• Just call Billy Ray Cyrus the new Michael Lohan
• Drummer of Ex-Paramore Farro brothers’ new band Novel American “steps down”. You still with us?
• First listen of Foo Fighters’ upcoming ‘Wasting Light’
• Britney Spears earns $500K for her latest commercial, er, music video
• VH1 Storytellers to feature My Morning Jacket, Death Cab for Cutie and more. Told ya they were going hipster.
• All Bieber, all the time
• Ciara asks for divine intervention, and an out from her label
• Does Thom Yorke have more releases up his fancy dancing sleeves?

Cover tunes have been a big part of pop music in the last few decades, and an even bigger part of music throughout history (though the idea of a cover tune is rather new, they’re historically known as standards). Some covers are well known to be remakes, other times people don’t even know songs they love are covers. For example, you might not know Jimi Hendrix wasn’t the original performer of “All Along The Watchtower” —that one’s a Bob Dylan song. But, cover songs aren’t only for rock and pop artists.  Metal artists do their fair share of covers as well, sometimes even full albums (See Overkill, Rage Against The Machine and Evergreen Terrace).

Personally, I think metal musicians covering songs that weren’t originally metal songs is rather brilliant. Here are some great renditions of songs that are decidedly more heavy than their originals:

1. “Still Fly” by Big Tymers, as covered by The Devil Wears Prada for the compilation Punk Goes Crunk
2. “Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears, as covered by August Burns Red for the Punk Goes Pop Vol. 2 compilation
3. “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, as performed by Children of Bodom on their album Skeletons In The Closet
4. “The Sound Of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel, as performed by Nevermore on their album Dead Heart In A Dead World
5. “Everything Counts” by Depeche Mode, as covered by In Flames on their 1997 album Whoracle
6. “White Room” by Cream, as performed by Demons & Wizards as a bonus track on their self-titled album
7. “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” by Elton John, as performed by Flotsam & Jetsam on their album No Place For Disgrace
8. “Louie Louie” by The Kingsmen, as performed by Motörhead

The Good

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein beat up Sarah McLachlan

We already told you to check out “Portlandia,” but this time we really mean it. IFC has released a teaser for next week’s episode, and it’s a chortlefest. Watch Carrie and Fred ravage a Sarah McLachlan piñata while their maid, singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, tries to intervene.

Nicki Minaj creeps on to SNL

Nicki Minaj is both sexy and macabre, and nowhere do those two sides come together more seamlessly than in SNL’s new digital short starring The Lonely Island. Watch her “do the creep” on a corpse, and try not to wish you were the corpse.

The Bad

BIEBER’S VOICE IS CHANGING!!!

Now don’t panic, he’s still the same Bieber, only a little deeper. In an interview with Matt Lauer on the Today show, the teen pop star admitted his voice was changing. “It’s definitely lower,” he says, “but I have a great vocal coach who’s helping me.” A better Bieber is just on the other side of the puberty rainbow, kids. So don’t stop beliebing.

White Stripes officially break up

After a prolonged hiatus, the White Stripes announced that they will no longer record or perform as a band in a message posted on their Web site. Please know that it’s not because of anything you did. As the message explains, “The reason is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue, nor any health issues as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health. It is for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way.” Third Man Records will continue to issue recordings from the vault. And Meg and Jack want you to know that they both love you very, very much.

The Ugly

Robbie breaks into Moby’s place

Robbie, in case you didn’t know, is the name of the stranger who broke into Moby’s house in the Griffith Park area of Los Angeles. The musician awoke at 7 AM to find Robbie standing in his living room, lost and tripping on acid. That Robbie! Always up to something! To read Moby’s account of the whole experience, go here.

Miscellany

• Drake and Justin Bieber lead 2011 Juno Awards
• Gwyneth Paltrow to duet with Cee Lo Green at GRAMMYS
• Lupe Fiasco releases “Words I Never Said”
• Rihanna’s “S&M” video gets banned
• Elton John and Nelly Furtado duet on “Crocodile Rock” for Gnomeo and Juliet movie
• New Fleet Foxes drops May 3
• Jonathan Knight confirms he’s gay
• New Britney Spears album comes out March 15
• Bruno Mars accepts plea deal in drug case
• Chris Brown asks judge to lift restraining order against him in Rihanna case
• Pop stars and their Muppet doppelgangers
• Kings of Leon cancel tour dates in March
• Sinead O’Conner gets momentarily suicidal

Welcome to Beat Generation. With this column, we’re going to try and cover as many strains of electronic music as we can, from house to techno, from ambient to glitch. We here at OurStage have noticed a resurgence of electronic music in pop music in the past few months. It seems appropriate then that for starters, we’re going to do a quick and dirty overview of the relationship electronic and pop music have had over the years, from the ’80s to today.

Well, it’s about time. Electronic finally broke into the mainstream in a big way. Disagree? Have you listened to the radio lately? Did you see that Deadmau5 had a music video on MTV? It’s been a pretty long road from a genre that started as an obscure offshoot of rock to near total pop ubiquity.

You can argue as to when electronic music first came to be until the sun goes down but it’s clear that pop and electronic had their first real meaningful interaction during the ’80s, the era of big hair, Reganomics and synth. Gary Numan’s “Cars”, released in 1979, started off this trend for most listeners. The everpresent synth line of the song fits in well with the verse chorus verse structure and also worked as a bouncy instrumental counterpoint to the feelings of existential disconnect and uncertainty that Numan presents in his lyrics. Notable releases from this era included landmark singles from the Eurthymics, The Human League, New Order and Madonna. The popular electronic sound of the ’80s was rooted firmly to rock and disco traditions.

Now we’ll move onto the ’90s. The pop/electronic flirtation during this decade was apparent but more fleeting. The hot sound was coming out of the UK; Big Beat and Jungle were dominating the airwaves across the pond and it was only a matter of time before America got a taste of it as well.

Fatboy Slim enjoyed enormous and lasting success for the latter part of the decade into the early aughts. Groups like the Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers and the Crystal Method were at their popular peak, winning rock listeners with songs featuring heavy guitar.  The Prodigy were especially notorious, releasing the quick-to-be-banned video for their single “Smack My Bitch Up” and signing to Madonna’s Maverick Records.

And then we move on to the Aughts. The current new trend of trancey, dancey electro in the Top 40 is a little different, thanks in large part to the emergence of Lady Gaga. Her debut album, ‘The Fame, didn’t blow up. It was a seismic event that shook the musical landscape around it. This marked a move in dance music to embrace the pulse and beat of electro and techno over the influences of hip hop and R&B which were the previous standard.

While past trends in electronic music were driven by scenes, the current dance trend  in pop music is a reaction to what the kids are into. In business and in pop music, aping the competition is not considered unoriginal or frowned upon; for many, it’s the only way to survive. Everywhere you look in contemporary pop music, there’s examples of the co-opting of electronic music. Look at Christina Aguilera’s stylistic makeover. Consider the difference between Katy Perry’s first and second albums. Think about Ke$ha and her entire career up to this point. Even Britney Spears is jumping on the bandwagon. While putting together her new album, Spears was in London working with dubstep producer Rusko. In a genre known for emphasizing the heaviest and dirtiest of bass lines and an uncompromising sound, the collaboration left some people scratching their heads.  The first song leaked from that album, “Hold It Against Me”, features unmistakable dubstep touchstones, including the infamous “wobble,” or a shuddering electric bass line. While this may have some purists calling foul, it’s proof positive that electronic has not only arrived, but from the dance floor to the airwaves, it has already conquered the world.

‘N Sync. Britney Spears. The Jonas Brothers. Justin Timberlake.  All chart-topping, international stars. Now, you could be next in line to be crowned pop music’s darling. Here’s how:

Music Manager Johnny Wright is teaming up with AOL Teen’s Cambio, the online entertainment platform “bringing you from fan to friend”, to launch the “On The Spot” talent search. Wright is looking for vocalists to video tape their performance of one of ten predetermined audition songs and upload it for a shot at joining the super group he wants to assemble.

For more details on eligibility, lyrics to the audition songs as well as information on how members of OurStage.com can automatically be entered for the chance to win a free iPad, go HERE.

Deadline for entry of Friday, January 28, 2011.