Original Television Soundtrack: The Vampire Diaries serves up a biting mix of exclusive tracks unavailable elsewhere—including songs by Smashing Pumpkins and Gorillaz — plus favorites from season one of the hit TV show, including "Sleep Alone" by Bat for Lashes and "Running Up That Hill" by Placebo. The collection's focus track is "Obsession" by 18-year-old Internet sensation Sky Ferreira, who'll release her eagerly anticipated debut CD in early 2011.

The Original Television Soundtrack: The Vampire Diaries is out October 12, while the new season of the hit CW network show—about two vampire...

Hailed in the press as one of the most fun, innovative and highly-anticipated games of the year, Activision Publishing Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) recently dropped the needle on DJ Hero's full set list featuring 93 exclusive mixes from the biggest stars in hip hop, R&B, rock, pop and dance and created by some of the greatest DJs of all time.

On October 27th, living room legends and budding superstar DJs alike will start the party off right with an unprecedented array of talent DJs including DJ A.M., Cut Chemist, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Jazzy Jeff, J. Period, DJ Shadow and DJ Z-Trip spinning trac...

It's interesting the way Ryan Seacrest framed last night's battle of the American Idol finalists, painting a major contrast between the two contestants. His list of the differences between the two singers was not simply a clashing description of two people, but a sort of rallying cry for the sections of the country each guy supposedly represented.

In one corner, Ryan gave us the clean-cut country boy from the "real" America who would just love to get your votes. In the other corner, we met the freakish glam rocker from that hedonistic land of California who does his best to com...

Random Thoughts While Waiting for American Idol to Start:

-No weird WWE-style judge introduction tonight. Finally!

-Hey, it's the bald guy from "Fringe"! Here's a guarantee: 95% of the audience had no idea why they showed that guy, kind of like the 99% who didn't understand why he was on the sidelines during NFL playoff games.

-Do people actually get embarrassed by their baby photos? Isn't that the biggest faux-humiliation moment ever? I mean, you're a baby! The fashions were different and your parents dressed you to look like their version of cute. How insecure does so...

Happy Birthday to Simple Plan guitarist Jeff Stinco (1978), Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough (1973), "Lost" actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (1967), Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley (1967; d. 2002), singer/songwriter Tori Amos (1963), Tears For Fears singer Roland Orzabel (1961), Ratt bassist Juan Croucier (1959), Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid (1958), actor Colm Feore (1958), Grateful Dead singer Donna Jean Godchaux (1947), "Laverne and Shirley" actress Cindy Williams (1947), actress Valerie Harper (1940), "Brokeback Mountain" author Annie Proulx (1935), Sci-Fi writer Ray Bradbury (1920)...

Blaqk Audio, the electronic side project of AFI's Davey Havok and Jade Puget, will finally see the light of day August 14th in the form of the debut album CexCells.

Recorded by the band in between AFI's extensive touring for Decemberunderground and mixed by Dave Bascombe (Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears, Placebo), CexCells expands upon and fully indulges the dark electronic textures and influences increasingly prevalent in AFI's recent work. The results range from evocation of prima era Depeche Mode and early Ministry ("Stiff Kittens," "Bitter for Sweet," "Where Would You Like Them Left?...

Great pop songs are ones you not only remember forever but remind you of the feelings you had when they shot up the charts. On three decade by decade--the '60s through the '80s--Hip-O/UMe Pop Number 1's albums in the new and ongoing UMe Number 1's series, those #1 songs and the feelings they recall are back. Love Songs Number 1's, also released April 3, 2007, brings together the ultimate love songs that topped the charts. All titles will be released in a ground-breaking environmentally-friendly packaging format. A first for the music industry, the standard package (both sleeve and tray) w...

Do The Math and Heads Up International are proud to announce the release of the new record by sound-pioneering trio The Bad Plus. Entitled "PROG," the record will be released on May 8. Tony Platt, the man most famous for engineering AC/DC's "Back in Black," produced.

Neither progressive jazz nor progressive rock, "PROG" is the first record on the band's own imprint Do The Math, and it firmly keeps the band on its iconoclastic trajectory, forging a sound that defies any easy definitions or categories. "PROG" is the group's fifth studio album, following 2001's The Bad Plus (Fresh Sounds)...

Columbia Records will release "Twelve," the eagerly-anticipated album of "cover" versions of classic popular songs newly interpreted by the 2007 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Patti Smith, on Tuesday, April 17.

"Twelve" is Patti Smith's first album of new studio recordings since Trampin', her Columbia Records debut, was released in 2004, and is the artist's first-ever full-length collection of songs originally created by other performers.

On "Twelve," Patti Smith and her band -- Lenny Kaye (guitar), Jay Dee Daugherty (drums) and Tony Shanahan (bass, keyboards) -- work their mag...

Paul Weller has tackled Rose Royce's Wishing On A Star and The Magic Numbers attempt Beyonce Knowles' Crazy In Love on a quirky new covers compilation.

They're joined by artists like R.E.M., Dido and k.d.lang, covering tunes by Glen Campbell, James Taylor and Leonard Cohen on Sounds Eclectic: The Covers Project, which will be sold exclusively at Starbucks coffee stores across America this spring.

The album, which also features Robert Plant revamping his old Led Zeppelin classic Black Dog, was inspired by Gary Jules' international hit Mad World, a cover of a Tears For Fears tune.

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Switchfoot releases long awaited video of the hit single “Oh! Gravity” off the highly anticipated new album of the same name due in stores December 26, 2006. The video was premiered last week on Yahoo! Music and then immediately added to the Switchfoot website. In anticipation for the new album the band has revamped their website, http://www.switchfoot.com and their MySpace page http://www.switchfoot.com/myspace. Fans also can pre-order the new album online and receive three bonus songs.

Switchfoot, a San Diego based modern rock band released their fifth album Nothing is Sound in Septe...

Happy Birthday to Simple Plan guitarist Jeff Stinco (1978), Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough (1973), "Lost" actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (1967), Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley (1967; d. 2002), singer/songwriter Tori Amos (1963), Tears For Fears singer Roland Orzabel (1961), Ratt bassist Juan Croucier (1959), Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid (1958), actor Colm Feore (1958), Grateful Dead singer Donna Jean Godchaux (1947), "Laverne and Shirley" actress Cindy Williams (1947), actress Valerie Harper (1940), "Brokeback Mountain" author Annie Proulx (1935), Sci-Fi writer Ray Bradbury (1920)...

Got enough 80s? Pure 80s: #1s features 18 chart-topping smash hits, from "Eye Of The Tiger," "Addicted To Love," "Every Breath You Take" And "Maniac" To "Karma Chameleon," "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" and "What's Love Got To Do With It."

The '80s were a hit-and-miss decade. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pac-Man, MTV, "Miami Vice," "Cheers," "The Cosby Show," the CD, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were hits. The New Coke, the return of Halley's Comet, and the DeLorean were misses. On the music charts, the hits and misses were just as obvious. Eighteen of the hits--all so...