Chris Cornell Filling In For Robert Plant On Led Zeppelin Tour? That's News To Him

'I have not been approached to fill in for Robert Plant on the Zeppelin tour, but that isn't to say I won't be,' singer says.
By Chris Harris


Chris Cornell
Photo: MTV News

Former Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell has spoken out for the first time about rumors that he's been asked to fill in for Robert Plant on a proposed Led Zeppelin reunion tour. The trek would feature original guitarist Jimmy Page, original bassist John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham taking over on drums for his late father, John Bonham.

Cornell has been mentioned — along with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar, White Stripes mastermind Jack White and Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy — as a potential Plant fill-in. Plant has already said that he wouldn't take part in the tour.

"I have not been approached so far to fill in for Robert Plant on the upcoming Zeppelin tour, but that isn't to say I won't be," Cornell told MTV News. "I've heard that from about 200 people now, and it might be one of those situations where it's just an online rumor or it might be true. But if you see anyone from Led Zeppelin around, let me know. I think I should actually fill in for Jimmy Page on the Robert Plant/ Alison Krauss tour."

Cornell's denial comes just a day after Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford confirmed reports that frontman Steven Tyler recently met with Zeppelin for an impromptu jam session. "They did it for fun," Whitford said during an appearance on the syndicated show "Todd N Tyler Radio Empire." "I actually think Jimmy wanted Steven to come over and play a little bit because I think he was trying to light a fire under Robert."

Rumors of a Zeppelin reunion tour have abounded since the iconic band played a single reunion set last year at London's O2 Arena. Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider added fuel to the fire last month when he revealed that the group was thinking of touring, with or without Plant.

According to Snider, the rest of the band told Plant, " 'We're all rehearsed, we're ready to go. Here's a gazillion dollars on the table. If you don't do it, we're going out with this kid [Myles Kennedy].' "

"And he can sing the sh-- out of Zeppelin," Snider added. "They're going to hope that Robert, at the last minute, will go, 'OK,' and step in."

In a recent interview, Jones told BBC Radio Devon that a new singer was being sought to take over for Plant. "We are trying out a couple of singers," he said. "We want to do it. It's sounding great, and we want to get on and get out there."

But Jones insists that he, Page and Bonham aren't interested in finding a Plant clone. "It's got to be right," he said. "There's no point in just finding another Robert. You could get that out of a tribute band, but we don't want to be our own tribute band. There would be a record and a tour, but everyone has to be onboard."

Of course, even if Zeppelin were to approach him, Cornell might be too busy to take over vocals for the band. His upcoming Timbaland-produced solo LP, Scream, will be released within the next few months. Cornell told MTV News last month that some of his fans might consider Scream something of a departure, but he doesn't see it that way.

"It makes me happy that there's this perception that I have a group of fans that I'm now sort of throwing a curve at and what their reaction will be," he said. "But I've been in this situation so many times already. When I put out [1999's] Euphoria Morning, my main goal was to create an album that sounded like nothing I'd done in Soundgarden, and I did that. I also had that with Temple of the Dog, where I showed up with songs that weren't necessarily riff-based. And then, of course, the pairing of me and members of Rage Against the Machine had everyone sort of speculating about what that would sound like.

"It feels like I've done this so many times that when it's presented to me as being a departure, I feel that's a misconception," he added. "I feel like that's my theme at this point."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1598367/20081031/cornell_chris.jhtml

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Justin Bieber, Lil Twist Will Leak Mixtape Track 'Real Soon'

Young Money MC says his project with Bieber may even become an EP.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by James "FLX" Smith


Lil Twist
Photo: MTV News

Justin Bieber has already received the seal of approval of Kanye West, Ludacris and Drake. And he impressed many with a video in which he raps over Vado and Cam'ron's "Speaking in Tungs" last month. Now Bieber is taking the next step to proving his crossover potential: working on a mixtape with of Young Money rapper and fellow teen Lil Twist.

"Me and Justin are working on this mixtape," Twist confirmed to MTV News. "We probably gonna title it Best of Both Worlds, [or] Best of Young Rap, Best of Young Pop. We got a few records done. The recent record that was talked about was 'Billionaire.' We did 'Billionaire' by Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars. We gonna get ready to leak that out. We're gonna leak something real soon."

Any further details about when more music from the twosome might drop is still very TBD. "I don't have the date on the mixtape yet, because we're still working hard on it," the MC explained. "We're trying to get new beats, because now, like, some of the beats [that we've used] are old. ... So we're gonna get new beats and go back in and try and make an EP."

The idea of the two working on some music together was really an idea Bieber came up with, Twist explained. "Me and Justin, we actually met through a mutual friend and after that we got real cool actually," he recalled. "[We] started working in the studio, sending stuff through the Mac book and everything. And then he was like, 'Yo, bro, we should do a mixtape. Let's go.' We just started then."

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Justin Bieber's New 'Never Say Never' Trailer Plays Up 3-D

Bieber flies across the screen spraying silly string and throwing popcorn in just-released sneak peek.
By Jocelyn Vena


Justin Bieber in "Never Say Never"
Photo: Paramount Pictures

In October, Justin Bieber debuted the first trailer for his February 3-D flick "Never Say Never." And on Monday (November 22), just one day after his big night at the AMAs, a new trailer for the flick hit the Internet.

The sneak peek opens with classical music playing as the screen reads, "This Valentine's Day," over an image of Bieber. Soon, the singer is spraying silly string as the screen reads, "See Bieber like never before." Then, Bieber throws popcorn at the camera — all tricks to play up the film being in 3-D.

Soon, a montage of Bieber as a kid flashes across the screen along with concert video and behind-the-scenes footage of the singer with various people in Bieber's camp sharing tidbits about the singer, including "He could really be huge, if he wanted" and "He's 16, and he's doing it all on his own."

At the end of the trailer, Bieber is seen learning about the cameras used to shoot his 3-D flick as he sticks out 3-D glasses and looks into a screen seeing what the 3-D will look like. "That's sick, right?" he says. "It looks like it's about to hit that guy in the head."

It was just announced that fans can catch a sneak-peek screening of the film February 9, two days before it officially hits theaters. They'll be surprised just to see I'm a regular person," he said. "I'm a regular teenage boy. I like girls, and I like to hang out with my friends. It's gonna be taking them into my world, but also like it's their world, 'cause it's just normal."

What do you think of the new trailer? Share your reviews in the comments!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1652865/20101122/bieber_justin.jhtml

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Robert Plant And Alison Krauss Win Grammy Album Of The Year

Raising Sand, from Led Zeppelin vet and bluegrass superstar, wins five Grammys on Sunday night.
By James Montgomery with MTV News staff


Alison Krauss and Robert Plant accept the award for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards on Sunday
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

"I'm bewildered," Robert Plant said onstage as he accepted the Grammy Album of the Year award with Alison Krauss on Sunday night. "In the old days we would have called this selling out, but it's a good way to spend a Sunday."

He was probably one of the few who were surprised, because Raising Sand, which won five trophies at Sunday night's show, is in many ways the perfect Grammy album. It features two respected veterans, a critically lauded producer, some sandpaper-and-velvet vocals and a baker's dozen of time-tested standards.

You're probably familiar with Robert Plant from his Led Zeppelin days, and you might be aware of producer T-Bone Burnett's work on the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack (it won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2002). And if you don't know who Alison Krauss is, she possesses a haunting set of pipes and is one of the meanest fiddle players in the world. Oh, and she's won 21 Grammys, more than any other female artist and the seventh-most in history.

Really, she's the key to Sand's success, and not just because of her voice (or her fiddle playing). She and Plant first met in 2004, at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tribute to legendary bluesman Leadbelly, and the former Zeppelin man was amazed by her knowledge of American Roots music — so much so that they began kicking around the idea of recording an album together. Three years later, Sand was released.

And while Plant possesses the more famous voice, the album's finest moments radiate from Krauss. Whether she's getting bluesy on Little Milton's "Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson" or entwining with Plant's husky voice on songs like "Please Read the Letter" and Roly Salley's winsome "Killing the Blues," she more than carries her end of the bargain.

And perhaps that's also due to producer Burnett, who handpicked the 13 songs the duo cover on Sand. His arrangements are sparse — giving the two voices ample room to breathe — yet dense, warm and crackling at the same time. It's a testament to his work that he's often given just as much billing as Plant and Krauss on the project ... and it's certainly justified.

To date, Sand has sold more than 1 million copies, heaped tons of acclaim and actually earned a Grammy last year — "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)" took home the award for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals.

One expert was surprised not by the album's success, but by the fact that it's actually quite a good album.

"At first, the album seemed like a vanity project. ... Two names, clearly a one-off record, didn't have to be any good, you know?" New York Times music critic Jon Caramanica said. "Led Zeppelin fans would buy it because of Robert Plant, Alison Krauss would get a check. But it actually turned out to be a really thoughtful, really good record. So when you combine all that with the fact that the Grammys love to lionize one of their own, I could really see it taking home some awards."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1604582/20090209/plant_robert.jhtml

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