You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: 36

PLAYS: 35

(Roddy Frame - Aztec Camera - made the 80s worth listening to)

Getting into a 1980s frame of mind tonight - Aztec Camera from their first album High Land, Hard Rain - the opening track, and a favorite, Oblivious. Strangely, Aztec Camera really never caught on in the States. Only doing modest sales and occasional airplay. The only reason I can think of is the flood of albums and new bands coming out of the UK at the time caused a lot of worthy music to get lost in the shuffle. The early 80s saw a gradual shift from Punk to New Wave with Indie coming in through the back door. Once again, radio stations were also going through the shift, with less independent stations on the air and the growth of the corporate mergers - loosely translated: less experimenting and breaking of new acts and more concentration on the tried and true and the highly commercial acts (i.e. Madonna). Not to mention the introduction of MTV nationwide.

It was an interesting period of transition for the music business. But as is often the case, a lot of good music went unnoticed and it was frustrating not only for the bands, but for the audience as well.

Seems to still be that way.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: 44

PLAYS: 32

(The Stone Roses - Suddenly, music got jettisoned out of the doldrums)

I can't believe it's been 20 years since The Stone Roses released their first album. Up until that time music was going through a period of ennui. The 80s were coming to a close and things were getting a little complacent, musically. The Reagan Years could have something to do with it. MTV was busy converting the taste of most mainstream music into who was pretty and who was not - and that determined who would get a video made and who would languish in musical limbo. Radio saw the writing on the wall and playlists became tightly regimented, as corporate takeovers and mergers made freeform a thing of the past.

But then things took a brisk change. Seattle started pumping out Grunge and the UK started pumping out Madchester. And music suddenly took a turn for the better and The Stone Roses appeared.

As movements go, this one didn't last all that long. But it's presence and influence have been felt even to this day. And the first Stone Roses album, from which this cut This Is The One, is featured tonight, has become a classic, and is still fresh twenty years later.

You know you're on to something when you can make it sound timeless without much effort. And The Stone Roses are timeless.

Don't hate on this Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert collaboration that's in the works:

Talk about a Fame Monster. As details about Adam Lambert's debut album continue to slowly leak out like the helium from Balloon Boy's spaceship, the "American Idol" runner-up dropped a glitter bomb early Tuesday morning (October 20) when he revealed that he's been working with Lady Gaga.

"Yes it's true: I spent yesterday in the studio w the insanely talented and creative Lady Gaga recording a song that she wrote! I love her," Lambert tweeted.

I'm a big defender of both of these oft-maligned 2009 success stories and am excited to hear what they came up with, as well as the rest of Lambert's upcoming album Entertainment, which will have tracks by top tunesmiths Max Martin and Linda Perry.

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be, but hell, neither is rock and roll. Remember in the mid-nineties when people who weren't your typical rock band types found genuinely new things to do with guitars (not effects, guitars) and had their little corner of MTV on 120 Minutes on Sunday nights? When I pop in my hearing aid and watch this video of Chapel Hill, NC's Archers of Loaf on the internets with my one good eye, it all comes rushing back.

The second generation of great rockers is now officially in its golden years today, as Bruce Springsteen celebrates his 60th birthday. He's been an old soul since releasing his first album over 36 years ago, and is pretty much at the top of his game now, with the consistent sold out shows, command performance at the inauguration, worldwide respect and adulation and whatnot.

On a more personal note, at the young age of four I saw the video for "Born in the USA" on MTV and told my Dad I wanted to play guitar, which resulted in a half size nylon string acoustic guitar and some lessons from a patient teacher willing to deal with a precocious kindergartener, and all the trappings great and bad that follow on that path in the subsequent 25 years. I'm sure there are thousands of others with the same story, and on behalf of us all I say Happy Birthday, Boss. Don't ever stop playing.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (105)

PLAYS: (1467)

September 13, 2009 MTV
The rapper stormed the stage just after the first award, for Best Female Video, was presented to Taylor Swift. He cut the teen singer off, grabbing the mic and protesting in support of Beyoncé. "I'm sorry, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time," he proclaimed as Beyoncé looked on from the crowd, stunned. read more

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (159)

PLAYS: (4679)

September 13, 2009 MTV
Russell Brand... "English people are a bit different from you instead of truck we say lorry, instead of elevator we say lift and instead of letting people die in the street and we have FREE HEALTH CARE!"

(Warning...not safe for work.)