​While Metallica fans were either super pumped or totally confused and über-pissed off about the new single released, "The View," from the upcoming Lou Reed collaboration, Lulu, there was another element of bittersweetness in the hearts and mind of fans this week, as Tuesday marked the 25th anniversary of the death of original bassist Cliff Burton.

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Photos by Amy Gee

​The Rapture
September 29, 2011
The Varsity Theater, Minneapolis

The Rapture show last night began with Gabriel Andruzzi. The keyboardist and saxophonist is the newest member, and as he waltzed out in pompadoured glory looking like Duckie from "Pretty In Pink," the audience pooled forward. Andruzzi quietly launched into the synth start-up for the title track off of the Rapture's latest album, In The Grace Of Your Love, the lights went up, and the rest of the band ambled out: First Vito Roccoforte then Harris Klahr, the band's touring bassist, and finally frontman Luke Jenner. 

The Rapture, despite a four-year hiatus, looked young. Jenner, hair shaggy and clad in a San Diego Padres t-shirt and sneakers, resembled a grad student more than a musician; like your brother who coaches high school baseball, or the guy that fixed your computer.

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50 Cent vs. Lil Wayne

​50 Cent attacks Lil Wayne on a new track, "Love, Hate, Love," which also takes a swipe at former G-Unit member Game.

Fiddy has long been known for his takedown tracks -- he became famous with "How to Rob," which took on just about every rapper in the game, and famously feuded with Ja Rule.

Sure, a rap feud with Weezy seems like the sure-fire way to hype an album these days -- See: Jay-Z vs. Lil Wayne -- but this latest attack seems particularly mean-spirited, not to mention homophobic and racist.
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Photo by Nick Vlcek

​The outdoor concert season has been hesitant to die down this year. Tomorrow, Nick and Eddie will roll their PAs out into the back alley one more time for the 274 Music Fest (named after the 274th day of the year), which is being billed as a show "Celebrating the end of what proved to be another entertaining block party season." And with the lineup that they have in store for tomorrow, it looks like they'll be kicking off fall with a thunderous roar.More >>

​If you were to watch the Wizard of Oz in its entirety only backwards, that might properly demonstrate what the road is like. You start at home, then slowly lose contact with your friends following a black highway into a tornado. Along the way you bring witches back from the dead. Either story ends the same, backwards and forwards, you end up back at your dysfunctional inbred farmhouse. That's basically touring. More >>

​This weekend was brought to you by the letter "H."

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​In an odd bit of symmetry, we learned that the Sugarhill Gang will be performing a halftime show at this Sunday's Lynx game just a few short hours after hearing of the death of Sugar Hill Records' Sylvia Robinson, whose most notable contribution to hip-hop was her production work on the Sugarhill Gang's hit "Rapper's Delight."

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Photo by Ben Clark

​When experimental electro-dub artist James Blake made his Minneapolis debut at the Entry this past May, he made sure to note how thrilled he was to be at the venue "where Prince played," joking that he was disappointed he wasn't playing in the iconic Mainroom. So when Blake returned just four short months later to play that bigger stage, it was a good opportunity to find out more about Blake's ties to the Twin Cities.

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​So just when you'd managed to excise every last trace of the lava-bed crunch-munch of plodding, misanthropic metal mayhem that is The View from your cranium, shameless hambone thespian William Shatner crashes the random-heavy-metal-news-sweepstakes party with what's gotta be the most cringe-worthy version of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" ever committed to tape.

Before Gimme Noise goes any further, you should probably just, um, click "Play" and leap headfirst into... this.

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​Sylvia Robinson, singer, producer, and founder of hip-hop label Sugar Hill Records, passed away this morning of congestive heart failure at Meadowlands Hospital in Secaucus, New Jersey. She was 75.

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