If there's a she-wolf in your closet, go ahead and put a party hat on her, as today is Shakira's birthday. The Colombia-born singer turns 33 years old today. Born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, she has been putting out albums since 1995 but made her big English-speaking crossover in 2001 with Laundry Service. That album boasted two giant singles in "Whenever, Wherever" and "Underneath Your Clothes," and it's been nothing but massive hits for Shakira since. Her most recent album, 2009's She Wolf, contained the title track (one of the finest tunes of 2009) and the current hit "Give It Up to Me" (which features Lil Wayne).
Shakira recently participated in the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon, where she performed a rollicking cover of the Pretenders' "I'll Stand By You." She has been quite hands-on with her Haiti support, as she has pledged to open a school there to help the youngest victims of the earthquake. Her charity organization — called the Barefoot Foundation — has teamed up with Architecture for Humanity for the project.
But as much as she takes pride in her philanthropic work, it's her music that makes people shake around and puts people in the seats of her sold-out concerts. She Wolf is a remarkable tour de force, full of sugary pop, tough-sounding hip-hop inflected R&B and punch dance tracks, all centered around her dynamic and unusual voice. And of course, there's the video for "She Wolf," which is really how you should start every day.
Sunday night's (January 31) Grammy Awards delivered a number of memorable moments that involved some of music's biggest stars getting together for once-in-a-lifetime collaborations. There was the all-star hip-hop tag-team of Lil Wayne, Eminem and Drake, the blow-away show opener starring Lady Gaga and Elton John and the team-up of Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks on the Fleetwood Mac classic "Rhiannon." But perhaps the most notable collaboration of the night featured a star who was entirely absent.
In the midst of Beyoncé's tear-down-the-house performance of "If I Were a Boy," she segued into Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know," a Grammy-winning classic in its own right. It's not the first time that Ms. Knowles has busted the tune out live (she often drops it into her live set), but Sunday night's performance was the first time it got a national television audience. The song, originally recorded by Morissette for her breakout 1995 album Jagged Little Pill, is one of the great angry girl anthems of the '90s. (Fun fact: It was originally written about Morissette's ex-boyfriend, former "Full House" star Dave Coulier.) The track won two Grammys in 1996 (Best Rock Song and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance) but lost the Song of the Year race to Seal's "Kiss From a Rose" (the only decent thing to come out of the terrible film "Batman Forever"). Jagged Little Pill also took home the prizes for Best Rock Album and Album of the Year, an amazing feat for an album so aggressive and caustic.
Morissette's music and image have mellowed profoundly since then, but the savagery of "You Oughta Know" remains bracing and exciting. Beyoncé picked an excellent tune to resurrect, and it gives everybody the excuse to watch the great video all over again.
They say second place is the first loser ("they" being thick-necked high school lacrosse players), but coming up short has worked out pretty well for Adam Lambert, who celebrates his birthday today. The 28-year-old singer from San Diego, California stormed the eighth season of "American Idol" and wowed fans with his combination of Broadway belting and glam rock sensibilities.
Since falling just shy of an "Idol" victory to the deserving Kris Allen, Lambert has kept his profile high. He released his debut album For Your Entertainment, came out on the cover of Rolling Stone, dropped at least one amazing video (for the "2012" soundtrack song "Time for Miracles") and delivered a performance at the American Music Awards that got censors (and the ABC network) all hot and bothered.
As MTV News "American Idol" expert Jim Cantiello has pointed out in the past, the "Idol"-related albums from the show's season eight contestants were remarkably solid (including those by Allen and Allison Iraheta), and Lambert's For Your Entertainment may be the best of all of them. It's full of rock riffs, futuristic pop, nods to glam and some top-shelf collaborators, including Lady Gaga, Justin Hawkins of the Darkness, Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, Linda Perry and Pink. The latter provided Lambert with his current single "Whataya Want from Me," a bouncy, melody-heavy tune that shows off the dynamic range of Lambert's voice while also straddling his pure pop and heavy rock sensibilities. The video, which was directed by Diane Martel (Britney Spears' "3," the White Stripes' "Conquest," Justin Timberlake's "Like I Love You"), also happens to be one of the best clips ever produced by a former "Idol" contestant.
What would you get Adam Lambert for his birthday? Leave your ideas in the comments!
It's impolite to reveal a lady's age, but Sarah McLachlan is a progressive woman, so she'll probably feel OK about turning 42 years old today. The Canadian singer-songwriter has carved out an impressive career building ethereal tunes that borrow from rock, folk, straight pop and worldwide rhythmic influences.
Though her 1997 album Surfacing sold over eight million copies and spawned the hits "Angel," "Adia" and "Building a Mystery," McLachlan's calling card is probably Lilith Fair, the traveling summer festival she created in 1997 as a way to showcase female musicians. The original Lilith Fair — which featured huge names like Jewel, Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, Laryn Hill and the Dixie Chicks — ran for three years at the tail end of the '90s, only to go into hibernation when the concert world shifted more to European-style multi-day destination festivals like Coachella and Bonnaroo. But Lilith Fair will make its triumphant return this summer, with McLachlan again at the helm. The new festival will feature an eclectic mix of superstars, including Mary J. Blige, Miranda Lambert, Ke$ha, Erykah Badu and Colbie Caillat.
In addition to the new Lilith Fair, McLachlan has been busy working on a new album and also cut a new song — called "One Dream" — that will serve as a theme song to the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver (the same city McLachlan calls home). It's a sweet tune, though it pales in comparison to the signature entry in McLachlan's catalog. Since "I Will Remember You" was released in 1995, it has scored countless graduation videos, memorials for fallen friends and season finale montages on teen television dramas (that means you, "Dawson's Creek"). It's overtly sentimental, but it's also a gorgeous melody.
You'd never know it based on media coverage, but one of the most exciting tennis tournaments in ages is currently happening right now in Melbourne, Australia. The Australian Open is typically difficult for Americans to follow because it's happening on the opposite side of the Earth, but so far, there have been a handful of upsets and some excellent performances from Justine Henin and top seed Serena Williams.
Back in 1996, the Australian Open served as the stage for an emotional comeback for Monica Seles, who was crowned champion of the tournament on this day 14 years ago. Not only was it the ninth Grand Slam win for the 22-year-old Seles, but it was her first since getting stabbed in the middle of a match in one of the most harrowing incidents in the history of organized sports. Back in 1993, Seles was squaring off against Magdalena Maleeva in a tournament in Hamburg, Germany. In the middle of the match, a man named Gunther Parche stormed the court and stabbed Seles in the back with a 10-inch blade. (The psychologically unstable Parche said he did it so Seles wouldn't take the top ranking away from Steffi Graf, Parche's favorite player.)
Seles took two years off from professional tennis, derailing what could have been a record-breaking career (she was on her way to becoming the most successful teenage pro in history). Still, she fought her way back, winning the first tournament she entered upon her return and getting to the finals of the U.S. Open in 1995. Her victory in Australia capped off an incredible comeback that the members of Shout Out Louds can certainly get behind.
Band names are difficult. Some of them are naturally iconic and sound instantly classic, like U2, Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath. Others sound legendary only because the bands transcended them (yesterday, Chris Jericho pointed out that Audioslave really doesn't work without those particular band members, and is there really a sillier band name than the Beatles?). Still others never quite get there (no matter how many records they sold or big-time shows they headlined, Limp Bizkit will always sound kind of dumb; same goes for you, Stone Temple Pilots). When Eddie Van Halen and his brother Alex got together to form a band, they luckily didn't have to look past their surname for any further inspiration. Sure, there was a bit of ego in it, but David Lee Roth always liked to point out that "Van Halen" also sounded like some sort of hydrogen bomb, which was appropriate for the group's brand of explosive, stadium-filling metal that made them the biggest band in the world for a few years.
Eddie Van Halen turns 55 years old today, and he's really just moving into the prime of his life. His band is back together (featuring original singer Roth and son Wolfgang Van Halen on bass), he just got married to longtime girlfriend Janie Liszewski last year, the truly amazing "Guitar Hero: Van Halen" was recently released and supposedly the reunited group is going to have a go at new music following their ultra-successful tour. Like Hendrix and Clapton before him, Van Halen's guitar playing completely redefined what could be done with the instrument (just listen to all the different sounds he is able to make on "Eruption," from the band's self-titled 1978 debut). He also made it cool for serious rock bands to dabble in keyboards (there's no better synthesizer jam on the planet than "Jump"). But he mainly trafficked in big molten slabs of riffage, like the line on "Unchained," one of the group's signature shout-alongs.
Though he has spent the last few years performing under his own name and in the supergroup Monsters of Folk (which also includes M. Ward from She & Him and My Morning Jacket's Jim James), Conor Oberst first made his bones as the brain, voice and songwriting behind Bright Eyes. The native of Omaha, Nebraska, started recording albums when he was only 13 years old but saw his big crossover breakout come in 2002 with Lifted or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground. He followed that up with what will probably go down as his most audacious project. On this day in 2005, Oberst released two albums under the Bright Eyes name. The first was a more traditional album called I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, while the other was an album of electronic music experiments called Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (one of the greatest album titles ever).
Though most fans gravitated towards I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning because it sounded more like Lifted, Digital Ash in a Digital Urn remains one of the great underrated albums of the first decade of the 21st century. Equal parts twitchy beats and moody keyboard moans, the album finds Oberst at perhaps his most interior (no small feat considering the nature of the dude's lyrics). "Time Code" opens things up with a bit of robot rock, and "I Believe in Symmetry" brings some impressive Kraftwerkian darkness. But the true highlight of the album is the single "Easy/Lucky/Free," which casually combines large helpings of psychedelic rock and wheezy moans from a variety of machines.
There was a time when boxing was the most significant and talked-about sport on the American landscape, rivaling baseball for the predominant focus of attention in the world of athletics. Too many championship belts and scandals (along with the rise of other fight sports, especially mixed martial arts) have knocked boxing down a few pegs, but there is still fervor surrounding the biggest match-ups. For example, the fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao promised to be one of the biggest events of all time (until it was undone by drug testing minutiae).
In fact, it may have rivaled one of the biggest fights in history. On this date in 1973, George Foreman knocked out the heavily-favored Joe Frazier in under five minutes to win the heavyweight championship. Though Foreman was four inches taller and slightly heavier than Frazier, the boxing world didn't give Foreman much of a chance, especially considering the champ had never lost a professional fight. Frazier was supposed to plow through Foreman and then fight a rematch with the legendary Muhammad Ali.
But Foreman wasn't having it. He came roaring out of his corner, immediately pounding Frazier with uppercuts and hooks, knocking him down multiple times in the very first round. By the second, Frazier was staggered, and by the time the final shot lifted him off the mat, the referee called for the bell and awarded Foreman the championship via TKO. Foreman went on to fight Ali in Zaire in the famous "Rumble in the Jungle," where Ali handed Foreman his first professional loss and regained his heavyweight title. In honor of these titans of pugilistic poetry, we salute them with the Bouncing Souls' "Fight to Live."
Right now is the best time to be a film fan, as the Oscars are coming up (so the best films from last year will get their props) and the annual Sundance Film Festival is about to kick off (so we can find out what we'll be saluting at the Oscars next year). But today also marks a dubious anniversary in cinema history. On this day in 1916, the National Board of Censorship (which later became known as the National Board of Review) banned all nudity in films. The industry watchdog group, comprised mostly of film fans policing studio policies and content, had faced accusations of being far too liberal since its inception in 1909. The nudity ban was meant to be a dramatic shift towards a more conservative outlook on film content. The National Board of Review's power over content lessened in the 1920s, though their stamp of approval appeared on movies well into the 1950s in the era before film ratings. Along they way, they shifted from a censorship body to more of a cultural institution, launching publications on the art of film and underwriting educational seminars and programs about the history and importance of the populist art.
The nudity ban didn't last very long, clearing the way for the careers of Ewan McGregor and Jennifer Connelly. While it's too-often used as a crutch for bringing teens into cinemas (as in slasher movies and teen sex comedies), nudity can be an incredibly effective tool in a variety of cinema styles (especially in America, where we sometimes seem stuck in Puritanism). As a celebration of nudity on film (and naked people in general), check out the Woodie Award-winning "Lessons Learned" from Matt and Kim.
Be sure to follow the MTV Movies Blog for updates on Sundance.
A year ago, on a frosty afternoon in Washington, D.C., history was made when Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. The freezing temperatures didn't stop thousands from gathering to see the man sworn in, and for at least one afternoon, the country was overcome with the spirit of hope, opportunity and optimism that Obama so deftly preached during his campaign against Republican candidate John McCain.
In the year hence, it's been a bumpy ride for Obama. The economy remains problematic, the health care system is still broken, we remain embroiled in two wars and the president's approval rating is down 18 points (as John Stewart joked on Tuesday night's episode of "The Daily Show," the only boost Obama got all year was from Bo, the First Dog).
But his term is four years, and there is still plenty of time to right the ship. His response to the devastation in Haiti has been swift and worthy of the leader of the free world, and the health care bill still could be an agent of change (though that's admittedly a long shot). If the Obama era has nothing else going for it, at least there has been some excellent music produced in the name of the president (I still have a hard time thinking about the president without EPMD's "Blow" — which contains the lyric "I'll Barack O-bomb-ya" — running through my head). So on his one year anniversary, the President Obama can at least feel good that he inspired what may be Young Jeezy's finest tune.