R.E.M. was one of those rare bands that has the talent and the passion to not only stick around on the music scene for a very long time, but truly be a part of its core and change it for the better. Now, after 31 years, the band is “calling it a day.” With no temper tantrums and no hard feelings, the four band members are splitting up and disbanding R.E.M. And they’re doing it all for each other, for the fans, and for the band.

The band made the initial announcement on their website yesterday, stating that, “we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.”

The band then updated the announcement later on, each giving their own personal insight to the breakup; and each expressing that there are no hard feelings. The music and concerts had simply come to an end and it had nowhere else to go. Wanting to go out on a high note, they knew it was time and wanted to do it the right way.

R.E.M. is not just a band that tours and records together. They are four men that have seen each other through multiple ups and downs in both their personal lives and throughout the course of their career. The three members that make up the band today are original members of the band; they started it together, and they will end it together. In November, the band will release a greatest hits album that will include the biggest hits of their career.

Alice Cooper will never stop, and he’s currently proven that by jet-setting around the globe on a world tour. For the past few months he’s been bringing his music to fans in New Zealand, England, Singapore, and Australia, to name just a few of the faraway places Cooper’s been. But now, the rocker who was just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this past March, will bring his music back home to his fans in North America.

Alice Cooper will only take about a week’s break from the No More Mr. Nice Guy tour when he leaves Moscow on November 19. He’ll pick it back up in Huntington, West Virginia on November 26 and from there make a few other U.S. stops, including Atlantic City, New Jersey. Then on December 5th, Cooper will start giving Canadians a show too, with his first stop being in Kingston, Ontario. From there he’ll travel to other Canadian cities including Kitchener and Oshawa, before heading back to the States to wrap up the tour on December 14 in Orlando, Florida — with many shows in between, of course!

Alice Cooper is a rock legend that’s released 19 studio albums during a career that has spanned over four decades. Cooper’s most known for bringing big shows filled with intensity and drama and from the shows he’s already given on this tour, it’s proving to be no different. For a complete listing of concert dates, you can check them out on StubPass: Alice Cooper Tickets.

Fans who have been missing Kurt Cobain’s performances ever since his death nearly twenty years ago can now relive some of the magic! VH1 will release the filming of a Nirvana concert held on Halloween night in 1991 at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, three years before Cobain’s suicide. No one has ever seen the footage before and the network thinks that releasing it on the anniversary of the band’s Nevermind album is the perfect tribute. The concert is an hour long and will be shown on September 23 at 11:00 p.m. on VH1, VH1 Classic, and Palladia.

Fans that have been relying all-too long on their tired Nirvana recordings, both studio and live, will finally get a fresh taste of Nirvana through this concert showing. The concert shows Cobain and the rest of his band mates playing many of their biggest hits including Breed, Lithium, and Polly. But it’s not just the biggest song titles that made the show. The band also plays some lesser-known music, such as Jesus Don’t Want Me for a Sunbeam, a Vaseline cover that also appeared on their MTV Unplugged in New York album that was released in 1994, the same year as Cobain’s death.

And that’s not all the good news. The full live concert will also be released four days later on Blu-Ray and DVD on September 27. That’s bound to get fans excited, as it’s likely to be the last Cobain concert footage we’ll ever see.

It’s been just about three years since Nickelback released their last album, Dark Horse. And although it saw huge success, selling 3 million copies, the band wanted to stay in the studio and get the music right before they released another. The wait is over and sure to be worth it, as Nickelback has just announced that they’re ready to release their seventh studio album, Here and Now.

The album will be in stores on November 21, but you don’t have to wait that long to get a taste. The band will be releasing two singles, first When We Stand Together, which will be released on September 26; and then a follow-up single, Bottoms Up. Both will be aired on both pop & rock radio.

With a new album, two new singles, what more could Nickelback fans ask for? How about a world tour to promote said new album? That’s going to happen, and it will likely begin early 2012, although no official dates have been released yet. Chad Kroeger, the band’s front man, says that he’s excited to show fans what they’ve got; and although it may have taken a small wait, the band had a vision and was going to be in the studio for as long as it took to get that vision to come together.

Work on the album started earlier this year and now that the vision has all come together, it’s just a matter of weeks until we get to hear it!

Just before he released his new album, The Carter IV, Lil’ Wayne said that he hoped more artists would follow his creative strategy in the future. The strategy was to release the album on iTunes seconds following MTV’s VMA Awards and, it worked. So well in fact that Lil’ Wayne might get his wish, and we might see more of these types of releases in the future.

The rapper did face some obstacles in getting his latest album released online; the main one being that some of the album was leaked on the Internet before it was actually released. But that did nothing to stop sales, as The Carter IV sold 300,000 downloads in just four days. That’s 10,000 more than Kanye‘s and Jay-Z‘s Watch the Throne, which was released last month and only sold 290,000 downloads in the same amount of time.

But Watch the Throne wasn’t the only album The Carter IV beat, it broke records too, and Lil’ Wayne holds the current record! Before The Carter IV, the most sales in the first week of release was The Carter III, which Wayne released in 2008. The Carter IV is expected to sell 850,000 copies in its first week; official sales results will be released this Wednesday.

There’s no doubt that with numbers like those, more artists will be sure to follow in Lil’ Wayne’s footsteps and plan for more creative and publicity-inducing release dates.

Have you heard the sultry crooning of the newest British singer to hit the US charts? This British babe simply goes by Adele, and she has taken the music scene by storm! Adele has already added some hefty awards to her name, such as Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2009 for her debut album “19.” Her newest album “21” released just this year has already won over critics and audiences alike. She even broke the U.K. record for the most digital downloads!

Adele’s sound is unique; often described as having the soulfulness of Motown and the vibe of folk music, but with a modern youthful appeal. Get out your iPod and download her biggest hits such as “Someone Like You”, “Rolling in the Deep”, “Chasing Pavements”, and you’ll get a taste of what that big beautiful voice can do!

What can you expect of a live Adele concert? Moody lighting, witty banter and perhaps even some tears. Yes, Adele’s emotive voice has moved many sold out crowds to tears with hits like “Do You Remember”. Not to worry, there are still plenty of beats and thrills included that will bring a smile to your face after a good cry. You can tell this young singer is having the time of her life, which helps make the production a better show.

Adele is all about the music, so there is no lip-syncing at her sold out shows. Her fans often gush that the singer sounds even more amazing in person than she does on her albums. Well, that’s no surprise, as she is a graduate from the BRIT School for the performing arts. Adele isn’t some “girl” producers picked for her looks and then taught to sing. No, she is the real deal, a lover of music since she first learned to sing as a child. In fact, her first big single “Hometown Glory” was written when she was only sixteen!

Grab up a pair of tickets when Adele is touring your hometown and experience a concert like no other. Look for discounted tickets online for a good deal and a good time.

The four-man band that makes up Kasabian has certainly had a busy summer promoting their newest studio album, Velociraptor; and they’ve been traveling all over the UK to do it! In June they showed up at the Isle of Wright Festival, only to rush off to Belgium the next month to play Rock Werchter. They’ll take some time off to enjoy the madness after Velociraptor, their fourth album, is released on September 19. Then, they’ll hit the roads again starting in November for a huge 10-stop tour.

The tour for the new album will have Kasabian stopping in some of UK’s biggest arenas, including those in Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield. The tour will kick off in Brighton on November 28, 2011 and the band will wrap things up in London at the famous O2 arena on December 14, 2011. And if you’ll be anywhere around the UK in the meantime, you can check out the full listing of tour dates here.

Switchblade Smiles and Days are Forgotten are the band’s two latest singles off Velociraptor and the videos for each have already received millions of hits on YouTube. The album is the first time fans are getting a chance to hear guitarist Jay Mehler, who joined the band on a full-time basis in 2010; and most of the writing was done by band member Sergio Pizzorno, who took over song writing duties when former band member Christopher Karloff left the band due to “creative differences.”

If you’re anybody in the music business, or you’re trying to be somebody in the music business, the VMAs is a great place to make a scene and get people talking about you. And while Lil Wayne probably won’t show up in a meat dress, he is going to create a buzz by releasing his newest album, Tha Carter IV, just minutes after the show.

MTV’s Video Music Awards will be held on Sunday, August 28, 2011, and just minutes after the host closes the show, you’ll be able to get your hands on a digital copy of it by going online. But if for some reason you’re disconnected on Sunday, you’ll still be able to get it at retail outlets the next day, Monday, August 29. For his eighth solo album, Lil Wayne has recruited some serious talent for this album, with the likes of Drake, John Legend, Rick Ross, Tech N9ne, and T-Nine all appearing on the album.

Talk of Tha Carter IV has been going on for some time and there was originally some question about what would actually happen to it. There was initially talk of packaging it as a double album along with Rebirth, another proposed project that includes many of Wayne’s leaked tracks, but Lil Wayne has been quick to dismiss any such notion. He’s proud of the album and says that the album has earned the right to stand on its own, and he has no doubt about it doing just that.

As for the creative marketing strategy to release it just moments after one of the biggest shows of the year? About that, Lil Wayne says, “I am extremely excited to be the first artist to utilize such an amazing idea. I hope that I can open the door for others.”

It’s not the first time that Eminem and Royce da 5’9 have teamed up together as Bad Meets Evil to pump out some great hits, but it is the first time in a long time — and this time, they’ve brought Bruno Mars along for the ride!

The video is for the song Lighters the first song off their latest album, Hell: The Sequel. And while you may expect these two hardcore rappers to come out with fists pumping and guns blazing, the video seems to be a tribute to the growth of both rappers since they last paired up in 2008, with Eminem’s original group, D12.

The video begins with Eminem sitting in his cluttered living room writing music and we’re given a sense that it’s “back in the day,” with Em donning shocking blonde locks, track pants, and all. The scene also gives off the tone of past times, when Em had yet to break out onto the scene and was frustrated with his struggling career and even more challenging life. Suddenly, he finds a trap door in his living room and after entering it, he’s taken to a dark tunnel where he has nothing but a blazing torch to guide him. And suddenly, his raggedy clothes have been traded for a leather jacket, and his hair has gone back to its original brown roots that Em has worn in the later stage of his career.

Meanwhile, Royce da 5’9″ is on his own journey in the video, going from a jail cell to the same dark tunnel, and making the same kinds of transformations along the way. Royce also wears a Detroit hat throughout the video, which is also symbolic of both rappers returning to their roots. And the entire time, Bruno Mars sits alone at his piano, tapping out the keys and crooning about lighting the sky up with lighters. At the end, Royce and Eminem come together, along with many onlookers, in a large field overlooking a valley, to see the sky fill up with glowing paper lanterns.

Check out this truly stunning and surprising piece from tough-guy rappers, Eminem and Royce da 5’9″ here.

The Indiana State Fair is still in shock from the disaster that struck this past weekend when the Hoosier Lottery Grandstand collapsed just before the Sugarland concert, killing five. Sugarland is devastated by the loss, and sent their condolences almost immediately via Twitter. While the fair grounds were closed all weekend after the tragedy, and a memorial service held yesterday morning before the grounds were reopened, many were left wondering what would happen to the rest of the fair’s events and mainly, concert line-ups. And while there was rumor that all acts would be rescheduled, only a few of them and some big names have been cancelled.

Janet Jackson was going to appear at the fair on Wednesday, August 17, but that show has been cancelled; as has the Lady Antebellum concert that was scheduled for Friday. Train and Maroon 5 were also set to perform at the fair and while those shows will go on, the new location for them has not yet been announced; both groups will perform on Thursday, August 18. But who knows just how that show will go? James Valentine, guitarist for Maroon 5, said that he didn’t know if going ahead with the show was right, saying “It just doesn’t seem like the right sort of atmosphere, y’know? It’ll probably take some time to heal. It’s such a tragedy.”

No doubt there will be a few memorials held for the victims throughout both shows. But still, Maroon 5 doesn’t feel as though that’s enough. They will be holding a benefit concert for the victims of Saturday’s accident, although details of that show have not yet been released.