did her son wrong and is appalled to find he's just a teen. 

    Who would you cast as this mean-spirited scribe? Michael Cera? Patrick Fugit (he's probably free and has experience)? According to the L.A. Times, Jonah Hill has been in talks for the part and Susan Sarandon is being eyed for the role of the vengeful mother.

    How to mock this idea? Oh, there are so many ways. We could give it a premature 4.3. We could call in the Dismemberment Plan to critique the script (actually, maybe Travis Morrison is writing the screenplay?). We could review

    Read More »from Proposed Movie Dramatizes Desire to Harm Pitchfork Writers
  • "Motown folded." With that simple tweet, Erykah Badu announced the death of one of the greatest record labels of all time yesterday. Badu's 2010 album New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) was released through Universal Motown, so she'd probably be among the first to know if her label was folding. However, there was the little detail that Motown isn't folding. Universal reps were quick to deny Badu's assessment, admitting that they were "undergoing restructuring" following the recent exit of their president Sylvia Rhone but "remain committed" to the Motown brand, the label said in a statement to Billboard.biz.

    Badu hasn't elaborated on her "Motown folded" announcement since sending the tweet 15 hours ago. Usually we'd side with the artist seemingly telling the truth over the record company saving face and calming stockholders, but we're leaning toward Badu being misinformed here. Universal Motown is pretty stocked with talent, with Lil Wayne's Young Money clique (which includes

    Read More »from Erykah Badu Prematurely Kills Motown
  • Albums leak. Every album leaks. Britney's album leaked. Lady Gaga's album leaked. Albums that haven't been recorded yet are leaking as we speak. And last night Beyoncé's new album 4 arrived a little ahead of schedule (hey, it's pretty good!). But how an artist reacts to an unexpected early drop tells you a lot about them.

    The Angry Way
    Kanye West (guess where this is going!) went on a little Twitter rant after someone leaked one of his G.O.O.D. Friday tracks last year, punishing us all for the actions of one hacker: "It's messed up that one hacker can mess everything up for everyone." Isn't it?

    The Humorous Way
    The Foo Fighters took their Wasting Light leak in stride, writing on Facebook, "Leak? Rad. Was starting to think no one cared."

    The Classy Way
    Beyoncé posted a Facebook message today acknowledging her album's unexpected early delivery: "My music was leaked and while this is not how I wanted to present my new songs, I appreciate the positive response from my fans. When I record

    Read More »from The Classy Way to React to an Album Leak, By Beyonce and Jay-Z
  • The Beatles aren't the only ones putting handwritten lyrics on the auction block: Pieces of paper with sentences and rhymes written by Bob Dylan himself will be auctioned at Christie's next month. The lyrics, which also include some unpublished works, come from Dylan's fertile mid-1960s period that yielded albums like Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited. While the prospect of owning draft copies of "Subterranean Homesick Blues" or "Maggie's Farm" might seem like the big news here, the stunning disclosure is that Dylan wrote some of his greatest songs in crayon. Crayon! Like a first grader! Reuters doesn't elaborate on which color Dylan used, but we've always been partial to Midnight Blue and Goldenrod.

    Before anyone starts bidding heavily on these unreleased Dylan lyrics, we should mention that there have been some, ahem, plagiarism concerns about Bob's early works. Back in 2009, a poem penned by a 16-year-old "Bobby Zimmerman" called "Little Buddy" was supposed to get

    Read More »from Bob Dylan Wrote Some of His Greatest Lyrics in Crayon
  • Electro artist Pretty Lights (a.k.a. Derek Smith) has smashed together Radiohead's "Everything in Its Right Place," Nirvana's "All Apologies," and Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" into a slow-rolling, dark megamix. The track is the first single off Smith's 2011 Remixes collection and is somehow available for download on Pretty Lights' website (we're no copyright lawyers, but it seems like it'd be tough to get the rights to distribute music from three top-selling rock acts). Girl Talk may make mashup music for dance parties, but this mix is better suited for zoning out. Various parts of the three original tracks stand out at different points of the five-minute track and it gets a little dub-steppy after the four-minute mark:

    Read More »from Nirvana + Radiohead + NIN = Five-Minute Pretty Lights Mix
  • The shock of Eminem collaborating with crooner Bruno Mars still hasn't completely worn off, but just like that Slim Shady is back with a new video for "Fast Lane," featuring his Bad Meets Evil associate Royce da 5'9". And surprise, it's a lyric video, that hot trend that just won't go away. Here's a twist, though: Eminem and Royce actually interact with the cartoon fonts scrolling the song's words, which themselves become characters. It's reminiscent of Justice's beloved "D.A.N.C.E." video in that respect.

    Handled differently, this clip could have been immensely boring -- like the majority of Eminem's recent videography -- since the setting is just an abandoned (presumably Detroit) warehouse, but the clever use of the floating lyrics make it worth watching. It also prevents Eminem from falling into familiar visual traps, like silly costumes, celebrity impersonators, and grizzly murder scenes (though some lyrics in "Fast Lane" unfortunately find Em reviving his serial killer persona).

    Read More »from Eminem’s ‘Fast Lane’ Lyric Video: Simultaneously Clever and Disgusting
  • David Bowie did not pen lyrics, and then have his words rejected, by the British rock band Kaiser Chiefs. Bowie of course has been "retired" the past eight years, and outside of archival releases, reissues, and remixes, the Thin White Duke hasn't provided fans with any new material, so word that he maybe contributed fresh verses was tantalizing. The Chiefs' Nick Hodgson claimed Scary Monsters producer Tony Visconti texted Bowie for assistance since he was also coincidentally working on the Kaisers' album The Future Is Medieval, but this is not exactly true, the Guardian writes.

    "Tony texted David asking for suggestions to finish off a verse [on the song 'Man on Mars'] and he came up with a couple of lines," Hodgson (maybe) told News of the World, the world's least reliable newspaper. "I'm such a big Bowie fan I can't believe I'm saying this, but they just weren't right, so I've missed out on a Hodgson/Bowie writing credit. Gutted!" The lyric in question: "Trust you, trust you, trust

    Read More »from Kaiser Chiefs Caught Lying About Obtaining David Bowie Lyrics (Updated)
  • Katy Perry has invented herself a gawky alter ego named Kathy Beth Terry for her "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)" video, which will premiere in all its dorktastic glory on June 14th. The first hints that something unfortunate like this might be happening emerged in early May, when the pop star went full Urkel on the cover of her "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" remixes, dressing up in the nerd-chic anti-style documented in long-defunct sitcom Family Matters. Now Kathy Beth Terry has Facebook and Twitter presences that confirm this 13-year-old has pretty '90s tastes for a girl who lives in the '10s.

    The astronomy-loving, asthmatic Kathy Beth Terry's likes include Sugar Ray, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Beanie Babies, and Jonathan Taylor Thomas. Her signature outfit is a salmon turtleneck topped by a light-blue denim vest, a night brace, and oversize Sally Jessy Raphael-inspired eyeglasses. Katy Perry's alter ego isn't just a nerd, she's a nerd living in the past -- and not the cool past, but the

    Read More »from Have You Met Katy Perry’s Nerdy Pal Kathy Beth Terry?

Pagination

(2,394 Stories)

News for You

  • Mom: RI theater threw out disabled girl over noise

    NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — A woman says she and her 5-year-old developmentally disabled daughter were thrown out of a theater during a "Beauty and the Beast" performance because the girl was making giggling and humming noises she makes when she's happy.

  • Palace sheds some light on Kate's baby plans

    LONDON (AP) — With Prince William and the former Kate Middleton expecting their first child in mid-July — and much of the world interested in the birth of a future monarch — officials at Clarence House have released some of the couple's plans, although many details are still being kept private. Kate has made several public appearances recently but is expected to keep a low profile in the final weeks of her pregnancy. Here is the latest news about the infant who will, upon entering the world, be third in line for the British throne.

  • Cher credits luck for her lengthy career

    UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (AP) — Cher is no stranger to tabloid fodder.

  • Jenner: Kim Kardashian 'thrilled for the new baby'

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kris Jenner says her daughter Kim Kardashian is thrilled to have a new baby girl.

  • 'The Voice' Winner: Who Did the Experts Choose?

    By Jethro Nededog LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - NBC's "The Voice" will crown another winner on Tuesday night's finale. Season 4's three finalists - Daniellle Bradbury, Michelle Shamuel and The Swon Brothers - battled it out for the title on Monday's performance finale episode. Before the performances, coaches Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, Shakira and Usher performed The Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends." The Top 16 then got together for the second group performance of the night on Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros' "Home. ...

  • Miss Utah latest beauty queen to botch answer

    LAS VEGAS (AP) — Miss Utah Marissa Powell is the latest beauty queen to trip on national television, not over her gown, but during the interview segment.

TOP VIDEOS

  1. Blurred Lines
    1.Robin Thicke, (f/ T.I., … | VEVO
  2. 2.Macklemore & Ryan …
  3. 3.Daft Punk, (f/ Pharr …
  4. 4.Justin Timberlake
  5. 5.Florida Georgia Line, …
  6. 6.Imagine Dragons
  7. 7.P!nk, (f/ Nate Ruess …
  8. 8.Selena Gomez
  9. 9.Ariana Grande, (f/ Mac …
  10. 10.Icona Pop