Shakira Goes 'She-Wolf' in Funky New Video

They gather outside Oslo courthouse

(NEWSER) - Anders Behring Breivik hates the Norwegian song "Children of the Rainbow"; he says it's a Marxist anthem. So 40,000 Norwegians, inspired by an Internet campaign, gathered in rainy Oslo today to belt out the tune near the courthouse where Breivik is being tried, AFP reports. The brightly-clad protesters carried Norwegian flags and roses symbolizing peace in the wake of Breivik's massacre. Among the singers were culture ministers from several Nordic countries, as well as schoolkids and the songwriter himself, Lillebjoern Nilsen, who directed the performance. More»

Will 'Pitchfork' keep Adele from taking the crown?

(NEWSER) - It’s the end of the year, which means a glut of music sites releasing “Best Of” lists. Indie-loving Pitchfork picks the top 100 tracks of the year; here are the top 10, which include some mainstream surprises:

1. M83, “Midnight City”
2. Bon Iver, “Holocene”
3. EMA, “California”
4. Nicki Minaj, “Super Bass”
5. Real Estate, “It’s Real”
6. Destroyer, “Kaputt”
7. Beyoncé, “Countdown"
8. Cass McCombs, “County Line”
9. Azealia Banks, “212”
10. DJ Khaled, “I’m On One” (Feat. Drake, Rick Ross, and Lil Wayne)

Band takes classic album on 40th anniversary 15-city tour

(NEWSER) - Jethro Tull’s 1971 album Aqualung may be a certified classic, but the band’s frontman calls it flawed. “It wasn’t a great sounding album,” Ian Anderson tells Bloomberg . The church-turned-studio where it was recorded was “big, echoey, daunting and rather dark,” he notes. “It had all the ghosts of its past, and plenty of technical problems. At the end of the sessions, I wasn’t sure what we’d got.” More»

Meghan Daum: To be really popular, you have to be really unpopular

(NEWSER) - With Friday, 13-year-old Rebecca Black has a top 20 song on iTunes and a video that’s reached 35 million views—but what she’s most noted for is widespread derision. “We don't hate you because you're famous. You're famous because we hate you,” reads one of the printable tweets. But that’s what fame is in the age of the Internet, writes Meghan Daum in the Los Angeles Times : "To do anything in a public arena is to invite an insta-response that will echo just as loudly with harsh critics as with fans." More»

Gold prices push the cost of 5 rings to $650

(NEWSER) - If your true love gives you everything from 12 drummers drumming to a partridge in a pear tree this year, he or she will have shelled out $96,824. That’s up 10.8% from last year, the AP reports. High gold prices pushed the cost of five gold rings up 30% to $649.95; nine ladies dancing now costs $6,294.03, up 15%; the price of feed and availability led to a 78.6% jump in the price of two turtle doves, to $100. More»