Remembering Norman Mailer: Audio From His Last Rolling Stone Interview

11/10/07, 2:02 pm EST

Norman Mailer, the literary icon who helped frame New Journalism, died from acute renal failure today in Manhattan at the age of eighty-four. Rolling Stone spoke with the author for the first of our Fortieth Anniversary issues earlier this year, and in a sprawling interview with Mark Binelli, Mailer spoke out about taking drugs, President Bush and the future of America. Click below to listen to audio from that interview, and check back for more coverage of Mailer’s extraordinary life and career.

  • On marijuana’s superiority to psychedelics for tapping into life’s mysteries, and why Timothy Leary was a “vapid asshole”:
  • On why Bush would’ve committed Hari Kari by now if he really cared about America, and what exactly Nixon’s “inner light” might’ve smelled like:
  • On the pursuit of knowledge in the “deadening” mediocrity of the Internet age:
  • On who’s cut out for the Oval Office in 2008 — and why being a phony can be a good thing:
  • On why TV commercials are the anti-Proust:

Rewind: The Week in Rock Daily

11/9/07, 7:42 pm EST

  • Prince got so angry with fans claiming he was wrong to go after copyrighted material on their Web sites that he wrote a funky song. That’ll show ‘em.

Radiohead Break Out Covers of Smiths, New Order During Webcast

11/9/07, 7:13 pm EST

Even though Radiohead slam-dunked their version of Björk’s “Unravel” during last night’s Webcast, it’s become apparent that the band has not got covers completely out of their system. We’re one hour into tonight’s live telecast, and have already enjoyed two covers: The Smiths’ “The Headmaster Ritual” and, for your viewing pleasure above, New Order’s “Ceremony.” The band also mixed in live versions of their own “Reckoner” (the debut performance of its current incarnation) and “Faust Arp,” which was previously recorded and performed in a field with singer Thom Yorke and guitarist Jonny Greenwood. Between performances, the bandmembers have taken turns DJing (who knew drummer Phil Selway loved him some Iron & Wine?) and broadcasting Stanley Donwood animation as well as hilarious skits, like the Se7en-themed music video for “15 Step.” To join in, head over to www.radiohead.tv.

Mary J. Blige: “I Have a Responsibility To Not Hurt My Fans”

11/9/07, 6:37 pm EST

Does music have a social responsibility? Mary J. Blige tackled the question as part of our interviews about the future of music for our current issue. “From day one, I’ve been singing songs about women,” Blige says. “It’s my responsibility to walk what I’m talking about and say, ‘Okay, if I’m screaming about confidence, then I’ve got to be confident,’ because it’s a different job for me, it’s a different thing.” For more of Blige’s Q&A, click here, and for interviews with Maroon 5’s Adam Levine, Marilyn Manson, Gerard Way and more, click here.

Albumsix.com Is Real, Announces Weezer’s Sixth Album Release Date

11/9/07, 6:04 pm EST


Six months ago, we alerted you to Albumsix.com, and how it mysteriously re-routed visitors to Weezer.com, the official Web page of the band of the same name. After lead singer Rivers Cuomo told Rolling Stone that the band’s sixth album was due in April, we wondered whether Albumsix would finally reveal itself as a hoax or a legitimate site. Today, finally, came an answer. Visitors to the site now are greeted to two album plugs, one for Cuomo’s own Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo and the other for Weezer’s album six, which gets a release date complete with day of the month: April 22nd, 2008. Case closed.

Weekend Rock List: Led Zeppelin Dream Setlist

11/9/07, 5:37 pm EST


Earlier this week, Jimmy Page revealed that the Led Zeppelin reunion concert would contain “a lot of songs that people would want to hear.” That’s incredibly vague, as any Zeppelin concert containing “a lot of songs that people would want to hear” would last roughly ten hours. To help Page and the boys draw up a more feasible setlist, we’re asking you what five songs must be played at the show. On Monday, we’ll poll together all the votes and announce the ultimate Zeppelin setlist. Until then, here are our personal picks:

  • “When the Levee Breaks”
  • “Misty Mountain Hop”
  • “Ten Years Gone”
  • “Down By the Seaside”
  • “The Rain Song”

Video: U2, The Police, Bruce Springsteen in Rolling Stone

11/9/07, 5:13 pm EST

A new documentary, “Rolling Stone: Voice of Our Generation,” is hitting PBS this month; it’s hosted by Paul Shaffer and features interview footage with RS founder and editor Jann S. Wenner, along with clips of many of the artists who’ve made the cover over the years. Check out this snippet, featuring the Police, Bruce Springsteen and U2. “Voice of Our Generation” airs tomorrow on WLIW (channel 21) in New York and nationwide next week.

Rilo Kiley, Lupe Fiasco, The Academy Is … Help MTV’s Woodies Avoid Pitfalls of VMAs

11/9/07, 5:00 pm EST


Nearly everyone agrees MTV’s Video Music Awards are a lost cause when it comes to offering up what its viewers actually want (live performances! cool presenters!) as opposed to what they unfortunately get (clips of live songs! footage playing up the glitz and glamor of the event! people partying who are not you!). But the VMAs’ little brother, the mtvU Woodies, are thankfully far more in touch with its college-age audience. Last night the fourth-annual show taped at New York’s Roseland Ballroom, and the lineup was packed with fan-voted nominees and performers who’ve carved out their own niches in hip-hop and rock, like Spank Rock. The Academy Is… and Tokyo Police Club. Lupe Fiasco and Rilo Kiley filled in for original headliner Amy Winehouse, who may well have been the Woodie’s Britney in Vegas had she not bailed last week due to visa troubles.

(To check out photos of Fall Out Boy, Rilo Kiley and the rest of the Woodies lineup, plus red-carpet interviews, click here.)

Highlights ranged from Lupe Fiasco’s opening performance of “Superstar” with guest vocals from Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump (in the house with his band to present Best Video Woodie) to onetime RS Artist to Watch The Academy Is… performing their breakthrough power ballad “Everything We Had” with a string section of Julliard students adding tear-jerking accompaniment. The performance-heavy lineup allowed most acts to play two full songs, as though mtvU was offering a mea culpa for the VMAs’ hotel-suite snippets. (more…)

Don Henley Doesn’t Want to Raise a Britney, Michael Jackson Hangs on to Neverland, Grateful Dead Embraced by Academia

11/9/07, 4:26 pm EST

  • As if shadily beating out Britney Spears to the top Billboard spot wasn’t enough, Don Henley has now added insult to injury. Talking about the added pressure of being both a rock star and a father, Henley admits each band member is “Deeply involved in being a good parent and not having our kids grow up to be Paris Hilton or Britney Spears.” Ouch, Don, way to kick a girl when she’s down. Couldn’t you at least say “Hilton or Winehouse?”
  • Michael Jackson will not lose the last vestige of his empire, the Neverland Ranch, according to his spokesperson. Even though Jackson is late on a $23 million loan, he plans to refinance the payment.
  • In a shocking new study, it’s been found of 33 percent of all hit songs contain allusions to sex, drugs or alcohol. We say “shocking” only because we thought that number would be much higher. In really surprising news, only 14 percent of rock songs contain lyrics about substance abuse, while 80 percent (!) of rap songs deal with the topic. So much for “sex, drugs and rock & roll.”
  • One Florida man is brazenly suing Apple for $15,000, stating that Apple is “in possession of monopoly power in the portable digital media player market, the online music market and the online video market and has the power to control prices in these respective markets and has been able to exclude competition from these respective markets.”
  • The University of Massachusetts will stage a three-day symposium on the life and music of jam gods the Grateful Dead. Guest speakers include Jerry Garcia’s first wife Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Garcia, GD Radio Hour host David Sans and Dead publicist, and UMass ‘78 graduate, Dennis McNally. In other Dead news, a recent Phil Lesh show in NYC introduced a lot of kids watching The Lion King on Broadway to something they’ll eventually discover is marijuana. Sex, drugs and rock & roll lives on!

Smoking Section: Pete Doherty, Mick Jones, and Solomon Burke

11/9/07, 3:12 pm EST

The Smoking Section spoke with Pete Doherty just before his most recent drug relapse and return to rehab. At that time, however, the Babyshambles leader was proudly clean and sober: “I’m still a bit wobbly,” Pete Doherty tells the Smoking Section. “Like a newborn horse. But I’m getting there.” Two weeks out of rehab — where he addressed his well-documented addictions to crack and heroin — the Babyshambles frontman is holed up in a quaint cottage in Marlborough, England, with his bandmate and sober-buddy, guitarist Mick Whitnall. Though Babyshambles’ new album, Shotter’s Nation, is a fantastic work, recorded in the haze of the past two years, Doherty attests that “we’ve been more creative since we’ve been clean.” In addition to constant guitar picking, the two have been taking morning walks through the British countryside, where Doherty traded in his syringe for a fishing pole. “I caught two dogfish and three haddock,” Doherty says cheerfully. And even though Amy Winehouse spent a night with them, working on a new tune called “1939 Returning,” Doherty’s still on the wagon, gearing up for an arena tour in the U.K. “We’ve got to be on the ball for that,” he says. Then maybe America? “I’d come tomorrow if they’d let me in.” (more…)

Alicia Keys Spreads a Virus To Her Friends, Via MySpace

11/9/07, 2:51 pm EST

Alicia Keys woke up this morning with a few less friends. When the singer (or more likely, her marketing team) decided to add a new background to the songstress’ MySpace page, they didn’t realize that the image was embedded with what people a lot tech-savvier than us would call a “Trojan Horse.” A large portion of Keys’ page has shrouded with the hidden link, which re-routed friends to a Chinese malware server. You know malware, it’s that endearing software that seeks to infiltrate your computer to either steal your personal information or just shut it down it with a good ol’ virus. We went to the Keys’ page, and while we were reluctant to click anything there, it does seem like there was a hovering icon that begs the user to “Click Here.” We’re not sure if that was the Trojan or one of MySpace’s crazy ads, and there was no way we were going to click to find out. So tread cautiously, Keys fans.

Prince Releases Diss Track As Battle With Fans Gets Funky

11/9/07, 2:14 pm EST

As you may have read, as part of their copyright crusade, Prince’s legal staff recently demanded that all images of the Purple One be removed from specific fan Web pages. Several sites banded together to form Prince Fans United, there was a brief pause in the action and now … a diss track.

In response, Prince registered the Web domain name “Princefamsunited.com” and posted a seven-minute funk jam called “PFUnk,” alerting fans to its presence on fan site message boards. The song makes no secret of its target: “The only reason you say my name is to get your fifteen seconds of fame, nobody’s even sure what you do,” Prince sings. “I don’t care what people may say, I ain’t gonna let it ruin my day.” Toward the end, Prince tells his fans, in his famed helium-like “Camille” voice, “I love all y’all, don’t you ever mess with me no more,” before taking out all his anger on his guitar. Prince goes as far as calling one person, likely a member of the PFU, “a big fat punk,” and threatens someone called “Weemolicious” by singing “Look here Weemolicious, you and your boyfriend, lemme tell you somethin’ right now, you run up on me again with words or otherwise, I’mma knock both you punks out.” He also sings that he wants digital music to “disappear.”

How did the fans, and the PFU, take to the diss track? With open arms and, surprisingly, dropped jaws. (more…)