Music Blogs

Various '80s icons made news this week, for their typical respective reasons: Madonna for offending conservatives, Michael Jackson for being broke, and Paula Abdul for being the center of an American Idol scandal. Let's get started...

First, there was Madonna, still causing controversy and irritating Catholic leaders after all these years. This week she made her first-ever concert tour stop in Chile, which led the country's retired Roman Catholic Cardinal Jorge Medina to denounce her during a speech honoring late dictator Augusto Pinochet. "This woman comes here and in an incredibly shameless manner, she provokes a crazy enthusiasm, an enthusiasm of lust, lustful thoughts, impure thoughts," he disapprovingly declared. (Um, is this guy just figuring this out? Apparently Jorge has never watched the director's cut of the "Justify My Love" video, heard "Like A Virgin," or flipped through Madge's Sex book.)

So according to her recent hit single, Madonna's only got four minutes to save the world...but it took her even less time for her to tick off an entire South American country. And she didn't even need Justin Timberlake's help this time!

Meanwhile, Madge's former Oscar date and Justin's hero Michael Jackson is running out of time to save his empire. This week Jacko, possibly hurting for cash after his recent out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit filed by a Bahraini sheik, announced he's auctioning off the famous sequined glove from his "Billie Jean" video to the highest bidder--along with 2,000 other MJ memorabilia items, like the Neverland Ranch gates and statues from his personal art collection. And while portions of the proceeds from the auction will go to the worthy charity MusiCares, the rest of the money will go to the charity unofficially known as the Michael Jackson Is Broke Foundation.

Pop star-turned-AmIdol judge Paula Abdul made news this week too, when she straight-up accused Idol producers of putting her in harm's way. During an interview on The View--and later in more depth on Sirius XM Radio--Paula told Barbara Walters that the Idol powers-that-be allegedly allowed season 5 reject Paula Goodspeed (who was recently found dead of a possible drug overdose/suicide near Abdul's home) to audition for the show, even though they knew the troubled woman had stalked Abdul for amost two decades. Abdul told Walters that Goodspeed had written her "disturbing letters" for 18 years, but Goodspeed was nevertheless brought on the show "for entertainment value." According to Abdul: "This was something that would make good television....I said, 'This girl is a stalker of mine and please do not let her in....[But] it's fun for [the producers] to cause me stress."

Yikes. If Paula's claims are true, it any wonder she does wacky stuff (like critique Jason Castro songs that were never even performed, or appear to be intoxicated during live TV interviews, or clap like a seal) when she has to work under such stressful conditions?

In happier news, several other acts made comebacks this week. Britpop legends Blur announced they're reuniting for their first original-lineup concert since 2002, playing a big gig at London's Hyde Park July 3; Kiss, possibly taking a cue from their huge-selling hard rock peers AC/DC, announced they're working on their first new album in 10 years; and veteran R&B/hip-hop cult faves the Roots were hired to be Jimmy Fallon's small-screen house band when Jimmy takes over Conan O'Brien's late-night NBC slot in March 2009.

And finally, speaking of veteran R&B/hip-hop artists, our congratulations go out to Usher, who welcomed his second son into the world this week, and our well-wishes go out to Toni Braxton, who just revealed that she recently underwent surgery to remove a (thankfully benign) breast tumor. We wish them both the best.

And so, thus concludes another week of headspinning headlines. Come back next Friday for more music-news updates, and until then, goodnight and good music.

THIS WEEK'S TOP 10 STORIES:

1) Paula Abdul Is Straight-Up With Barbara Walters - In a controversial interview, she claims Idol producers put her in danger.

2) Any Love For Jacko's Glove? - A cash-strapped Michael Jackson is auctioning off his most famous sequined accessory.

3) Madonna's Chilly Chile Reception - A Madge-denouncing South American Catholic leader expresses himself.

4) Coldplagiarism? - Chris Martin insists "Viva La Vida" is not a ripoff of a Joe Satriani song.

5) Kiss And Make Up - Hard rockers Kiss are recording their first new album in a decade.

6) Usher Ushers A New Child Into The World - His wife gives birth to their second son.

7) Braxton's Heath Battle - Toni reveals that she recently underwent tumor-removal surgery.

8) Blur Back In The Clear - The '90s Britpop legends are reuniting.

9) DMX's Ruff Ride - The rapper is arrested yet again.

10) Jimmy Fallon Grows Roots - He hires them to be the house band on his new talk show.