The NEW New Power Generation?

​The Voice recently announced that its celeb judges -- Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Blake Shelton, and Maroon 5's Adam Levine -- would attempt a medley of Prince tunes in its second episode this season.

No word on a guest appearance by the celebrated songwriter himself, but this is a refreshing move for a show fighting to top American Idol/X Factor with Kelly Clarkson, Ne-Yo, Miranda Lambert, Alanis Morissette, Lionel Richie, Robin Thicke, Babyface, and Jewel entering the fold as judges. Based upon what we know, it's just our original four combining for a Prince party. Obviously, none of them should perform "Purple Rain," but here are a few selections (not easy to find on YouTube, obviously) that would go a long way in protecting the purple brand.
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Yes, this is a still from a Black Dice music video.

​Whether you're dealing with Black Dice, black metal, or Blue Ivy, 2012 is figuring to be a year filled with dark, rich shades -- none of these half-assed hues, please! These five singles are a cross-section of the bizarre, the boastful, and the quiet moments we spend in noisy spots.
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​Bon Iver's Bon Iver was obviously a bit of a local success story, and we rightfully felt the need to put his bearded, thoughtful mug on our cover last fall. (Read Andrea Swensson's cover story here.) Our beloved sibling paper the Village Voice showed some serious (but not ultimate) dedication to the man in the recently released 2011 edition of the Pazz & Jop critic's poll. There were a good eight records that placed ahead of Justin Vernon's latest folk excursion on the albums list, including Drake's Take Care. Note: Bon Iver junkies best tune in to Late Night With Jimmy Fallon to catch Vernon sitting in with the Roots.
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​Here's a not-so-secret fact about Minnesota music: People love to talk about how much they love the scene here. Musicians from both out-of-state and the Twin Cities have gone out of their way to pen odes to our town and its vibrant community, from Atmosphere to Lucinda Williams Tom Waits to Mark Mallman, who just dropped his new single, "Minneapolis," this week.

What's all the fuss about, anyway? We decided to crack open the history books and a few back issues of City Pages to compile a list of lovable facts about the last several decades of Minnesota music, ranging from the obvious (yes, Prince and Dylan made the list) to some lesser-known facts that just might surprise you. 

Read on, and feel free to leave your own factoids in the comments. We love this stuff.

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​Dave Grohl is the real deal. After spending the early '90s clocking stage time in one of the most influential bands of his generation, no one would have thought twice if he had shied away from the limelight following his Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain's suicide in 1994. More >>

​Yesterday and today, Rolling Stone rather epically trolled Replacements fans around the world with an article titled, cheekily, "Replacements Members Consider Reuniting."

Unfortunately, we here at Gimme Noise (and those with eyeballs, internet browsers, and cortexes everywhere) don't hold out much hope of a "reunion" between the surviving members of The 'Mats. In fact, we've made a list of some unlikely, but far more likely, reunions that we should be holding our breath for.


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​The original Woodstock Music And Art Fair kicked off on this date in 1969, in a large farm located in Bethel, New York (which is technically about a half-hour southwest of Woodstock proper). And while much has been made and mythologized about the overwhelming feeling of peace and love that permeated through the 500,000+ sprawling masses that weekend, looking back on highlights from the festival has led me to some pretty poor musical performances (from both the smaller acts and the headliners) as well. And while, for most people, their overall experience at any music festival tends to be about far more than just the performances, ultimately that is what I'm drawn to and bother going to the large festivals for--great, memorable sets by bands that I love.

Here are some weak performances from the original Woodstock that I'm glad that I missed.

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​It's been nearly 30 years since MTV launched by airing footage of the Apollo 11 landing and the video for the Buggles' "Video Killed a Radio Star" at 12:01 a.m. on August 1, 1981. Though it was founded with the intent of streaming music videos 24 hours a day, the station quickly became a tool for powerful record labels and started featuring heavily commercialized music. These days the main MTV channel rarely plays full music videos in lieu of broadcasting a smattering of reality TV shows and other ratings-hungry gimmicks.

Though it can be hard now to even recall a time when music videos were MTV's prime focus, even that period was not without its share of controversy. In honor of the station's 30th anniversary, we took a look back at 10 music videos that were either banned entirely or censored by the station over the years, from the blatantly sexualized to the just plain bizarre.

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​Michele Bachmann is only 24 hours into her candidacy for the U.S. presidency, and already she's gotten herself into a bit of hot water: In addition to confusing John Wayne with serial killer John Wayne Gacy in her speech about her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, Bachmann riled up Tom Petty by using his song "American Girl" to conclude her announcement without his consent.

We thought we'd help Bachmann out by offering up some suggestions for songs she could use out on the campaign trail.


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