Singer also says there may be up to 20 new songs on the new album.
By James Dinh
Lady Gaga
Photo: Paul Morigi/ WireImage
It has been months since Lady Gaga first started hyping her forthcoming album, Born This Way, and the pop visionary recently raised the stakes. During a Monster Ball tour performance in Poland on Friday, the always bold singer promised fans that she'd deliver "the greatest album of this decade," with possibly up to 20 new tracks. She also revealed that Born This Way doesn't follow current trends.
"I promise you, I'll never let you down. And not for nothing: The album's finished and it's f---ing really good," Gaga tearfully told the audience, who simultaneous held up signs that read "Born This Way" backward. "So whatever this is, whatever you just did for all of us ... I promise to give you the greatest album of this decade, just for you."
The singer, who is prepping a promotional campaign for the album, also touched base on what sounds like a possible dig at her pop competitors, saying, "The funny thing is that some people have reduced freedom to a brand. They think that it's trendy now to be free. They think it's trendy to be excited about your identity. When in truth, there is nothing trendy about Born This Way."
Describing the new album as "a spirit" and "this connection that we all share," the pop star confessed that her new music "is something so much deeper than a wig or lipstick or an outfit, or a f---ing meat dress. ... Born This Way is about what keeps us up at night and what makes us afraid."
Gaga isn't the only who has been talking up the new material, as everyone from the singer's manager, Akon, Elton John and Monster Ball opening act Semi Precious Weapons have also gushed about the album.
While the songstress told the crowd that the LP will consist of mostly "f---ing sledge-hammering dance," she's still unsure of the length of Born This Way, but plans to give fans as much music as possible.
"I'm still deciding, the album could be longer than you would imagine ... I'm not sure," she said. "I can't decide, really, because I think that times are different, you know. It used to be kind of a faux pas to put out too much music on your album, but I feel like you guys deserve all of the records I do, 'cause I work hard on them. So who knows, you might get, like, 20 new Gaga songs."
Do you think Gaga's new album will live up to her promise? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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Them Crooked Vultures make their debut with a post-Lollapalooza set.
By James Montgomery
Dave Grohl (file)
Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Officially, Lollapalooza ended Sunday night in Chicago's Grant Park, with dueling sets from the Killers and Jane's Addiction. Unofficially, it ended very early Monday morning, across town at venerable rock club the Metro, with a surprise show by Them Crooked Vultures.
To the unfamiliar, the Vultures might seem like an odd choice to close out Lolla weekend ... until you realize that they're made up of Foo Fighters frontman/ former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age mastermind Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin legend John Paul Jones. And their gig at the Metro was their world premiere.
According to some reports, the Vultures actually turned down Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell's request to replace the Beastie Boys as headliners at the festival, opting to debut in front of some 1,100 super-psyched fans at the Metro, rather than 75,000 in Grant Park (tickets for the gig were announced via Foo Fighter/ QOTSA fan clubs). Meaning that, in a lot of ways, this was the most sought-after ticket in town.
Taking the stage just after midnight, the Vultures — Grohl on drums (of course), Homme on guitar and vocals, Jones on bass and keys and frequent QOTSA contributor Alain Johannes on guitar — ripped through 12 songs in 80 minutes, all taken from their upcoming debut, which may or may not be called Never Deserved the Future, and may or may not be hitting stores on October 23 (early "promo" videos touting both those facts were revealed over the weekend to be hoaxes perpetrated by QOTSA fans).
The songs, with appropriately Homme-ian titles like "Scumbag Blues," "Mind Eraser (No Chaser)," "Caligulove" and "Interlude w/Ludes," sounded pretty much how you'd expect, given the band's pedigree. They rocked, hard — Chicago Tribune critic Greg Kot described them as "fresh, invigorating and just plain nasty" — delving off into psychedelic, reverb-filled excursions and exploring proggy territory, "both of the old-school Yes variety, and the more modern Tool flavor," according to the Chicago Sun-Times' Jim DeRogatis.
It's not known if Monday's Metro performance was a one-off event for the Vultures — there have been whispers of a full-blown tour, but a spokesperson for Homme had not responded to MTV News' request for comment at press time. Nor was it clear whether or not they'll have an album out in October.
Early Monday, a Crooked Vultures Twitter account, which had previously posted links to the band's official-looking Web site and the Metro's online ticketing site — posted a link to what appears to be the group's first bit of official merchandise: a Deserve the Future T-shirt. Cost: $30.
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When asked what she missed most about her father, Paris responded, 'Everything.'
By Gil Kaufman
Katherine Jackson and Oprah Winfrey on Monday's "Oprah Winfrey Show"
Photo: Harpo Productions
In her first major interview since her son Michael Jackson's death last year, Katherine Jackson opened up to Oprah Winfrey on Monday (November 8) during a tearful talk in which she discussed the day her son died, the devastating impact of his 2005 child-molestation trial and the legacy Jackson left for his three young children.
"I don't think I will ever be healed," Katherine said when asked if she believes that time will make things easier. "It will get better, but some days it's like it just happened. ... It hurts. It really hurts."
During the hour-long special, Katherine said her youngest son was "misunderstood" and she had trouble talking about Michael, often tearing up when remembering him.
Michael died June 25, 2009, of a heart attack caused by an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol, and Katherine said she learned of her son's death from his personal doctor, Conrad Murray, after arriving at the hospital. "He came out, and he was talking, and it took him so long." Frustrated, Katherine asked, "Did he make it?" and Murray said, " 'No, he's gone.' That's all I remember," she said, tearing up once more at the memory. She called it the worst day of her life.
Murray has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with Jackson's death, and prosecutors allege that his actions at the mansion Jackson was renting in Los Angeles were grossly negligent and directly caused Jackson's death. Murray has pleaded not guilty.
Though family patriarch Joseph Jackson has discussed his feelings about Murray, Katherine has kept relatively mum on the subject, until now. "Why didn't he take care of my child? Why did he give that [propofol] to him?" she asked. "It's very dangerous; why did he do it? ... I can't accuse him of murder. I don't know if it was accidentally done or it was intentionally done. I don't want to get into that, but I have my thoughts."
She said she'd never heard of propofol before and had no idea Michael was taking prescription drugs to help him sleep. She knew he had taken drugs to treat his burns from an accident during the filming of a 1984 Pepsi commercial and that he had become addicted to those drugs and that his siblings had attempted an intervention at one point. "I spoke to him about [drugs] once, when I had heard it, and he denied it," she said. "I was telling him I didn't want to one day hear that he had overdosed because it would break my heart, it would kill me too. He kept saying he wasn't, saying, 'My own mother don't believe me.' "
In addition to the burns, Katherine said MJ's addiction was fueled by his devastating 2005 child-molestation trial, in which he was acquitted of all charges but not before his career, and public image, were irreparably damaged.
"All his life, he had to go through stuff like this, and they were just lying on him," she said, asserting that she never once questioned his innocence in the matter. "I never thought [he could be guilty of molesting a child], because I know he wouldn't. He loved children, and he was around children all the time ... 'I'd rather slit my own wrists than to hurt a child' — he would always say that."
After the trial, she said, Jackson didn't trust anyone. And now, Katherine is raising his three children — Paris, Prince Michael and Blanket — and she admitted that she didn't approve of the way her son kept their faces shrouded during his life. After a cloistered existence, Katherine said the children are adjusting "very well" to their new life, which includes going to regular schools, playing and camping with their cousins and going out in public.
Along with some cousins, the kids came to visit near the end of the show, with Blanket proving to have inherited his dad's shy nature. Prince Michael said, in addition to loving video games, he wants to produce movies and direct, while a self-assured Paris said she'd like to be an actress after years of improv practice with her dad. Paris said Michael tried to hide his worldwide fame from them but she realized the veils and disguises were to protect them from prying eyes.
While Paris revealed that he was a strict dad (and an excellent cook, whose specialty was French toast), Blanket interjected, "He could get away with anything." When asked what she missed the most about her father, Paris responded, "Everything."
After an initial nose job, Michael began getting a series of surgeries, Katherine said, including ones that made his nose look like a "toothpick." Mostly, though, she said he treated his skin to erase the marks of a condition that made it splotchy.
"He didn't want to start looking 'like a spotted cow,' he said," Katherine recalled of Jackson's skin surgeries to treat his vitiligo. "I don't know what in the world he did to change that, but he did." Her comments appeared to contradict something Jackson himself told Winfrey several years ago when he claimed to have only had two surgeries. "He had more than two; he was just embarrassed," Katherine said.
In a surprise, Katherine was joined by husband Joseph later in the interview, with both refuting rumors that they are estranged or divorced. After years of similar denials, Joe once again asserted that he had never beat Michael. "I don't think he was afraid of me," he said. "I never beat him like the media tried to say. That never happened." Winfrey reminded him that Michael had said in a 1993 interview with her that Joseph had beaten his son, and then he asked her to specify between "beat or whipped."
Joe replied that he was proud that Michael was raised in such a way that he was a beloved, successful singer and not a drug or violence casualty like so many peers from Gary, Indiana. "You might as well admit it: That's the way black people raised their children," Katherine answered. "He used a strap."
Seemingly admitting it, Joseph again said he was proud none of his nine children ever landed in jail, suggesting that his hard hand kept them on the straight-and-narrow. "I don't [regret the beatings]," he said. "It kept them out of jail, and I raised them right and they were good kids."
What did you think of Oprah's interview with the Jackson family? Let us know in the comments.
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'She's obviously a fascinating person,' Anderson Cooper says about time he spent with the pop star.
By Jocelyn Vena
Lady Gaga
Photo: Stephen Lovekin/ Getty Images
For those wondering when that "60 Minutes" interview with Lady Gaga and Anderson Cooper will air, the news anchor announced that it will be broadcast in February 2011, around the time of the Grammy Awards. He also revealed why he wanted to interview the "Bad Romance" singer so badly.
"I was really interested to meet Lady Gaga ... she's obviously a fascinating person," the newsman said in a sit-down with "The Insider." "What's great about '60 Minutes' is you spend a lot of time with the person you're profiling."
Cooper recounted just how much time he got to spend with the singer, who is going to release her new album in early 2011. "So to be able to spend a couple weekends with her in various places over the course of several months, it's really cool," he added. "And it's really interesting and I'm learning stuff about her I never saw before."
Photos and some grainy YouTube footage of the two filming the interview in October found its way online soon after they were spotted in London on the South Bank of the Thames River chatting for the episode. Gaga was wearing a lacy bustier, platform ankle-high boots, fishnet stockings and sunglasses, with her long hair loose and down.
Gaga recently tweeted that her album Born This Way is nearly complete, and Akon, her label boss, shared that he thinks Gaga is really stepping up her game with this album.
"If I was going to compare it to her previous work, I would definitely say it's a notch up," Akon said. "It's like she's slowly taking you on to this journey down this road. If she were to just drastically do it, she probably would have lost everybody from the first album, but once the sound was created and established, now we can use that as a tool to grab all the monsters and walk them down this graveyard. It's crazy. It's amazing."
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Drummer admits he doesn't know what will come of 'new material.'
By Chris Harris
Jason Bonham
Photo: Larry Marano/ Getty Images
On Friday morning, mere hours before he was due to take the stage with classic rockers Foreigner at Detroit's GM Renaissance Center, drummer Jason Bonham — the son of late Led Zeppelin kitman John Bonham — told Jim Johnson and Lynne Woodison of local rock station 94.7 WCSX that he'd be an ex-member of Foreigner as of September 1. But that's not the only thing he said.
Much to the delight of Led Zeppelin fans everywhere, Bonham revealed that he's been meeting up with Led Zep guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones in recent months and that they've been "trying to do some new material and writing."
It was the first time since Led Zeppelin announced they would re-form for a single performance (which happened late last year at London's O2 Arena, in honor of the late Ahmet Ertegün, who signed the band to Atlantic Records in 1969) that anyone connected to the band has confirmed publicly that new music could be on the horizon for the iconic rockers. While the bandmembers have stopped short of definitively ruling out such a reunion, singer Robert Plant insisted in the wake of last year's show that he intended to focus on promoting and touring behind his critically lauded album with bluegrass artist Alison Krauss, Raising Sand.
Not that Bonham knows what — if anything — will happen with the new material he's been working on with Page (who collaborated with pop singer Leona Lewis on an uneven version of Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" at the Olympic closing ceremonies in Beijing on Sunday night) and Jones. He said he just shows up and takes his seat behind the kit.
"I've been over [to England] a couple of times," Bonham said. "I've been working with Jimmy and John Paul and trying to do ... some new material and some writing. I don't know what it will be, but it will be something. At the moment, all I know is I have the great pleasure to go and jam with the two guys and start work on some material. When I get there, I never ask any questions. If I get a phone call to go and play, I enjoy every moment of it. Whatever it ends up as, to ever get a chance to jam with two people like that, it is a phenomenal thing for me. It's my life. It's what I've dreamed about doing."
He said it's still too early to tell what will become of these "jam" sessions, but admitted that the "possibility of doing something is in the cards. I really felt it was in the cards from the moment we walked offstage at the O2." Bonham also explained that, before there could be a Led Zep LP, "lots of politics [would need to] get ironed out," but added that recording with Zep is "something I've always wanted to do."
Bonham noticeably didn't mention frontman Plant's name during the discussion. A spokesperson for Page's management had no comment on the matter, and a spokesperson for Jones' management could not be reached by press time.
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Bieber's mentor tells MTV News the teen sensation has 'so much more in store for the future.'
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Tim Kash
Usher and Justin Bieber at the 2010 AMAs
Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images
With so much accomplished in 2010, Justin Bieber has certainly set the bar high for 2011. But the teen singer is already gearing up for next year. Bieber will not only release his much-anticipated 3-D flick, "Never Say Never", but he has also teased that he'd like to release an album of all-new material sometime later next year.
His mentor, Usher, thinks that at this point, the sky's the limit.
"As far as music and entertainment, that's the beginning," Usher told MTV News at Sunday's AMAs, where Bieber performed and took home four awards.
"There's so much more in store for the future, or at least there's a ton of things we can do and will, and with the support of his fans who will continue to just grow and grow and grow."
At 16, Bieber has accomplished what few manage with many more years in the music business, but Usher said he wants to ensure that Bieber doesn't stop enjoying it all as his popularity continues to grow and his schedule gets busier.
Asked what he admires most about Justin, Usher said, "His excitement and innocence in it. And I don't mean that in a light way because I think that he's absolutely enjoying every moment of it, as any young man his age would, but in a different way because [of] the hard work that has gone in and led to the dream that has become a reality. And every time you have an opportunity do something incredible, I tell him to do his best and be conscious that what you're doing today should last forever and eternity."
What did you think of Justin's AMA performance on Sunday? Tell us in the comments!
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