Music News & Videos

Lady Gaga and Beyoncé’s anxiously awaited video for their The Fame Monster collaboration “Telephone” has arrived as a nine-minute-and-thirty-second mash-up of lesbian prison porn, campy sexploitation flicks and insidery winks at the two divas’ public personas. If Quentin Tarantino and Russ Meyer remade Thelma & Louise as an orgy of product placement with fiercely choreographed interludes, this would be the result. The video was scheduled to premiere on E! at 11:30 p.m. tonight, but hit the Internet early via a leak.

Check out Lady Gaga’s wildest looks.

The mini-movie opens in a women’s prison, where guards strip Gaga bare and mutter, “I told you she didn’t have a dick,” fanning the flames of one of the most persistent rumors about Stefani Germanotta’s gender identity. Almost immediately the self-referential nudges and brand names appear: the boom box in the exercise yard blasts Lady Gaga’s “Paper Gangsta,” a fellow inmate wears Monster earbuds, Gaga has a Virgin Mobile phone tucked in her pants and sports Chanel shades and Diet Coke cans in her hair as makeshift curlers (nice touch!).

The song kicks in just before the three-minute mark as Gaga (in a spiked bikini and what appears to be Karen O’s jacket from the “Zero” video) takes a call in jail and launches into the most appealing afternoon imaginable behind bars — a tightly choreographed routine that has Gaga and four tattooed backup dancers stamping through the cell block.

When Beyoncé’s scheduled interlude arrives, the song breaks for another dramatic sequence. A guard perusing dating Website Plenty of Fish on a Beats by Dre laptop informs Gaga she’s been bailed out. Beyoncé (nicknamed Honey Bee, a nod to Honey Bunny from Pulp Fiction) rolls up in the Pussy Wagon from Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Volume One, informs Gaga, “You’ve been a very bad girl” and feeds her a sticky treat. Simply being in Tarantino’s car inspires some Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield banter (”You know Gaga, trust is like a mirror. You can fix it if it’s broke…” “But you can still see the crack in that motherfucker’s reflection”).

Beyoncé launches into the song’s bridge as Lady Gaga snaps photos of her with a Polaroid camera, then the pair pull up to a vintage diner where Beyoncé entertains a gentleman pal (played by Tyrese Gibson) and Gaga mans the kitchen, slipping poison into the food along with Miracle Whip and Wonder Bread (cue another awesome dance sequence, this time with cooks prancing around the stove in a moment that could have been borrowed from Madonna’s “Hung Up” clip). Beyoncé takes a moment to toy with her squeaky-clean image — busting out the line, “I knew you’d take all my honey, you selfish motherfucker” as Gibson keels over at the table — and another dance sequence begins, this time with Gaga and B in patriotic garb.

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’s Jai Rodriguez arrives as a news reporter broadcasting word of the mass homicide (dubbed “The Telephone Effect”) as Gaga and Beyoncé speed away in the Pussy Wagon dressed in white and black veils. “We did it, Honey Bee, now let’s go far, far away from here,” Gaga says as the two clasp hands and hit the accelerator.

The clip is certainly cinematic and feminist, and gasps at a larger statement about consumer culture. As Gaga told E!, she was preoccupied with “the idea that America is full of young people that are inundated with information and technology and turn it into something that was more of a commentary on the kind of country that we are.”

Fo Yo Sorrows VIDEO Big Boi Ft. Too Short and George Clinton from SNORT THIS TV on Vimeo.

A whole battalion of new music videos has made their way onto the Web and for your viewing pleasure Rolling Stone has corralled them into this post. First up is Big Boi’s latest single off his much-anticipated Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty, “Fo Yo Sorrows.” The OutKast rapper had previously promised vids for every track off his solo disc, so like the video above and Boi’s previous “Shine Blockas,” they’ll likely be low-key affairs. That isn’t stopping Big Boi from calling in guests George Clinton and Too $hort to appear in the clip. Any time George Clinton shows up in a music video, we get nostalgic for P.C.U., so definitely check out “Fo Yo Sorrows” above.

For “In the Sun,” She & Him’s first video off their upcoming Volume 2, Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward go the High School Musical/Glee route as Deschanel and her clique of peers and teachers go dancing around hallways and classrooms in pursuit of the object of her desire, played here by a way-too-old-to-be-in-high-school Ward. It’s sort of like Feist’s “1, 2, 3, 4″ video combined with Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time” clip. Adding authenticity to the sing-along is director Peyton Reed, who previously mastered the art of high school and dancing with his cheerleading flick Bring It On.

Finally, we have the official music video for the Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb” that combines the band’s classic track with a ton of new footage from the film The Runaways. In the video, we see Dakota Fanning completely morphing into her role of Cherie Currie, plus brief clips of the cinematic Runaways from their rise to their eventual crash. As Rolling Stone previously reported, both Fanning and Kristen Stewart, who plays Joan Jett, sing on the soundtrack, which is available for pre-order now.

Who: Pastoral rockers from Denton, Texas, who first broke through with their 2006 track “Roscoe,” on which the group’s classic-rock-loving frontman Tim Smith sang about life in the 1800s. “I don’t do too well in the present,” he says. “Not that old times were better, but I’m more romantic about the past.”

Sounds Like: The band’s latest disc, The Courage of Others, has a sound influenced by 1960s British acts like Fairport Convention and Pentangle, with Jethro Tull-style flutes and references to maidens and merchant ships.

Vital Stats:

• Smith was a John Coltrane devotee until he reluctantly picked up Radiohead’s OK Computer while at the North Texas College of Music. “I didn’t want to listen to it, because of the name,” he says. “I thought, ‘What’s this, some kind of radio-pop music?’ ”

• Before Midlake embraced chiming guitars and meticulous harmonies, the group was a jazz-funk act. Smith ditched his sax when he joined up with the Texas group, which featured current bandmembers Eric Pulido and Eric Nichelson (guitar), McKenzie Smith (drums) and Paul Alexander (bass).

• Like fellow bearded strummers Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver, Midlake recall CSNY and Fleetwood Mac. “You want your music to be ask great as those acts,” says Smith, “But I shouldn’t compare my work with everything that’s ever been done. I mean, you can only do so much before you die.”

Get It Now: Watch the band’s trailer for The Courage of Others up top.

This week Rolling Stone’s Daniel Kreps breaks down the Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach in our New Music Report. Kreps admits he didn’t immediately hear anything as instantly grabby as Demon Days‘ “DARE” or Gorillaz’s “Clint Eastwood” on their new disc — the closest relation here is the single “Stylo,” a catchy electro number that features Mos Def and Bobby Womack. But Plastic Beach is a real grower, and now he’s convinced it’s Damon Albarn’s most impressive work since Blur’s 13. With each listen, new highlights emerge, like the Think Tank-ish “Empire Ants” and his personal favorite, “To Binge,” which features the Swedish group Little Dragon. Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, and members of the Clash and De La Soul all cameo on the disc, but the smaller artists — Little Dragon and U.K. rappers Bashy and Kano — make the biggest impact.

Catch up on all of Rolling Stone’s album reviews.

>>Watch every episode of our weekly New Music Report video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Tuesday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don't have iTunes, download it here.]

Early peeks at The Runaways, music video vet Floria Sigismondi’s biopic about the rise and fall of the iconic Seventies girl-punk band, have provided fast-and-dirty looks at the drama surrounding Joan Jett (played by Twilight star Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning). In Rolling Stone’s latest exclusive clip, Stella Maeve as Sandy West and Stewart bang out some raw rehearsal tunes as manager Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) listens on the other end of the phone and offers a few words of encouragement when Stewart reports they’ve been busy practicing: “Well, get back to it, you bitches are going to be bigger than the Beatles!”

Watch the clip above and see another preview, plus click through all our photos from the set. And don’t forget to check out which songs Fanning and Stewart will be handling on the film’s official soundtrack. The movie hits theaters in limited cities March 19th and opens nationally April 9th.

It was one of the videos that helped put YouTube on the map — and one of the most-watched viral music videos ever — but despite its fame, Saturday Night Live stars Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg had never performed their Narnia ode “Lazy Sunday” in front of a live audience. That is, until last night on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. With Parnell sitting on Fallon’s couch, Samberg literally came out of nowhere and offered to help recreate the digital short live. Fallon’s house band the Roots pumped out the ’80s hip-hop beats and the duo ripped through lyrics about cupcakes, Google Maps, Red Vines and Matthew Perry.

The RS countdown of the 25 funniest Web videos of all time.

The “Lazy Sunday” reunion is just the latest musical triumph for Fallon, who previously scored big viral views for his “Neil Young” renditions of “Pants on the Ground” and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme, as well as the return of Zack Morris. Considering Samberg and Fallon both spend their workdays in Rockefeller Center, the “Lazy Sunday” reunion opens up a whole bunch of potential big performances on Fallon. Our first handful of requests: Samberg and Timberlake getting together for a medley of “Dick in a Box” and “Motherlover,” or Rihanna stopping by for a “Shy Ronnie” redux, and all of it backed by the Roots.

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Rolling Stone is pleased to present the video premiere of Yeasayer’s infectious new single “O.N.E.,” one of the many highlights off the band’s second album Odd Blood. The clip reunites Yeasayer with the directing duo Radical Friend, or Kirby McClure and Julia Grigorian, who previously helmed the Breaking band’s clip for “Ambling Alp.” In “O.N.E.,” we’re transported to the strangest warehouse rave party on the planet, where the shape-shifting protagonist engages in strange board games in front of an audience filled with Gagas while Yeasayer perform in the background.

According to the band, the odd game that our hero partakes in, which looks sort of like the board game Sorry with glass pieces, is based on “actual mystical charts and diagrams that represent the psychological warfare these otherworldly club kids engage in.” Definition: The day-glo video for “O.N.E.” is as much candy for the eyes as pleasant on the ears.

As part of this year’s Record Store Day on April 17th, Yeasayer will release a 12” single for “O.N.E.” boasting four different takes on the song: the album version, an instrumental take, a demo of the track and a remix by XXXchange. To read Rolling Stone’s four-star review of Odd Blood, click here.

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Barring any more courthouse surprises, Lil Wayne is expected to finally begin serving his one-year sentence behind bars starting today. Before he heads to New York’s Riker’s Island, however, Weezy had one more going-away present for fans: his latest video off the rap-rock disc Rebirth, “Drop the World” with guest Eminem. The video was originally scheduled to premiere on MTV on March 11th, but the Internet unofficially debuted the Chris Robinson-directed clip a week early.

With its chorus “I’mma pick the world up and I’mma drop it on your fucking head,” it makes sense that the theme of the video is pure destruction. Warriors-like mobs flood urban alleyways pulverizing everything in sight for no clear reason, with Weezy F. Baby rapping unscathed in the middle of the chaos. Eminem joins the melee two-thirds of the way in to rap side-by-side with Wayne. The video ends with the entire world aflame, adding “Drop the World” to the growing number of post-apocalyptic videos to premiere in the last half year, like Jay-Z’s “Run This Town,” the Black Eyed Peas’ “Imma Be Rocking that Body” and Adam Lambert’s “Time for Miracles.”

Lil Wayne’s World: look back at the rapper’s rise in photos.

Even though Weezy will be spending the next year in prison, this will hardly be the last video we see featuring the multiplatinum star in the next 365 days. As Rolling Stone reported in our “Lil Wayne Goes to Jail” cover story, Wayne has filmed anywhere between 10 to 20 videos in front of a green screen in anticipation of his time away — including one for his guest spot on Drake’s Thank Me Later — ensuring we’ll have plenty of Tha Carter during his prison stint. We’re willing to bet the “Listen to Lil Wayne” shirt Weezy wears in the clip also becomes a popular fashion statement while the rapper is serving his sentence.

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Barring any more courthouse surprises, Lil Wayne is expected to finally begin serving his one-year sentence behind bars starting today. Before he heads to New York’s Riker’s Island, however, Weezy had one more going-away present for fans: his latest video off the rap-rock disc Rebirth, “Drop the World” with guest Eminem. The video was originally scheduled to premiere on MTV on March 11th, but the Internet unofficially debuted the Chris Robinson-directed clip a week early.

With its chorus “I’mma pick the world up and I’mma drop it on your fucking head,” it makes sense that the theme of the video is pure destruction. Warriors-like mobs flood urban alleyways pulverizing everything in sight for no clear reason, with Weezy F. Baby rapping unscathed in the middle of the chaos. Eminem joins the melee two-thirds of the way in to rap side-by-side with Wayne. The video ends with the entire world aflame, adding “Drop the World” to the growing number of post-apocalyptic videos to premiere in the last half year, like Jay-Z’s “Run This Town,” the Black Eyed Peas’ “Imma Be Rocking that Body” and Adam Lambert’s “Time for Miracles.”

Lil Wayne’s World: look back at the rapper’s rise in photos.

Even though Weezy will be spending the next year in prison, this will hardly be the last video we see featuring the multiplatinum star in the next 365 days. As Rolling Stone reported in our “Lil Wayne Goes to Jail” cover story, Wayne has filmed anywhere between 10 to 20 videos in front of a green screen in anticipation of his time away — including one for his guest spot on Drake’s Thank Me Later — ensuring we’ll have plenty of Tha Carter during his prison stint. We’re willing to bet the “Listen to Lil Wayne” shirt Weezy wears in the clip also becomes a popular fashion statement while the rapper is serving his sentence.

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• Lil Wayne’s Sentencing Delayed to March 2 Due to Dental Surgery

Along with CBGB, Max’s Kansas City was one of the most famed venues of New York City’s 1970s punk era. The nightclub on Park Avenue South featured performances by the Velvet Underground, the Ramones and Iggy Pop and served as a home away from home for Andy Warhol and his circle of artists and musicians. First opened in 1965, Max’s was also the site of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and Aerosmith’s first New York City shows, and after closing in ‘74 and reopening in 1975 as Max’s II, the venue hosted concerts by Sid Vicious, Devo and countless other iconic punk acts before shuttering for good in 1981. To celebrate the 45th anniversary of the venue, Max’s Kansas City Company is keeping the spirit of the club alive with a documentary and a book, and by unearthing classic live footage shot at Max’s.

Check out photos of Joey Ramone, Iggy Pop and more punk pioneers.

Click up top to watch the Ramones performing “I Wanna Be Sedated” at the club, and below we’ve got video of the Senders rocking out and Suicide performing “Ghost Rider.” “We’re thrilled to bring this footage to the public during the year of Max’s Kansas City’s 45th anniversary,” Elliott Azrak, the proprietor of Max’s Kansas City Company, tells RS. “This will be an exciting year full of new events and unveilings that will continue Max’s reputation of bringing together art, music and fashion as well as the people who create it.”

In addition to the live footage, a book chronicling the venue’s history, Max’s Kansas City: Art, Glamour, and Rock ‘n Roll, will arrive, and a documentary featuring interviews by Max’s patrons like Lou Reed and Alice Cooper is on the way. For more on the 45th anniversary goings-on, check out the Max’s Kansas City Company website.

At noon yesterday, Erykah Badu strolled into the cramped, freezing Studio 6B at New York’s NBC Studios in Rockefeller Center to rehearse “Window Seat” for Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. The singer, who’s prepping for the release of New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh on March 30th, arrived in a Slash-style top hat (which she wore on-air) atop her waist-long dreadlocks and walked straight into the center of the action, where a seven-piece band, including Roots drummer ?uestlove, had been warming up, running through the tune’s silken groove over and over again. Badu offered a few musical directions regarding the bass and her backup singers, and rehearsed the song with her eyes closed, in deep focus.

If Badu was nervous when the show taped several hours later, nobody could tell: watch the full performance above, and keep an eye out for Rolling Stone’s feature on the singer in an upcoming issue. Plus, read more about New Amerykah Part Two in our new issue’s Spring Music Preview, where Badu reveals she recorded “Window Seat” in her shower to achieve the track’s moody vibe: “I wanted to sound like I was in a tunnel. I got my laptop and closed the door.”

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Breaking artist and unexpected Guns n’ Roses opening act Alberta Cross recently stopped by the Rolling Stone offices to treat us to a trio of acoustic renditions of songs off their debut album Broken Side of Time, which was finally released stateside earlier this year. For this special performance, Alberta Cross scale back on the Brit-pop grandeur and feedback on their debut LP, showcasing the gritty roots rock sound at the heart of frontman Petter Ericson Stakee’s songs. Up top is “ATX,” with “Old Man Chicago” and “The Thief & the Heartbreaker” ready for your viewing pleasure below. For more on these up-and-comers, check out our review of Broken Side of Time.

“Old Man Chicago”

“The Thief & the Heartbreaker”

[Video: Eric Helton/Matthew Murphy; Editing: Matthew Murphy]

Christian Hoard’s “Christian Rock” new music pick this week is a 28-year-old prose/poetry writer from Minneapolis with a philosophy degree called Dessa (real name: Margret Wander), who’s also a member of the rap collective Doomtree. Her debut A Badly Broken Code reminds Hoard of fellow Minnesota MC Slug. The beats are punchy and straight-forward, and so is Dessa. One of the best cuts is “The Bullpen,” where she rhymes about putting up with really annoying behavior from men. She suffers from a touch of “underground rapper syndrome” (symptoms: sounding serious too often), but her rapping and singing are solid and her love songs are strong and nuanced. She may be wordy, but she doesn’t waste syllables.

Catch up on all of Rolling Stone’s recent album reviews.

>>Watch every episode of our weekly New Music Report video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Tuesday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don't have iTunes, download it here.]

The White Stripes’ concert film Under Great White Northern Lights is currently blowing out speakers in cinemas all over this country and Canada, and Rolling Stone has another taste of the pandemonium that’s in store for lucky filmgoers with a screenings in their ‘hoods. Watch Jack White absolutely thrash his guitar during a cover of Son House’s “Death Letter,” just one of nearly 30 tracks that will feature in the White Stripes’ doc about their odd 2007 tour of Canada, a trek that featured impromptu performances on fishing boats, public buses and elementary school classrooms.

Relive the tour with our White Stripes’ Canadian Adventure photo gallery.

In addition to the theatrical dates below, the White Stripes are also inviting their fans to host their own screenings on March 16th, which the band has dubbed “White Stripes Day.” People who apply to host a screening will receive a kit featuring a DVD of UGWNL, popcorn and, of course, peppermint swirl candy. So far, screenings range from 400-seat theaters to private living room settings. If you want to host your own White Stripes party or watch the film’s trailer, head over to the official site (applications are due by March 10th). Otherwise, see Under Great White North Lights on the big screen at one of the fine movie houses below.

March 3rd
MINNEAPOLIS – Sound Unseen @ 6:00pm, 7:45pm and 9:45pm
TORONTO, Ontario – The Royal Theatre @ 9:00pm

March 4th
PORTLAND – Mcmenamin’s Bagdad Theater @ 7:00pm
TORONTO, Ontario – The Royal Theatre @ 7:00pm
SYDNEY, NOVA SCOTIA — Cape Breton Island Film Series and East Coast Music Awards at Empire Theatre @ 9:30 pm

March 8th
PHILADELPHIA – Trocadero Theatre @ 6:45pm
CHICAGO – The Music Box @ 7:30pm

March 9th
LOS ANGELES – The Egyptian Theater @ 8:00pm

March 10th
NEW YORK CITY – IFC Center @ 8:00pm
ATLANTA – The Plaza Theatre @ 7:30pm
OTTAWA, ONTARIO – Mayfair Theatre @ 9pm

March 11th
SAN FRANCISCO – Variety Screening Room @ 6:30pm
NEW YORK CITY – IFC Center @ 7:00pm and 9:00pm
DETROIT – Burton Theater @ 9:00pm
OTTAWA, ONTARIO – Mayfair Theatre @ 9pm

March 12th
WASHINGTON DC – AFI Silver Theatre & Cultural Center @ 9:30pm
AUSTIN – SXSW Film Festival Premiere, Paramount Theater @ 10:00pm
EDMONTON, Alberta – Metro Cinema in the Citadel Theatre @ 9:00pm

March 13th
SALT LAKE CITY – Tower Theater @ 7:00pm
BOSTON – Brattle Theater @ 9:45pm
EDMONTON, Alberta – Metro Cinema in the Citadel Theatre @ 9:30pm
KANSAS CITY – Screenland Armour @ 7 and 9pm

March 14th
EDMONTON, Alberta – Metro Cinema in the Citadel Theatre @ 9:00pm
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan – Broadway Cinema @ 7:00pm

March 15th
SAN FRANCISCO – Roxie Theater @ 9:45pm

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Gorillaz premiered their new video for Plastic Beach’s “Stylo” last night on YouTube, revealing that the band known for its savvy musical cameos is adept at recruiting Hollywood talent for its videos, too. In “Stylo,” Bruce Willis, in John McClane mode, plays a badass bounty hunter pursuing the Gorillaz gang in a high-speed chase down a desert highway. The video kicks off with the animated troupe on the run following some sort of crime — their car is bullet-ridden and Damon Albarn’s 2D is wearing the clown mask that the Joker wore in the opening bank robbery scene from The Dark Knight.

After avoiding the police — Noodle takes out a cruiser with a shotgun — Willis picks up their scent, and what follows is a furious ride down the highway paced by the electro beat of “Stylo.” Willis spends a lot of time hamming it up for the cameras and Albarn’s creative partner Jamie Hewlett have transformed the Gorillaz from animated cells to full-bodied CGI characters capable of inhabiting our world, but given that the visual has always been just as important to Gorillaz as the audio, this clip is a more than worthwhile introduction to the world of Plastic Beach. (Thanks to EMI’s “no embed” policy, you need to visit YouTube” to watch it.)

Plastic Beach isn’t due out in the States until next week, but you can stream the album in its entirety on NPR.org. Plus, Rolling Stone’s take on Gorillaz’ third album is available now, and Rob Sheffield writes in his three-and-a-half star review, “Plastic Beach is not as pop as the first two Gorillaz albums — there aren’t any go-for-the-throat dance tunes in the style of ‘Dare,’ ‘Feel Good Inc.’ or ‘19-2000.’ But it peaks high.”

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It was exactly 41 years ago tonight that a very inebriated Jim Morrison took the stage at Miami’s Dinner Key Auditorium, mumbled his way through a couple songs by the Doors, and propositioned a frustrated audience of 13,000 with the infamous line, “Do you wanna see my cock?” What happened next is rock & roll history: Morrison, who boozed heavily prior to the incident at a pair of airports on his way to the show, allegedly flashed the audience for a fraction of a second — but it was a moment that continues to resonate four decades later.

The subsequent media outrage resulted in the Miami D.A. charging Morrison with a felony count of “lewd and lascivious” behavior, plus three misdemeanor counts including indecent exposure and being shit-faced onstage. It wasn’t until a month later that Morrison finally surrendered to the charges. Over a year after the incident, Morrison was ultimately found guilty of two of the misdemeanors but escaped the felony charge, and was later sentenced to six months and 60 days of hard labor. After appealing the sentence, Morrison, on bail, went to Paris, where he passed away in July 1971, the charges against him never resolved. For more on the Lizard King’s trial, which featured some in-depth testimony regarding Morrison’s trousers, check out the Smoking Gun.

To pay tribute to one of the most outrageous onstage antics in rock, Rolling Stone looks back at some more infamous concert moments, from Ozzy’s bat-biting to Jimi’s legendary guitar-lighting ceremony. Also, be sure to check our gallery of great moments in the history of Crotch Rock.

Ozzy Osbourne decapitates a bat with his mouth.

L7 toss a tampon at Reading 1992

Jimi Hendrix lights his guitar on fire at Monterey Pop.

OK Go’s insanely complex video for Of the Blue Colour of the Sky single “This Too Shall Pass” will finally make its (embeddable!) premiere tonight at 7 pm EST, but before the band reveals their latest viral achievement, Rolling Stone has another behind-the-scenes clip from the video’s construction site in a Los Angeles warehouse.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, for their second “This Too Shall Pass” clip, OK Go and the geniuses over at Syyn Labs and MIT’s Media Lab created a two-story-tall Rube Goldberg-esque structure. Picture that old board game Mouse Trap and multiply it by several thousand. In our short exclusive clip, we present a blooper from the contraption’s test run, with a tetherball somehow figuring in to the grand scheme.

Given the amount of time and effort OK Go put into the video, it should come as no surprise that frontman Damian Kulash was adamant that his label EMI disregard their own “No Embedding” policy so that “This Too Shall Pass” can be distributed freely throughout the Internet, much like the band’s star-making treadmill vid for “Here It Goes Again” in 2006. Kulash successfully pleaded his case, both in the band’s blog and in the New York Times. Be sure to check back here later tonight to catch OK Go’s new viral video, and until then, enjoy the blooper above and OK Go’s making-of video here.

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On Tuesday, the Postelles will unleash a four-track EP called White Night, which features production by the Strokes’ Albert Hammond Jr. and a remix by Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor. Like the Strokes, the band’s members met in high school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side but soon adopted a downtown musical mentality that captured Hammond’s ear. “They found a cool sound reminiscent of the late Fifties, early Sixties that I really liked, but they had their own take on it,” the guitarist told us when we joined him in the studio with the Postelles last year. Rolling Stone has described their aesthetic as a meld of the Strokes and and the Knack.

Watch bassist John Speyer and drummer Billy Cadden at work with their Strokes mentor in our exclusive studio footage above, as they muse on their influences and how they gel on their new tracks. Plus, grab “White Night” for the cost of your e-mail address here:

For the past two nights, a large, partially-washed army has descended on New York’s Radio City Music Hall (directly across the street from the Rolling Stone offices) for a pair of Furthur shows. Our intrepid videographer Matthew Murphy questioned the masses about their life following the Dead and love of LSD, and boarded an awesome school bus for a Cribs-style tour (guess where they keep the bathroom?). He also met the vehicle’s awesome driver Randy, a 40-year road vet who gets misty recalling his best years chasing live music across the country.

We all know Ke$ha as the glitter-loving, Paisley Park-crashing party-starter behind the record-breaking smash single “TiK ToK.” But long before she jammed a dollar-sign in her name, she was simply Kesha Sebert: a Radiohead-loving 13-year-old who sang the band’s “Karma Police” at a junior high school talent show. Yes, we now have visual evidence that before she was a glammed-out Hot 100 princess, Ke$ha was an awkward, angsty teen singing OK Computer songs in an auditorium full of her peers. Stars, they’re just like us.

The performance probably isn’t good enough to get her into Hollywood Week if it were an American Idol audition, but it’s sure as hell better than 90 percent of the versions we’ve heard at karaoke bars over the past few years. In a move that shows wisdom beyond her years, Ke$ha also wisely changes the original lyric “Hitler hairdo” to “Hateful hairdo,” as the line likely would not have went over well with the Nashville school’s PTA.

Now that you’ve seen Ke$ha-then, watch Ke$ha-now battle it out versus douchebags (she told us she hates those!) with her new clip for “Blah Blah Blah,” featuring 3Oh!3. Plus, be sure to check out our exclusive video interview where Ke$ha asks Ke$ha the hard questions about loving Bob Dylan, her Ke$hawood prank and her upcoming tour.

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• Party Animal: Behind Ke$ha’s Big Debut

Who: Nigerian-German artist whose raspy voice, deft rapping and soulful grooves helped her land a Euro club hit with “Heartbeat” last year. Her skills have made fans of Lenny Kravitz and the Roots, who backed her at a New York show.

Sounds Like: Nneka’s U.S. debut Concrete Jungle pits hip-hop beats and Afro-funk grooves against lyrics about racism, colonial powers and slavery. On the roots-reggae cut “Africans” she sings “We use the same hatreds to oppress our own brothers.” “Heartbeat” is a pulsing tribal-funk anthem that doubles as a plea for the world not to ignore Africa’s problems.

Vital Stats:

• Nneka, 29, grew up listening to her dad’s Fela Kuti records in Warri, Nigeria, where “there was a lot of corruption and poverty.” As a result, she’s always been drawn to social-conscience music rather than love songs. “I like songs with a message,” she says. “I’m conscious about making change in this world.”

• At 19, she moved to Hamburg, Germany, to study anthropology and started rapping at open-mike nights. “I wasn’t courageous enough to sing,” she said. “But the German mentality was different than what I was used to, and I felt isolated. Singing became my therapy.”

• This summer Nneka will hit the road with the revamped Lilith Fair alongside artists like Mary J. Blige, Sheryl Crow and Tegan and Sara. “I’m bringing the African vibe, man,” she says.

Get It Now: Check out Nneka’s video for “Heartbeat” up top and more from Concrete Jungle on her MySpace.

In our current issue, Rolling Stone profiles TV’s biggest superfreak, Tracy Morgan. After sitting down with the 30 Rock star and hearing about how his wild nights as alter ego Chico Divine nearly killed him, Jason Gay compiled a rundown of Morgan’s greatest clips, from Brian Fellow and Tracy Jordan to his own wacky self.

30 Rock’s Tracy Jordan in Therapy
One the most stupefyingly politically incorrect sitcom scenes made since Archie Bunker left town, this moment shows the incongruous 30 Rock comedy team of Alec Baldwin and Morgan at their lunatic heights. “Alec is one of the five greatest actors of all time,” says Morgan. “He’s a five-tool player. He can run, catch, throw — all of it.”

Tracy Morgan Versus Ben Wallace
This 2005 ESPN campaign also featured spots with football star Warren Sapp and hockey’s Jeremy Roenick, but we’re partial to this ad with hoop hero Ben Wallace, then of Detroit, in which Morgan plays a stalkery fan with a wandering eye. “People wrote that role, but I said, ‘We have to do something different with this guy,’” Morgan says. “So I got the bad eye and the big gut.”

Tracy Morgan on El Paso Morning TV
Perhaps you were forwarded this old 2007 clip of Morgan appearing on a Texas TV morning show; it’s gotten more than a million and a half hits. People thought Morgan was under the influence, but the man himself says it’s simply Tracy being Tracy. “I wasn’t drunk,” Morgan says. “People thought that. But I wasn’t. I was being funny.”

Tracy Morgan as Brian Fellow
An inspired but deeply under-appreciated SNL character, Fellow was not an “accredited zoologist” but “simply an enthusiastic young man with a 6th grade education and an abiding love for all of God’s creatures. It’s also an early sign of Morgan’s hard-to-pigeonhole, sui generis style. Check out that lip gloss!

Tracy Morgan on Letterman
Morgan at his rambling, all-over-the-place best — swerving from the Wolfman to Oprah to the Winter Olympics to his transgender cousin Kevin to claiming he’s the child of Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick. Dave’s in love.

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah
You didn’t know 30 Rock’s Tracy Jordan recorded a novelty hit? Here it is in full glory (sadly, it’s just audio with a few photos)

Over a year after the release of Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak, the video for the album’s penultimate track “Coldest Winter,” Kanye’s take on Tears for Fears’ “Memories Fade,” debuted this morning on director Nabil Elderkin’s Vimeo page. As Rolling Stone previously reported, Elderkin, who helmed 808s‘ “Paranoid” and “Welcome to Heartbreak” videos as well, also photographed Kanye’s massive Glow in the Dark tour and released a book of stunning images from the show. The video for “Coldest Winter” depicts a young woman running through a darkened forest as hooded creatures that look like those soul-sucking specters from the Harry Potter films pursue her. West does not appear in the video.

“It’s pretty minimalistic,” Elderkin told MTV. “It’s slow and very visual. I just wanted to catch the vibe of the song and not get too literal. Because the lyrics are very close to Kanye and go much deeper than the video goes, obviously hearing the song you know it’s very emotional.” Like the video for “Paranoid,” the “Coldest Winter” clip features a new mix of the song, making the soundtrack of the video gloomier and more foreboding than the version that originally appeared on 808s. The video is available for purchase now on iTunes.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, director Spike Jonze teamed with West to create an awesome short film called “We Were Once a Fairytale” using 808s‘ “See You In My Nightmares.”

Related Stories:

• Spike Jonze Talks Kanye’s “We Were Once A Fairytale” Short Film
• Inside a Kanye West Tour: “Glow in the Dark” Photos, Backstage Tales
• Kanye West Unleashes “Paranoid” Video, Vows Return to Rap

Photo: Rose/WireImage

OK Go’s very public fight with their label over the fate of their music videos reached the pages of the New York Times this weekend as the group’s lead singer Damien Kulash penned an op-ed piece detailing how EMI’s “no embedding stance” has affected the band’s popularity and income. As Rolling Stone previously reported, at the heart of the battle is OK Go’s desire to make their upcoming music video for Of the Blue Colour of the Sky’s “This Too Shall Pass” an embeddable YouTube clip, even though EMI bans embeds because the label only gets royalties when viewers actually visit YouTube. Kulash previously authored an open letter to EMI objecting to their policy.

OK Go’s first hit was their video for “Here It Goes Again,” which the band filmed with their own money. The clip went on to become one of the most viewed music videos of the decade, thanks in large part to the blog community that embedded it on their sites. However, EMI eventually changed course and yanked the embeds. “The numbers are shocking: When EMI disabled the embedding feature, views of our treadmill video dropped 90 percent, from about 10,000 per day to just over 1,000,” Kulash writes in the Times. “Our last royalty statement from the label, which covered six months of streams, shows a whopping $27.77 credit to our account.”

The band will debut their second video for their single “This Too Shall Pass” on March 1st. (Watch a behind-the-scenes clip of the viral video here.) The single’s first video, which featured the group walking through a field dressed as a marching band, is currently posted on YouTube, but remains unembeddable. “In these tight times, it’s no surprise that EMI is trying to wring revenue out of everything we make, including our videos. But it needs to recognize the basic mechanics of the Internet,” Kulash writes in conclusion. “Curbing the viral spread of videos isn’t benefiting the company’s bottom line, or the music it’s there to support. The sooner record companies realize this, the better — though I fear it may already be too late.”

Related Stories:

• OK Go Hire Big Brains for “This Too Shall Pass” Video: Watch a Clip
• OK Go Struggle With Label’s Rules Banning Embedded Video
• OK Go Channel “Purple Rain” On Funky January LP “Of the Blue Colour of the Sky”

“We Are the World 25″ may have set a record for most celebrities in a single music video, but Vampire Weekend still give it the ol’ Ivy League try with their new clip for Contra’s “Giving Up the Gun.” Wu-Tang’s RZA, Jake Gyllenhaal, Lil Jon and Jonas Brother Joe all make cameos in the “Gun” video, which premiered today on Spinner. Directed by the Malloys, “Giving Up the Gun” finds Vampire Weekend soundtracking a tennis tournament staged in what appears to be the skeleton from Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” set.

VW friend Jenny Murray plays the tennis pro who faces off against the likes of blonde-haired twins, a samurai, two guys who might be Daft Punk, Joe Jonas and a boozing, short shorts-wearing Gyllenhaal. RZA naturally presides over the games as the line judge, while Lil Jon pops up toward the end to offer up a French-subtitled pep talk to Murray when the redhead is forced to play her doppelganger in the finals. We won’t ruin the ending for you, but Murray wins.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, VW’s Contra debuted at Number One on the Billboard 200, so it’s no surprise that all the celebs involved would want to get some face time in their latest video. Give these kids a couple years and they’ll be ready to steal the red carpet record back from “We Are the World 25.”

Related Stories:

• Vampire Weekend Celebrate “Contra” With Energetic L.A. Gig
• On the Charts: Vampire Weekend’s “Contra” Ends Ke$ha’s Brief Reign

A trio of new videos hit the Web today: Paramore’s “The Only Exception,” Avril Lavigne’s contribution to the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack “Alice,” and the Jack White-directed clip for the Black Belles’ “What Can I Do?” What do they have in common? Not much. (And Jack’s Belles clip is somehow darker than Lavigne’s “Alice.”) Check all three out and name the most artistically dazzling in the comments.

Paramore – “The Only Exception”

Avril Lavigne – “Alice”

The Black Belles – “What Can I Do?”

Rolling Stone has documented OK Go’s woes regarding viral video — their label’s new policy regarding embeddable clips has made it difficult to land another treadmill smash — but the crew hasn’t given up. The video for “This Too Shall Pass” from their latest disc Of the Blue Colour of the Sky will premiere Monday, March 1st, and it will indeed be embeddable. In the meantime, they’re offering up sneak peeks behind the high-concept clip in a series of outtake reels.

The premise for the new video? “Nerds + Rock Band.” The crew teamed up with physicists from Synn Labs — folks who work with a little organization called NASA — and big brains from MIT’s famous Media Lab to construct some sort of Rube Goldberg machine in a Los Angeles warehouse that measures two stories high. What the machine will do remains a question. But so far we know this: “I am a bigtime nerd lover and most of my friends are mega-geeks,” frontman Damian Kulash says.

Check back on March 1st for a second video that’ll lead you to the full clip.

After catching Rolling Stone’s eye at SXSW last year, San Diego garage rockers the Soft Pack (formerly the Muslims) have returned with their debut self-titled full-length album and an acoustic set in our offices. Click up top to check out “More or Less” and watch “Down on Loving” and “Come On” after the jump.

“Down On Loving”

“Come On”

[Video: Eric Helton/Matthew Murphy; Editing: Matthew Murphy]

In this week’s New Music Report, we present another segment of Christian Rock, where Rolling Stone contributing editor Christian Hoard tells you what’s been on constant repeat on his stereo. This week, it’s the Magnetic Fields’ eighth album Realism in the spotlight. Featuring the witty and sardonic songwriting of Stephin Merritt, the man who gave us the massive 69 Love Songs, Realism is an unofficial sequel of sorts to 2008’s Distortion. While that album was built on feedback and Jesus & Mary Chain-esque songs, Realism explores the more tuneful, acoustic — but not folk — side of the Magnetic Fields. For more on Realism, and to hear the tracks “You Must Be Out of Your Mind” and “We Are Having a Hootenanny,” check out this week’s New Music Report up top.

Catch up with all of Rolling Stone’s album reviews.

>>Watch every episode of our weekly New Music Report video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Tuesday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

Who: Christofer Drew, a 19-year-old Missouri native whose lovelorn tracks, soft, high voice (and Pete Wentz-style skinny jeans) are making underage girls swoon. He was signed by Warner Bros. after being discovered on MySpace and releasing three EPs, and his first disc What Is Love? debuted at Number 24 on the Top 200.

Sounds Like: The tunes on Drew’s full-length (which he cut with producer Butch Walker) blend emo and folk into airy, heartbroken acoustic tracks like “Jane Doe” (where he crushes on pretty waitresses) and “Can’t Stand It” (where he gushes about girls who are “superduper cute”).

Vital Stats:

• Drew’s original aspirations weren’t musical, but athletic: his dad was grooming him to be a tennis pro, but a shoulder injury made him focus on the Bob Dylan tunes his father taught him on guitar. At 14 he wrote his first song after his best friend ditched him for a girl.

• Another heartbreak — his girlfriend cheated on him — set off a rough patch for Drew. He dropped out of high school, got kicked out of his parents’ house and road-tripped across the Midwest playing coffee shops and churches where “There were, like, 20 kids at each show. But I’d make $50 — enough for gas to the next place.”

• Drew says he recently got into Taoism after reading The Tao of Pooh, and he strives to live the simple life. “I like to go to Waffle House and read, drink coffee and smoke cigarettes all day,” he says. “I’m trying to be artistic.”

Get It Now: Click up top to watch Never Shout Never’s video for “What Is Love?”