Janet Jackson

Justin Timberlake is Totally Shit at Music, But Here's Why You Should Still Like Him

Justin Timberlake's reunion with music is causing some weird flashbacks and leaving a miserable taste in my mouth. His new album is the pinnacle of mediocrity and exemplifies all that can go wrong when commercialism meets music. "Suit And Tie" makes me want to burn a stack of Esquire magazines and i ... More >>

Why Music Fans Should Be Watching RuPaul's Drag Race

Call it the chief paradox of modern pop culture: Most reality television shows blow, but we keep watching, because in a weird way they're as compelling as they are mindlessly entertaining: The exploits of Honey Boo Boo's family may be exploitative, but dammit if they don't love each other. The Karda ... More >>

The Used's Bert McCracken Wants You To Steal the Band's Album From Walmart

Post-hardcore rockers The Used have been put through the wringer more than a couple times during the 12 years they've spent together as a band. It's hard to imagine that even before the time spent addicted to drugs, label shifts, and the on-stage injuries, the members had already experienced homeles ... More >>

The Butcher Babies, Boobs, and Blood

Here's what I expected from The Butcher Babies on the opening night of their "Hush Little Baby" tour: Sexy, sexy bitches; electrical tape-adorned boobs; vocals ranging from erotically melodic to ear-shatteringly demonic, intermixed with headbang-worthy breakdowns. For those of you who don't know w ... More >>

Carrie Benton, What Are You Listening To?

Carrie Benton Benton is an improviser with The Torch Theatre and invites you to the Skewed News Hour, Friday nights at 7 p.m. at The Torch Theatre. She also performs with Chaos Comedy at Dearing Acting Studio at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday's. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the ... More >>

Gene Simmons Has Beef With Rihanna, and Probably a Few Other Pop Stars

​See also: KISS and Motley Crue Are Coming to Phoenix (Together!)Don't make lip-syncing a habit at concerts, or outspoken KISS-man Gene Simmons will have something to say about it."We're sick and tired of girls getting up there with dancers and karaoke tapes in back of them," Simmons said at a pre ... More >>

Controversial Super Bowl Halftime Show Better Than 2011 But Still Nothing Special

​Unlike in 2011, this year's Super Bowl halftime show didn't make me feel like I had entirely wasted 12 minutes of my life. The performance wasn't anything special, but it certainly wasn't bad. Madonna pleased America as best she could, and for a 53-year-old pop mama, she did very well.It was ... More >>

"P" Shy

April 11 In Blogs: Russell Pearce, Soundwave, Britney Spears, Pizzeria Bianco, and Gabriela Compton

​​​In the 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs. Today's entries:

Michael & Janet Jackson Vs. Gorillaz, "Stylo Scream" (Stanwik Mashup)

​Song: Michael & Janet Jackson Vs. Gorillaz, "Stylo Scream" (Stanwik Mashup)Context: Janet Jackson comes to Comerica Theatre tonight. Her 1995 duet with Michael, "Scream," has always been one of my favorite tracks by either Jackson sibling -- very underrated. And remember that video? Super coo ... More >>

April 8 In Blogs: Joshua Pearce, Carolina Bee, Gift Of Destiny, Sunshine Moon Peking Pub, and White Kids

​​​In the 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs. Today's entries:

Janet Jackson

Billie Maxwell, Aaron Lewis, Arcade Fire, Talib Kweli and More in This Week's Issue

Billie Maxwell and her family band.​Sarah Ventre went in search of the story of the oldest record ever made by an Arizona artist in this week's issue. Those records were made by original cowgirl singer Billie Maxwell and her humble family band from Eastern Arizona in the 1920s.To do that, Sarah sp ... More >>

Lady Gaga, The Baseball Project, The Pink Floyd Experience, Tempe Festival of the Arts, and Insight Over the Weekend

​The Pink Floyd Experience at Comerica Theatre Last Night It used to be that tribute acts were typically seen in casino showrooms. Lately, it seems that if you're a good enough tribute act, you can bring in good audiences at concert halls. Already this year we've seen a orchestral version of ... More >>

Go Daddy Releases Photo of New Girl's Rack. Full Identity to be Revealed in Super Bowl Ad

Things are shaping up nicely for Sunday's Go Daddy Super Bowl ad.​Go Daddy continues to tease men everywhere by gradually releasing images of various body parts of the woman who will be featured in the company's Super Bowl ad this year, and we gotta say, things are shaping up nicely.The chest pict ... More >>

From Print: Blogs Teased in Our 1/20 Issue

​This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts. How did Kimber Lanning of Stinkweeks talk an association of record store geeks out of boycotting Arizona because ... More >>

Janet Jackson Coming to Phoenix

​Janet Jackson -- who you may remember for such accomplishments as wearing the world's worst shoulder pads, being related to the weirdest weirdo in the weirdo-filled history of popular music and letting Justin Timberlake expose her saggy and ugly pierced breast to the largest television audience a ... More >>

Incoming: Coheed and Cambria, Flosstradamus, Of Montreal, Rick Ross, Toad The Wet Sprocket

Toad The Wet Sprocket - bastion of the 1990s​Clubs editor Benjamin Leatherman describes this week's just announced shows thusly: "huge fucking week."Things are so fucking huge that Martin Cizmar went ahead and already announced the Janet Jackson show slated for this April -- yet there are still pl ... More >>

Club Candids: Retro and Beyond Goth Night at Sanctum

Adriane GoetzThere were fashion statements from bowties to cloaks at Sanctum last Saturday night.​There's a little 80s darkwave goth kid inside all of us, so we were elated to get a serious fix Saturday night at Sanctum, everyone's favorite local vampire disco. From Q Lazzarus to Concrete Blo ... More >>

Yelp Has Buckled to Pressure, But It Ain't Enough

Michael Jackson Dead: 10 Random Thoughts About the Passing of The King of Pop

1. You know what I've always hated? Hearing MJ described as "the self-proclaimed King of Pop." First, I don't think it's appropriately respectful of the man who wrote Thriller; second, as far as I know, it's totally inaccurate, as I've never heard Jackson refer to himself as the "King of Pop" a ... More >>

Ear Candy

Q-Tip headlines a massive mix of dopeness

Springsteen at the Super Bowl? Ugh. Why Not Kanye?

Valley del Sol: Daddy Yankee

Valley del Sol: Playing Selena Does Not A Latin Night Make

Snoop and Diddy headline a cast of stars destined to steal the spotlight from Super Bowl XLII

Better Than Petty?: Hypothetical Super Bowl halftime shows

Been There, Beamed That

Technical difficulties

Beautiful Drag

Photophobic turkeys

Blur

Blink and you'll miss it

J Dilla

The Shining
(Bbe)

Tony Moran

A night out with the boys

Sounds of the Underground Tour

Day of the living dead

Trend-Spotting

In a scandal-ridden election year, the top 10 music stories were all about winning the popular vote

Queen Machine

Pookie's gets every last drag

Home Grown

House punk, broken bards, masked men, and emo for God

Constricted

A PG-13 rating squeezes the life out of Anacondas

Fridays at E-Lounge

Gaybangin'

Our night shift explores the rowdy gay gangsta hip-hop scene

Freaknik Flossin'

The Starsky & Hutch of P-town take in an exotic-erotic extravaganza

The Prince of Halftime

Forget Janet Jackson. The Purple One - now he'd make a great Super Bowl attraction.

Beenie Man

Tropical Storm (Virgin)

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Dap-Dippin' With (Daptone Records)

Immaterial Girl

With a diverse following and a stand-alone attitude, Nelly Furtado hit it big by being herself. But how long can it last?

Night & Day

August 20 - 26, 1998

Poetic Justice

After a decade on hip-hop's front lines, Gang Starr is finally reaping the rewards

The Trashman

Where unit-shifting heroes of rock are exposed as the passionless poseurs they really are

SEARCHING FOR AMERICAN SUPERSTARS

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN LAUGHLIN, NEVADA, AND CLINT'S WELL, ARIZONA, YOU MIGHT FIND THE MEANING OF LIFE IN THE '90S. ROGJT.

BUFFALO TOM'S QUIET STAMPEDE

DESPITE THIER PROTESTATIONS, GUITAR BUFFS ARE MAKING A FASHION STATEMENT

HIP-HOP HOMEGIRLS

A TRIO OF WOMEN PUTS THE VALLEY ON THE MUSIC MAP