Stereogum — One evening in March of 1988, Elliott Smith stepped out onstage in the Shrine Auditorium, with Jack Nicholson, James Cameron, Madonna, Aaliyah, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Denzel Washington, and 57 million other people watching him. more info

Nialler9 — Metropolis Festival have announced the next round of acts to play the festival in the RDS on October 27th and 28th. The names are: Mac Demarco Roisin Murphy Blood Orange Young Fathers Grandbrothers The Black Madonna Gwenno That list adds to the... more info

Dlisted — I guess people prefer their Madonna French kissing Britney Spears than blowing smoke up her own ass in the name of Aretha Franklin. The Hollywood Reporter says that the VMAs drew its smallest audience for the second year in a row. Monday night’s sh... more info

Dlisted — Since Allison and I love our games (those damn games), we start off our third episode with an MTV VMAs-themed game before wrapping our brains around the show including getting into Madonna summoning a side-eye from Queen Aretha, The Hills revival, an... more info

Guardian Music — Madonna’s VMAs ode to Aretha Franklin has been labelled a self-indulgent disaster but it’s not the first time an onstage tribute has gone wrongLet’s get this out of the way from the get-go: Madonna’s rambling spiel about A... more info

Detroit Free Press — The pop star was scorched online for telling a lengthy story about Franklin on Monday's show that had more to do with herself than the Queen of Soul.             more info

Guardian Music — Madonna may have hit a birthday milestone but, from Johnny Cash’s stark admission of age to Paul McCartney’s embrace of hip young things, there’s ways to keep your music freshThe late rock critic Lester Bangs once wrote a piece h... more info

Guardian Music — Pop legend says her words at the MTV ceremony were not intended as a full tribute to Aretha Franklin, saying: ‘I could never do her justice in this context or environment’Madonna has responded to criticism of her appearance at the MTV vi... more info

411 Mania — Madonna has issued a response to the criticism over her tribute to Aretha Franklin at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards. The post Madonna Comments on Criticism of Aretha Franklin Tribute at MTV VMAs appeared first on 411MANIA. more info

USA Today Music — Madonna clarified her nearly 7 minute speech on MTV's Video Music Awards after receiving backlash for not talking enough about the Queen of Soul during her "tribute."             more info