Since a movie about kicking ass requires a phenomenal soundtrack, we’ve put together a video playlist to pay tribute to “Kick-Ass” and get you prepared for the flick. There are several homages to heroes (Foo Fighters’ “My Hero,” Dragonforce’s “Heroes of Our Time,” Sum 41′s “Underclass Hero”), as well as the Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” (because it’s about fighting, and it’s awesome). There are also a few tunes that could act as theme songs for Hit Girl (Bomshel’s “Fight Like a Girl,” Lil Jon’s “Girlfight”) and Big Daddy (Weezer’s “I’m Your Daddy,” Heavy D’s “Big Daddy”).

But we open with a tribute to Kick-Ass himself. Any guy who puts on a suit to fight crime without any actual superpowers has earned a reputation as a badass, which is why Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass” is the most ideal way to open the proceedings.

It’s Musical March Madness! The sprawling bracket — both a parody and a tribute to the NCAA basketball tournament, masterminded by MTV News’ James Montgomery — takes the 65 biggest names in rock, splits them up into four regions, assigns them seeds and puts them up against one another in a single-elimination series of match-ups in a winner-take-all contest. We’re leaving it to you to decide an actual champ in this field of 65. Over the next few weeks, we will present a series of polls that will allow you to vote for the match-ups presented in MTV News’ Band Bracketology. You vote for the winners, we’ll keep advancing the seeds and, in the end, we’ll have some sort of champion. What will the winner receive? Little more than our esteem (as well as that of the fans) and some Internet bragging rights.

If you need more college basketball in your life today, the NIT continues tonight )featuring an intriguing game between Connecticut and Virginia Tech). The NIT is sort of silly, because it essentially decides who the 66th best team in the country is. We don’t care about whoever the 66th best band is — we only care about who will be left standing at the end of MTV News’ Musical March Madness. Here are two more interesting pairings.

(3) Foo Fighters vs. (14) AFI
This is how dominant Dave Grohl’s band is: Despite the fact that they’ve essentially been off the grid for a year (save for a few shows and a greatest hits album), the Foos remain a dominant force in the rock world. Like Duke, they’re always a big deal, no matter what is happening. On the other side is AFI, who have quietly put together two decades of greatness. But which veteran squad will come out on top?

(6) Cobra Starship vs. (11) Shinedown
Gabe Saporta’s club is a quick, spry group who execute well and have a great time doing it. On the other side of the court, Shinedown dominate with power and hard work (they operate a lot like an Ivy League team). Which group will advance to the second round?

By Joel Hanek

Fact: Dave Grohl is awesome. When he’s not churning out rock anthems as the frontman for the platinum-selling Foo Fighters, Grohl is in the studio recording with his rock heroes like Lemmy Kilmister and John Paul Jones. And when Grohl isn’t making music, he finds time to make hilarious cameos in “Saturday Night Live” sketches. The man makes more guest appearances than Lil Wayne.

How does he do it? With copious amounts of highly-caffeinated coffee, obviously. In a hilarious and slightly hypnotic new video posted to Them Crooked Vultures’ YouTube account, Dave Grohl terrorizes his bandmate (and Queens of the Stone Age mastermind) Josh Homme with incessant demands for more coffee by screaming what I hope will be the new catchphrase of 2010: “Fresh pots!” Homme’s confessional on Grohl’s caffeine addiction makes me pine for a TV special like “True Life: I’m Addicted to Caffeine (And I Am Dave Grohl).”

While the video concludes that Grohl was rushed to the hospital as a result of his high coffee intake “for reals,” the multi-talented star is perfectly fine and keeping up his busy schedule. In fact, last week Dave Grohl quietly let slip last week to Rolling Stone that the Foo Fighters were back in the studio working on a follow up to their 2007 album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. This announcement is sure to please fans since the group announced they would be taking a hiatus after their tour in 2008. The singer/guitarist/drummer also revealed that for their upcoming seventh studio album, they would be working with rock producer heavyweight Butch Vig on what Grohl calls will be the Foos’ “heaviest album yet.” Grohl added a twist by saying the new record would be recorded entirely analog.

Whether it’s videos or new music to look forward to, we hope Dave keeps it up, and we raise our ceramic mugs to him.

Foo Fighters had a pretty sweet view of the Washington, D.C. fireworks on Independence Day, as they were on stage on the lawn of the White House while they were happening. The band played a private show for the Obama family and White House staff to celebrate the Fourth of July. “It’s an honor to be playing here for you people. I’m glad that we’re here and I’m glad that we’re spending this Fourth of July together,” Grohl said as he opened the show, which featured the unveiling of a new song called “Wheels.” Grohl described the song as about “the feeling when the wheels touch the ground and you’re like ‘I’m glad that’s over with.’” In the chorus, Grohl sings, “When you feel like it’s all over, there’s another round for you.”

It’s a very appropriate sentiment for Foo Fighters, who are currently in a state of flux. The group has been on an official hiatus since the end of their tour last year, and bassist Nate Mendel is hitting the road with his old band Sunny Day Real Estate. Grohl himself has a new project too: He’s teaming up with former collaborators Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin). The still-unnamed band’s existence isn’t new (Grohl has been discussing the project since 2005), but they are currently recording an album in Los Angeles.

What would you name the band? We’re bummed that Probot has already been taken, but we’re sure those guys will come up with something.