Monday, October 25, 2010
Florence and the Machine wins two Q Awards
Florence Welch, of Florence and the Machine, was a double-winner at the Q Awards in London taking best female and best track for You've Got The Love.
Take That also made their first public appearance since Robbie Williams rejoined them in July.
The band, whose comeback single, The Flood, and new album, Progress, are both due out next month, won the magazine's hall of fame award.
Kasabian were named best act in the world.
Take That, who were sneaked into the awards to avoid the red carpet, were led on stage by Gary Barlow to collect their award.
'Extremely happy'
In their acceptance speech, Williams hinted that the band might be back for good.
"Very happy to be back - first day and we've won an award," he said. "I'd like to thank my boys. Extremely happy here. Looking forward to the next few years."
Take That with their award Take That made their first public appearance as a band since Williams quit in 1995
Another newly reformed band - Suede - picked up the Q inspiration award.
Singer Brett Anderson paid tribute to their original guitarist, Bernard Butler, who quit the line-up in 1994 during the recording of second album Dog Man Star.
"I don't think we can accept this award without mentioning Bernard and that great work he did with us early on. This one's for Bernard too."
He later described Suede's reunion in 2010 as "temporarily permanent".
'Alternative universe'
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“Start Quote
We are looking forward to rubbing it into Arcade Fire's nose as soon as we see them!”
End Quote Matt Berninger The National
Surprise winner of best album was High Violet, the fifth release by New York band The National.
Singer Matt Berninger told the BBC: "It was weird and surreal and fun to see so many heroes in the same room. It felt as though we were plopped into an alternative universe for an hour there."
The National beat Arcade Fire, Green Day, Kings of Leon and Muse to the best album prize.
Berninger joked: "We are looking forward to rubbing it into Arcade Fire's nose as soon as we see them!"
Paolo Nutini picked up best male and Bryan Ferry was named the Q icon.
Mark Ronson and Paolo Nutini pose at the Q Awards 2010 Mark Ronson and Paolo Nutini were both winners
Best new act went to folk band Mumford and Sons while US rockers Green Day won the live award.
Best video went to End Credits, by Chase and Status featuring Plan B, who also won best breakthrough act.
Plan B said the award was a surprise, adding: "I expect the worst, I expect people to ignore me and be down on me because that is what I've experienced. I'm a little bit unaware of how big it has got until other people make me aware of it."
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The Q classic album went to Band on the Run, by Wings. Sir Paul McCartney dedicated his award to late wife Linda who died in 1998 from cancer, who co-wrote and played on the album.
Meanwhile, the innovation in sound award went to super-producer Mark Ronson. Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes, who presented the award, said Ronson was a deserving recipient.
"Having worked with him over the last 18 months, he's pretty extraordinary in the studio and has an enthusiasm and a willingness to experiment that you don't find in many modern producers."
There were also awards for other long-established acts including Madness, The Chemical Brothers, and Crowded House's Neil Finn.
Suggs, of Madness, joked the band had been "idle" for 30 years and that they were being rewarded for the laziness.
Other stars who attended the event at London's Grosvenor House Hotel included Nadine Coyle, Charlotte Church, Ray Davies, Corrine Bailey Rae, Sandie Shaw, Bernard Sumner and KT Tunstall.
Singer Clare Maguire, 22 - currently on tour with Plan B - was tipped as the next big thing.
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Sunday, October 24, 2010
Eminem Is The Hottest MC In The Game!
Everyone loves a comeback story, and in 2010, that's what they got from Eminem.
Even though Marshall Mathers sold 608,000 copies of 2009's Relapse in its first week, the project was panned by critics and longtime Em fans. They said he rhymed in too many weird voices, that the production sounded dated and that the subject matter was too grim. The LP didn't make enough of an impact, and there really wasn't much buzz around Eminem to even warrant him making the Hottest MCs list last year.
This year, however, was totally different. Eminem pretty much dominated 2010 from start to finish, and the MTV News Hip-Hop Brain Trust voted him the #1 Hottest MC in the Game. "Obviously, the last album was lackluster," mtvU's Yomi Desalu said during the Hottest MCs roundtable discussion. "I think he recognized that, not being on the board last year."
Em got back in the swing of things this year, first by ripping the all-star posse cut "Forever," which, despite being released in September 2009, had enough momentum to keep playing all the way into 2010. Then he guested on the Lil Wayne single "Drop the World," a highly anticipated duet between the two rappers that had been buzzed about for years; added a poignant verse to the remix of B.o.B's "Airplanes"; and even dropped a couple of freestyles (on Drake's "Over" beat and Lloyd Banks' "Beamer, Benz or Bentley").
It all led up to the release of the first single from Recovery, "Not Afraid." The song was a turn of form for Em that found him spitting motivational rhymes and encouraging people to face their fears, for better or worse. In a post-recession America, it felt like a message people really needed to hear: Don't give up, because we're all in this together. "Not Afraid" hit #1 on the Hot 100 and pushed Recovery to 741,000 units sold its first week. Em followed that with "Love the Way You Lie," which was poignantly assisted by Rihanna.
That song also hit #1 on the Hot 100, as well as pretty much every other Billboard chart. The video was viewed 6.6 million times on the day it debuted on Vevo, a record for the site, and has since been viewed 167 million times. Both songs remain staples on radio playlists and video countdowns nationwide.
"Something about Em this time around, you don't feel like he's following some type of formula," MTV Jams' Tuma Basa said. "He didn't come out with that corny Slim Shady record. This time, he came like, 'I came to play.' And the records have this motivational anthemic type [of feel] we haven't seen in him. He's stepping into a new space."
While there's little doubt Em will take home a stack of trophies at the 2011 Grammys, he actually nabbed two this year for Best Rap Album (Relapse) and Best Performance by a Duo or Group ("Crack a Bottle" with Dr. Dre and 50 Cent). He also brought home VMAs for the Best Male Video and Best Hip-Hop Video for "Not Afraid," while winning three Teen Choice Awards (Choice Rap Album for Relapse, Choice Rap Artist and Choice Rap/Hip-Hop Track for "Love the Way You Lie").
He also had a handful of performances on the BET Awards, the VMAs and the Grammy Awards. And who could forget his cameo on the season finale of HBO's "Entourage"? Em was everywhere in 2010.
But it was his Home and Home Tour with Jay-Z this past September that really showed just how big of a year he had. MTV News' Shaheem Reid wrote of the concert at Comerica Park: "Detroit hasn't screamed this loud at a baseball park since Kirk Gibson was hitting home runs in the 1984 World Series." Em actually faced stiff competition during the roundtable, where he was initially voted #2. Some Brain Trustees were coming for his head, claiming Jay-Z or Kanye should actually have that slot. The coup didn't last long, though.
"When you do close to 3 million in three months — come on, man," MTV News supervising producer Sean Lee said.
"You think Kanye's gonna sell 3 million?" MTV News senior producer Rahman Dukes added.
Others, like MTV News senior writer Jayson Rodriguez, felt like Kanye held more cultural caché at the moment. He was the new guy on the block; Em was old news.
But when it came down to a test of skills and performance on records, Eminem got the nod.
"He jumped on Wayne's 'Drop the World' and murdered that verse," Reid said. "Obviously, you heard him on 'Airplanes' with B.o.B, a very unexpected collaboration. Now you gotta come sit at the table with the other bosses in rap, and he's doing it."
Eventually, after initially voting to keep Jay-Z at #1, because of Eminem's momentous year, the roundtable pushed Em to the top.
Source
Lady Gaga Reaches Billion YouTube Views
In March, Lady Gaga became the first person to reach one billion views of her music videos on the Internet. Today, she hit the one-billion mark on YouTube alone.
At the time of writing, uploads from Lady Gaga’s official music video channel, including the MTV Video Music Awards-winning videos “Poker Face”, “Paparazzi”, “Bad Romance” and “Telephone” feat. Beyoncé, have a total of 1,000,059,920 views.
Lady Gaga is the most popular singer on almost every major Internet website. Besides dominating YouTube, she also has the most subscribers on Twitter and Facebook. Earlier this year, Gaga was named the most searched for celebrity on Google.
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Saturday, October 23, 2010
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