Could `Michael Jackson's This Is It' win an Oscar?

LOS ANGELES – "Michael Jackson's This Is It" comes too late in the year to be considered for a documentary Oscar, but the film about the late King of Pop's preparations for a series of comeback concerts could qualify for other Hollywood honors, including the Academy Award for best picture.

The film, which opened around the globe Tuesday and Wednesday has already earned rousing praise from fans and critics, who say it restores Jackson's reputation as a world-class entertainer.

Director Kenny Ortega, a longtime Jackson collaborator who was overseeing his London concert comeback, crafted the nearly two-hour film from more than 100 hours of footage recorded during rehearsals for the London shows, which were to have begun in July. Jackson died June 25 at age 50.

"What we did here was focus on telling a good story and creating a film for the fans really enabling them to understand what Michael Jackson had dreamed for them," Ortega said Wednesday.

He added it was his hope "the audience for this film will grow and that as many people come to see it as possible because I think that it's a wonderful story about a brilliant man. ... Awards, Oscars, that's all great wishful thinking."

It may be more than wishful, said Steven Gaydos, executive editor of the Hollywood trade paper Variety and a self-described cynic. With the Academy Awards best-picture slate expanded to 10 films this year rather than the traditional five, "This Is It" could find itself among the contenders, he said.

To qualify, the film must complete a seven-day run in Los Angeles County and filmmakers would need to "submit the proper paperwork," said Leslie Unger, spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which puts on the Oscars. The movie could also be considered in other categories, she said, including sound and film editing.

Sony, which paid $60 million for the global film rights, plans to keep "This Is It" in theaters for just over two weeks. The studio did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment about whether it planned to submit the film in any of the Oscar categories.

Ortega, a veteran director, producer and choreographer who counts TV's "High School Musical" among his credits, could also find himself in contention for a best-director nod, Gaydos said.

"He did a masterful job putting this whole thing together," he said. "It was so powerful and interesting, so creative and well-done, I think he should be considered... Kenny just won over all these critics like me with Michael Jackson that anything interesting could go on with this guy."

After completing a weeklong run, "This Is It" could also be eligible for Golden Globe awards consideration if it's submitted before the Nov. 6 deadline, said Michael Russell, a spokesman for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the annual ceremony.

Ortega said an Oscar nod would be a fitting recognition of Jackson's last work.

"He deserves one," he said. "Come on people."

Madonna branded a 'God' by Malawi orphanage

Madonna branded a 'God' by Malawi the orphanage she adopted son David Banda from.

The 'Celebration’ singer – who adopted the boy, now four, from the African country in October 2006 when he was 13 months old – visited the centre where he used to live this week and the children couldn’t hold back their praise for her.

One child said to her: "You are our God. Where could we have been without you?"

Workers at the Home Child Care Centre in Mchinji, Malawi, also spoke highly of the 51-year-old star about the way she has been raising David.

The centre's director, Lucy Chipeta, said: "David is too young to understand, but for us who remember the sickly tiny little baby of 2006, it was hard to hold back tears, including Madonna."

Orphanage founder Thomson Chipeta added to Us Weekly magazine: "He is so boisterous! I can't believe he is the same chap of 2006."

Madonna – who also adopted four-year-old daughter Mercy from the country earlier this year – recently admitted she has been "taught a lot" by Malawi.

She said: "People always ask me, 'Why did you choose Malawi?' But I have always said, 'Malawi chose me.’ Growing up in a privileged life, I took education for granted. Coming to Malawi has taught me a lot."

The star is currently in the country with the two youngsters and their older siblings, Lourdes, 13, and Rocco, nine.

Jay-Z criticizes scalpers of 9/11 benefit concert

NEW YORK – Rapper Jay-Z is criticizing scalpers who are selling tickets to his Sept. 11 benefit concert.

The Brooklyn-born rapper will perform at Madison Square Garden on Friday. Proceeds from sales of tickets and merchandise will go to the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund.

Tickets were intentionally set relatively low at $54.50 each to make them affordable for people struggling economically. The roughly 20,000 tickets sold out in moments on Tuesday.

Some now are showing up on resale sites for $200 to $3,000. One site offered tickets for $45,000 each.

Jay-Z says he's "disheartened" by the scalping.

John Neary, the benefit fund's treasurer, called the scalping "a shame."

Noel Gallagher in Oasis 'moron' blast against Liam

Courtesy of NME.com - Noel Gallagher has branded his brother Liam a "f--king moron" as details on Oasis' collapse continue to leak.

Gallagher is said to have made the remarks in the immediate aftermath of the massive argument he had with Liam in Paris on Friday (August 28), an argument that led to Noel announcing he was quitting the band.

"They say never work with children and animals. No one mentioned f--king morons though, did they?" said Noel to a pal, according to The Sun newspaper.

He then launched a broadside at Liam's Pretty Green clothing line.

He is reported as saying: "I think all the modelling malarkey has gone to his head. It's a pleasure to give him time and space to work on his autumn/winter collection."

It has also been reported that Friday's argument flared when Liam travelled alone to the show in Paris on the Eurostar and arrived drunk. Noel, it is claimed, confronted his brother about being unprofessional and also said he was disappointed with management and security for not challenging the volatile singer before. The frontman is said to have "exploded in rage" and started saying things about Noel's children. When Liam hurled his guitar at Noel, the guitarist caught it, stamped on it then smashed it to pieces. And then he walked away.

There are parallels with Oasis previous big split in 2000. Then, in Barcelona, the band were forced to cancel a show because the drummer Alan White's arm seized up. After an all-day boozing Liam sparked a massive argument making remarks about Noel's daughter Anais. Then, Noel said he was giving up over-seas tours with the band and guitarist Matt Deighton was parachuted in until a fractious return for Noel at Dublin's Lansdowne Road stadium in July that year.

Beatles playing for keeps with "Rock Band" game

DENVER (Billboard) – Paul DeGooyer is tired -- for good reason. It's about two weeks before the September 9 release of MTV's "The Beatles: Rock Band," and DeGooyer, senior vice president of electronic games and music for MTV Networks Music Group, has been traveling to New York, Boston, Los Angeles and London since 2007 to work on the project.

He's conducted delicate negotiations with surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison; hammered out essential licensing deals with executives at Sony/ATV and EMI Music, which treat the Beatles catalog with almost reverent care, and overseen the development of new technologies to meet the high expectations of all involved.

"It's been a bit of a blur," he says, the fatigue obvious in his voice as he speaks from his New York office.

To all involved -- MTV, its game development subsidiary Harmonix, EMI, Sony/ATV, the remaining band members and the families of all -- the result of all this time, effort and frustration is much more than just a videogame. It's the latest contribution to the hallowed canon of what many consider the world's greatest band.

"It's really about a new way to play with the Beatles' music than it is a new 'Rock Band' game," DeGooyer says with quiet humility. "If we did our jobs right, it is an authentic piece of the Beatles' catalog of work, and that sounds kind of crazy because it's a videogame."

This point became crystal clear to DeGooyer when, after first pitching the concept to the band and surviving family members two years ago, they insisted on including music from every stage of the Beatles' career -- something that wasn't as easy as it sounds, given the primitive way the band recorded its early work.

On "Taxman," for example, the drums and guitar were recorded on the same track. But "Rock Band" needs to devote a separate audio track to each instrument, so MTV had to figure out how to split those tracks into separate files in order to include the earlier songs in the game. Failure would mean losing the band's blessing -- and thus the project.

ALL TOGETHER NOW

Thankfully, MTV and Harmonix were able to enlist the help of Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin, who had access to the Beatles' master recordings and had just cataloged them while working on the Grammy Award-winning "Love" project for Cirque du Soleil. He developed a filtering method that split the instruments into separate tracks.

With that hurdle passed, MTV could have just plowed forward with the simple act of licensing. Instead the team brought in Martin Bandier and Peter Brodsky, Sony/ATV's CEO and executive vice president of business and legal affairs, respectively; and Cynthia Sexton, executive VP of global brand partnerships at EMI, into the planning and development process along with the Apple Corps shareholders.

"While it was critical to work with Apple and the Beatles, we didn't want to take for granted the other rights holders would go along with them," DeGooyer says. "They all needed to understand exactly what we were doing and have input. When you have that many rights holders involved in a catalog, it's not obvious that their interests align at all points."

The results of this process are evident in the game. In addition to the 45 songs from the band's catalog -- more from one act than any other music-based game yet released -- the title brings a level of detail not yet seen in a music-based game. Each band member is animated in striking detail, down to the way their eyes and hair move while playing. Scenes of the Beatles' performances in Liverpool's Cavern Club and New York's Shea Stadium include the actual crowd noise from each venue. The game's re-creation of the Beatles recording in Abbey Road's famed Studio 2 includes never-before-heard banter among the band as it recorded its later work. Trivia about the act is included as bonus material, along with previously unreleased photos, audio and video.

Perhaps most remarkably, the Beatles will allow fans to buy at least a portion of their music in digital form as extra downloadable content for the game, starting with "Abbey Road" October 20 and followed by "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Rubber Soul" in November and December, respectively.

"Everyone realized doing this game was really a significant event in bringing the Beatles into the 21st century," Sony/ATV's Bandier says. "This is an enormous opportunity, because for a moment in time, it will be the only legitimate place where you can get the music in a digital form."

THAT'S WHAT I WANT

Legacy aside, the Beatles hope the game will generate profits for them as well. The band will make money on the music included in the game, but also on their likenesses and for the downloadable music being made available later.

The many versions of the game include a $250 deluxe edition with plastic signed replicas of McCartney's Hofner bass guitar and Starr's Ludwig drums (George Harrison's Gretsch Duo Jet and John Lennon's Rickenbacker will be sold separately for $100 each). The $160 "value" package includes basic "Rock Band" instruments. There's also a $60 disc-only version for consumers who have existing "Rock Band" or "Guitar Hero" instruments.

Sales expectations are high. Wedbush Morgan Securities videogame analyst Michael Pachter estimates the game will sell 5 million copies by year's end, with the disc-only version moving 3.5 million and the deluxe and standard versions selling 1.5 million between them.

For the Beatles, the biggest upside comes from sales of the deluxe version. MTV won't make much money on that package, but the company enjoys healthy margins on the disc-only version, as well as downloadable content. There isn't a shortage of speculation about how much MTV paid for the rights to the Beatles catalog, but sources say the design and motion-capture work was just as expensive as the licensing costs in the eight-figure budget.

Without directly addressing the game's costs, MTV's DeGooyer says the deal is structured so both parties stand to profit.

"The deal was carefully constructed as a partnership with the Beatles and Apple Corps," he says, "and that's borne out in both the creative of the game as well as the business deal behind it."

MTV hopes the game will drive subsequent sales of downloadable Beatles content and convert Beatles buyers to the "Rock Band" franchise. Beatles content won't be available for existing versions of "Rock Band," nor will "Rock Band" music be playable on the Beatles game. But the plastic instruments that come with the Beatles game will work with other versions of "Rock Band."

Each downloadable Beatles album will cost $17, with individual songs going for $2. MTV typically keeps about 70 percent of the price of downloadable content purchased through "Rock Band." Although the Beatles are believed to have received a better deal, this is still a very profitable business.

The entire music-game category has suffered a 46 percent decline in year-over-year revenue through July of this year, according to market research company NPD Group, causing some to question whether music games are just a passing fad. But much of this decline is due to sales migrating from expensive first-time hardware purchases to software sales that consist of new music, either in the form of downloadable content or expansion discs. And NPD's figures don't include the revenue made from downloadable content.

GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE

The future of music games depends on attracting newcomers, which is why the Beatles game is so important to MTV.

"It has to be for older people," Wedbush Morgan's Pachter says. "They're sitting around waiting for something to come along that appeals to them. So they're 40-something people that have looked at 'Guitar Hero' but are not sure why they want to learn Aerosmith or Metallica songs. They see this and think, 'I can get into this.'"

The game's developers went to great lengths to appeal to this demographic by removing many of the "game" elements from the Beatles title. While "Rock Band" has players earning points for accuracy and being rewarded with virtual money to spend on such band essentials as a van or instruments, the Beatles game is fully experiential. There's no "goal" or "boss" or points. You just play.

The Beatles music should attract new gamers, and the way the band used the title to tell its story could inspire other artists to get creative in this new medium. From their formation in 1960 (after several years as the Quarrymen) to their 1970 breakup, the Beatles always experimented with whatever medium was driving rock music at the time. Their rise to fame was driven by concerts, their greatest success came from studio albums. And now, despite having skipped digital downloading, the Fab Four stand poised to master yet another format -- interactive media.

"I look at the musical landscape and say, 'There's the Beatles and everybody else,'" Bandier says. "I don't think you can find another artist that you can use a chronology of their life and events in the same way."

Even so, the Beatles will almost certainly embolden other bands to take the plunge into the world of gaming. Pearl Jam plans to release its new album as downloadable "Rock Band" content the same day it arrives in stores. The new Rock Band Network allows any band to create and sell music as it likes through MTV's system.

"It would be great if people look at this a year from now and say, 'I want to play my favorite song in this format,'" DeGooyer says. "And chances are, a lot of people's favorite songs will be on the 'Rock Band' platform."

Whitney Houston comeback album headed to No. 1

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Whitney Houston struggled with her voice during her much-hyped comeback performance on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday. But industry prognosticators don't expect the diva to trip up on the charts next week.

"I Look To You" -- Houston's first album in seven years -- is expected to sell upward of 200,000 copies during the week ended September 6, which should easily enable it to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart when rankings are released next Wednesday.

Houston would do well to suppress any loud cheers so that she doesn't hurt her famous pipes. During Tuesday's performance for 5,000 concert-goers at Central Park's Rumsey Playfield, she apologized for her voice.

"I'm sorry. I did 'Oprah.' I've been talking so long ... I talked so much, my voice," she attempted to explain. "I shouldn't be talking, I should be singing," she said before breaking into "I'm Every Woman," the last of her three-song set. Other tracks performed included "Million Dollar Bill" and the album's title track, during which Houston choked up.

Other artists with new albums in stores this week include The Used, Trey Songz, Pitbull, Chevelle and John Fogerty.

Bob Dylan to release Christmas album for charity

NEW YORK – Bob Dylan is releasing a Christmas album, and in the spirit of the holiday season, the legendary performer is donating his royalties to charity.

A statement by Columbia Records says "Christmas in the Heart" will be released Oct. 13. Dylan's U.S. royalties will go to the organization Feeding America. It's estimated that will help feed 1.4 million families during the holidays.

The 68-year-old singer says it's a "tragedy" that people go to bed hungry, and he hopes he can bring "food security" to people in need.

Dylan also plans to donate all his future international royalties to charities overseas.

R.E.M. packages 2007 Dublin shows on new album

DETROIT (Billboard) – R.E.M.'s "working rehearsals" in Ireland for the band's most recent studio album, 2008's "Accelerate," are the subject of the group's new live album, "R.E.M. Live at the Olympia," which comes out October 27.

The two-disc set was recorded during July 2007 at the Olympia club in Dublin, where the group played five shows during their recording of "Accelerate." It's R.E.M.'s second concert souvenir in three years, after 2007's "R.E.M. Live."

Bassist-keyboardist Mike Mills told Billboard.com that the Olympia stand "did the things we wanted it to do in terms of not only generating excitement for the record, but it also helped us, I think, to make a better record."

R.E.M. had already gone into "Accelerate" with a desire to make a more rocking, live-on-the-floor kind of album than its more labored-over predecessors, "Up" and "Around the Sun." The live dates, Mills said, were a test for the new songs.

"So often when you make a record you haven't played the songs live," he said, "and then you start taking them out on tour and they get faster or you change parts and think, 'Man, I wish we had done THAT on the album. I didn't want to have that this time. I wanted to play them live so we could get all that out of the way and really know what we wanted to do with the songs in the studio."

Guitarist Peter Buck concurred that the Olympia shows "really helped us focus on what the record was all about. It was really nice to play the songs in a kind of adrenaline setting in front of people. It helped to show us that, 'Yeah, we're on the right path.' And then we did go back in the studio and re-record a couple of things and clean a couple of other things up. And there was one song in particular we played and figured out that, 'Eh, we don't need to have that on the record.'"

"Olympia" features pre-release versions of "Accelerate" tracks such as "Living Well Is the Best Revenge," "Mr. Richards," "Man-Sized Wreath," "Horse to Water," "I'm Gonna DJ" and the title track, as well as "Supernatural Superstitious" under its original title, "Disguise," and two songs -- "Staring Down the Barrel of the Middle Distance" and "On the Fly" -- that didn't make it onto the album.

The set also includes R.E.M. rarities such as "Second Guessing," "Disturbance at the Heron House," West of the Fields" and "Wolves Lover."

Neil Young named MusiCares person of the year

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Neil Young has been named the 2010 MusiCares person of the year.

Neil Portnow, president of the MusiCares Foundation and The Recording Academy, named the 63-year-old Young on Tuesday as the honoree for his "standard of artistic integrity and iconoclastic creativity for more than four decades."

Young will be saluted at a dinner and concert in Los Angeles on Jan. 29, two days before the 52nd annual Grammys. The event marks the music industry charity's 20th person of the year tribute.

Past recipients include Aretha Franklin and Neil Diamond.

Young's hits include 1972's "Heart of Gold" and 1989's "Rockin' in the Free World."

Jackson tribute in Vienna set for Sept. 26

VIENNA – A global tribute to Michael Jackson on the grounds of a 17th century palace in Vienna will be held Sept. 26, and Jackson's brother Jermaine will announce the concert lineup soon, organizers said Wednesday.

World Awards Media GmbH, the event promoters, said Jermaine Jackson would unveil details at a Vienna news conference later this month.

The promoters said in a statement they were working "briskly" to line up major entertainers and a network to broadcast the event live. They said Vienna agreed to be a partner "in this singularly worldwide event."

On Tuesday, World Media Awards chief Georg Kindel told The Associated Press the tribute was expected to run three hours and feature about 10 top artists performing 15 to 20 Jackson hits. They would perform on a crown-shaped stage to be built in front of Vienna's Schoenbrunn Palace.

Kindel said Jackson family members and unidentified Hollywood stars also would honor Jackson as images and video clips were screened.

Last week, Jermaine Jackson said Vienna was chosen as the venue because his brother "loved castles."

Many fans had expected the tribute to be staged in London, where the pop star had been booked to begin performing a marathon of concerts shortly after his June 25 death in Los Angeles.

Renate Brauner, Vienna's deputy mayor, said the city is thrilled to play host to "this high-carat, internationally sensational event."

Austrian media have reported that Madonna, U2, Lionel Richie and Whitney Houston might be among the performers. Kindel declined to confirm those reports and stressed that Jermaine Jackson is still assembling the lineup.

Tickets are expected to go on sale Aug. 20.

Organizers envision standing room for about 85,000 people on the sculpted grounds of Schoenbrunn, a former imperial palace, and grandstands to accommodate 5,000 VIP guests.

Jackson's death was fortuitous

Rupert Everett is pleased Michael Jackson died.

The 'Shrek' star believes it's better the pop legend passed away last month at the age of 50 as he would never have been able to cope with the pressures of his planned comeback shows at London's O2 arena.

He told Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper: "I think it was fortuitous that he died. He was supposed to be doing 50 concerts in London. It wouldn't have mattered how good or bad he was. He wouldn't have managed to do them all and the press would have destroyed him."

Rupert admits he wasn't a huge fan of the 'Thriller' singer, particularly because of the changes in his appearance - which Michael blamed on vitiligo, a condition that makes your skin change colour.

He said: "He was a freak. He looked like a character from 'Shrek'. He was a black to white minstrel. He was crucified by that court case when he was accused of child molestation - that killed him.

"He personified the pain anxiety of a black man in a slave country. We all watched as he changed from black to white. He was living performance art."

In 2005, Michael was cleared on 10 accounts of child molestation but sources close to him say he never fully recovered from the ordeal.

Jackson's death treated as murder

MICHAEL JACKSON's death is being treated as a possible homicide.

Showbiz website TMZ.com, which broke the news of Jackson's demise, said a source at the LAPD revealed that Dr Conrad Murray was the focus of their inquiries.

They added that "the evidence points to the anaesthesia Propofol as the primary cause of Jackson's death".

The sources said there was already "plenty of powerful evidence" pointing to Dr Murray, who was Jackson's personal doctor and was with him when he passed away.

The evidence is said to include items found in Jackson's rented mansion, including vials of Propofol, an intravenous drip stand and an oxygen tank.

The drug is used to induce unconsciousness in hospital patients ahead of surgery and experts say it should only be administered by an anaesthesiologist.

Lawyers for Dr Murray, 51, who was hired by AEG to be with Jackson for the duration of his London comeback tour, insisted he has been cleared of any wrongdoing

But Jackson's unofficial biographer Ian Halperin has also has claimed the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is investigating three people in relation to Michael's death.

Ian said: "My source didn't use the word 'homicide, but confirmed they are looking at three suspects. I think it's safe to assume it's the doctors.

"There are two doctors and then one other person who's definitely not a doctor. I'm convinced, based on information from my source, that yes, homicide or not, there will be charges laid against certain people for acting inappropriately and illegally."

Ian - who has written a book called 'Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson' - added there will be "mayhem" if it transpires there was foul play in Michael's death.

Muse run treasure hunt

USB sticks have been given to various agents around the world which contain snippets of brand new songs, which is the first chance fans are getting to hear material from the new album.

Once found, fans will need to enter a code from the stick on the microsite at http://ununitedeurasia.muse.mu which will unlock puzzles that all fans can contribute to solving online. Clues as to the whereabouts of the USBs and times for pick ups are all being released at http://ununitedeurasia.muse.mu and the fans are discussing each stage in great detail on the forums at http://board.muse.mu.

So far the Paris USB has been retrieved, the puzzle unlocked and solved and 36 seconds of United States Of Eurasia is available at the microsite for the fans to hear for the first time.

The Berlin USB was picked up yesterday afternoon, which means a new puzzle will be unlocked...

How Michael Jackson's "Thriller" changed music business

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – In early 1984, when Epic Records executives presented their slate of upcoming releases at the convention in Hawaii of parent company CBS Records, they couldn't resist playing up the success they were experiencing. So between the pitches for new albums, Epic inserted stock footage of semi trucks and a voice-over that thunderously announced, "There goes another load of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' albums!"

Trucks weren't really leaving the warehouse every few minutes, but "Thriller" was still shattering expectations more than a year after its November 30, 1982, release. Epic was selling more than 1 million copies per month in the United States alone.

Nearly 27 years after its release, "Thriller" still stands as the best-selling studio album in the United States, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, which has certified it 28-times platinum. More than 50 million copies have been sold internationally, according to estimates.

But the album's success can't be measured by sales alone. As Jackson moonwalked his way into music history, "Thriller" set a new benchmark for blockbusters that changed how the music business promoted and marketed superstar releases. It also changed MTV, breaking down the cable network's racial barriers and raising the bar for video quality.

FIRST OF ITS KIND

From the beginning, Epic intended to live up to its name. The label made "Thriller" the first major release to debut worldwide simultaneously, the first album to be promoted for close to two years instead of the usual six or eight months and the first album to spin off seven singles to radio -- more than double the normal number.

Along the way, "Thriller" redefined the expectations for blockbuster releases. Starting in 1984, Columbia released seven singles from Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A.," all of which landed in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Around the same time, Warner Bros. sent to radio five singles from Prince's "Purple Rain." Mercury found seven singles on Def Leppard's "Hysteria," all of which went to the pop chart. All three albums eventually sold more than 10 million copies each in the United States alone.

Before all that, "Thriller" gave a much-needed boost to the music business, then suffering from its second slump in three years. At the time, Billboard reported that record shipments had declined by 50 million units between 1980 and 1982.

It was a bleak time, and CBS staffers referred to August 13, 1982, as "Black Friday." "We had a major layoff that day," remembers Epic/Portrait/CBS Associated Labels vice president of merchandising Dan Beck. "Half of the marketing department was let go at Epic. It was very upsetting because nothing like that had ever happened before."

Then Jackson changed everything. "There is no question that 'Thriller' was the driving force behind what became the hottest span in Epic's history," Beck says. After that, the label had major hits with Cyndi Lauper, Culture Club and REO Speedwagon. The "Flashdance" soundtrack and the Police's "Synchronicity" also helped lure fans back into stores.

WRITING ON THE 'WALL'

Jackson made a name for himself in the early '70s as the young frontman of Motown's Jackson 5 and as a solo artist. The Jacksons had left Motown in 1975 and released three albums on Epic, the most recent of which, "Destiny," peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 in 1978. But Jackson became a bona fide superstar with his first solo album for Epic, "Off the Wall."

As Jackson recorded that album, which came out in 1979, his team decided to bring it to the broadest audience possible.

"Our whole mind-set was that we were making music for the masses, and part of the big picture was to get the record company to turn around and market and promote to a mass market," says Ron Weisner, who was co-managing Jackson with Freddy DeMann at the time. "If you were a black artist, you were put in a black music division, and that meant the marketing campaign was an ad in Jet and Ebony. Our attitude was, 'Let the public decide -- don't just present it to a black market only.'"

From the moment Epic's pop and R&B promotion teams heard "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," the album's opening track and lead single, they knew they had a major hit on their hands, recalls former West Coast regional urban promotion manager Maurice Warfield. So they took the unprecedented step of promoting singles to R&B and pop radio at the same time.

"It wasn't the usual 'Build up the artist at urban radio first and then go to pop,'" Warfield says. "We knew right off: We're all going to work the records at the same time."

"Don't Stop" debuted July 28, 1979, and became Jackson's first No. 1 R&B and pop single as a solo artist since his 1972 hit "Ben." That was followed in November by a second No. 1 R&B and pop single, "Rock With You," then the album's title track and "She's Out of My Life."

"'Off the Wall' opened up something at radio that was never closed again," Weisner says. "The wall was down by the time we got to 'Thriller.'"

'THRILLER' TIME

When Jackson first suggested working with Quincy Jones on "Off the Wall," Epic executives worried that the producer was too jazzy. But Jackson, who had met Jones when he played the Scarecrow in the movie version of "The Wiz" and Jones produced the soundtrack, persisted. At the time, Jones was struck by Jackson's "profound discipline and focus"; he knew that "he could still be bigger than everyone else was saying."

Jones began laying the foundation for "Thriller" in December 1981, when he took Jackson to Tucson, Ariz., to spend three days recording the Paul McCartney duet "The Girl Is Mine." "Michael and I just wanted to work with Paul, who I'd known for years," Jones remembers.

Work began in earnest in August 1982. Jackson wrote several of the songs: "The Girl Is Mine," "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." Among the other writers was former Heatwave keyboardist Rod Temperton, who wrote "Rock With You" on "Off the Wall." He brought them an "amazing" song he had, titled "Starlight Love," Jones says, which eventually became the song "Thriller."

Despite the success of "Off the Wall," Jones says, their working relationship was very much about creativity for creativity's sake. "You don't make records to say how many you're going to sell," he says. "You can't control that. You make something that touches you and will hopefully touch someone else."

One priority was to balance "Thriller" between R&B and pop, disco and rock, funk and ballads. "We thought at one point we were done," recalls Greg Phillinganes, a keyboardist on the "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" albums. "And Quincy was like, 'No, not so fast. We need certain missing elements.' Michael was pretty disappointed, but then that's how we got ('The Lady in My Life') and 'Beat It.'"

At the time, disco still dominated the charts, and Jones and Jackson wanted to transcend it. "'Beat It' came about with Eddie Van Halen because we wanted to do a black rock 'n' roll song," Jones says. "The Knack's 'My Sharona' was No. 1 at the time, plus we had to crawl over disco, which was still so big. We wanted to find a way to transcend all that. By God's blessing, we got out of the box."

WORLDWIDE APPEAL

Jackson and Jones continued tinkering through the fall of 1982, which meant that Epic had to move back the album's release date a number of times. The day before Jones finally turned in "Thriller," after he and Jackson had spent all night working, he realized that there was too much music on each side. "You need big, fat grooves to make it happen on vinyl," he says. "We had 24-27 minutes, which makes the sound smaller. We had to get it down to 19-20 minutes."

So Jones and Jackson pared down the intro to "Billie Jean," removed a verse from "The Lady in My Life" and finished the project. Or so Epic thought. At the very last minute, still unhappy with some aspects of the album's sound, they remixed the entire album over a marathon weekend, says Ron McCarrell, VP of marketing for Epic/Portrait/CBS Associated Labels.

Epic executives were eager to release "Thriller" in time for Christmas 1982. As Jones and Jackson fiddled, they decided to wait until January 1983. Then the label's hand was forced when the album leaked to radio and stations began playing multiple cuts. Once stations put songs in heavy rotation, Epic senior VP/general manager Don Dempsey decided to rush-release it on November 30, 1982.

"Thriller" entered the Billboard 200 at No. 11 during the week ending December 25, 1982. After 10 weeks on the chart, it knocked Men at Work's "Business as Usual" out of the top spot and stayed at No. 1 for 37 nonconsecutive weeks. The first single, "The Girl Is Mine," reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, but didn't even hint at the hit Epic had on its hands. Then the fun began.

Epic's head of promotion, Frank Dileo (who grew so close to Jackson during "Thriller" that he later became his manager), decided to release two singles concurrently in order to broaden the album's audience. As the second single, "Billie Jean," climbed the pop chart, Epic released "Beat It," a driving rock track anchored by a searing Eddie Van Halen guitar solo.

"Frank said, 'Let's release another single; we'll blow their minds,'" McCarrell says. It did. During the week of December 18, 1982, "Beat It" was one of Billboard's top three adds on rock radio alongside cuts by Sammy Hagar and Bob Seger. The song peaked at No. 14 on Billboard's nascent rock tracks chart.

Former rock radio consultant Lee Abrams -- now chief innovation officer at Tribune Co. -- describes the period as "kind of a confusing time" for album-oriented rock. The format was at a crossroads, caught between AOR stalwarts like Led Zeppelin and new groups like the Police and U2.

"AOR had to start thinking more," Abrams says, in order to remain relevant. "A few stations tried 'Beat It,' and the reaction was fantastic. It generated requests and opened a lot of programmers' eyes. AOR was accepting someone not in the traditional club, but the timeless, universal quality of the song couldn't be avoided."

JACKSON GETS HIS MTV

From the start, Jackson's vision for "Thriller" was to "take it to the next giant level," Weisner says. "It was about how we were going to marry the album with the visual extension."

So it was with high hopes that Weisner walked into the office of a 16-month-old network called MTV with the Steve Barron-directed clip for "Billie Jean." While MTV had played videos by a few black artists, including Garland Jeffries and Joan Armatrading, it had notoriously declined to play the video for Rick James' "Super Freak," leading the R&B singer to brand the channel as racist.

"I remember taking a red-eye to New York and going to MTV (with) a rough cut of 'Billie Jean' and MTV declining the video," Weisner recalls. He walked from there to Epic headquarters. "I sat down with (CBS Records head) Walter Yetnikoff," he says. "We then went to (CBS head) Bill Paley, and he and Walter (told MTV), 'This video is on by the end of the day or (CBS Records) isn't doing business with MTV anymore.' The record company played hardball, and that was the day that changed history. That was the video that broke the color barrier."

That's not the version of events remembered by Les Garland, then-senior executive/VP of programing at MTV Networks. "'Billie Jean' set the standard that day for what excellence in music video stood for," he says. "There was never a question that we were putting it on." The only delay, he says, was that he wanted to show the clip to his boss, Bob Pittman. "There was never a threat from Walter Yetnikoff -- it's folklore," he says. "He got more upset because we didn't play Willie Nelson or Barbra Streisand." (Yetnikoff didn't respond to interview requests for this story.)

Either way, "Billie Jean" immediately went into heavy rotation with eight plays per day, catapulting Jackson and MTV to another level of success. And Jackson's triumph broke down the barrier for Prince, Billy Ocean and Eddy Grant.

"'Billie Jean' opened (the door) to more R&B videos being made, and that led us to making more space for a wider variety of music that went beyond this initial AOR format," Garland says.

MTV wasn't the only TV exposure that changed the course of Jackson's career. On May 16, 1983, NBC broadcast "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever," and Jackson performed an instantly iconic rendition of "Billie Jean" and unveiled his sequined glove and the James Brown-inspired moonwalk. The next day, Fred Astaire called Jackson to congratulate him.

"That was staggering," Weisner recalls. "Everyone forgets that all those Motown giants and legends were on the show. The next day all anyone was talking about was Michael."

And that was before the video for "Thriller" itself. Although the videos for "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" increased Jackson's star power, the 14-minute clip for "Thriller" became a pop culture sensation.

Made at a cost of $1 million -- in 1983 dollars -- "Thriller" was the first video shot by a film director, John Landis. "We were making most videos for $30,000-$40,000," McCarrell says. "I remember falling off my chair when I saw the budget."

Fascination with the video grew so intense that Epic created an hourlong documentary called "Making Michael Jackson's Thriller," which aired on MTV and was eventually sent to retail. It was the first time such a package had been created around a single video, and "it started a commercial market for videos," says former Recording Industry Association of America CEO/chairman Hilary Rosen, now a CNN commentator and managing director of the Brunswick Group.

Jackson and MTV's fortunes were so intricately linked that Garland, who is now a consultant, says he can't even think about how MTV would have evolved without Jackson. "All I can tell you is the path would have been very different. I don't think it would have been good."

Ultimately, "Thriller" spent 122 weeks on the Billboard 200, leading Epic to one of its greatest periods of prosperity. Given the decline in album sales, the rise of digital downloads and the lack of an heir apparent to Jackson, it's unlikely another album will ever dominate radio, video or the collective consciousness the way "Thriller" did.

As Garland puts it, "We saw the top of the mountain with 'Thriller.'"

Morissette starred in TV show to detox

Alanis Morissette starred in 'Weeds’ because it helped her detox.

The 'Ironic’ singer – who is about to play doctor Audra Kitson in the US TV show about a marijuana dealer – jumped at the chance to star in the comedy series because it helped her overcome the unhealthy eating habits she picked up on tour.

Alanis said: ''Weeds’ was my solace and respite in the back of the bus on tour. I was in the middle of detoxing at the time, and it was my replacement addiction for food. 'Weeds’ helps me. The irony is hilarious.'

The Canadian rocker’s character is a doctor who helps look after the show’s main character, a pregnant drug-dealer called Nancy who is played by Mary-Louise Parker.

The 35-year-old singer – who will appear in seven episodes of the programme – insists she really empathises with Nancy.

She said: "Somehow, they make very fantastical things seem very mundane and commonplace, which I love.

"I have a lot of empathy for the Nancy character, and I thought it could be interesting to offer someone who could be in a supportive position with her."

The Offspring plan ninth album

THE OFFSPRING have revealed that they are in talks to plan their ninth studio album.

The pop punk band confirmed that they have had meetings with producer Bob Rock about the follow-up to 2008's Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace.

And they added that the new LP could feature tracks which were dropped from sessions for their last three albums.

Speaking to Billboard, guitarist Noodles said: "[Frontman Dexter Holland and Bob] went over a couple of things that were left off the last record and songs that were even left off Splinter or maybe even Conspiracy Of One and kind of looked at some things with free eyes and see if there was anything there that can be worked on."

He also confirmed that the band hoped to release the album in 2010 but may not head into the studio before January because of tour commitments.

Speaking about new drummer Pete Parada, he added: "We haven't actually done any real recording with him yet, but we're looking forward to that. He's a great drummer.

"He's got great ideas, just really on top of things. Nothing fazes him... He's a really nice guy and just a real powerhouse drummer, so we're looking forward to working with him."

Osbourne calls time on friendship with Winehouse

Kelly Osbourne ended her friendship with Amy Winehouse when the singer rearranged her "evil" furniture.

The presenter - the daughter of rock couple Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne - has reportedly cancelled a planned trip to St Lucia because she doesn't want to run into her troubled former pal, who is living on the Caribbean island.

The pair reportedly fell out last year when Amy stayed at Kelly's home and stunned the presenter with her "out of control" behaviour.

A source told Britain's Daily Star newspaper: "Amy rearranged all the furniture and pictures into crazy places, turning chairs over and organising personal objects in her own version of feng shui while Kelly was out.

"She'd even removed some items she ranted were evil. It was the last straw for Kelly, who finally saw how out of control Amy was. She had tried to help her get over her drug problem but finally had enough."

Kelly - who has been in rehab three times - was planning to go on holiday with a group of friends at the end of this month but cancelled when she discovered the chosen destination.

An insider explained: "There was no way Kelly was running the risk of her quiet, relaxing holiday being ruined by Amy's presence."

Ozzy Osbourne sues over rights to Black Sabbath name

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne has sued his former band mate Tony Iommi over the ownership of the group's name.

Osbourne, 60, filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York, on Tuesday accusing the guitarist of falsely claiming to be the sole owner of the Black Sabbath name, his representatives said on Friday.

He is also seeking a share of the interest in the Black Sabbath trademark and a cut of the profits that Iommi earned while touring under the Black Sabbath name in the 1990s when the British heavy metal band was in disarray after numerous changes to their lineup.

Osbourne said in a statement issued on Friday that he was sorry he had gone to the court over the dispute with Iommi which he said he had tried for three years to resolve amicably.

Imommi performed in clubs under the Black Sabbath name after Osbourne was thrown out of the band. The original four members -- Osbourne, Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward -- reunited in 1997 and Black Sabbath was inducted in the UK and US Rock&Roll Hall of Fames in 2005 and 2006.

Osbourne said in a statement that it was thanks to the efforts of his management representatives over the past 12 years that "the name 'Black Sabbath' now has a worldwide prestige and merchandising value that it would not have had by continuing on the road it was on prior to the 1997 reunion tour."

"We've all worked too hard and long in our careers to allow you to sell merchandise that features all our faces, old Black Sabbath album covers and band logos, and then you tell us that you own the copyright. We're all in our 60s now. The Black Sabbath legacy should live on long after we have all gone. Please do the right thing," Osbourne said.

Blind pianists wows audiences at piano contest

FORT WORTH, Texas – With a dramatic bow of pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii's head, rich sounds of the piano, violins, cello and viola broke the concert hall silence as he and a string quartet played Schumann's Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44.

Just before the final note about 30 minutes later, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition audience began clapping. People jumped to their feet, some whistling or yelling, "Bravo!"

The standing ovation lasted nearly five minutes, so long that the 20-year-old from Japan returned to the stage twice to bow, grinning from ear to ear.

The audience may have loved Friday's performance, but not everyone may have known its significance. Tsujii — who was born blind — had to figure out how to cue the other musicians. That was especially important with the Schumann piece, because all instruments must start playing simultaneously in the first movement.

After his first rehearsal last week with the Takacs Quartet — the University of Colorado at Boulder-based group that performs with all 12 Cliburn semifinalists — Tsujii said he decided to nod his head as a cue.

He had only played with a chamber music group once before, recently in Japan, after learning it would be required should he advance to the Cliburn semifinals. He previously performed with symphony orchestras in Paris, Berlin and Tokyo, and he followed the conductor's breathing, he said.

But Tsujii said his blindness has not limited his playing opportunities and that he doesn't want to be known as the pianist who cannot see.

"The most important objective as I'm performing is that the audience is going to be moved," Tsujii said through an interpreter.

While playing on stage, first violin Edward Dusinberre occasionally glanced at Tsujii, and he and the other Takacs Quartet members also seemed to rely on musical cues.

"We've had a great time working with him," Dusinberre said before Friday's performance. "There is of course a tremendous intensity to his listening to what we're doing, and his sense of timing is very natural, and so we're having a great time communicating with him."

Cliburn officials initially said Tsujii was the competition's first blind competitor but recently were reminded about a blind pianist who didn't advance past the first round in 1973.

Tsujii, nicknamed Nobu, already had fans in Japan but has gained even more since arriving at the Cliburn. So far, video of his preliminary round performance on the contest's Web site has about 11,400 views, the most of the 29 pianists who started in the competition.

Van Cliburn, the legendary classical pianist and namesake of the prestigious contest held every four years, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Tsujii's playing was "absolutely miraculous" and "truly divine" after hearing him last week.

Tsujii was just a baby when he showed an interest in music, said his mother, Itsuko Tsujii of Tokyo.

"When I would put on Chopin CDs, he reacted very actively, patting the sofa, and seemed to be enjoying it," she said through an interpreter.

After he played the toy piano she got him at age 2, he started taking lessons at 4 and began learning to read music in Braille. But because that method took too much time, he listened to music recorded by his piano teacher and memorized it, which took a few days for some pieces or a week for longer, more complex ones, he said.

"Although he is blind, you never know that when listening to his music," Rena Miyamoto, an assistant piano teacher at Ueno Gakuen University in Tokyo who recently began working with him, said through an interpreter. "His music is from his soul, his heart."

The six Cliburn finalists will be announced Sunday night. All of them will receive managed concert tours worth $1 million, and each of the top three finishers will receive $20,000 and get to record a CD, among other prizes. The winners will be announced June 7.

Attack! Attack! embark on hidden cities tour

Cardiff based rockers, Attack! Attack!, who have just wrapped up another successful headline run around the UK, are set to embark on their 'Hidden Cities' tour next week. The tour sees the band playing a series of weekend runs all over the UK throughout June, July, August and September.

Singer/guitarist Neil Starr explains how the tour came about, "we've played the major cities of the UK a few times already since we released the album, so rather than just play a few festivals and sit around doing nothing this summer, we saw this a the perfect opportunity to play in places we hadn't visited yet. Our guitarist Ryan (Day) came up with the Hidden Cities thing, I don't know what goes on in that kids head most of the time, but this idea I liked."

In other news previous single 'You And Me' is scheduled to appear in the forthcoming Guitar Hero 5 video game, while recent single 'Honesty' appears on the upcoming Fuel video game.

As well as the Hidden Cities dates, the band also play the Download, Sonisphere, Hevy, Guilfest and NASS festivals. Full tour dates are below:

JUN 04: SWINDON, 12 Bar, JUN 05: CAMBRIDGE Radar JUN 06: COVENTRY, Kasbah JUN 11: STOKE, Sugarmill JUN 12: ALTON, The Lounge Bar JUN 13: BRISTOL, The Cooler JUN 14: DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL (Red Bull Stage) JUN 18: BOURNEMOUTH, I Bar JUN 19: HARLOW, The Square JUN 20: SALISBURY, The Barn JUL 03: CREWE, The Box JUL 04: DERBY, The Royal JUL 09: WINCHESTER, Railway Hotel JUL 10: GUILFEST FESTIVAL (Guildford) JUL 11: RELENTLESS NASS FESTIVAL (Shepton Mallet) JUL 16: YORK, The Duchess JUL 17: 2000 TREES FESTIVAL (Cheltenham) JUL 18: WESTON, The Rock Gardens JUL 22: SOUTHEND, Chinnerys JUL 23: GUILDFORD, Boiler Room JUL 24: ALDERSHOT, West End Centre JUL 25: TUNBRIDGE WELLS, The Forum JUL 29: PORTSMOUTH, Cellars JUL 30: LUTON, UBSU JUL 31: CITY BIG WEEKENDER (Cardiff) AUG 01: HEVY FESTIVAL (Kent) AUG 02: SONISPHERE FESTIVAL (Knebworth) AUG 13: CARLISLE, Brickyard AUG 14: WAKEFIELD, Escobar AUG 15: PETERBOROUGH, Met Lounge AUG 29: SUNDERLAND, Independent AUG 30: BARROW, The Canteen SEP 04: HITCHIN, Club 85 SEP 05: HIGH WYCOMBE, The Blues Loft SEP 12: BUTTERFEST (Hampshire)

Paul Weller new DVD

'Just A Dream' is a celebration of an amazing year for Paul Weller which included 3 sold out tours, a critically lauded No 1 album – '22 Dreams' and a Brit Award for Best UK Male.

The DVD feature is the full 90min live session recorded by Paul for the BBC, first televised in December 2008, 21 tracks in all. Special guests at the session included Graham Coxon, Eliza Carthy and Gem Archer from Oasis. Other features include a 5-track session recorded for Channel 4, the videos for 'Have You Made Up Your Mind’ and 'Echoes Round The Sun’ and an exclusive end-of-2008 interview with Paul and his band.

The CD features 13 live tracks recorded at the Brixton Academy, London in November 2008.

DVD track-listing goes like this:

1. Peacock Suit
2. 22 Dreams
3. All I Wanna Do
4. From The Floorboards Up
5. All On A Misty Morning
6. Brand New Start
7. Have You Made Up Your Mind
8. Wild Blue Yonder
9. Black River
10. Invisible
11. One Bright Star
12. Where'er You Go
13. Wildwood
14. Why Walk When You Can Run
15. Butterfly Collector
16. Seaspray
17. Echoes Round The Sun
18. Changing Man
19. Eton Rifles
20. Push It Along
21. Whirlpool's End

CD track-listing is as follows:

From The Floorboards Up / Have You Made Up Your Mind / Broken Stones / Porcelain Gods / Shout To The Top / Come On Let’s Go / Echos Round The Sun / Wishing On A Star / You Do

"Boom" sets off nonstop party from Black Eyed Peas

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – "As individuals, we're misfits," says Fergie, the sultry female singer of the Black Eyed Peas. "Together, we're like one big misfit. People are always questioning who the hell we are."

It's the day after the group's May 6 performance, in futuristic garb, on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Chilling out in a small, sparsely furnished room at Center Staging in Burbank, California, she and fellow members of the multiracial group -- Will.i.am, Taboo and apl.de.ap -- resemble a live version of a United Colors of Benetton ad.

Fergie is dressed in black-and-white capri-length leggings set off by a hot pink shirt and a sharp pair of black ankle-strapped heels from her self-named shoe line. Sitting next to her on the sofa is apl.de.ap in a lemon V-neck T-shirt, white-framed shades and his signature Mohawk. Opting for blue-green glasses, Taboo sports a black leather vest, an eye-catching cross on a silver chain and several impressive arm tattoos.

With his close-cropped hair hidden under a red plaid cap, Will.i.am sits astride a black chair, wearing a striped shirt and gray jeans tucked into black combat boots. He's pondering the question Fergie just answered: Who are the Black Eyed Peas?

"When something is different, authentically unique, it's always going to be questioned," the Peas' mastermind says. "By default, people aren't going to understand us because there aren't that many like us."

'THE E.N.D.' IS NEAR

After the multiplatinum pop success of 2003's "Elephunk" and then 2005's "Monkey Business," the Black Eyed Peas stood accused by fans of selling out: blunting its cutting-edge, live-band hip-hop in favor of lightweight pop crossover fare. As the June 9 release date for their fifth studio album, "The E.N.D." (will.i.am music/Interscope), approaches, some of the same criticism has cropped up. But what's not in question is the exploding popularity of "Boom Boom Pow" -- the first No. 1 single for this band of creative misfits.

Rooted in club beats and the 808 old-school kick sound, the energetic track is a runaway top 40 hit, and has been No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks.

The concept for "The E.N.D.," an acronym for "The Energy Never Dies," doesn't stray far from the Peas' basic formula, Will.i.am says. "We've always had a smorgasbord of sounds including dance," he notes, pointing to songs like "Be Free" from "Behind the Front," "Weekends" (on "Bridging the Gap") and "My Humps" ("Monkey Business"). This time around, Will.i.am became inspired while in Australia filming his first major movie role, as the mutant John Wraith in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." During downtime away from the set, he soaked up the electro dance and house club vibes in Sydney.

"The youth in those clubs are pumping a whole different thing," Will.i.am says. "It felt like hip-hop 1989, 1990, 1992. But they're not rapping. It's all beats. I came back just buzzing."

With Taboo, apl.de.ap and several band members in tow, Will.i.am flew to London, where Fergie was working on her first major film role, in "Nine." Setting up shop at the same studio where they recorded "Monkey Business," the Peas began working on "The E.N.D."

'ARTISTIC FACTORY'

"There's always a sense of Andy Warhol whenever we make a Black Eyed Peas album," Fergie says. "It's an artistic factory with several rooms going at the same time. We don't just sit down. We jump from room to room, all of us adding ideas to the recipe. If you get burned out on one idea or your ears get tired, you walk to another room and step into a whole fresh creative zone for more ideas."

Enlisted to help draft beats were MSTRKRFT, David Guetta, Boys Noize, Keith Harris and Paper Boy. The result is a nonstop party album fusing rock, soul, hip-hop, reggae and dub with thumping beats, tempo twists and turns, and memorable hooks. Beyond "Boom Boom Pow," there's the upcoming second single, "I Gotta Feeling," which apl.de.ap describes as a "college anthem for people looking forward to escaping life's pressures by going out and having a ball."

Picking up on the same escape theme is "Out of My Head." Channeling R&B veteran Millie Jackson, a slurring Fergie opens with three little words, "I'm so tipsy" -- which she was while recording the song. "This song reminds me of the fun character of 'My Humps.' I told Will we have to get some wine if I'm going to do this correctly. I'm not going to front on this song. So we all got a little tipsy."

"Now Generation," another notable track in the 16-song set, is a nod to the young generation who helped move President Barack Obama into the White House -- galvanized, in part, by Will.i.am's viral "Yes We Can" video. Powered by a guitar and bass intro that morphs into fist-pumping rock 'n' roll, the song captures the emotion of being part of that generation. "This is the first time in history where we have a powerful new youth generation connected by technology, not by religion or government. So they want things now," Will.i.am says.

The "E.N.D." goal, he adds, is to make people move and escape. "If you had to pick one genre that's migrating at the highest frequency, it would be the dance world," Will.i.am says. "That's where music as a culture really lives. It's a genre making music for the sake of music."

He added that, with people downloading individual songs, "the concept of the album doesn't exist anymore. So this will be like a never-ending record; it will just keep going like the title says. It's still important to be successful in the remaining business we do have, but you also want to position yourself so you're not playing catch-up or riding someone else's bandwagon."

Come fall, the Grammy Award-winning group will start its first official worldwide arena tour in Asia and Japan. One of the stops along that route is a recently announced September 24 performance as part of Guinness' worldwide celebration of its 250th anniversary. Then it's off to Australia before returning to the United States for five shows on U2's stadium tour. After a break, the Peas will launch the North America leg of its tour, then visit the United Kingdom and Europe.

IN THE BEGINNING

The Black Eyed Peas got started when best friends Will.i.am ("the only black dude in a Mexican neighborhood") and apl.de.ap -- a non-English-speaking adoptee from the Philippines -- began break-dancing and freestyling together. In 1991 the teens signed to Eazy E's Ruthless Records as part of the band Atban Klann. But their vision of hip-hop and dance didn't mesh with that of the gangsta label. So the pair left and formed the Peas after meeting Chicano Taboo (whose "musical heroes were A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul") while battling at a local club.

After signing with Interscope, the trio released its critically acclaimed debut album, "Behind the Front," in 1998. Two years later came "Bridging the Gap" and the Macy Gray-assisted single "Request Line." Also featured on the album was the group's female singer Kim Hill, who left the group in 2000.

Three years later the Peas notched their first major breakthrough in 2003 with third album "Elephunk" and the anthem "Where Is the Love?" featuring Justin Timberlake. Providing backup accompaniment on the album was former Wild Orchid member Stacie "Fergie" Ferguson, who later became the fourth Black Eyed Pea. The foursome scored its biggest single at the time -- the No. 3 Hot 100 hit "Don't Phunk With My Heart" -- when fourth album "Monkey Business" was released in 2005.

Touring almost nonstop stateside and overseas between 2004 and 2007, the group spun off another hit ("My Humps") and picked up two Grammys for best rap performance by a duo or group ("Let's Get It Started" and "Don't Phunk With My Heart"). In between, Fergie released her 2006 multiplatinum solo debut, "The Dutchess," and got married. In addition to producing Fergie's debut, Will.i.am collaborated on projects by Sergio Mendes, Nelly Furtado and others as well as releasing his solo album. During that time, Taboo and apl.de.ap began recording their own solo albums, among other projects.

But now everyone is back in the pod and ready to keep going for as long as they can. Playfully ribbing Fergie about how long she'll be performing "Boom Boom Pow," Taboo hobbles around the room and jokes, "We'll be touring on the moon while she's singing, 'I'm so 2000 and 80 ... all my kids come on.'"

As the room erupts in laughter, Will.i.am has a final word for the naysayers: "What we've gone through to get here has been a great journey -- some unique-ass s--t. We haven't changed conceptually from what the Peas were and wanted to be: mass appeal, not segregation. And we've stayed true to that."

Linkin Park crosses "New Divide" for "Transformers"

DETROIT NEW YORK (Billboard) – Hard at work on its fourth album, rock band Linkin Park has kept busy on a number of other fronts as well, among them its first movie soundtrack.

In addition to the group's contributions to the new "Transformers" film, some of its members have solo projects in the works. As for the new Linkin Park album, it likely will come out in 2010, according to co-frontman Mike Shinoda.

"It's moving," Shinoda told Billboard.com. "I feel like we've been writing a lot. I'd say we've got about half the music done, though I shouldn't say halfway, because who knows how long the next batch of songs will take."

Shinoda said he expects the album to reflect "an interesting transition" from the sound of 2007's "Minutes to Midnight," in part as a result of the band members' side projects. Singer Chester Bennington's upcoming solo album, "Dead By Sunrise" -- due out this fall -- "is much more of a rock album," Shinoda said, and it could take the band in new directions.

At the same time, Shinoda's rap side project, Fort Minor, is likely to influence the group's new material. He acknowledged that rap, which did not play a major role on "Minutes to Midnight," might be more prominent this time out. "I think I have some of the Fort Minor energy in me that wants to come out, so you'll probably hear more rapping on it," Shinoda said. "I don't know if it'll be a little or a lot, but I know I've been sitting down writing a lot of verses, so there's a better chance of those making it on the record."

"It's not going to be 'Hybrid Theory,'" Shinoda said of the work-in-progress. "It's not going to be 'Minutes to Midnight.' And if we do it right, it'll have a cutting-edge sound that defines itself as an individual record separate from anything else that's out there."

For now, however, Linkin Park has given its fans "New Divide," the theme song for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." As confirmed fans of the toy and cartoon franchise, the group "created a song that we felt fit the spirit of the movie and the characters and also obviously stayed true to the spirit of the band," Shinoda said. Film composer Hans Zimmer adapted "New Divide" into instrumental segments for the film score, and Linkin Park worked with Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky on other pieces for the movie.

"It was incredible," Shinoda said. "I've never tried to write music to visuals. It's a type of working that's new to us, and it's really fun."

Mel B searches for new Spice Girls

MELANIE BROWN is set to host a new talent show in an attempt to discover the next big girl group.

The former Spice Girl has been in talks with music channel VH1 about hosting the show to search for stars of the future.

Brown, currently appearing in Las Vegas burlesque act Peepshow, said: "It's going to be a real chance to find some edgy raw talents and watch it unfold as part of the show."

And she ruled out ever reforming with her former bandmates, even for the right price.

She added: "It wasn't about money for us - it was about going out on top where we finished."

Jackson attends just two tour rehearsals

MICHAEL JACKSON has reportedly only managed two rehearsals for his comeback tour this summer.

The pop star has been described as being "in a stupor" which has increased fears his tour could be scrapped altogether.

Jackson has already postponed the opening four nights at London's O2 Arena saying he needed more time to prepare for the show's "size and scope".

But speaking to British newspaper The Daily Mail, a source said: "The suggestion that they need more time to set up the show in London is a joke.

"I think the fans who have already bought tickets should hold their breath and cross their fingers, because there is no guarantee any of this is actually going to happen.

"There is a possibility that this will still happen, but it is up to him to get his act together.

"Michael has only been to two days of rehearsals for the show. His dancers have been working on it every single day for 45 days at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, but Michael has been nowhere to be found."

Radiohead back in the studio

RADIOHEAD have confirmed that they have started recording their eighth studio album.

Bassist Colin Greenwood revealed that the band have begun recording the follow up to 2007's 'In Rainbows'.

The news comes after guitarist Ed O'Brien confessed in March that the band had begun writing new material as they came to the end of their In Rainbows touring.

Speaking to the BBC, Greenwood said: "We just went in last week. It was really good. It was really noisy and chaotic and really fun."

But he said that fully formed songs are yet to appear and the band are still working on ideas.

He added: "We're at the stage where we've got the big Lego box out and we've tipped it out on the floor and we're looking at all the bits and thinking, what next?"

Many people will be interested to know how Radiohead plan to release the new record following the 'pay what you want' download style of In Rainbows.

"We've got lots of ideas but we don't decide what we're going to do until we've finished the thing. It's all up in the air, but it was up in the air last time."

The Enemy think Oasis should support them

The Enemy want Oasis to support them on their next tour.

Frontman Tom Clarke - whose band will open for the 'Wonderwall' rockers when they tour the UK this summer - thinks his group should be headlining because Noel Gallagher is past his prime.

Tom told Britain's The Sun newspaper: "I don't think Noel needs to do it any more. He's doing it for the love of it. That's the dream. That's when you can say you've made it."

Tom also claims he and his bandmates Liam Watts and Andy Hopkins - whose latest album 'Music For The People' reached number two on the British charts - have a better work ethic than Oasis stars Noel and Liam Gallagher.

He added: "I've always wanted to work hard at everything in every job I've had. I used to do gardening in the summer and sell washing machines and TVs.

"And I wanted to be the best at selling washing machines and tellies. If you're going to do a job, you've got to give it your best. You get out what you put into life. When you're given an opportunity and you want it, then work your a**e off for it."

Coldplay releases live album as free download

NEW YORK (Billboard) – "LeftRightLeftRightLeft," the free live album that Coldplay is giving away on CD to every fan who attends this summer's "Viva La Vida" tour, is now available as a free download from the band's website.

The giveaway begins as the band's North American tour kicks off with a Friday night (May 15) show at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Florida.

"Playing live is what we love," Coldplay said in a statement. "This album is a thank you to our fans -- the people who give us a reason to do it and make it happen."

The nine-track live album was recorded at various cites during the "Viva La Vida" tour.

Coldplay's tour wraps with two huge outdoor shows September 18 and 19 at Wembley Stadium in London.

Rihanna writes Chris Brown break-up song

Rihanna has written a song about her split from Chris Brown.

The 21-year-old beauty – whose on/off boyfriend Chris allegedly assaulted her on February 8 - is believed to have penned the track 'Silly Boy’ to warn him their relationship is over for good.

She sings: 'I said I’m not coming back / You fooled me once but you can’t have that ego turning.

'Just too bad for you, that when you had me / Didn’t know what to do, she’s over you.

'Cause you had a good girl, good girl / Girl that’s a keeper / You had a good girl, good girl but didn’t know how to treat her. 'So silly boy get out my face / Why do you like the way regrets taste?'

A demo of the song – which featured vocals from Lady Gaga - has been posted on the internet by her rapper friend Kanye West. This is not the first time Rihanna has written a song about separation and revenge.

The Barbados-born beauty was working on a track about killing a cheating partner at the time of Chris’ alleged attack on her. Rihanna had teamed up with rapper Akon for the track 'Emergency Room’, in which she dreams about seeking revenge on an unfaithful boyfriend by hospitalising him and removing his drip.

She sang: 'I’m going to leave your heart broken on the floor / You’re gonna be in the emergency room / I’m standing by your bed / And so tempted to pull out your IV.'

Last month Chris, 20, pleased not guilty to felony assault and making criminal threats in relation to his alleged attack on Rihanna.

He is accused of punching, biting and choking Rihanna until she was unconscious during an altercation in his rented silver Lamborghini.

Woodstock veterans to headline anniversary show

BETHEL, N.Y. – Some performers from the 1969 Woodstock concert will get back to the garden for a 40th anniversary show this summer.

On the bill for Aug. 15 are The Levon (LEE'-vahn) Helm Band, Jefferson Starship, Big Brother and the Holding Co., Ten Years After, Canned Heat, Mountain, and Country Joe McDonald.

They'll perform at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel. It was built on the site of the dairy farm trampled on by some 400,000 people on the weekend of Aug. 15-17, 1969.

It includes an amphitheater and a museum up the hill from the original stage.

The returning acts feature some Woodstock veterans, including Helm, who performed in '69 with The Band.

Green Day tests new ground on way to "Breakdown"

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt is fatigued from the three stage dives he took last night at Oakland, California's Uptown Nightclub.

For the final plunge, "I decided to climb up on the monitors and dive in from there," says the 36-year-old musician, who's also nursing a mild hangover. "I'm just feeling it today a little bit. But it was a good time."

The mid-April $20-ticket gig was the fourth installment of what drummer Tre Cool calls a "guerrilla Bay Area Green Day assault." In the days leading up to the tightly packed show -- the Uptown holds about 750 people -- the Oakland-based trio also played its forthcoming album, "21st Century Breakdown," from start to finish at the Independent and DNA Lounge in San Francisco and the newly opened Fox Theater in downtown Oakland.

The hometown gigs grew from the band's desire to break away from tedious rehearsals and test new material in front of an audience. "We've been deprived of playing live for so long that it was kind of a free-for-all, like we were playing as if our lives depended on it," singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong says. "It was kind of like playing your first show all over again."

The last-minute shows surprised Bay Area concert promoters. "An arena band like that doesn't usually show up at a nightclub, especially in their home base," says Larry Trujillo, co-owner of the Uptown. "You wouldn't see that from Madonna or U2."

'DESPERATE TIMES'

Awaiting the May 15 release of "21st Century Breakdown" (Reprise/Warner Bros.) are not only the band's longtime fans, but the younger audience that came aboard in 2004 with the release of "American Idiot."

A politically driven rock opera, "American Idiot" moved away from Green Day's routine three-chord punk anthems and into new depths of songwriting. And at a time when people worldwide were questioning the policies of President George W. Bush, the social and political messages behind the set helped Green Day earn its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and nab Grammy Awards for best rock album and record of the year.

Collaborating with Armstrong, Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer has adapted "American Idiot" into a stage musical that will premiere in September at the Bay Area's Berkeley Repertory Theater in September.

Like its predecessor, "21st Century Breakdown" has a narrative structure, telling the story of a young couple, Christian and Gloria, growing up amid the turbulence of the early 21st century.

"The main message is trying to make sense out of desperate times and chaos," Armstrong says, noting that the 18-track set features social commentary about religion, war, politics and love. "We're writing the best material we've ever written in the past five years."

Produced by Butch Vig (Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage), "21st Century Breakdown" is divided into three acts: "Heroes and Cons," "Charlatans and Saints" and "Horseshoes and Handgrenades." But the band didn't set out to do another concept album.

"We went down to Costa Mesa (California) for summertime, let our families take a vacation, and then we hit the small studio every day," Dirnt says. "Billie pulled out all the lyrics and read through them and we started looking at what was making sense, and seeing the correlations from song to song, and what songs were naturally making different chapters of this record."

The album also reflects new musical directions for the band. On "Restless Heart Syndrome," a piano-driven rock tune that morphs into a crunchy four-chord progression, Armstrong sings in falsetto. The album's title track, a melodic midtempo rocker with power chord verses -- featuring Armstrong's observation that "my generation is zero/I'd never make it as a working-class hero" -- moves through a Who-style breakdown with sustained guitar blasts and thumping drums. On "March of the Dogs" the band experiments with complex song structures while proclaiming, "The sirens of decay will infiltrate the faith fanatic."

GLOBAL AUDIENCE

Green Day's world tour, its first in more than three years, opens with a 38-city North American arena jaunt, beginning July 3 in Seattle and wrapping August 25 in Los Angeles. Ticket prices for the United States and Canada will be between $25 and $50. Dirnt declined to reveal production details for the summer trek but says it will be "angry and sexy and all that s--t." The stage design will reflect the cover art for "21st Century Breakdown," which features a spray-painted sketch of two young lovers embracing against the backdrop of a brick wall.

The North American dates will be followed by performances in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In 2010, the band will hit Japan, Southeast Asia and South America before returning home for more North American shows. Armstrong also hopes to "explore some different places that we've never been before," which might include China.

"They're truly defined as a global touring band, because they can sell tickets in every corner of the globe," says Jason Garner, CEO of global music at Live Nation, which will promote about half of Green Day's performances worldwide. "It's one thing to sell a lot of tickets in one city, state or country, but Green Day has become one of those global touring powerhouses that can sell tickets from Stockholm to Paris to Kansas City to Toronto."

Green Day proved its strength at the box office in 2005, when it cracked the Billboard Boxscore top 10 list of the year's biggest tours, pulling in $36.5 million from 76 concerts that drew more than 978,000 people. For the first time, the band played multiple arena dates and even a few stadiums.

Before its success with "American Idiot," Green Day maintained respectable album sales, but the trio was "clearly not having the impact they once had," Warner Bros. chairman/CEO Tom Whalley says. "Insomniac" and "Nimrod," the two studio albums that followed 1994's "Dookie" -- which, with sales of 7.9 million copies is the band's best-selling album to date -- have sold 2.1 million copies each, according to SoundScan; "Warning" (2000) has sold 1.1 million.

Green Day's Cool says the band was getting used to being the underdog but that it was never driven by sales. "We don't do it for record sales," he says. "I don't think any record is going to do what 'Dookie' did ever again, so you can't really compare the record to something that was that much a part of pop culture. We just wanted to keep going forward and opening new doors for ourselves musically and challenge ourselves as songwriters."

Even so, when the band returned home after the "American Idiot" tour, it didn't want to lose its rediscovered stardom. "We came home and were at the top of mountain, saying, 'I sure as f--- don't want to get off the top of this mountain,'" Dirnt says. "So we somehow had to figure out how to get to the highest peak. It definitely had an impact and inspired us to chase some of our heroes and try to go for that next step and be the greatest band Green Day can be."

GARAGE-ROCK SIDE TRIP

To keep things interesting, the threesome toured small clubs last May as their alter-ego side project, the Foxboro Hot Tubs. "We were sitting around one night and drinking a bunch of wine at the studio," Dirnt recalls, "so we decided to write a bunch of trashy songs." The result was the EP "Stop Drop and Roll," which debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 and has sold 55,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The side project "gave us a platform to put something out and have some fun and get out from underneath the Green Monster," Dirnt says.

Armstrong notes that the '60s garage-rock sound of the Foxboro Hot Tubs is the "complete opposite" of material found on "21st Century Breakdown." The other members agree that the rock opera is the band's most ambitious album to date.

After playing it live for the first time at clubs in San Francisco and Oakland, Dirnt says, "21st Century Breakdown" is "probably the most physical record we've ever done. It's physically really hard to play." Cool says his intensive drumming during rehearsals and the gigs erased some of his fingerprints and has given him "new muscles on my arms that I don't know where the hell they came from."

All three band members say that fans so far have reacted positively to the new material, and they look forward to playing the new material for the rest of the world. The punk-at-heart trio won't stop making new music anytime soon, Armstrong says. "Nobody leaves this band," he says, "unless it's in a coffin."