Music

POP UNCULTURED: A roundup of weird happenings in music for the week ending August 26

by Anne T. Donahue

Since it’s impossible to address the total madness of the music industry in only five days, Pop Uncultured saves some of the week’s strangest stories for Friday afternoon. Enjoy?

Lady Gaga is more powerful than Oprah [FULL STORY]

Forbes came out with a list this week that ranked the world’s most powerful women, and surprise surprise (actually), Mama Monster won out over the former queen of daytime. How will Gaga’s name now never be said?

(Overused joooo-ooooooke!)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt covered Nirvana in Seattle [FULL STORY]

This:

So …sure. Watching JGL cover Kurt Co. and Co. isn’t exactly the worst thing to watch in the world, but let’s always remember what started it all:

Never forget.

Wavves is going to write a song for a TV show about hipsters

So MTV is launching a series about hipsters called I Just Want My Pants Back, and because Wavves is the quintessential hipster instrumentalist, they’ve enlisted Nathan Williams to provide the score. Personally, I figured Garden State would’ve been better left as a movie, but who am I to question the network that knows youth best? [via Billboard]

Billy Corgan is the creative director of a wrestling company now[FULL STORY]

Those in the know are aware that for a long, long time Billy Corgan was a wrestling fan. And apparently since he’s been “drawn back by the Attitude Era” (?), the Smashing Pumpkins frontman will now be “writing angles” and “setting tones for the future vision of the company.” And sometimes the jokes just write themselves.

OK Go made a video for their cover of the “Muppet Show Theme Song” [FULL STORY]

Despite OK Go’s legacy as a glorified YouTube act, this video manages to appease even their toughest critics:

See?

After Lindsay Lohan threatened to sue Pitbull, he wants to take her to the VMAs

Unhappy with the lyrics to Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything,” Vulture reports that Lilo threatened to sue the rapper last week in response to the lyrics, “I got it locked up like Lindsay Lohan.” As a result, Pitbull’s only choice was to clearly take to his blog Planet Pit TV, defend his prose and ask the “actress” on a date:

Though let’s just be grateful that it wasn’t this:

A Kanye West musical exists [FULL STORY]

But don’t let me tell you. Let the official description speak for itself:

“In the beginning there was man and from man came Kanye. From humble beginnings writing beats for Jay-Z to the top of the pops remixing Daft Punk. But did you ever wonder how Kanye got to where he is?

This is a story of a struggle against the man to become the man. It’s about a guy who took a shot at the throne and didn’t miss. This is the tale of Kanye.”

Kings of Leon‘s mom says everyone’s fine

Channeling her inner Dina Lohan, Canoe reports that Betty Ann Murphy (mother of Caleb, Jared and Nathan and aunt to Matthew) has claimed the band will be “back better than ever,” and that despite the Followill clan “drinking more than they should,” no one needs rehab. Said Murphy of her parenting style:

Justin Bieber is coming out with a Christmas album

MTV reports that Christmas will come early to those of us who’ve played Hanson’s Snowed In to the point of exhaustion: yes, the little lord Bieber will lay down some sweet tracks.

AC/DC launch their own line of wine

If you don’t think it can possibly get better than AC/DC-sanctioned wine, you know absolutely nothing because each kind will be named after one of their chart-topping, bar-hopping, put-on-those-leather-pants-worthy hits. NME reports that “Back In Black” and “Highway To Hell” have been designated to Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, while “Thunderstruck” is still in limbo/more appropriate for watered-down beer served at local hockey arenas.