The Strokes On 'SNL'

Last night's Saturday Night Live episode, hosted by Miley Cyrus, had The Strokes as musical guests. The band not only sang their current single Under Cover Of Darkness, but also debuted a new song titled Life Is Simple In The Moonlight. The song is the closing track on the band's fourth studio album, Angles, which is out on March 22nd. Watch both performances below:


Life Is Simple In The Moonlight


Under Cover Of Darkness


Pre-order Angles | Get Under Cover Of Darkness
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Nas Ends Lil Wayne's Billboard Reign With Untitled

After weeks of trading places at the top of the weekly Billboard albums chart, Lil Wayne and Coldplay have been vanquised by a new champion. Following months of hype about its original title and subsequent change, Nas' Untitled will cruise to the top spot on the chart on sales of 186,600. The Nas takeover will push Weezy's Tha Carter III down a notch to #2 on sales of 105,500, according to Nielsen SoundScan, just one week after Wayne had regained the pole position from Coldplay.

Nas' debut was strong, giving him his fourth #1 bow, but it paled in comparison to the first week for his previous album, Hip Hop Is Dead, which scanned 354,000 units back in 2006. The soundtrack to the ABBA-centric "Mamma Mia!" busts into the #3 slot on sales of 91,400, dropping Coldplay's Viva la Vida down to #4, with 90,300 more converts, and the "Camp Rock" soundtrack follows with another 78,000 units moved. The second wind for iTunes holdout Kid Rock's Rock N Roll Jesus continues unabated, as the album sees sales tick up almost 20 percent from last week with 73,500 more satisfied customers, landing it in the #6 spot.

The top 10 also features three other fresh faces: Rock Hall of Famer John Mellencamp's Life Death Love and Freedom at #7 with 56,200 in sales, David Banner's The Greatest Story Ever Told at #8 on 51,800 units and Taylor Swift's Wal-Mart-only album Beautiful Eyes at #9 with 44,700. The top 10 is rounded out by the expanded edition of Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad, which slipped two spots from last week with sales of 41,300.

There were plenty of other debuts in the mix, with jam band O.A.R.'s All Sides landing at #13 with 33,200 in sales; county veteran Randy Travis clocking 31,000 in sales for Around the Bend at #14; the soundtrack to "The Dark Knight," swooping into the #20 position on 24,700 in sales; and bar-rock heroes the Hold Steady grabbing the #30 slot with their latest chronicle of lovable losers, Stay Positive, which won over 17,400 big spenders.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's Magic Tour Highlights EP appears at #48 with 11,800 units moved. Aussie rising star Delta Goodrem breaks through at #116 on 6,000 copies of Delta, and Atlanta rockers Rehab punch in at #132 with sales of 5,100 for Graffiti the World.

While both Coldplay and Weezy have seen their sales drop off slowly but steadily, a couple of acts that debuted in the top 10 recently took major falls, including Beck, whose Modern Guilt saw a 66 percent drop in sales, landing him at #16, and G-Unit's T.O.S. (Terminate on Sight), which skidded 40 percent in its third week on the chart, dropping from #9 to #24.

Nas shouldn't get too comfortable, since next week will bring the chart debut of Miley Cyrus' first full album under her own name, Breakout.

Source: MTV.com

'American Idol' Gives Back: Snoop Dogg Gets Sentimental, Fergie Does Cartwheels At Charity Event

A lot of musical guests have made their way to the "American Idol" stage over the show's seven seasons, but did anyone ever expect to see Snoop Dogg on the squeaky-clean show? Couldn't this hurt his street cred?

"Why could this hurt me?" the hip-hop heavyweight asked backstage at the Kodak Theatre during Sunday's "Idol Gives Back" taping. "This is beautiful, man."

Apparently even Snoop gets sentimental when it comes to the second-annual charity event — which raised $76 million last year for organizations in the U.S. and Africa — and on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET, the two-and-a-half-hour episode will air in the hopes of topping that total.

Snoop hit the stage with Charlie Wilson early in the show to perform his new Ego Trippin' street anthem, "Can't Say Goodbye." Kids from Snoop's youth football league took the stage as well, and he said being a coach is his way of giving back.

"These kids are at risk," Snoop said backstage. "And it's so easy to join a gang, so easy to get drugs, but it's so hard to do something right with yourself. I'm trying to give them an opportunity to do something right with themselves."

Snoop also had his own kids in tow — one of whom was a little confused about a certain Disney teen queen.

"My daughter thinks Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana are two different people," Snoop laughed. "She took a picture with her, and I was like, 'Who did you take a picture with?' She says, 'Miley Cyrus.' And I said, 'Where's Hannah Montana?' She says, 'She's not here yet.' "

No word on whether Hannah ever made it, but Miley hit the "Idol" stage a handful of times, to the highest-pitched — and longest-lasting — screams of the night (well, Brad Pitt's surprise appearance was right up there too). Cyrus performed a pair of songs, riffed with Billy Crystal about who he is and visited a needy family in the South with dad Billy Ray. Meeting with the family really affected Miley — especially since it was in her own backyard.

"I know some people are like, 'It's America. [Poverty] doesn't exist,' " Miley said backstage. "But it does. It does exist here, and that's something that gets overlooked. It's great if you can go to all the different countries, but ... there's things that you can do right here."

John Legend seconded that idea, urging young "Idol" fans to get involved in any way they can.

"It's a good example for young people to realize that when you have the ability to help somebody, you should help them," Legend said backstage. "I think it's a great message that a small donation can go a long way, and that even if you're not rich, you can be a philanthropist."

Legend kicked off a string of performances during the show, starting with his latest, the understated-but-powerful "Show Me." He then accompanied Fergie on their co-written song, "Finally," before Fergie brought Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson onstage to perform "Barracuda." The Black Eyed Pea did some pretty impressive cartwheels toward the end of the performance, to the befuddlement of Heart and possibly the audience.

Also surprising to the Wilson sisters is their newfound fanbase, thanks in part to the popularity of their songs with "Idol" contestants. "We see the result when we play live," Nancy Wilson said backstage. "All these younger and younger kids ... have been coming out, which has to be 'American Idol' — and 'Guitar Hero' — at work."

Carrie Underwood, who can also attribute some of her success to "American Idol," hit the big stage once again, but this time, there weren't any discouraging words from Simon Cowell — not that she ever had a problem with that.

"That's what he's there for," Underwood said of the often-grouchy Brit. "It always drives me nuts when contestants sit there and argue with him. I'm like, 'That's what he's paid to do! I took it! You stay up there and you take it! Take it like a man!' "

The country superstar was a little bit calmer when she performed George Michael's "Praying for Time," keeping herself from crying near the end.

"That's a song that I've always loved, and I've always loved the message," Underwood said. "It took me forever to be able to sing that through without crying, and I know if that song made me feel that way, maybe it will make a few other people feel that way as well and maybe make them feel strongly about doing something."

And now, in the spirit of giving back, we'll offer up some must-see moments from the big night:

» The show opened with the top-eight "Idol" contestants performing Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music" with a "So You Think You Can Dance?" crew busting a move behind them. (BTW, we weren't entirely convinced that Jason Castro thought our aura was incredible.)

» Annie Lennox's visit with four orphaned African brothers and her mesmerizing performance of Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" were definitely the emotional highlights of the night. "I think people are really hungry for a kind of consciousness shift, where we feel the connectivity between our different countries," Lennox said backstage.

» Jimmy Kimmel focused a little too much of his stage time on Simon Cowell's nipples, likening them to pepper mills and saying it looked like the judge was "smuggling the Olsen twins" in his shirt. Simon's simple response was priceless: "Jimmy Kimmel, I'd just like to say how much I like the Jay Leno show."

» And the winner for the celebrity guest who overstayed his or her welcome (and will hopefully get a good edit before the broadcast) is Robin Williams, who severely overacted the part of "Russian Idol" Ivan Popinov. The comedian even ogled Paula Abdul's chest and told her to "let the puppies off leash" in his rip-off Borat accent.

» Randy Jackson proved that he does, in fact, know Mariah Carey when he played bass for the diva on "Fly Like a Bird," the final guest performance of the night. Carey was at her over-the-top best, with a full gospel choir and the high notes that made her famous.

Source: MTV.com