They‘re no Idiots

Sept. 7, 2005

Green Day were anything but American Idiots at the MTV Video Music Awards last weekend, snagging a whopping six awards for their track “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” including Best Rock Video, Best Group Video, and Video of the Year - and they even performed that same track to open the live broadcast. The VMAs also honored plenty of other modern rockers, including Gorillaz, whose “Feel Good Inc.” won for Breakthrough Video and Best Special Effects; Fall Out Boy, who won the MTV2 Award; Kelly Clarkson, who won for Best Female Video; Kanye West, who won for Best Male Video; and Gwen Stefani’s choreographer Kishaya Dudley, who won for Best Choreography in a Video. Performers at the show included My Chemical Romance, Coldplay, The Killers, and Kelly Clarkson, who closed the show amidst an artificial but surely hurricane-inspired onstage “rainstorm”...

Elsewhere, Chicago modern rockers OK Go have dropped the first single from their second album, and they’re making a splash with more than just the song. The video for the track - “A Million Ways” - was interpreted in video form by the band themselves, who snagged OK Go singer Damian Kulash’s choreographer sister to put together some funky dance moves for the band members, who are definitely more known for their great music than great footwork. But surprise - the hip little low-budget clip, which was leaked onto the Internet, has been downloaded a whopping 500,000 times in less than a month, which is sure to draw more fans into checking out OK Go’s sophomore CD, Oh No, an energetic, spare set of songs that the band recorded in Sweden with Franz Ferdinand producer Tore Johansson. Check out the hilarious-yet-impressive dancin’ video yourself at www.okgo.net, and don’t miss the band live on the road with The Redwalls this fall...
Singer-songwriter Ryan Adams has been holed up with his band The Cardinals, prepping his second album of 2005 for release later in September. Set to include 14 tracks, including the Adams-Norah Jones duet “Dear John,” the disc has been dubbed Jacksonville City Nights and will be released on Lost Highway Records. You can grab your copy on September 27, and while you wait for the full-length Adams effort, take a listen to his song “Come Pick Me Up,” which will make an appearance on the Elizabethtown movie soundtrack (due September 13). Uberfans can also catch Adams live at the Vegoose Festival coming up in Las Vegas...
Speaking of which, the debut of that same music fest event will be kicking off next month at Las Vegas’ Sam Boyd Stadium, and they’re boasting a pretty cool lineup of acts so far. The brand new Vegoose concert series will kick off on October 8 and will run through October 31 at a variety of venues; performers on the schedule as of press time include Beck, Dave Matthews “and Friends,” Jack Johnson, Galactic, the Flaming Lips, Sleater-Kinney, Devandra Banhart, Sound Tribe Sector 9, The Magic Numbers, The Shins, and the aforementioned Ryan Adams. Heading to Vegas, baby? Check it all out online at www.vegoose.com...

Coca-Cola are currently on the hunt for a new song for their advertising campaign, preferably one that sticks in consumers’ minds as well as “I’d Like To Buy The World A Coke” did back in the ‘70s. So who better to turn to than one of the masters of the pop hook, Mr. Jack White? That’s right, Detroiter White has been approached by the Coca-Cola company to possibly write a new song for their upcoming commercials; The White Stripes previously turned down The Gap, who wanted to use a White Stripes song in one of their ads, so any Coca-Cola-meets-White-Stripes song is more likely to be something that White pens specifically for the occasion. No word yet on whether Jack or Meg will appear in the ads...

MINI BUZZ:
You heard it here first - with their tour going so well and plenty of creativity flying around, it wouldn’t be a surprise to those in the know if Coldplay came out with yet another new album as early as next year...
The Eels are making plans to return to Australia for their third tour in October, with an expanded band and show that will feature trash can percussion and a “home movie presentation”...
While Garbage have gone the opposite direction and have canceled the European leg of their current tour, citing band exhaustion...
And Pennsylvania rockers Live will release their first Epic Records album in mid-November - titled Songs From Black Mountain, the first single from that disc, “The River,” will hit radio in mid-September...

In the meantime, check out these new releases... ON CD: 30 Seconds to Mars’ A Beautiful Lie... Yolanda Adams’ Day By Day... The Coral’s The Invisible Invasion... Death Cab for Cutie’s Plans... Kanye West’s Late Registration... and Juliet’s Random Order... ON DVD: Macy Gray’s Live in Las Vegas... Spandau Ballet’s Live from the N.E.C.... Our Lady Peace’s Live... and Neil Young’s Complex Sessions... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves, about this column or your fave musicians send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com!