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  1. Obsessively blogging about pop music, pop videos, pop stars, and pop culture from inside the MTV headquarters in Times Square. We also have a slight Jonas Brothers problem. And a little fixation with Tokio Hotel.

    Contact us as buzzworthy@mtv.com and follow us on Twitter at @MTVBuzzworthy.

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In case you couldn't tell by their courtly, charming demeanor, their aw-shucks attitude, and their calling Charleston, South Carolina their new hometown, it's clear that the fellas of needtobreathe, who just released their third album, The Outsiders, rep the Dirty South by the slick reference to Danny McBride's Dixie HBO comedy Eastbound And Down. (They're into real sports, not just trying to be the best exercising.)

In this new addition of "The 5," needtobreathe talks about being in awe of their record label, Atlantic, and its storied legacy (Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin), they reveal their competitive natures, and recall that guys who built their Charleston home thought they were building a porn set rather than a home studio. Happens.

Nineteen-year-old Kristinia DeBarge has been hitting me hard with her tough-girl side. Her "bad girl" takeover is even the subject of her second single, "Sabotage," so it's not just me. And when it came to Kristinia's debut video, "Goodbye" -- which is up for Best Choreography at the 2009 MTV Music Video Awards -- I thought she might kick my ass through the screen.

But in her "The 5" Buzzworthy interview, I experienced The Softer Side of Kristinia -- mainly love for her teacup Pomeranian and devotion to her diary (look out for her novel someday). But that tough girl edge still comes through (is it the DeBarge blood?), and not just because she owns a jar of pickles a day. Doesn't she just have a don't-eff-with-me aura to her? Anyway, when Kristinia talks about her rock music fandom... fun's over. You can see it in her face: Kristinia is deadly serious about Led Zeppelin. And I'm not questioning it.

Watch Kristinia DeBarge's brand-new interview, and after the jump, watch her perform "Sabotage" from yesterday's episode of It's On With Alexa Chung.

Read more...

There's no doubt in my mind that by now you've heard there was a secret chord that David played and it pleased the Lord. Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah," a fragile opera originally by Leonard Cohen, is downright ubiquitous, popping up everywhere from The OC to your mom's car mix.

And, great as that ol' holy roller is, there's plenty more Jeff Buckley to love beyond "Hallelujah." The high-crooning set of heartbreakers on Grace, which surfaced around the same time that Radiohead hit it big, won Buckley legions of instant fans (among them Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and David Bowie) with their uncommonly delicate sweetness.

Tragically, the artist turned out to be as ephemeral as his melodies, and he slipped out of the world at 31, drowning in Tennessee's Wolf River before he even had a chance to really stretch his musical legs.

But talents this big die hard. Jeff Buckley's ever-expanding fan base, and his outrageously dedicated mother, have made sure that the lost genius lives on, spreading his songs wherever they go. Well, their mission got a whole lot easier, yesterday: with the release of a new CD/DVD compilation called Grace Around The World, Buckley's finest live material is now readily available to anybody who's interested.

The Deluxe Limited Edition release includes audio and video from multiple live performances, an unreleased documentary called Amazing Grace, a 24-page booklet, a 2-sided poster and, unbelievably, MORE.

+ Watch Jeff Buckley's timeless "Grace" video below, and see what's got everybody so worked up (if you don't know already).

Most bands come loaded with so many cultural references and spawn so many spin-offs, that they may as well become genres of their own. Think about it. How many Pearl Jams have there been since the '90s (I'm looking at you, Staind)? How many Led Zeppelins have there been since the '70s (ask Jack White)? Can you even count?

The B-52s are a rare exception. By all counts a major mainstream success, they carved their names indelibly into pop culture's skin with off-beat hits like "Rock Lobster" and "Love Shack."

They were also a bunch of middle-aged (bang, bang, bang), Pee Wee's Playhouse-lookin', new wave Athens art weirdos (on the door, BABY!), with a style that's damn hard to identify in any other living band.

Who are the new B-52s? Katy Perry? Never Shout Never? Lady Gaga? Nope. Not at all. What's the modern equivalent of "Love Shack?" Does it even exist? Screw on your thinking caps (hurry up!), watch the classic 1989 Club MTV performance of "Love Shack" below (and bring your!), and do your best to come up with today's popular descendants of The B-52's (jukebox money!). I dare you to find one.

Throaty Australian-born belter Gabriella Cilmi grew up on a steady diet of bold, personality-driven classic rock. She names Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin and T.Rex as her influences. When you hear the wallop of her voice -- and I do mean a literal fist-in-the-gut wallop -- and witness the leggy, theatrical electricity of her performance, those names start to make a lot of sense. Others that come to mind are Amy Winehouse, Alanis Morissette and Macy Gray.

Cilmi's explosive, disco-ready second MTV single, "Save The Lies," already owns in her native Australia. It's also made the rounds in Europe, where it has also just completely dominated. Why is it that we get this legit talent last?!? Regardless, when you watch the swagger-soaked video, you'll agree that Gabriella Cilmi was well worth the wait.

Finally, speaking of "worth," Cilmi's got that in droves, too. This past Saturday she joined Jack Johnson, Kings Of Leon, Wolfmother and many others in playing "Sound Relief," a monster concert whose proceeds all go to a relief fund for victims of a raging Australian wildfire that's already claimed more than 200 lives. Watch the video for "Save The Lies" below and visit the Australian Red Cross to see how you can contribute to their efforts.

(Photo Credit: James Minchin)

You know, I never noticed until I watched Mastodon's new "Divinations" video (Thanks Headbangers Blog!), that snow is totally '70s. Have you seen this stuff? Man, think about how it falls. All slow and lazy, all left to right like it's watching a Pink Floyd laser light show with its eyes closed, like "pffff whatever I'm snow and I look like stars and there's nothing you can do about it." And dude. Have you seen how fluffy it is? Oh my God. Snow is so fluffy. It makes Farrah Fawcett's hair look like raw spaghetti.

Anyway, snow is all over this new video, "Divinations," from Atlanta nü-metal heroes, Mastodon. And, unsurprisingly, it's hardcore '70s. Maybe that's a little weird, considering that it's about dreadlocked cavemen with light-up eyes, drinking from skulls and gnarling out on a mountaintop... But whatever. Look at all the lens flare! Look at the grizzly blue jeans facial hair! And yo, think about Led Zeppelin. They were all about ogres and misty mountains, and what's more '70s than Led Zeppelin? Well... maybe fighting Sasquatch with flying-V's that shoot lightning? Maybe this righteous new Mastodon video. You tell me. And watch for Mastodon's crucial new record, Crack The Skye, out March 24.

+ THE! GRAMMYS! HAPPENED! Top honors went to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss for the country-fied duet album your baby ears never heard. Weezy pulled Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song ("Lollipop"), Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group (T.I.'s "Swagga Like Us") and Best Rap Solo Performance ("A Milli"). (MTV News)

+ Best Spoken Word album went to Al Gor... zzzzzzzzzzzzz

+ This weekend was obvs ALL about the Grammys, but there was some majah pre-game action too. The Grammy Awards Salute to Icons: Clive Davis went down on Saturday night and Taylor Swift, Leona Lewis, Jennifer Hudson and lots more walked down the pre-red carpet, pre-rocked it out, and pre-partied the night away. (Concrete Loop)

+ Oh Noes! Miley Cyrus's papa Billy Ray was all set to do a free concert for that tear-jerker show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition last Friday, and then the whole place burned down! Sad, epic Home Edition fail. (Perez Hilton)

+ Madonna is allegedly determined that here mini-me Lourdes keeps her unibrow (!)... so she can be assured that "she'll be the fairest of them all" in Casa de Ciccone. (Celeb Newswire)

+ Amy Winehouse to world: What time is 4:20? (D Listed)

+ Close your eyes and squint: we guarantee you will not be able to tell the difference between Kristin Wiig as Bjork and Bjork as Bjork. (Idolator)

+ We're sending get-well wishes down to Usher's wife Tameeka Foster, who has apparently suffered complications due to plastic surgery down in Brazil. (Pop on the Pop)

With a name like Forrest French and hair like Robert Plant, you can't very well grow up to be a school teacher or a pediatric dentist. No. When you're Forrest French, you gotta rock. You gotta rock hard and you gotta rock now. That's gotta be one of the reasons that Oklahoma-native Forrest French (along with longhair Okie bros Jesse Cooper, Josh McDowell and Boomer Simpson) set out at the age of 13 to make music that, as Cooper says, "will rip your head off." That's how they became Crooked X.

Now, after opening for Ted Nugent and Kiss, playing the CBS Early Show and landing three of their songs in the rotation on "Rock Band," Crooked X are finally on the verge of releasing their first full-length album (out January 27). They're also finally about to turn 15. INSANE.

To give you some idea of how these high school freshmen managed to cram a whole career's worth of AC/DC energy into one album before they even got their driver's licenses, MTV will debut Crooked X: Rock N' Roll Dream at midnight on January 27. The documentary follows the band's progress from Pantera-fans playing their friends' Oklahoma backyards to rock stars playing Swedish stadiums. TOTALLY NORMAL. Not really. These dudes are intensely talented. Check them out now and at midnight on January 27!

Hai, u guys! Hopefully you can read this post. You see, I've been crying all morn, and the tears just keep dripping onto my keyboard, and now I don't know if my words are coming out right ... Wahh ... Anyway, in case you haven't heard: CREED MAY BE REUNITING!

Can you handle it??!! Can you believe it??!!

Do you even know who Creed is?

Just in case, lemme refresh your memory: Creed was a really popular band in the late '90s and early 2000s. They won a Grammy in 2001 for their power ballad  "With Arms Wide Open", provided snooze-ic for the WWE, were vaguely Christian Rock (ehhhh, sorta), sold almost 30 million albums (almost before the iPod was even invented!) and then crashed and burned into in the form of a nasTAYcious and bitter breakup in 2004. I mean, things got SO bad and SO sucky that the band's own fans ended up suing them over some performance of epically sucktacular magnitude.

Creed's main problem, of course, was lead singer Scott Stapp (architect of those aforementioned crappy performances), and his love of most things alcoholic and generally illegal. Fellow band members Mark Tremonti, Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips were so frustrated with Stapp's antics, they ditched him, formed another group -- Alter Bridge (they do that sorta-creepy "sorry about the drugs" Celebrity Rehab 2 video that's always on VH1) --  and tried to make a success of their new Franken-band, Creed 2.0.

Fast forward to 2008, and now it seems that the Alter Bridge boys are looking to get Stapp back on Creed's tour bus after their current lead singer, Myles Kennedy, is rumored to be in talks to fill Robert Plant's shoes on next year's Led Zeppelin tour. (Still following?) Tremonti wants us all to know that whatever they decide about the reunion, it will all be "for the good of the band" (cough cough: bank account).

Apparently Creed hasn't gotten the memo that people are more interested in Spaghetti Cat these days than washed-up, dried-out angsty alt-ers.

This whole "recession thingy" everyone's talking about must be pretty bad after all if the "worst band in the world" (it's official!) thinks it's comeback tour time. Either that, or the end of days is truly nigh.

And with that, more crying, and R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"

P.S.: This happened too.

+ How many Jonases does it take to tell the (sorta) family-friendly story of a flatulent puppy? Answer: All four, baby! Oh, and did we mention that Nick, Kevin, Joe and, yes, Bonus Jonas (Eeeee!) are comin' soon, to a theater near you? We "smell" another box office smash... (MTV Movies)

+ You know how Germans love David Hasselhoff? Well, apparently Russians feel the same way about Jessica Simpson movies. (Fox News)

+ Christina Aguilera morphs into a "superhero biker chick" in her new video, "Keeps Gettin' Better." You know, like Lady Gaga, only louder. (MTV News)

+ Cutlery abuser Katy Perry spoons out a small serving of journalism ethics. (Scandalist)

+ Led Zeppelin to hit the road, sans frontman Robert Plant. Which should be great! In a Jackson 5-minus-Michael sorta way. (NME)

+ Olympic gold medalist/Lil Wayne fan Michael Phelps is living proof that you can do anything you put your mind to. Including charge $100K for a two-second meet-and-greet. (Best Week Ever)

+ Plus, watch the trailer from Beyonce's (or was that Sasha's?) new movie, Cadillac Records! (Gossip on This)