Coldplay failed to win a single award at the 2008 American Music Awards on Sunday night (November 23rd), although the British act was nominated for four. In addition to Artist Of The Year, they were up for Favorite Pop/Rock Duo or Group, Favorite Album Pop/Rock for Viva La Vida... and Favorite Alternative Rock Duo Or Group. Chris Brown took home Artist Of The Year, although even he said, "I would have gave it to Coldplay." The band lost the other awards to Daughtry, Alicia Keys and Linkin Park respectively.
Other big winners included Kanye West, who won at the awards for the very first time with two, Rihanna, who also picked up two awards, and Alicia Keys, who went home with two prizes out of five nominations.
Additional winners included Jonas Brothers for t-Mobile Breakthrough Artist, Daughtry for Favorite Pop/Rock Duo Or Group, Taylor Swift for Favorite Female Country Artist, Brad Paisley for Favorite Male Country Artist, Rascal Flatts for Favorite Country Duo Or Group, Linkin Park for Alternative Artist and Jordin Sparks for Adult Contemporary Artist.
Chris Daughtry said his band is definitely a rock band despite crossing over to a pop audience: "It's a rock band through and through, just like any other band out there that has songs that cross over to the mainstream. It's an honor to be able to hit all those markets and be accepted in every one of them, so we're flattered."
Annie Lennox won an Award Of Merit for her artistic and humanitarian work and accompanied herself on piano in a powerful performance of her song "Why." This was the first time she has performed since undergoing back surgery in August. The 53-year-old easily stole the show from the younger performers and earned a standing ovation from the crowd. Her award was presented by special "surprise" guest Justin Timberlake.
It was definitely ladies night, with performances by teen stars Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift; Beyonce, the Pussycat Dolls and Rihanna strutting their stuff; Natasha Bedingfield, Pink, Christina Aguilera, Leona Lewis and Mariah Carey all showing off their pipes; Sarah McLachlan and Pink in a lovely duet of "Wings Of An Angel" and a finale of Keys, Queen Latifah and opera star Kathleen Battle on Keys' "Superwoman."
The men were represented by Coldplay, New Kids On The Block, The Fray and Kanye West.
Jimmy Kimmel hosted the show and kept things moving. He did make one joke about the Jonas Brothers getting a lot of girls for guys who have pledged to keep their virginity until marriage, but he didn't go on and on about it like MTV VMA Awards host Russell Brand did in September. At the VMAs, Jordin Sparks chastised Brand, but when she went up to present an award she left Kimmel alone, saying "I'll stick to the script. I promise."
A "disoriented" Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots seemed to have some difficulty with his introduction of Pink's performance of her song "Sober": "It's amazing. Every time our next performer releases another album it's her best yet. Then she puts another album and it's even better. That's true of her latest CD Funhouse, an album that is worth its weight in gold. The first single from that album went to Number One and tonight she's going to introduce the follow-up. Performing 'Sober,' here is one of the great artist of our time, Pink."
Kimmel made fun of his slurred speech later, saying "And what a 16th birthday party (Billy Ray Cyrus) put together for Miley tonight, right? In fact, now that she's old enough to drive, maybe she could give Scott Weiland a ride home."
Presenters included Nickelback, Lance Bass, David Archuleta, Jamie Foxx, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Jesse McCartney, Paris Hilton, Demi Lovato, Colbie Caillat, Akon and Juliette Hough.
Guns N Roses has broken the record for most downloaded album with the "online listening party" for their long-awaited Chinese Democracy. As of early Monday morning (November 24th), the album had received a total of more than 8 million plays of all tracks combined and 1.7 million for the album's title track. According to NME.com, the album received up to 25 listens a second on Friday. The album is available for sale at Best Buy.
Travis Barker has filed a negligence lawsuit against the owner and manufacturer of the Learjet that crashed in September, killing four passengers and injuring the former Blink-182 drummer and DJ AM. According to People.com, Barker filed the suit in L.A. Superior Court on Friday (November 21st), blaming the pilot and defective equipment for the accident. The suit alleges that one or more of the tires failed, leaving tire debris and portions of airplane components along the 8,600 foot runway" and the pilot made a "negligent attempt to abort the takeoff." The suit goes on to say that "the pilot's decision was a breach of their duty owed to the passengers on board and was a substantial factor in causing the crash and resultant injuries and deaths. The pilots were either poorly trained and/or failed to follow their training. The pilots' decision was a breach of their duty owed to the passengers on board and was a substantial factor in causing the crash and resultant injuries and deaths." The
lawsuit also alleges that the plane's brakes and other gear "were not airworthy."
Barker says the crash caused him pain and suffering, mental anguish, psychological and emotional distress, disfigurement, loss of earnings capacity and medical expenses. He's currently recovering from severe burns.
The Federal Aviation Administration released recordings from the flight in which copilot James Bland, who also died in the crash, could be heard saying, "Roll the equipment; we're going off the end of the runway."
Two collaborations between Linkin Park and former Soundgarden and Audioslave singer Chris Cornell, recorded on this past summer's Projekt Revolution tour, are going to be available to the general public starting on Thanksgiving Day (November 27th). An EP titled Songs from the Underground, originally issued only through the Linkin Park Underground fan club, will be sold through selected Best Buy stores beginning on that date. The disc contains Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington joining Cornell on Temple of the Dog's "Hunger Strikes" and Cornell returning the favor on Linkin Park's "Crawling."
Bennington said that the door is always open for any act on the Projekt Revolution bill to jam with the headliners: "All the bands are always...like, last year we invited everybody up to do 'One Step Closer' with us, but I don't think anybody came out. I think everybody was having too much fun hanging out or something backstage (laughter). But, you know, we always, on these Projekt Rev things, we always try to get everybody involved."
The EP comes with a one-month free trial membership in Linkin Park Underground and access to a free download of "Crawling."
Linkin Park will release a live CD/DVD called Road to Revolution on November 25th. The double-disc set was filmed on June 29th at the Milton Keynes National Bowl in England, during the European leg of this past summer's Projekt Revolution trek.