Amplifier
  • This weekend Saturday Night Live handed the keys over to two of the world's biggest pop stars (one active, one semi-retired) and simply let them be great. Again proving they are all-around gifted entertainers, host Justin Timberlake and musical guest Lady Gaga drove the season's last episode to its best ratings since the '04 finale starring the Olsen twins. (For a moment of context, in 2004 Justin was still requesting we cry him a river and Lady Gaga was an NYU student named Stefani Germanotta. And the Olsen twins were speaking in public.) Timberlake gamely mocked how he's stepped back from the music biz during his monologue, vowing not to sing (in song), then sang dressed like a giant bottle of beer, sang in a digital short extolling the wonders of menage à trois, and impersonated Bee Gees' Robin Gibb (in song) as Jimmy Fallon returned to revive "The Barry Gibb Talk Show."

    Timberlake was predictably fantastic in all the aforementioned bits, but the bigger surprise was that in

    Read More »from SNL GPA: Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake Earn an A, Easily
  • Mick Jagger is singing again, but surely to the disappointment of millions, it's not for the Rolling Stones. Instead, Jagger has joined another "supergroup" called Super Heavy, featuring Dave Stewart, Joss Stone, Damien Marley, and A.R. Rahman. This non-Rolling Stones supergroup will release their debut album in September. On paper, Super Heavy look like they were drafted at random in a fantasy baseball league -- we'll trade you the dude from Eurythmics, a 2005 Best New Artist nominee, the Slumdog Millionaire composer, and a Marley offspring to be named later for Keith Richards and Charlie Watts, hit "Accept" -- it's almost like they met randomly at a post-Oscar Vanity Fair party and decided then and there to make an album together.

    Rolling Stone breaks down the weird genesis of the band: Jagger and Stewart started recording together two years ago -- they wrote some songs for the Alfie remake -- and decided to fill out their roster with the eclectic trio of Marley, Stone, and Rahman.

    Read More »from Mick Jagger Joins a Band Not Called the Rolling Stones
  • This weekend, the biggest pop star in the world will appear alongside the biggest pop star who totally abandoned music for acting and won't return until he's come up with his own version of Ziggy Stardust: Justin Timberlake is hosting the season finale of Saturday Night Live, and Lady Gaga is the musical guest! We have high hopes for this pairing because they're both slick pros who are not above looking ridiculous for our amusement. Plus, Gaga tweeted she "May even have a dreamy co-star." Could Lady Gaga coax JT out of musical retirement for just one night? Could her dreamy co-star actually be Beyoncé? Is it Judas himself? What will happen??

    The last time Gaga was on SNL she wrestled with Madonna and wore the same bubble dress as Andy Samberg. Timberlake has been a Bee Gee and starred in some of the show's most beloved digital shorts. Screen their best SNL clips while counting down the moments til the Rapture their show begins:

    Read More »from Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake’s ‘SNL’ Takeover Is Nigh
  • For the past decade, Rob Zombie has lived a double life. Half his time was devoted to lending his booming grumble to heavy metal songs, and the other half was spent solidifying his reputation as one of the best horror film directors. Now the lines between his careers are starting to blur: He's finishing up the script for his next film The Lords of Salem, based on a 2006 song he wrote, while returning to his rock roots for a joint tour with Slayer. He also directed his first Comedy Central special for comedian Tom Papa and took on perhaps his most frightening job to date, shooting a commercial for Woolite. The Amp caught up with Zombie to talk scary movies, balancing his two careers, and the art of selling laundry detergent.

    So, a Woolite commercial?
    Yeah... I was approached about it a couple months ago when I was in Australia on tour. I thought, "Kind of a bizarre thing to do, but it would be a good experience." I mean, I didn't know if it would be a good experience, but I knew it would

    Read More »from Q&Amp: Talking Scary Movies With Rob Zombie
  • Looking for signs of the apocalypse today? Here's a good one: Corey Taylor, frontman for masked nu metal heroes Slipknot, has been invited to speak at an event held at England's prestigious Oxford University. The only catch is the speech is taking place on June 8th -- so after the world ends tomorrow.

    Blabbermouth reports Taylor will be addressing the Oxford Union Society, a debate organization that counts many students of the top-notch university as members. "I've been asked to speak at Oxford University, which is very ironic seeing as I didn't graduate from high school," Taylor said in a radio interview, per Blabbermouth. "They took a vote about who they would want to speak at their student union and I was the number one pick, apparently, so I was like 'Yeah, OK, let's do this.' I'm probably going to swear and sweat a lot." Taylor may not be a scholar, but his memoir, Seven Deadly Sins, will be published in July.

    A listing on the Oxford Union Society's website corroborates this odd

    Read More »from Slipknot Frontman Invited to Address Oxford Debate Society
  • The world lost a wrestling icon today when "Macho Man" Randy Savage died in a car crash. We will miss his signature "oooooh yeah!" and his Slim Jim commercials. We will remember classic interviews like this unintelligible, hilarious one. Since this is The Amp, we will pay homage to him this afternoon by spinning tracks from his one-and-only rap album, 2003's Be a Man. As they sang on "Dig It," "He gets the party jumping." That he did.

    Read More »from R.I.P. Rap Great ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage
  • The arms race for the life stories of geriatric rockers continues today as the William Morrow publishing company announced they've acquired the autobiography of Allman Brothers Band founder Gregg Allman. This comes just days after HarperCollins snagged Pete Townshend's memoir and the same week Steven Tyler, Keith Richards, Patti Smith, and Sammy Hagar all have their own books on the New York Times Bestsellers list. We guess the only thing better than reading about their music is actually listening to their music.

    The Allman Brothers founder might not seem as debauched as many of his peers, but he's still surived five decades of backstage excess. He'll be able to detail drug addictions, health problems (his bout with Hepatitis C required a liver transplant last year), headline-making relationships (he was married to Cher!), and most importantly, how he and his band managed to rebound after his brother Duane Allman died in a 1971 motorcycle crash.

    "When I got out of high school, I

    Read More »from Maybe Gregg Allman’s Book Will Be Shorter Than ‘Mountain Jam’
  • For decades, the Motown Records catalog has been an untouched Broadway gold mine, mostly because the label's founder, Berry Gordy, has been reluctant to allow producers to use his tunes. A version of the Motown story was told in the musical Dreamgirls, but that show painted its Gordy-inspired character in a negative light and therefore did not get permission to use Motown tracks. However, according to the New York Post, the 81-year-old Gordy, with help from a Rent producer, is finally planning to bring the label's history and music to the stage. The musical will tell the Motown story from Gordy's perspective, so instead of being the power-hungry, back-stabbing mogul he probably was in real life, Berry will be the hero. It'll be like Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, but without the dangerous wire stunts (and with better music).

    "Berry's been wanting to do this for a long time. He's got the money and investors lined up," a source told the Post. "He's trying to involve Diana Ross and

    Read More »from Berry Gordy Wants to Tell Motown’s Story on Broadway
  • Rammstein are not the most subtle German industrial-metal band*. They perform in bondage gear. They perform in diapers. But mostly, they perform with pyro. Frontman Till Lindemann regularly sings while aflame, and concert-goers have allegedly sued the band after developing breathing difficulties from inhaling fire. At Madison Square Garden last December, when Rammstein played their first U.S. show in a decade (they're hard to book -- go figure!), bandmembers attached flame throwers to their faces and Lindermann donned 20-foot metal angel wings that -- yes, you guessed it -- shot fire.

    So of course there was lots of pyro when the band played two songs on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night, including their U.S. "hit," 1997's "Du Hast" (remember it from The Matrix?). Lindermann swung a sparking crossbow and wielded a flaming mace; fireworks shot out across the audience; and at the 3:40 mark a member of the band's entourage danced out onstage, where Lindermann zapped him with his handheld fire

    Read More »from Man Catches Fire During Rammstein’s ‘Kimmel’ Set, NBD

Pagination

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News for You

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  • '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

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