Sparkle Princess Diana, unicorns and fairies and tiaraaaaaaaaaaaas!

So, in case you've been living in a cave, the Jonas Brothers are everywhere. On the radio, on television, and hey, they might have even decided to give Buzznet a try!  Plus, they're running around promoting causes such as diabetes awareness and getting kids to get outside and get active. Jonas Brothers everywhere...

While fans have waited impatiently through My Chemical Romance's self-imposed hiatus, the boys in the band haven't exactly stopped working.  While they haven't been concentrating on My Chem, Gerard Way revealed to MTV that the members have been keeping busy with other projects while they gear up to write and record their third major label studio album. Details please...

In anticipation of their new CD Fast Times at Barrington High, the boys of The Academy Is... have released their first video from the album. For details read on...

So, two things that are currently true about me:

1) I am overweight
and
2) I am brand conscious.

This is not to say I am a brand whore.  But I will admit there are certain names and labels that catch my eye and are more likely to make me splurge.  Now, keep in mind when I say this I'm talking about getting these things at a T.J. Maxx where they're drastically reduced, but a Juicy Couture bag can still run around $150 and Betsey Johnson shoes aren't exactly cheap.

But I do know of at least one brand I won't be buying, even on sale.

Oh, Ecko, how you've pissed me off.

Jezebel.com reported last Friday on the new ad campaign by Ecko, featuring bikini-clad women working in their factory.  Now, that in and of itself doesn't bother me.  Oh no, women in bikinis in a place where bikinis shouldn't be worn.  That's new and innovative right there.

The problem is Ecko's decision to use viral marketing to make themselves look like the sort of sexist pigs who would, well, base an entire ad campaign around the idea of "hot women make our clothing, so you should wear them."  Most notably, a fake news story on their website called "Unattractive Girl Sues Ecko!"

HA!  See, it's funny because they're discriminating against her because of how she looks!  She's not pretty and thinks she should work there!  Hysterical.

Oh, wait, that was my sarcasm getting out of control again.

You know why this isn't funny?  Because we do live in a world where so many people are judged by their looks.  Where worth in both the cases of men and women can be judged on how traditionally attractive they are.  If you're a little too skinny, a little too heavy, if you're a little too imperfect, sorry.  You're not as "good" or as "worthy" as someone who's perfect.

Except...nobody's perfect.

Yeah, there are people you might think have the perfect body.  Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Heidi Klum, Vin Diesel, Tyra Banks, all of them are absolutely gorgeous people.  But in the end, they're not perfect. 

Consider that we still live in a world where Jennifer Love Hewitt was called "fat," where tabloids obsess over Britney Spears gaining or losing five pounds, where both women's and men's magazines tell you how to get the "perfect" body.  Where men and women both are driven to over dieting, eating disorders, hating their bodies all over not being able to be Hollywood gorgeous.

So yeah, it's TOTALLY funny for a fashion company to make fun of people who are turned down for jobs because they're not conventionally attractive.  Because discrimination like that never happens in the real world.

I'm not calling for a boycott on Ecko.  I'm not even saying we should pay attention to this bullshit ad campaign for more than twenty seconds.  Because that's what they want.

Instead, let's just get smoothies and maybe do some yoga.

I will begin by saying that this is in reaction to a lot of things, but was finally set off by comments in Wendy's fantastic Virgin/Whore complex journal, as well as from reading a fantastic blog entitled Yes, You Are.

I can't tell you the number of times I've been in a political conversation with another woman and, when we've gotten onto the topic of women's rights, they say something along the lines of "Well, I believe in equality, but I'm not like a FEMINIST or anything!"

More than that, I've seen people use "feminist" as an insult.  "Oh, you only think that because you're a FEMINIST and you hate men!"  "You only hate those books because you're such a FEMINIST!" 

Am I supposed to apologize for being a feminist?  Because, you know what?  Up until a year ago, I did.

Let me explain.  Through high school I proudly wore the label, unashamed of my desire for equality.  I was a tomboy, a drama geek, I was bad at science and math but good at english and music, I was in choir and I lifted weights.  And I was a feminist.


College?  College got bad.  I've been there, talked about that.  But needless to say there was a person in my life who made me feel guilty for being a feminist, for women wanting the same level of respect and rights that men had.  In fact, it wasn't until a heated argument late in our relationship over the WNBA that I realized how much I had changed.  It was when he expected to say that "the women of the WNBA shouldn't expect anyone to respect them, because why would anyone care about women's sports?" and for me to just smile and nod that I realized what had happened.

I snapped back that it wasn't exactly fair to expect extremely talented female athletes to just stop playing when they left college because there was nowhere else for them to go.  The WNBA wasn't formed for guys like him, it was formed because these women deserved the same rights as male players did, the right to be able to use their skills to make a living and the right to be recognized as talented PROFESSIONAL athletes. 

Apparently, my "friend" was of the opinion that once a female athlete graduated from college, she should settle down and play occasionally in a neighborhood league and maybe keep her skills up for the Olympics every four years, but mostly she should just get married, have kids, and coach a local youth or high school basketball team because what achievement could be greater than that.

And hey, that's still a hell of an achievement.  Helping young athletes, male or female, to learn the game and have fun and stay fit?  That's huge.  But at the same time, why should that be a woman's only option.  Why shouldn't she be able to be a wife, a mother and a professional athlete.

Even for awhile after he and I parted ways, I didn't call myself a feminist.  Because people heard it and thought "female supremicist."  Which certainly isn't true.



It was actually bulletproofheeb who convinced me to stop being ashamed.  He told me that women like I shouldn't run from the term "feminist," we should embrace it.  Because why should we let the crazy women who don't want equality have it?  It's OUR word, it applies to us.  And it's time for us to take it back.

I don't apologize for being a feminist.  And no woman who truly believes in equality should, either.  That word is yours, it's ours, and letting it be redefined by women who are WRONG isn't what we need to be doing.  We need to be standing up, whether we're wearing make-up, rolling in the dirt, raising kids, running a corporation, shooting hoops, shopping for jewlery or hell, a combination of them all, and saying "Fuck you.  I'm a feminist."

And guys?  If you feel the same way, you can come too.

You might think that being a 20-year-old bassist for a band like The Academy Is... would go to someone's head.  After all, the second the band stepped on stage last Tuesday in Pittsburgh, PA, there were high pitched screams of "WE LOVE YOU SISKY!" from the audience. Adam Siska has SKILLZ! Find out what they are...

Tat- Noun. 1. Rubbish, junk. Abb. of tatty. E.g."You can't wear that old cardigan, it's tat." {Informal}

TAT- Noun. Three piece band from London, England, that will rock your f*cking world. You're gonna wanna know more...

So for those of you who haven't been following the saga of Amy Winehouse, I'll fill you in.  Basically, she was admitted to the hospital in mid-June after she fainted.  She was released a few days later and warned that if she continued to smoke, drink and do drugs, she would die.  Quickly.


Three days after her release, she was caught smoking and walking around with three bottles of liquor in her hand.

Then, just last week, she was photographed smoking a joint.

THEN, just this Tuesday, she was rushed to the hospital again.  Her father claims it was because her drink was spiked with ecstasy. 

I don't think "spiked" is the word you're looking for, Mitch.  I think you meant "mixed" or "chased."

So now she's resting at home.  And getting deliveries.

Wednesday:



I see only two logical conclusions to this.

1) Wine house  became a vampire right after she was released from the hospital and told that she'd die if she didn't stop smoking, drinking or doing drugs. Obviously the Amy Winehouse solution was to become the undead.  So she's mixing the blood into the Slush Puppie machine.

OR

2) She's decided to take a page from Elizabeta Bathory and bathe in the blood of virgins to maintain/regain her youth.  While drinking Slush Puppies.

Amy, some quick tips of things to watch out for:

• Sunlight
• Fire
• Crucifixes
  
• Lily Allen, The Vampire Slayer

Wow.  What a rush.

This was my first ever Warped Tour, and it was everything I expected and more.  When I finally fell into bed Tuesday night I was tired, sunburnt, had a raging headache...and I couldn't be happier.

But let's back up.

My first ever day at Warped started with a Shuttle Bus ride out to the Post Gazette Pavilion.  For those of you who don't know, it's technically not in Pittsburgh.  It's in Burgetstown.  Which is pretty much a pain to get to from the city.  Especially without a car. 

After a nervous ride and a wait for my pass at Will Call, I ended up inside the venue, wide eyed at everything around me.  It was shocking to me.  It was part fair ground, part rock show, part flea market and part something totally indescribable that both scared me and made me feel bubbly and sociable.

I checked in for performance times and then...well, that's for later.  I mean, it happened early in the day.  But it's really a surprise for later.  Trust me.

First show of the day I caught was Cobra Starship, and they were fucking amazing.  I'd seen them this past March (read my recap and watch the video that hollow1005 took without me knowing) but I was still shocked at the show they put on in almost 90 degree heat, pounding sun and with only half an hour on stage.

From Cobra I took time to wander the grounds and check out booths.  I finally got myself registered to vote, met up with the folks from Planned Parenthood who gave me awesome stickers and let me sign a petition for Wal-Mart to carry the morning after pill.  I got my political action on while getting horribly sunburnt.  Totally worth it.



I caught the Gym Class Heroes set (check out my pictures here).  I had never seen them live before and damn is Travis McCoy a showman.  And the way the man can command an audience, well...let's just say all he had to do was ask people to throw up their peace signs when, suddenly:



On top of that, Disashi shreds like a mo-fo and I think I have a new appreciation for his talent....which I always thought was impressive, but damned.


Speaking of impressive, I caught All Time Low, a band I didn't know much about, so I could grab some shots for Buzznet.  I really enjoyed what I got to see of the set.  Which wasn't much since they threw the photographers out of the pit about 3/4's of a song in.  It was an absolute mess, possibly because the band went on a bit late.  I booked it out of there pretty quick, for my own safety.

Which meant I had plenty of time to get over to the stage where The Academy Is... was scheduled.  Once again, I'd never seen them in concert, but I have now come to the conclusion that William Beckett's on-stage campiness is second only to Gerard Way's.  He commands the stage, but always moves so gracefully.  He was also awesome at interacting with the crowd, reaching out to touch the hands of the fans and grinning at them.

When I could tear my eyes off of William, I watched Adam T. Siska rock out on his Clandestine bass (make sure you come back on Monday for pictures from this set as well as a recap of my interview with Sisky Biz).  And of course, The Butcher going crazy on the drums.


My final set of the day was Bring Me the Horizon, another band I wasn't terribly familiar with.  While I can't say I was as into them as I was All Time Low, I had to admit they put on a hell of a show.  They're all over the stage, making photography a little difficult.  Well, that combined with me being very short.  And getting kicked in the head by a crowd surfer in the middle of shooting.  Still, I think my shots turned out okay.

But the heat...ugh.  I'm sorry, but in that heat, if you're charging $3.50 for a bottle of water and then not letting me have the cap to put back on it?  You suck.  You suck HARDCORE.  And yet you not only give the artists water, they get it in special cans:



Luckily, there were the soak stations.  And our friendly security guards were there to fill up water bottles for people at the front of the pit.  They also had some other methods for cooling people down.



All in all, it was totally worth it.  Like I said, I've got more for you coming up this week and next week, so stay tuned.

Oh, and also?  This girl's outfit was just flat out awesome:

Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba's comic series "The Umbrella Academy" has already made waves in the comic community.  Far from being the vanity project of such celebrities as Courtney Love, Avril Lavigne and professional wrestler Kevin Nash, Way's comic garnered fantastic critical reviews, intense sales numbers (the first printing of the first issue sold out so quickly a second printing was issued less than a month later) and has already generated movie buzz, which Gerard confirmed in a recent interview.

But yesterday at the 2008 Comic Con in San Diego, CA, TUA was honored with the Eisner Award for Best Limited Series. 


Congratulations to Gerard, Gabriel, and the entire Umbrella Academy Team.

So, I know a lot of people revisited their childhoods via Transformers last summer.  And yeah, sure, I had a few as a kid.  But growing up, I was weird.

Wait, I'm still weird.

Anyway, my father worked shifts when I was a kid and exposed me to the finer things in life. Like mid-day sci-fi/fantasy movies on cable TV.  This, my friends, is why I grew up on the movie Red Sonja.


So with the announcement of a remake, I was both excited and nervous.  Yes, remakes are bad, but dudes, RED SONJA.  I thank/blame Bridgitte Nielson in that part for the way I turned out as an adult (remember, this was before she was just that girl who was dating Flavor Flav).  Hell, I call myself "The New Age Amazon," don't I?  Granted, ironically (I'm quite short) but that's not the point.

But I was ready to see who they were casting in the leading role.  It had to be a woman of strength, I figured.  Power.  Someone who could stand beside someone like Arnold and not look miniature.  A buff beauty who could swing a sword and you KNEW she was gonna do some damage.

So they cast Rose McGowan.

...

Now, don't get me wrong.  I think Rose is a lovely woman and was a fan of her in Charmed and especially in last year's Grindhouse (which, if you haven't seen it in it's entirety, both films together with the trailers inbetween?  Go do it somehow.  Right fucking now.  I can say "fucking" because I'm talking about a Tarantino movie!) but...well...

Right now all the hype may be about "The Dark Knight,"and rightfully so, but with ComicCon starting today it seems fitting that an announcement has been made regarding another huge superhero film ... "Watchmen."

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

Due in 2009, the film is based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' groundbreaking graphic novel set in an alternate universe version of 1985 where nuclear war is never a far-off possibility. The limited series is acclaimed for altering the way people looked at comics, and is the only graphic novel to ever win the Hugo Award.

It has a huge fan following. My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way recently named it to a list of his Top 10 All-Time Favorite Graphic Novels, stating: "This is the first graphic novel I tell people to read if they are slightly unfamiliar with comics, and it is the graphic novel that changed the way I thought about superheroes and mainstream comics. I often refer to 'Watchmen' as a gateway drug because that's exactly what I think about it. It's the one graphic novel that leads you to more cerebral, "outside-thinking" works. In suggesting this first to people, I realized that it actually does help to have an understanding or nostalgia for traditional superhero works, because that's exactly what it deconstructs."

So it's only fitting that My Chemical Romance will be contributing a song to the film version's soundtrack, as "Watchmen" director Zack Snyder revealed to MTV.com today.


Dear MCR: Gimme new promo shots or I'll photoshop your heads onto the Pussycat Dolls.

The band is set to cover a song by Bob Dylan, but no definite song choice has been announced. We do know where the song will fit into the film, however. As MTV.com reports: "The track will close out the film, and will be the only modern composition making up the movie's soundtrack. I've talked with him and I've heard a little bit of some stuff that's he's done ... and it's pretty freaking cool," Snyder exclaimed.

Pretty freaking cool, indeed.

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

In 2006, My Chemical Romance's "To the End" was featured on the "Underworld: Evolution" soundtrack. Speaking of movies, rumor has it that Way's popular comic book, The Umbrella Academy, may become a movie in the near future.

What do you think? Can MCR pull off covering Dylan?

So MTV films, the same people about to bring us the tour de force picture Twilight (note: this is sarcasm.  After seeing the latest trailer I've come to assume that the effects budget was mostly spent on body glitter and bad wigs which left approximately $7.46 for stunts), has decided that what the world really needs is more remakes.

Like The Rocky Horror Picture Show.


Okay, MTV Films.  STOP RIGHT NOW. 

Rock Horror is a cult classic.  Half the fun of the film is that it's cheesey and B-movie like.  We don't need a remake with Justin Timberlake playing Rocky (not a real casting rumor, just the assumption Ari and I have made).  In fact, Rocky Horror has been proudly cemented on my list of "Films You Should Never, Ever Remake Under Penalty of Death."  Along with Ghostbusters and The Princess Bride.

Though I'm sure MTV or someone else will be announcing intentions to remake at least one of those within the next year.

Can we please, PLEASE stop with the remakes?  Look, I know you're worried about movie going audiences not paying for films, especially with internet piracy being such a concern.  But here's an idea: make better movies.  Consumers are not stupid.  If you keep handing us crap, we will refuse to pay for your crap when we can get it for free somewhere else.  Make movies the way they should be made: for the big screen.  Make us want to sit in a theatre for crying out loud!  And stop charging me $10 for a box of snowcaps.  I like them, I just don't like them THAT MUCH.

And consumers?  STOP PAYING FOR CRAPPY MOVIES.  Just stop.  I'm not saying that the only things you need to see are Emmy worthy films about tea cozies, hell, Blue Crush and The Fast and the Furious are among my top 10 favorites of all time.  But come on, there are movies you see in theatres, movies you rent later, and movies you need to consume ridiculous amounts of alcohol to get through.  Please learn the difference and choose wisely.

As for you, Hollywood, I know you're currently wringing your hands trying to figure out how to top The Dark Knight, which appears to have redefined the ideal of the action film...really, movies in general.  It's made $200 million in 5 days.  5.  So now you've got to try to figure out how to live up to that.

Here's a hint: it doesn't involve sticking someone else into Tim Curry's fishnets and heels.  There are original scripts that might suit your needs.

Oh, right.  That means you'd have to stop treating your writers like shit.  Never mind.

With an infectious fusion of rock, funk and pop, The Cab are set to be a breakout act.  After getting their demo to fellow Las Vegas native Spencer Smith, drummer for Panic at the Disco, the band found themselves signed to Decaydance records.  Since then they've opened for Cobra Starship on the Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking tour (check out my photos from the date at Diesel in Pittsburgh!) and then We the Kings on the Long Hair, Don't Care tour before releasing their album Whisper War.  In the middle of this buzz, lead singer Alex DeLeon did a short interview with Popeater.com.


In the interview, DeLeon reveals that while he was in high school he would drive from Las Vegas to LA for gigs and then back again so he could be in class the next morning.  He mentions how going from being a high school student in a band to a professional musician inspired The Cab's music.  He also brings up the band's desire to write hopeful music rather than the more depressing fair offered up by a number of other modern bands.

DeLeon also cites Fall Out Boy vocalist, rhythm guitarist and tiny musical genius Patrick Stump as a professional role model of sorts.  In his own words, he praises Stump by saying "I could only hope to have half the impact that he has had and half the career that he has created for himself."

And ladies, you know they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.  So what sort of food should you be considering if you want to woo DeLeon?  Well, he claims "I am the most unhealthy eater alive, and I probably have the most clogged arteries of any 19-year-old in the world." 

Yes, Singer.  But those are amazingly talented clogged arteries.

The Cab is currently supporting The Hush Sound on the Dance Across the Country tour.  Whisper War is currently available in stores.  You can also watch the band's video for "One of THOSE Nights" featuring Patrick Stump and Panic at the Disco's Brendon Urie. 

Read the entire Popeater column and interview here.

So, for awhile, Ari and I have been slowly but surely trying to provoke Perez Hilton.  In that "itching powder in his boxers" sort of way.

Sorry, Ari.  Now is the time where I'm going to approach that attention whoring snake and beat the fucker with a big stick to agitate him.  Because the time has come.

Perez, I stopped reading your site on a regular basis awhile ago.  Because it seemed to me you had the sense of humor, not to mention the IQ, of a 14-year-old boy.  Wait, let me correct that.  Your average 14-year-old boy, I've known some mature 14-year-olds in my time.

Do you know what the word "sycophant" means, Perez?  It means someone who kisses someone else's ass entirely because it is in their own self interest.  Because it will get them further in life, because it will get them a reward, like more status...or e-fame.  We all do it occasionally, sometimes a little ass kissing is a good thing.  But Perez, you are not just a sycophant, you are a backstabbing asshole.

Pete Wentz has supported you in a lot of ways.  He's hung out with you and appeared on MTV with you.

And you've now turned around and accused him of being an attention whore during an incident where he was attempting to protect his pregnant wife and their unborn child from overly-aggressive paparazzi.

Nice friendship thar, Perez.

But I wouldn't expect anything else from you, really.  You're the sort who writes an entire article accusing Trace Cyrus of Metro Station of being transphobic because of his feud with Jeffree Star.  Except that the feud was over shit Star has said about Trace's girlfriend and at no point did Cyrus say anything in reference to Jeffree Star's apparent gender dysphoria.  But you still tried to paint him as a bigot, despite the fact that in this situation both parties are behaving stupidly.  But only one of them has been caught on camera uttering racial slurs.

But what's more important here is that, on the exact same day, you turned around and used "tranny" as an insult towards Brooke Hogan.

Wow, Perez!  Your utter hypocrisy astounds me!  No, really.  How do you fucking justify it?  Oh, I'm guessing with continuing undeserved e-fame, sourceless "rumors," starting feuds with celebrities with actual talent (sorry, but Lily Allen owned your unattractive ass) and that priceless talent of altering celebrity pictures in MS Paint.  Plus, your ability to project your issues with your sexuality and fame whoring onto everyone else in Hollywood.  Kudos, man.  You have proven yourself to be beyond a shadow of a doubt an utter waste of time and space.

Oh, and one more thing?  You called the Black Canary a ho.  There's this funny thing called "research" Perez.  Black Canary does dress like that, yes.  She's also one of the strongest martial artists in the DC Universe.  She's a superheroine.  Anyone who attempted to solicit her would quickly find their head buried in their ass almost as far as yours is.

You're tempting me to ask DC to give you more undeserved fame in a special comic entitled "Perez Hilton Meets the Black Canary."  Where in you run a rumors site about superheroes.  And you run a story about "lesbian activity in the Birds of Prey" (her former team affiliation, try to keep up).  And then she shows up and beats the ever living fuck out of you. 

I really feel it would be one of their top sellers.  All proceeds would go towards women's shelters.  Because, you know, you're so sensitive to women's issues.

So since it was reported that Fall Out Boy has collaborated with T.I. on a song that may or may not appear on his next album Paper Trail, I've seen numerous out cries of "OMG!  WHY ARE THEY DOING RAP MUSIC?!  THEY'RE NOT A RAP GROUP!  I HATE RAP!"


And it hurts my soul, folks.  Well, not really, but some of my research has shown that using that particular phrase may aid in getting people to stop saying things you don't want to hear.

It is upsetting though because rap and rock and roll have a decent history of mixing with each other.  From samples to full out collaborations, the two genres borrow from each other on a regular basis.  Don't believe me?  Here's some of the highlights.

Run DMC ft. Aerosmith "Walk This Way"

When Run DMC, one of the most influential rap groups in history, remixed Aerosmith's classic hit "Walk This Way" they got the band involved.  Steven Tyler and Joe Perry even appear prominently in the classic and iconic video for the song, where the wall between rap and rock was symbolically knocked down.

The classic collab was revisted at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1999, when Aerosmith and Run DMC joined Kid Rock (a genre crossing artist in and of himself with his mix of rap, funk and southern rock) to perform an update of the song.

Eminem's "Stan"

Controversial artist Eminem sampled a then-largely-unknown-in-the-US artist by the name of Dido for his single about an obsessed fan.  Dido also appeared in the video for the song as the pregnant girlfriend of the song's title character (played by Devon Sawa).

But perhaps the more shocking collaboration on the song was when Eminem (who was under fire for supposedly homophobic lyrics) performed the song at the 2001 Grammy awards with Sir Elton John, who is not only openly gay but a gay rights activist and icon.

Eminem also sampled Aerosmith's "Dream On" for his song "Sing for the Moment."

Public Enemy and Anthrax "Bring the Noise"

Public Enemy's music is often political in nature and they are known for their social commentary and involvement.

Anthrax is one of the best known thrash metal bands in the world.

Both bands have been together and putting out music since the early 1980's and have influenced a great number of artists both within their genre and within others.

So of course they collaborated on a song.

The Offspring ft. Redman "Original Prankster"

Like them or hate them, you can't deny The Offspring's influence on punk music, especially modern pop-punk.  From classic hits like "Self Esteem" and "Come out and Play" to their concept album Americana which spawned hits like "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" it seemed like they had covered all their bases.

However, for their 2003 album Splinter, the group teamed up with rapper Redman for a song entitled "Original Prankster" which became their first single from the album.

Linkin Park and Jay-Z Collision Course

With more and more people able to access digital mixing software on their home PC's we came into an age of homemade mash-ups.  For example, a mash-up of Kelly Clarkson's "Behind These Hazel Eyes" and the Led Zepplin classic "The Immigrant Song."  No, really.

But when you're Jay-Z, you don't sit around and wait for somebody with Garageband to mash up your music.  You get together with Linkin Park and put out an entire album of mash-ups, including a fantastic mix of "Numb" and "Encore."  Check it out.  Also, a three song mix of "Points of Authority," "99 Problems" and "One Step Closer."

Timbaland ft. Fall Out Boy "One and Only"

For their album Infinity on High, Fall Out Boy worked with hip hop greats Jay-Z and Babyface.  They also had their lead single "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" remixed by THE man in hip hop today, Kanye West.

But they took it one stop further and collaborated on a song with Timbaland entitled "One and Only."  While singer Patrick Stump had worked on songs with hip hop artists in the past (including semi-hip hop, semi-rock, semi-something else label mates Gym Class Heroes) this time the entire band was along for the ride to perform a verse in the song as well as it's catchy hook.

Now we're headed into the future with the Fall Out Boy/T.I. collaboration as well as talk of Panic at the Disco getting ready to work with Snoop Dogg after performing his hit Gin and Juice on stage in Germany as well as on the premier episode of F'N MTV.  So for those of you dreading the idea of Fall Out Boy's image or music being tarnished by working with hip-hop, rap or R&B stars?  Look, they aren't the first to do it.  They sure as hell won't be the last.

And maybe you should think about giving hip-hop or R&B another chance.  Just like every other genre of music there's a ton of variety and you never know, you just might find something you like.  Keep an open mind.  It doesn't hurt.

Much.

A special thanks to everyone who helped me gather links and song suggestions for this post.  You guys all fucking rock.

So in case you haven't yet heard, there's a new contest to win one of the last ten limited edition copies of My Chemical Romance's live CD and DVD The Black Parade is Dead.


The contest is being run through IMEEM and encourages you to make your own My Chem playlist...complete with your explanations of why you picked each song.  Sadly, there's nothing from I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love to choose from (I really wanted to include "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville" on my list and couldn't), but there's a ton of live, unreleased and bonus tracks.

So head on over, read the official rules, and enter.

Oh, and if you would, check out my entry (embedded below).  I'd greatly appreciate it!

Pete Wentz has done a lot of talking about the new Fall Out Boy album ... and he recently revealed to Rolling Stone that he and Patrick Stump have been spending the summer working hard on tracks for the record. More.

After an abnormally quiet summer (well, for some band members, at least), Fall Out Boy has announced their first tour dates since they wrapped last year's Young Wild Things Tour which also included Gym Class Heroes, currently on the road with the Vans Warped Tour.

Where will they tour?