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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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+ The gargantuan line-up for 2009 Lollapalooza at Chicago's Grant Park was just announced, and it's fuller than a tick on a three-day suck!! The roster includes HUGE acts like Depeche Mode, The Killers, Snoop Dogg, and Beastie Boys, plus more of your favorites like Kings of Leon, Asher Roth, Santigold, and Silversun Pickups. What? NO CHROMEO?? (The Tripwire)

+ Today we mourn the loss of Ozzy Osbourne's dog Little Bit, who was shredded to, um... bits by a coyote. (Sleaze Roxx)

+ Kelly Rowland has bean tearing up the charts both overseas and stateside recently, with the rise of her new single "When Love Takes Over." Tonight we'll get to see her perform it live on the So You Think You Can Dance results show with French DJ David Guetta. Can't wait! (Neon Limelight)

+ American Idol winner Jordin Sparks just dropped her next single "S.O.S." and, thankfully, it's a DANCE track (all the gays say "Ay-ohhhhhh!!!"). What makes it even more awesome is that it samples the old freestyle song "Let The Music Play." Love it. (Perez Hilton)

+ Rapper Bow Wow seemed to be a little down in the Twitter dumps, as manifested in this Tweet from yesterday. (Bossip)

+ Man, I am craving some Toblerone after hearing that Maroon 5 are heading to Switzerland to work on their third album with Mutt "You're-an-idiot-for-cheating-on-Shania-Twain" Lange. (NME)

In the same way that it's understood that soap operas will have absurd story lines, people expect music videos to be over-the-top dramatic. Bands are generally in the business of communicating really big feelings, and super evocative music videos certainly help to accomplish that goal. And while a person can only handle so much slo-mo and so many sunset mountainsides, it's those unchecked melodramas that really stick in our minds, spawning everything from torrid one-night stands to Scott Stapp's career.

Last week Cage's "I Never Knew You" reminded us just how much a well-executed video can quicken the pulse. As usual, that got us to thinking... Which other videos reach down your throat, grab you by the heart and hand pump it until you think you're gonna pass out? What are the most compelling videos of all-time? In Buzzworthy's slightly comprehensive list below, you'll find the gut-wrenchingest, unflinchingest (and sometimes cheesiest) videos in recent history, so get close to the Kleenex. This list is not recommended for the infirm or the elderly.

The Cheesiest
+ Creed, "With Arms Wide Open" -- It's hard to believe that this video is actually for real. Watching it again now, I keep expecting a "Wipe that s$#* up" overdub to kick in and relieve the insane self-indulgence. Notoriously wack frontman Scott Stapp literally dodges asteroids at sunset and stands on a mountain with his arms spread, as the cameras circle, as if carried by slow motion eagles.

+ Chicago, "You're The Inspiration" -- Can I get away with describing this video as "difficult to watch?" Handily out-sapping those inscrutable Japanese karaoke videos, it's easier to eat a whole brick of cream cheese than it is to watch this video all the way through. That being said, definitely watch it.

The Saddest
+ Soul Asylum, "Runaway Train" -- The '90s invented that thing where tough-looking dudes enjoy music by standing around looking really sad and tuned out. It's no Toni Braxton "Un-Break My Heart," but this Soul Asylum video does help the grungers get into character with a sad slideshow of missing children.

+ R.E.M., "Everybody Hurts" -- Hold on! Stop! Everybody hit your breaks! Get up! Get out of your cars! Come on! Put on your little hats! Come on, do it! Dooo it! Come onnn! Little hats! Put your hands over your hearts! Sad break! Saaad break! Awww! (See also: Radiohead's amazing "Just").

The Scariest
+ Depeche Mode, "Wrong" -- Chicago will clog your arteries, but Depeche Mode will stop your heart. This terrifying video combines the edgy uncertainty of Radiohead's "Karma Police" with the supernatural creepiness of UNKLE's "Rabbit In Your Headlights," and comes out with one of the most disturbing videos I've ever seen.

+ The Fray, "Never Say Never" -- An everyday urban cityscape becomes a furious war-zone in The Fray's metaphorical new video. The violence of the uprising represents -- wait for it, wait for it -- the pain of a break-up! DRAMA!

The Darkest
+ Pearl Jam, "Jeremy" -- If you've been taking your MTV regularly like you're supposed to, you know that Pearl Jam recently released a never-before-seen director's cut of "Jeremy," with a much more explicit finish. See what all of Eddie Vedder's diabolical glares were really leading up to in one of grunge's darkest anthems.

+ Kanye West, "Flashing Lights" -- Don't be fooled by the muscle car, the thong-clad bikini girl or the Miami sunset. Don't be fooled by the cheery title, either. In this dead-serious drama, former Playboy playmate, Rita G, isn't stroking Kanye's ego... She's dispatching it to hell.

The Sexiest / Most Cinematic
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Eminem did a lot of reaching out when he was addicted to drugs. Reaching out to people he has things in common with. People who understand the lifestyle he leads. People like Elton John. (MTV News)

+ There has been a lot of good buzz about Depeche Mode's new album "Sounds Of The Universe" and the subsequent world tour this summer. Sucks that singer Dave Gahan is having really bad stomach problems, forcing them to cancel tons of shows. (The Tripwire)

+ Looks like that Rihanna and Lady GaGa track we told you about Tuesday was a fakity fake. Ugh... it's always too good to be true. (Singersroom)

+ Our favorite feline Kitty Purry (Katy Perry) brought the lolz on last night's American Idol when she managed to piss off anyone from middle America who is not voting for little "Lamchop" (Adam Lambert). What didn't bring the lolz, however, was how flat she was. Give a girl an earpiece! (Neon Limelight)

+ Speaking of things that AREN'T flat (and no, we're not talking about Katy Perry's boobs) -- have you seen her new video for "Waking Up In Vegas?" She took us behind the scenes as only KP can do. (Buzzworthy)

+ DMX has evidently found Jesus (by Jesus, we mean the Son of God, not Madonna's love sponge Jesus Luz) and you'll never guess where -- in jail of course, while the rapper was doing time for animal cruelty and sundry other indiscretions. (NME)

+ If it's really true that actress Bette Midler wants to collabo with 50 Cent, then we really WILL be able to eat Dippin' Dots in hell. (The Hip Hop Chronicle UK)

All's been semi quiet on the Tokio Hotel front. (New blog layouts! A new t-shirt! Yay!) TH fans, you guys have been patiently waiting for their new album to come out, and meanwhile, Tokio Hotel's apparently been flying to points sometimes unknown to work on the album. Well it looks like one of those points has been Los Angeles, where Tokio Hotel's teamed up with The Matrix (the production team, not Neo and Samuel L. Jackson) to work on the follow-up to Scream.

In sum, Matrix members said that Tokio Hotel's new songs will be dark and "anthem-y," and have lots of guitars, that the band is good at playing their own instruments, and that Bill Kaulitz has a lot of star power. So, in other words, they've, uh, heard Scream? In the words of Selena Gomez, tell me something I don't know!

Allow me to break it down here...

+ Dark: "Don't Jump." "Love Is Dead." "Forgotten Children," for God's sake???

+ Anthem-y: "Ready, Set, Go," "Live Every Second," "Monsoon," y'all!

+ Guitar-heavy: FREAKING "Scream"?

+ Star power: THEY RODE INTO THE VMAS ON A MONSTER TRUCK.

OF COURSE IT'S GOING TO HAVE ALL THOSE THINGS. That is SO NOT "grosses kino"-level news! Bill himself said more about the new album in his interview with Dream Up, where he said that the new album will include influences Tokio Hotel hasn't experimented with before.

The most revealing news the Matrix members shared was that Tokio Hotel's experimenting with a Depeche Mode sound, which could be amazing, unless it ends up sounding like Hilary Duff when she disastrously covered their seminal single, "Personal Jesus."

Anyway, OUT WITH THE NEW TOKIO HOTEL ALBUM already! Less "we can't really talk about it" talk, more rock, I say. Except of course for your talk. What do you wanna hear on the new Tokio Hotel album?

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Here's Coldplay's new "Violet Hill" video, in case you haven't seen it yet. (It leaked all over the Internet Friday like a broken pen.) It's the first single -- the one Coldplay gave away for free and was downloaded 2 million times -- from the band's upcoming fourth album, Viva La Vida, (not Prospekt, as originally rumored) which the band's kept close to their chest, pretty much only citing Brian Eno as producer and Frida Kahlo as an influence.

The cinematic, scenic video was shot in Italy, and despite the fact that it's an Anton Corbijn deadringer, it was actually directed by filmmaker Asa Mader. (Though Corbijn did direct Coldplay's "Talk" video.) Still, the similarities of the lyrics to Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" to the "Enjoy the Silence" video are undeniable.

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After The Bravery polished their sound on their sophomore album, The Sun and The Moon, they decided to "re-imagine" (aka rework) the album's 12 tracks. The two-disc The Sun and The Moon Complete was born, with disc two taking the band back to its rough-around-the-edges electronic roots. Not like they needed to retool things -- they easily avoided the dreaded sophomore slump when "Believe" bested their catchy 2005 breakout hit "An Honest Mistake" on Billboard's Modern Rock chart (#4 and #12, respectively).

We chatted up Sam Endicott, Anthony Burulcich and Michael Zakarin to find out why they went back into the studio and what happens when you toilet paper another band's van.

Buzzworthy: What's the most fun you've ever had on tour?

Sam Endicott: We opened for Depeche Mode for three months in Eastern Europe, which was really cool.

Anthony Burulcich: Martin Gore is, like, a semi-professional foosball player and they would always have a foosball table backstage.

SE: For, like, the past 20 years...

AB: Every band they play, it gets very competitive. We got better over the course of the tour.

SE: I think we're the only band that's ever beaten them.

BW: That's impressive...

SE: They were pissed, and we were really nervous we were going to get kicked off the tour. But I think they respected us for it.

AB: Yeah, it was just so much fun to, like, play a game every night with such an iconic band.

Read more...

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Not to get all parental on you, but you know that whole "if at first you don't succeed" maxim? It sounds totally trite, right? But in Kenna's case it can end up nabbing you stage time with Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado, a gig opening Live Earth at Giants Stadium and probably a spot on more album-of-the-year lists than you'd ever imagined.

The long and winding road from the release of his 2003 debut album New Sacred Cow to the late-2007 release of Make Sure They See My Face showed the Ethiopian-born, Virginia-raised artist the dark side of record industry politics after he was passed around from label to label before finally landing on the Neptunes' Star Trak imprint (high school friend Chad Hugo co-produced both of Kenna's albums). The critically acclaimed New Sacred Cow saw some mainstream love: "Freetime" nabbed a 2003 MTV VMA Breakthrough Video nomination, and Fischerspooner and Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan added Kenna, who'd previously opened for No Doubt, to their tours. Even pop-author Malcolm Gladwell famously devoted an entire chapter to the genre-defying artist in his 2005 best-seller Blink, summarizing "Kenna's Dilemma" and the irony behind why Kenna couldn't maintain a major-label deal at the time: the guy's basically too inspired to pin down and too multi-talented to tie up in a neat, happy little marketing package.

Read more...