If you were a rock music fan in the mid-1970s, you couldn't have had a more unlikely savior than Don Kirshner. His nasal voice and balding, leisure-suited appearance made him less the stuff of hero worship than unbridled spoofing—and Paul Shaffer's repeated impressions of him on Saturday Night Live in the late '70s are still the stuff of legend. But Kirshner, who died Monday at age 76, was a critical pioneer for rock & roll on television with Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, the syndicated weekly show that ran from 1973 to 1982, its end perhaps not coincidentally coinciding with the birth of MTV. At a time when, if you wanted visuals to go with your music, you pretty much had to stare at an album cover, Kirshner was rock's primary delivery system to American living rooms, nebbish or not.

It could be argued that Kirshner had an even more real and lasting influence on pop music as a behind-the-scenes figure in the early 1960s, when he was half-owner of Aldon Music, the famous Brill Building

Ricky Martin is happy. Really, really happy. He's got proof: The pop sensation's first music video to come out since he came out, called "The Best Thing About Me Is You," is an upbeat pop tune with a message to match.

[Photos: See Ricky Martin through the years] 

The anthem to his new "be happy" philosophy starts out looking like an "Amnesty International promo clip," as the blog Hit Fix points out, with an ominous black and white look with the words "love, quality, justice, innocence" flashing by.

Ricky Martin appears with a cloth covering his mouth that reads: "you=me." He then removes it and lets rip a "relentlessly earnest and upbeat song" populated with gorgeous people promoting diverse lifestyles, races, and religions. Preachy? Heck, yes.

[Related: Martin among Out Magazine's most tempting guys in Hollywood]

But dang it, it's catchy. The video has already gone viral: YouTube has clocked over 1.4 million views of the clip in the few days since it launched. Billboard noted the

Justin Timberlake has been slow to record a full-length follow-up to his 2006 mega-album FutureSex/LoveSounds, instead concentrating on guesting on other artists' tracks, designing clothes for Target, and acting in films and SNL Digital Shorts. But luckily for frustrated JT fans, there's a new rumored Timberlake track out there, leaked just in time to rock your body at your New Year's Eve party this week.

The club banger, "Take You Down," leaked online December 30, and while it might possibly be a demo unintended for public consumption, and it's still up for debate as to whether or not it actually is JT (he's not confirmed as of this writing)...well, it's definitely bringing sexy back, Justin-style. Reportedly produced by the Neptunes (according to MTV), the thumping track features plenty of charismatic, JT-esque, half-rapped, half-whispered flirtations for the laydeez. ("It's me and you, my place, sexiness all day/Imma do whatever you like, if you cater to me all night, girl," the

Brandy's got some fresh ink! Calling tattoo artist Peter Koskela "incredible," the 31-year-old singer and Dancing With the Stars vet documented her experience on Twitter Monday.

PHOTOS: Remember these DWTS contestants?

"Getting a tat! OUCH!" she tweeted before posting a series of photos. "What do you babies think?"

Brandy claimed she got an image of the Hindu deity Ganesh tattooed on her left wrist because it symbolizes the "remover of all obstacles."

PHOTOS: Celebs' weird body art

According to the singer, fellow R&B diva Monica inspired her to get the mystical body art.

"You know you were the one that got me into tats and Louis Vuitton!" Brandy tweeted.

Monica's response? "You know I have both wrists done, so I feel your pain."

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