Last week, right before New Year's Eve, Kanye West gave the world its 2010 sendoff when an unfinished version of the video to his song 'Monster' leaked. In line with the titular theme, the video amounts to a short horror film complete with dangling female corpses and severed heads and arms. But as The Village Voice noted, a series of similar images had already been used by Dr. Dog in 2008 for ...

Judging by the 463 comments on our Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Most Egregious Snubs article, the Hall's picks for rock immortality -- or just an extra shiny piece of plastic to throw on the mantle -- perennially inspires hand-wringing, profanity-laced invective and bemused resignation. Alice Cooper, Tom Waits, Neil Diamond, Darlene Love and Dr. John will all be entering the Hall at the ...

Did you recommend a Rihanna song on Twitter without buying her latest album, 'Loud'? Billboard now cares. In an effort to better document how music is listened to and received, the music industry magazine bellwether recently introduced the Social 50, a new chart that tracks the most popular artists on all social networking websites. While most Billboard charts rank artists based on retail ...

UK vocalist Taio Cruz, he of the ubiquitous radio and gym staple 'Dynamite,' probably wasn't thinking of Chanukah when writing lyrics like, "I'm wearing all my favorite brands, brands, brands, brands." But it's 2010 -- the era of re-contextualization and instant notoriety -- and the Yeshiva Maccabeats, an a cappella group from the New York-based university, have flipped the dance-pop song into ...

The rumors began Monday evening, when Teyana Taylor, guest vocalist on Kanye West's recently released new album, tweeted, "Just got to rehearsals for my performance with Mr Ye West tomorrow at the Bowery Ballroom tomorrow Dark Fantasy Baby!" By Tuesday morning, it was music's worst kept secret that West would be performing his new album, 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,' at the 550-capacity ...

When Gwyneth Paltrow decided to debut the title song from her upcoming film 'Country Strong,' her first-ever live musical performance, she could have slipped unnoticed into some small Nashville bar and worked out the track surreptitiously. Instead, she chose to close last week's Country Music Awards, the biggest platform in the genre, and duet with veteran Vince Gill. It was an audacious move, ...

When 'I Am Not A Human Being,' the eighth LP from rapper Lil Wayne, was released last month, no tour was planned, no promotional radio appearances booked and no media interviews granted. Far from an undisciplined work ethic, the rapper was languishing in a Rikers Island cell, serving out a year-long sentence -- reduced to eight months for good behavior -- for attempted criminal possession of ...