Tag Archives: michael-stipe

Barry: Obama, The College Years

Director Vikram Gandhi’s nuanced portrait of the young Barack Obama is one of the best films of the year

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Barry: Obama, The College Years

Stephen Colbert, James Franco, And Michael Stipe Just Gave Us The Perfect 2016 Anthem

Harambe, Zika, the Flint water crisis, Brangelina, and more get name-checked in a 2016 update of ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It’ sung by Stephen Colbert, Michael Stipe, and James Franco on ‘The Late Show.’

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Stephen Colbert, James Franco, And Michael Stipe Just Gave Us The Perfect 2016 Anthem

17 Wildest Moments from the VMAs: What Will Happen Next?

It's almost time for the VMAs again! Will another artist announce she's pregnant? Will Miley Cyrus hump another grown man? Will Kanye West interrupt another speech? Check out the 17 craziest moments from the Video Music Awards over the past 30 years and prepare for whatever will go down on stage and off this summer. 1. Like a Virgin Madonna didn’t intend to writhe around on the stage during her 1984 performance of “Like a Virgin.” She lost one of her shoes and the rest became history. 2. Howard’s Johnson In 1992, shock jock Howard Stern appeared on stage dressed as his alter ego Fartman, complete with a huge prosthetic Johnson and bare backside. 3. Nirvana’s Surprise Performance Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain never really settled into the limelight like his bass guitarist bandmate Krist Novoselic who guzzled champagne before they shocked the world by playing “Rape Me” unexpectedly during their performance. Krist threw his guitar into the air and instead of catching it with his hands caught it with his face. 4. Beasties Vs. R.E.M When R.E.M. won an award the Beastie Boys believed should have been theirs, they busted into Michael Stipe’s acceptance speech with “THIS IS A FARCE!” Nice going, guys. 5. Van Halen Reunites When Van Halen reunited on the stage in 1996, the world rejoiced! The band was back together! And then the balloon deflated when Eddie Van Halen’s body language told the real story: These guys hated each other. 6. The Poison Apple Fiona Apple won a best new artist award in 1997 and promptly bit the hand that fed her. The then-20 year old called the entire industry “bullsh*t.” View Slideshow

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17 Wildest Moments from the VMAs: What Will Happen Next?

17 Wildest Moments from the VMAs: What Will Happen Next?

It's almost time for the VMAs again! Will another artist announce she's pregnant? Will Miley Cyrus hump another grown man? Will Kanye West interrupt another speech? Check out the 17 craziest moments from the Video Music Awards over the past 30 years and prepare for whatever will go down on stage and off this summer. 1. Like a Virgin Madonna didn’t intend to writhe around on the stage during her 1984 performance of “Like a Virgin.” She lost one of her shoes and the rest became history. 2. Howard’s Johnson In 1992, shock jock Howard Stern appeared on stage dressed as his alter ego Fartman, complete with a huge prosthetic Johnson and bare backside. 3. Nirvana’s Surprise Performance Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain never really settled into the limelight like his bass guitarist bandmate Krist Novoselic who guzzled champagne before they shocked the world by playing “Rape Me” unexpectedly during their performance. Krist threw his guitar into the air and instead of catching it with his hands caught it with his face. 4. Beasties Vs. R.E.M When R.E.M. won an award the Beastie Boys believed should have been theirs, they busted into Michael Stipe’s acceptance speech with “THIS IS A FARCE!” Nice going, guys. 5. Van Halen Reunites When Van Halen reunited on the stage in 1996, the world rejoiced! The band was back together! And then the balloon deflated when Eddie Van Halen’s body language told the real story: These guys hated each other. 6. The Poison Apple Fiona Apple won a best new artist award in 1997 and promptly bit the hand that fed her. The then-20 year old called the entire industry “bullsh*t.” View Slideshow

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17 Wildest Moments from the VMAs: What Will Happen Next?

R.E.M. Enlist Kirsten Dunst For Video

Actress stars in clip for band’s final single, ‘We All Go Back to Where We Belong.’ By Jocelyn Vena Kirsten Dunst in R.E.M.’s video for “We All Go Back To Where We Belong” Photo: Warner Bros. R.E.M. ‘s two videos for “We All Go Back to Where We Belong” are quiet and simple. The black-and-white clips were directed by Michael Stipe and Dominic DeJoseph; one features “Melancholia” actress Kirsten Dunst and the other, poet/artist/activist John Giorno. Dunst’s version plays like a Warhol Factory screen test. She stands in a simple flower-print dress in front of a white wall as her expression changes from happy to sad, mimicking the melancholy and longing of the track. The second version is similar, but Giorno’s expression changes less frequently. In fact, he looks pretty emotionless for much of the clip, only cracking a smile on occasion. In a statement on their website , Stipe says the videos have “gravity and beauty.” He continued, “To be able to work with John and Kirsten was a dream I carried since we recorded the song, and their participation completes the song for me.” The band’s final album, Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage, is out November 15. This song serves as the band’s last single. It’s one of three new tracks on the album, which also features songs spanning their 30-year history. Some tracks that made the final cut include “Everybody Hurts,” “Electrolite,” “Nightswimming” and “Imitation of Life,” to name a few. R.E.M. announced their split in late September on their website, prompting fans to mourn the loss of the iconic trio. “To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band,” their statement read. “We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.” What do you think of the R.E.M. videos? Tell us in the comments! Related Artists R.E.M.

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R.E.M. Enlist Kirsten Dunst For Video

R.E.M. Breakup: Life’s Rich Pageant

Band was uncompromising and hugely influential during 31-year career. By Gil Kaufman R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe Photo: Getty Images Some bands have a sound, some have a look, others a strange allure you can’t quite explain and, in rare cases, all three. R.E.M. were one of those bands. The long-running alt rock godheads who packed it in after 31 years on Wednesday (September 21) will be remembered for a lot of things by a lot of the people who bought millions of their albums. But I’ll remember them best for the consistent, exquisite confusion they sowed. It’s hard to put your finger on how this strange brew came to define the alternative-rock era of the mid-1980s and early 1990s. Peter Buck’s iconic, chiming, Byrds-inspired guitars — which came to be known simply as his signature “jangle” — bassist Mike Mills’ flawless high harmonies and Nudie-suit style, original drummer Bill Berry’s economic, steady-on drumming and singer Michael Stipe’s cryptic … everything. This was a band that should have had no chance of becoming what they did. They were too odd, too hard to unpack. From day one, contemporaries like U2 had soaring rhetoric and urgent arena-reaching power that seemed destined to conquer the world through a combination of ambition, chutzpah and titanic riffs. But R.E.M.’s alchemy was darker, not as immediately obvious, which is what made all the difference. They literally made no sense. From their 1983 full-length debut, Murmur, through to their final, 15th album, this year’s Collapse Into Now, Stipe’s lyrics were like Zen poetry: knotty, stream-of-consciousness and thought-provoking in a way 99 percent of rock music never is, or was. You couldn’t sing along because half the time it was hard to hear what he was even saying. And when you did find out, the Rubik’s cube just spun again as you tried to decipher what he was all about. R.E.M. made you work for it. It didn’t matter if you were inspired enough to dig into their muses, which ranged from beat poets and mad literary ravers like William S. Burroughs to punk godmother Patti Smith and the Flying Burrito Brothers, or just let their music wash over you. The end result was that you left with more than you came in with. Even when they hit the sweet spot with hits like “Everybody Hurts,” “The One I Love,” “Shiny Happy People” and the multi-VMA-winning “Losing My Religion,” R.E.M. challenged you in other ways, through arty, envelope-pushing videos. I got the chance to interview the band a number of times in the mid- to late ’90s and early 2000s, and I probably worked harder preparing for those chats than for any others I’d done before or since. Because, like in their music, R.E.M. tested you in interviews. They didn’t give pat, pre-planned answers. They fired back honestly and unflinchingly when it felt like the questions were unfair or slanted and always focused on the one thing that mattered most to them: the music. With few exceptions, you didn’t read tabloid reports about the personal lives of the group’s members, their finances or Hollywood exploits. Mostly that was because there weren’t any tales to tell. The stories were all there in the grooves, in songs like “Talk About the Passion” and “World Leader Pretend.” Their inner circle was a trusted group of friends and advisers that changed little over the years, one they treated like family. They were also one of rock’s most politically and socially literate groups ever, supporting everything from PETA to Rock the Vote, environmental causes and human rights. R.E.M. showed the world, and such acolytes as Nirvana and Pavement, that you could stick to your guns and keep making the music you heard in your head even if it wasn’t fashionable — especially if it wasn’t fashionable. Talk about the passion. Share your favorite R.E.M. memories in the comments below. Related Videos MTV News RAW: R.E.M. ‘Accelerate’ Related Artists R.E.M.

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R.E.M. Breakup: Life’s Rich Pageant

Hanson Teaming With SXSW For Japan Benefit Livestream

Event will stream live from South By Southwest On Saturday. By James Montgomery Photo: VH1 Hanson have announced plans for a 12-hour benefit livestream set for Saturday (March 19) at South By Southwest, to aid victims of the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan. The event, which will stream live at VH1 the event came together at the last minute, with the band and the festival putting a call out to all the acts still in Austin for SXSW. “We’re really excited,” Isaac Hanson said, “We’ve got a lot of bands that are going to be a part of this event, bands that are recording stuff, bands that are going to be live …” “It’s a massive, massive issue that’s really crippling a whole nation and a lot of people just like you and me,” Taylor Hanson added. The SXSW 4 Japan livestream begins at 12 pm CT at

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Hanson Teaming With SXSW For Japan Benefit Livestream

‘Sex is Life. Professional Pornography is Just Capitalism

Last night French lothario and self-confessed amateur pornographer Olivier Zahm had a gallery opening. We went to look at the pictures of naked ladies in the bath, on tables and peeing outside hotels

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‘Sex is Life. Professional Pornography is Just Capitalism