MTV's Video Music Awards turned 25 Sunday night and celebrated with a ho-hum ceremony that only served to drive home the enormous gulf in modern pop music when it comes to depth of material and star power.
Once again, Rihanna displayed a presence far superior to her peers though it's doubtful anyone over the age of 30 is paying attention; Christina Aguilera demonstrated attributes that clearly place her as the strongest overall performer with Disney in her teen credentials; and Lil Wayne, an inexplicable powerhouse, let his drawers droop and a bakcing track roll and his corner of marketplace went wild. Go figure. Meanwhile, Kanye West, backed by an army of drummers, operates on a plane that others just do not visit.
There were a host of bombs and question marks elsewhere, starting with host Russell Brand, whose "humor"  or even "style" never clicked. Whew! Talk about "not ready." The man made jokes about being big in the U.K. but that did not conceal his mediocre material and horrid delivery.
Elsewhere: Kid Rock continues to be the model of non-originality as he sang over the chords  of "Werewolves of London" and "Sweet Home Alabama" and the room responded by sitting on its collective hands; and the Jonas Brothers need to hear the clock ticking as their magnetism feels like it will expire by the end of 2009. They delivered a truly uneventful performance.
Held on the Paramount Studios backlot, show was a bit of corporate synergy intended to allow the acts to connect with Hollywood history that mostly did not pan out. Pink made the most out of it, moving between a tenement street  and a stage,  intentionally losing a significant piece of clothing along the way; her performance, like Aguilera's, had a power and conviction most of these acts seem incapable of  conveying.
Trophy-wise it served as a Britney Spears lifetime achievement tribute but poor Ms. Spears appears fit for the cameras but not prepared to speak - she delivered the same speech twice and gave the superficial "this is for the fans" dedication on her third visit to the podium.
Much as awkward actors and casts of shows and movies that few have heard of talked about historically significant videos and acts, 25th edition was a reminder of how this show is a shadow of its former self. The crowd seemed nonplussed by the bulk of the activities. An improvement, as a telecast, over last year's mess from Las Vegas, but MTV execs may be scrambling come Monday to mention anything as unpolished as the first hour of this year's VMAs. Perhaps it's just another indication of the channel's lack of interest in music of videos, choosing to peddle celebrity at all cost, even when the cost is a reputation.

Andrew Barker weighs in the new video of  Young Jeezy featuring Kanye West, "Put On"

Many former drug-dealers have parlayed tales of street hustling into lucrative rap careers, but few have done so with as little insight and wit as Atlanta's Young Jeezy. At best, his songs are insubstantial, socially irresponsible trifles that sound pretty good blasting out of car stereos; at worst, his slow Southern drawl is the sound of intelligence being steadily siphoned from the brain.
By those very specific standards, new single "Put On" ranks among his better works. Though the somber video seems to suggest that Jeezy is turning his sights toward politics, he quickly returns to themes (and for that matter, rhymes) that should sound familiar to anyone who's heard any of his previous records -- all over a serviceable Drumma Boy beat that should go over well on radio.
In other words, all goes according to script until the latter half of the song, when Kanye West shows up. Much like the urge to hop on the disco bandwagon ruined many a promising rock song in the late '70s, here Kanye scuttles a perfectly good guest verse with some of the most inexplicable Auto-Tune abuse yet put to wax. It provokes a strange sort of cognitive dissonance -- his lyrics are surprisingly sad, lamenting his anger and loneliness after the death of his mother, yet every syllable is manipulated to sound like Stephen Hawking on helium. But as off-putting as it is, it's neither monotonous nor predictable, making it the highlight of the tune by default.

Travis Barker drums. The Game stands behind him and rocks. Drummers and rappers say "hey, I can do that!"

Story by Matt Kivel

The boys of Radiohead are anything but bashful when it comes to embracing the internet and new media. Whether it be posts on the group's Dead Air Space blog, their first live performance of 2008 streaming online, the Scotch Mist New Year's Eve Videos and their well-documented you-name-it pricing scheme for In Rainbows ... Yorke and Co have been generous to their legions of internet savy fans.

Their latest is a series of videos made recently available via Itunes' Music Store. Filmed on a single day with Nigel Godrich's From The Basement crew, the videos capture Radiohead performing a handful of In Rainbows songs in an intimate setting.   

Morgan Freeman finally gets his "In Rainbows" box set!

Just stumbled onto this series - my introduction was makin' bacon - and if I didn't have to worry about who will or won't be going to the Grammys, I might spend the afternoon learning how baseball bats and tennis balls are made, too. Something tells me a spoof of this is just around the corner.

Our old friend Taj Mahal is the featured vocalist in the Harlem Experiment's "Reefer Man," the animated video for which has some fun presidential digs that eluded us while listening to the disc in the car.
"The Harlem Experiment' is the third installment in Ropeadope's "city experiment" series. Disc can be streamed for free here.

Cabler CMT will devote six straight hours Thursday to Carrie Underwood’s first video, for the single "So Small," from her second album, "Carnival Ride." “Carrie Music Television” debuts at 6 a.m. The iTunes Store will simultaneously offer the video for sale.
CMT proudly says this is its first ever stunt like this. Network figures it will run the video 66 times within the six-hour span.  (Isn't that 66/6? Is Carrie doing the devil's music here?)
Video was directed by the man who helmed “Before He Cheats,” Roman White. "So Small" is the No. 1 tune at country radio.
19 Recordings/Arista Nashville will release "Carnival Ride" on  Oct. 23. 

The news that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has been cheating did not surprise many in the NFL, but it inspired Bengals-loving songwriter Ryan Parker to come up with one fine tune. The song gives a tip o' the hat to Mangenius (that would be Eric Mangini for the non-believers), for exposing the coach's corrupt ways.

Wu-Tang Clan rapper Raekwon used to work a a Red Lobster so he knows his way around a fish. Or at least a fileted salmon that he drenches in onion salt. Instead of "bam!" Raekwon goes with "gotta hit - boom boom boom boom!"