Music Biz Spot

Right now is a great time to be a basketball fan. NBA enthusiasts are in the middle of what is certainly one of the game’s golden ages, full of talented, charismatic superstars and dynamic, history-making teams. LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade and Steve Nash are all among the greatest players of all time, and they’re all playing right now.

They’re contributing to the game’s evolution and destroying records along the way, but there is one particular feat that seems untouchable. On this day in 1962, Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain scored 100 points by himself as his Philadelphia Warriors beat the New York Knicks 169-147 in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It was a pretty absurd game for Chamberlain, who put up 63 shots (sinking 36 of them) and took another 32 free throws (making 28). Wilt was a dominant player, but as you can see by the score of the game (which was a regulation game — 48 minutes, no overtime), it was during an era where there wasn’t a whole lot of defense being played.

The 100 point game was part of a larger season of insanity for Chamberlin, who scored over 4,000 points over the course of the year, making him the only player to ever cross that barrier. (Consider this: Only one other player has ever scored over 3,000 points in a single season, and that was Michael Jordan.) He also set a record for scoring in an All-Star game (42 points) and played 3,882 of a possible 3,890 total minutes, putting his average at 48.5 minutes per game. (Those eight minutes he didn’t play came all at once, when he was ejected for getting two technical fouls in a game.)

Sadly, Wilt didn’t win a championship that year, as he was surrounded by a weak supporting cast and couldn’t handle the Celtics in the playoffs. (That ‘62 Celtics team — featuring Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Sam Jones and Tommy Heinsohn — is considered by some to be the best team ever assembled, so Wilt had an uphill battle.) In honor of his 100 point night, here’s Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings with “100 Days, 100 Nights.”

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Following the release of Humanoid, their breakthrough 2009 album, Tokio Hotel traveled around the world filling venues, teasing their hair out huge and delivering big hooks and even bigger beats to thousands of fans. The band found themselves in familiar surroundings on Sunday (February 28), as German quartet — consisting of brothers Bill Kaulitz and Tom Kaulitz, along with Georg Listing
Gustav Schafer — filled the Color Line Arena in Hamburg, Germany for a homecoming concert.

The group have managed to hone their sound profoundly, and the songs from Humanoid — especially the singles “Automatic” and “World Behind My Wall” — sounded like old favorites next to the rest of the young band’s already deep catalog.

Plenty of people make a big deal out of the fashion choices of Lady Gaga, Ke$ha and Adam Lambert, but Bill Kaulitz’s forward-thinking approach to rock and roll clothes is just as progressive. His outfit in Hamburg was especially fascinating, combining elements of David Bowie, Trent Reznor, “Edward Scissorhands” and Evan Lysacek. It was a fantastically dark and sparkly approach to typical frontman garb.

(Click here for more photos from Tokio Hotel’s concert in Hamburg, Germany!)

Also, has anybody ever pointed out that Bill Kaulitz looks an awful lot like Adam Lambert? Have those two ever been in the same room together?

Tokio Hotel’s stay in their home country won’t be especially long, as they continue to weave their way through Europe over the next six weeks, including stops in Denmark, Norway, France, Italy, Switzerland and Russia. Will they be back in the United States for the summer festival season? Here’s hoping they make another trip back before too long.

What’s your favorite Tokio Hotel song? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

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By Nuzhat Naoreen

Take a look at your calendar. Today is March 1, and that is a big deal, not because it’s the beginning of a new month (really, that happens 12 times a year) or because it could mean more promising weather. No, today is significant because it’s the birth date of not one but two totally awesome pop stars: Justin Bieber and Ke$ha.

Both Justin and Ke$ha have had pretty huge years, and now that they’re a bit older, we can’t help but wonder what will come next. Will Justin, who turned 16 today, follow through on his dreams of collaborating with Lil Wayne? Will Ke$ha, now 23, continue to make us want to party until the clock don’t stop? More importantly, now that they’re older, wiser and that much more pop-cultured, will it finally occur to them to collaborate?

A Justin-Ke$ha collaboration could be magic. You’ve got Justin, who just wants his “baby” to quit playing games and fix his broken heart (the video for “Baby” is on the list of reasons why we love him), and Ke$ha, who just wants the DJ to blow her speakers up. In other words, musically speaking, Justin’s ability to tap into emotions paired with Ke$ha’s ability to turn them off equals pure pop gold.

Lucky for you guys, genius MTV News digital producer Rich Sancho has done his magic once again and melded Bieber’s “Baby” with Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok.” So hit play and check out why Justin and Ke$ha should celebrate their birthdays by hitting the studio together. Oh, and don’t be too surprised if you find yourself replaying our mash over and over again — we already are!

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“[Miley's] like, ‘This is an incredible song, it’s beautiful. Maybe I could [add] some stuff to it, some harmonies.’ I said, ‘That’d be killer!’ She was excited that she didn’t have to follow any rules. I never sat down and said, ‘Look at the content. Look at the lyrical content.’ The part where it says she slowly gets undressed, Miley says, ‘Yeah, she does.’ It has no reference to her and [me]. It’s not even a duet. As God is my witness, there is nothing I have to be defensive about. I’m a good dad. I just thought it was a beautiful song.”

-Bret Michaels, discussing the flap over the provocative lyrical content of his new song “Nothin’ to Lose,” on which 17-year-old Miley Cyrus provides backing vocals. Michaels has been getting flack from people over the suggestive nature of the tune and Cyrus’ involvement, especially on the chorus, where they both sing, “We both know better than this/ Still we can’t resist/ Slowly get undressed/ Won’t you fall down on me/ So close I can feel you breathe.” The Poison frontman told Us that the whole controversy is a tempest in a teapot. “It’s blown out of proportion,” he said, adding that he had gotten a number of texts about it. “I was like, ‘What the f— is going on?’ Everyone’s going nuts!”

The pair ended up in the studio together working on a Cyrus-branded remake of the Poison classic “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” and Cyrus offered to lend her voice to the song after Michaels played it for her in the studio. The track will be on Michaels’ upcoming solo album, which should hit stores in June.

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The month of January was rife with tension at the 11:30 p.m. time slot. That’s where a showdown happened between NBC, Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno, with the future of the nearly six-decade-old “Tonight Show” hanging in the balance. When the dust settled, O’Brien exited as the host after only seven months, Leno’s primetime show was canceled and NBC re-installed Leno as the host of “The Tonight Show.” Following a brief hiatus for coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics, Monday night (March 1) sees the return of Leno’s version of “The Tonight Show.”

Leno spent 17 years at the helm of “The Tonight Show,” so the audience should know what they’re in for at this point. But just because Leno has a comfort zone that elevated him to the top of the ratings heap in late night, that doesn’t mean there can’t be some curveballs. Obviously, Leno’s version of “The Tonight Show” won’t be as delightfully off-kilter as O’Brien’s was (that’s just not Leno’s game), but there can be a few subtle shifts that could lead to something great. Here are five things we’d like to see from the Leno 2.0 version of “The Tonight Show.”

More Upstart Comedians
One of the aspects of the much-derided “The Jay Leno Show” that worked was Leno’s commitment to upstart comics. “The Tonight Show” was initially the big break that a stand-up looked for to get his career going on other avenues. But as the show got more and more Hollywood, it became less about that. Leno should re-commit himself to giving funny people a leg up.

More Remote Action
One of the big problems with “The Jay Leno Show” was the fact that it was basically tethered to the studio. Sure, they sometimes went out back to race cars, but that always seemed like a cool idea that was never particularly entertaining. Jay should get outside the studio with remote shoots and hit the road more often. When you get outside the comfort zone of the studio, some real unpredictable fun can happen.

Retire “Headlines”
This is probably wishful thinking considering this is probably Leno’s signature segment. But as a show of commitment to change, Leno should make a big deal out of burying it. It’s almost never funny and has the stink of the past on it. If he wants to stop being derided by Letterman and Kimmel, he should replace it with another news-centric bit.

Commit To Music
The two late night Jimmys (Kimmel and Fallon) have both lapped Leno and Letterman as far as musical guests go, as they always invite cool people from all corners of the music world. Leno should get in on the ground floor of a genre and welcome some cool people. Perhaps “The Tonight Show” becomes the stop for world music, folk or country?

Stay Angry
Here’s the thing: People have already decided whether or not they like Jay Leno, and the folks who sided with Team Coco during January have labeled him a villain. Why not embrace the heel persona? Some of the most popular characters in professional wrestling have been the bad guys, so Leno should go ahead and embrace it. He should keep sparring with the other late night hosts, refuse to pull punches and live dangerously. The people who already love him will admire him for sticking up for himself, and people who have already decided he’s a bad guy won’t be the ones tuning in anyway. Everybody wins!

What do you hope “The Tonight Show” does differently? Let us know in the comments!

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By Joel Hanek

If you want to see a teenage pop star who isn’t Justin Bieber, then look no further. Videos of artists before they were the artists that we know and love have been surfacing all over the Interwebs recently. While not always flattering, these glimpses behind some rather outsized personas are hypnotic and magnetic. It’s evidence that these people are human, and that everybody is pretty awkward in middle school.

Just like us, artists have to succumb to the power of the omniscient nebula that dictates our lives: The Internet. The savviest of stars know how to navigate the Web’s Temple of Doom and use it as a clever marketing tool by carefully managing information and sculpting their identities. But alas, the Internet is an angry and whimsical being and sometimes it likes to show embarrassing junior high year book photos of you to all of your friends just to be a jerk.

Ke$ha
At a time when I can only assume she woke up like “Puff Daddy” and brushed her teeth with actual toothpaste, 13-year-old Kesha Rose Sebert (now known to the world as Ke$ha) is shown in this video performing Radiohead’s OK Computer classic “Karma Police.”

Chris Brown
Before Chris Brown became the guy associated with a great voice, awesome dance moves and domestic violence, he was just a kid with a great voice and awesome dance moves. Watch Mini-Chris at 13 perform one of his early singles, “Whose Girl is That.”

Adam Lambert
From blond to black, Adam Lambert traded in his cap and gown for a more casual look of spikes and leather. In a video from his high school graduation back in 2000, the “American Idol” phenomenon performs Boyz II Men’s “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” for his fellow classmates.

Lady Gaga
The Haus of Gaga wasn’t built in one day, and the empress took time to cultivate the idea of what would eventually become Lady Gaga. Before The Fame there was a New York girl by the name of Stefanie Germanotta. While she’s not outfitted in Kermit the Frog pelts, this video from 2005 demonstrates the blooming star that she was.

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Every day a multitude of stars wanders through the halls of MTV News to talk about their latest projects and goof around with our intrepid correspondents. But sometimes we catch stars elsewhere, and that’s why we put together Spotted!, a daily compendium of stars in the wild.

Having already joined up with Cyndi Lauper for the launch of the MAC Viva Glam campaign (which will raise funds for AIDS research through sales of lipstick), Lady Gaga took some time out from the European leg of her Monster Ball tour to launch the same campaign in the U.K. (this time with the help of metal matriarch and reality TV star Sharon Osbourne). She emerged from her London hotel wearing a truly stunning outfit even for somebody as fashion-forward and revolutionary as Gaga. She was wearing a lace bodysuit with killer high-heeled boots, banana yellow hair extensions, a phantom mask and a gigantic bow that eclipsed most of her skull. How was she able to walk around — or see — in that particular outfit? The answer is that she’s Lady Gaga, and she can do anything — including continue her Monster Ball tour tonight in Glasgow, Scotland.

Gaga wasn’t the only star getting out and about over the weekend, as Lindsay Lohan and Courtney Love both attended a Roberto Cavalli party in Milan, Italy, and Lenny Kravitz and Adam Levine shot the breeze at the Lakers game at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Click here for these photos as well as the entire “Spotted!” archive, which features over 400 candid shots of stars like Britney Spears, Madonna, Jessica Simpson, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, the Jonas Brothers, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Shakira, Mariah Carey, Diddy, 50 Cent and Hilary Duff!

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Let’s start this off by saying happy birthday to Justin Bieber. You are now 16 years old! Happy Sweet 16! In honor of you adding one more candle to the birthday cake, we’ve rounded up the 16 reasons why we love you (in no particular order).

16: You always look stylish.
15: You and Ke$ha have the same birthday. Best day for birthdays ever?
14: You love Twitter.
13: You’d be great on “Jersey Shore.”
12: Lil Wayne gave you a shout out on Twitter.
11: Snooki loves you.
10: If the video for “Baby” is to be believed, you can bowl and dance at the same time. Those are two sound abilities to have on your resumé.
9: You’re going to play the <Kids' Choice Awards later this month. We will definitely be tuning in for that.
8: You got to hang out with Celine Dion. Way to network!
7: You got kissed by Rihanna once.
6: You’re friends with Selena Gomez. Has she taught you any magic spells yet?
5: You hang out with guys like Usher, Drake and Ludacris. Therefore, you have street cred.
4: You’re Canadian.
3: You love Beyoncé and will break her up with Jay-Z. That’s dedication.
2: You have super-dedicated fans who love you so much they will cry on camera for you and close down your in-store appearances. That’s dedication.
1: You have that lovely swooping hairstyle. At times it seems unruly, but with one head shake it’s under control.

Why do you love Justin Bieber? What would you get him for his birthday? Let us know in the comments!

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Now that the 2010 Winter Olympics are over and “American Idol” has decided to underwhelm the world (at least so far), we can look forward to the next great televised competition. Yes, baseball is coming back, March Madness is just around the corner and the NBA playoffs are dangerously close, but the real cutthroat action will be on the new season of “Dancing With the Stars.”

The full lineup of celebrities who will be competing will be announced tonight (during ABC’s broadcast of the final episode of “The Bachelor”), but there are already a handful of names being whispered about on the Internet. Perhaps the biggest name mentioned so far is reality TV star and tabloid staple Kate Gosselin. Other rumored named include Pamela Anderson, recent gold medal winner Evan Lysacek, former “Full House” star John Stamos, former Britney Spears spouse Kevin Federline and Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover star Brooklyn Decker.

That mix would make for quite a show. Can you imagine the backstage conversations between Stamos and Federline? Can you contemplate Gosselin wondering if she’ll be Anderson some day? But nobody is truly confirmed yet, and there are a lot of slots to fill. Here are a handful of celebs we’d cast in the show, if given unlimited access and resources.

David Paterson
“Dancing With the Stars” is a great forum for disgraced politicians, and since Rod Blagojevich is already on “The Celebrity Apprentice,” the task should fall to the embattled governor of New York. Sure, he’s still got a few months left in his term, but considering most New Yorkers would like to see him leave office anyway, he’d probably be able to get the time off.

Forrest Griffin
Last season’s version of the show featured former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell, who was a fantastic and somewhat underrated contestant. This show should always feature a fighter, and why not the charismatic former light heavyweight champion Griffin? He’s funny and would probably turn in a memorable performance.

Foxy Brown
Since she got out of jail in 2008, Foxy has needed some kind of career revival to burst back into the mainstream, and the talented MC behind such smash hits as “Hot Spot,” “I’ll Be” and “Big Bad Momma” would be a perfect fit for “Dancing With the Stars.” The show loves a comeback story, and Foxy’s long journey back would make for great television.

Martin Sheen
Ever since “The West Wing” ended and Sheen stepped out of the spotlight as the patriarchal president, the TV landscape has been bereft of Martin Sheen (though Charlie Sheen has tried to ably fill in). If Martin did “Dancing With the Stars,” he could start a friendly rivalry between his show and “Two and a Half Men.” What’s better than cross-network warring?

Betty White
Everybody wants her to host “Saturday Night Live,” but why limit her TV exposure to 90 minutes in late night where she has to share screen time with Kristen Wiig? Put White on “Dancing With the Stars” and have her follow in the footsteps of Cloris Leachman.

Oderus Urungus
The Gwar frontman and patriarch has a secretly dynamic personality, and even though he’d probably be eliminated right away, it’d be fun to watch his partner cower in fear for a week.

Who do you want to see in the new “Dancing With the Stars” cast? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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Really, you should be listening to music every day, but thanks to Twitter, Monday has become the best day of the week to discover new songs, show some love to the tune currently dominating your iPod playlist and quietly judge the listening habits of your closest friends. Yes, it’s #MusicMonday, one of Twitter’s most enduring trending topics. Hence “MTV News’ #MusicMonday,” a weekly look at the songs your favorite stars are currently crushing on.

This week, electro-hoppers LMFAO shout out Calvin Harris’ “Flashback,” a favorite in the duo’s DJ sets.

Sky Blu and Redfoo, the pair of cousins who make up LMFAO, have managed to attack the music industry from two different angles. Not only are they the brains behind killer party anthems like “I’m in Miami Trick,” “La La La” and the current smash “Shots,” but they are also accomplished and in-demand party DJs. So it’s no wonder that the song that the boys are currently crushing on is a track that has become a highlight of their DJ sets as of late.

“One song we’ve been listening to a lot and playing out when we DJ is a song called ‘Flashback,’ by Calvin Harris,” Redfoo told MTV News. “It’s at trip when you play it in the club. It just stops everything in the club, and that’s why I love it. You play all this hardcore stuff, and then you just hit’em with this!”

The group managed to make news for non-music reasons recently, as Sky Blu was involved in an incident with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney on a plane as they were trying to leave Vancouver. In case you need a blow-by-blow account, check out their reenactment of the whole scenario.

What’s playing on your #MusicMonday playlist today? Let us know in the comments!

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