Jason Mraz

We’ll have whatever Jason Mraz is smoking, please. On “Love Is A Four Letter Word,” out today, Mraz is at his hippie-dippiest, peace-loving, live-in-the-now best. If you thought he was mellow before, just wait until you check out the new material. Throughout the album’s 12 songs, he explores love in all its forms and it’s safe to say, he’s for it.

In these troubled times, Mraz is here to tell us that everything is just as it should be, right here and right now. It’s Up With People set to a slight reggae beat. If such affirmations were used sparingly, it would be fine, but “Love” drowns in them so aggressively that it feels like the album should come complete with rainbows, unicorns, fluffy puppies, and tweeting love birds.

From L-R: Kiss, The Monkees, Heart

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted the Class of 2012 over the weekend amid a slew of no shows and controversy, once again, over acts that have not been invited to join the Cleveland edifice.

Here are the 10 acts that should be the next to get in. The Hall only inducts five performers at a time so we know they aren’t all going in in 2013, but all are eligible. Some of them have been on the ballot before and been denied, others, like Kiss, like to shout it, shout it out loud, that they have been wronged over and over.

Kanye West "Way Too Cold"

Hey Kanye, Theraflu called and they want their name back, but Imma  let you say it was all your decision to change the name of “Theraflu” to “Way Too Cold.”  

As you know Kanye West dropped a new song last week, the one in which he declared his love for Kim Kardashian (can’t wait to see that reality show) called “Theraflu.”  Today comes word that he has made the “creative decision” to  change the title to “Way Too Cold.” Yeah, right...

It turns out the medicine makers weren’t quite so down with the song as West. Though they stopped short of threatening legal action, they told TMZ last week that the song, which also features DJ Khaled, that “We in no way endorse or approve of the references or use of the image and likeness of Theraflu in this manner.” What? They didn’t like the image of their medicine perched on top of a drawing of  nude female body? If that doesn’t represent cold, I don’t know what does?

And in case you want to buy “Way Too Cold,”  West is selling it directly through his website, www.kanyewest.com.

Linkin Park

Linkin Park will release its latest album, “Living Things” on June 26.  The album, co-produced by Rick Rubin and LP’s Mike Shinoda, is preceded by first single, “Burn It Down,”  which went to radio today (16).

“Burn It Down” utilizes the now tried-and-true Linkin Park formula of starting with Chester Bennington singing, usually in some kind of psychic pain, and then the song escalates into a twisted metal mass and then Shinoda comes in with a rap at some point. If the band does its job right, there’s usually a great sense of catharsis that creep in by the end of the song.

[More after the jump...]

Maroon 5's Adam Levine and Wiz Khalifa

Credit: AP Photos

Mommy, what’s a pay phone? On new single, "Payphone," Maroon5 takes us back to the past, when things were good between lead singer Adam Levine and his girl, and he’d spend all of his money on a pay phone calling her and he still believed in “fairy tales.”

Bolstered by a rat-a-tat drum beat, “Payphone” is a straight-ahead pop ditty, that, like everything else these days, seems to take a page from Bruno Mars’ “Grenade” for its shiny, military-like precise beat that still manages to sound convincingly warm. As I've been writing about ad nauseum lately, we've entered a new pure pop period, and this song fits in perfectly. It's melodic and catchy, and but not overly aggressive.

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Axl Rose

 

Credit: AP

1) One Direction: The British boy band is so hot that they are taking the unprecedented step of putting their 2013 concert tickets on sale more than a year in advance.

2) Britney Spears: She reportedly accepts a $15 million deal to be a judge on Simon Cowell’s “The X Factor.” Looks like we have a new Material Girl.

3) Madonna: Speaking of, Madge, who topped last week's list,  falls hard as sales for “MDNA” drop 88% in its first week, the highest decline ever. The good news is that years from now, people will only remember that the album came in at No. 1, not the cliff dive. #SuperBowldoesnotcoverallpromotionalneeds

4) Axl Rose: In perhaps the politest letter he’s ever written, the Guns N’ Roses singer asks to not be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. And to please take him off the call list forever and ever.

5) Green Day: Pop punk band will release three albums in 2012.  Haven’t they heard that we live in a singles world now?

6) Coachella: The desert festival kicked off Friday night in its expanded version spread out over two weeks. Come rain or come shine.

7) Spotify: As the streaming service continues to gain traction in the U.S., co-founder Daniel Ek says 2012 revenue will exceed $889 million. That’s almost four times the 2011 revenue. We’ll see if it can move into the black as it lost $59 million last year. Maybe Instagram’s founders will buy the company. We’ve heard they came into some cash.

8) “American Idol”: Its luster may be fading slightly, but it’s not done yet: or at least not by a long shot over at iTunes where “American Idol Top 7 Season 11” hit No. 1 on Friday.

9) Justin Bieber: First single “Boyfriend” set record this week, now the Bieb breaks news that he and Taylor Swift have collaborated on a song for his forthcoming album, “Believe.” Just don’t date her, Justin, or you’ll be on her next album and it won’t be a duet.

10) Courtney Love: Eager to keep her name in the news, Love hits a new low as she accuses Dave Grohl of hitting on her teenage daughter, Frances Cobain.  Someone is off her meds and we suspect, sadly, this will not be the last time Frances has to apologize for her mama.

Adele

 

Credit: Chris Pizzello/AP

Look who is likely to pop back up to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 next week after five weeks out of the top spot: it’s Adele and “21.” The title should reign supreme once again next week with sales of up to 95,000, according to Hits Daily Double.

Van Halen is taking you on the road with them in the new video for “She’s The Woman.” The clip, like the Springsteen clip we wrote up earlier today, is basically live, but takes footage culled from several shows instead of just one and switches randomly from black and white to color.

[More after the jump...]

Bruce Springsteen at Madison Square Garden

Credit: AP Photo

If this Spring’s first leg of Bruce Springsteen’s “Wrecking Ball” tour isn’t  stopping in your hometown, the Boss released eight new cities he and the E Street Band will visit the fall following a summer European jaunt.

Centered primarily on the East Coast (with the obvious exception of Chicago), the tour will start a stadium run in Boston at Gillette Stadium on Aug. 18 and finish with a three-night stand at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Sept. 19-22. It will be Springsteen’s first time playing the new Jets/Giants home and as “Wrecking Ball” fans know, the song was written about the old stadium being torn down in 2009.

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Kris Allen’s new single “The Vision of Love” and accompanying video seems to have arrived at just the right time. As bullying remains all too prevalent in schools, the song and music clip encourage us to be our best selves and  take those small extra steps to help those in need.

“We tried to make sure we created these characters...that people can relate to,” he says about co-writing “The Vision of Love.” “I wanted people to feel like they knew those people. It’s a call for us to not be scared... to not be afraid to offer up ourselves to help people.”

“The Vision of Love” is from “Thank You Camellia,” the “American Idol” winner’s second full-length set.  Allen co-wrote every song on the album, and collaborated with such writeres and producers as Nasri & Adam Messinger, Tim Pagnotta and Boots Ottestad.

The album’s title is a nod of appreciation to Camellia St. in Los Angeles and the house on that street where Allen and his band stayed as they worked on the new project.  He explained the album title’s meaning last week, but in our longer interview with Allen, which will run closer to the album’s May 22 release date, he reveals some of the crazy guesses fans had on Camellia’s identity.