The 51st Annual Grammy Awards: 2009 And the Winner Is... Grammy Faceoff '09: Our A-list Panel Give the Lowdown on Who's Taking Home a Trophy on Music's Biggest Night

Inside the White House Record Library When Barack Obama moved into the White House on January 20th, he gained access to five chefs, a private bowling alley — and a killer collection of classic LPs. Stored in the basement of the executive mansion is the official White House Record Library: several hundred LPs that include landmark albums in rock (Led Zeppelin IV, the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed), punk (the Ramones' Rocket to Russia, the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols), cult classics (Captain...

MTV's sketch-comedy kingpins gather to talk fistfights and trucker speed Just four days after Barack Obama's inauguration, another emblem of national unity and pride will cause the masses to assemble: For the first time in 14 years, all 11 members of the iconic, pioneering sketch comedy group the State will reunite onstage to perform more than an hour's worth of new material at San Francisco's Sketchfest. Up to a million viewers watched the State's surreal, absurdist sketches for four seasons on MTV between 1993 and 1995. The group then failed to win a CBS contract a...

Did Weezy make the album of the year? Are the JoBros really the best new artists? Our A-list panel of singers, rappers and producers give you the lowdown on who's taking home a trophy on music's biggest night Photos of Grammy's Top 2009 Nominees: Lil Wayne, Coldplay, Radiohead, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss and More Grammy predictions are a delicate art — fragile constructions, built on a buckling framework of name...

"Making this album seemed like improv theater" After a 10-year break, Paul McCartney has revived his experimental side project, the Fireman — the name he uses for his low-key collaborations with British producer Youth. 1993's Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest and 1998's Rushes were virtually vocal-free sets of ambient techno, but the new Electric Arguments feels more like a classic McCartney record, with "Blackbird"-like ballads, tight songcraft and live instrumentation. McCartney recently spoke with Rolling Stone about how his...

W. comes clean - on his dad, Condi's farts and the time Dick waterboarded the house boy Despite a financial crisis for the ages, the catastrophic collapse of a Republican Party crippled by his political legacy, and the highest presidential disapproval rating in the history of American polling, outgoing commander in chief George W. Bush has not completely lost his sense of fun. When Rolling Stone caught up with him at the White House shortly after the holidays for what would turn out to be his final extended sit-down interview as president, the graying but still quite fit Texan had...

Key tracks from the band's eclectic new album In early December, Rolling Stone traveled to London to visit U2 in the studio as Bono and Co. worked on the upcoming No Line on the Horizon. The journey was as spellbinding and energizing as you might imagine, and you'll be able to read all about it when our new issue hits newsstands on Wednesday, January 7th. To tide you over, here's a track-by-track preview of 10 choice songs (and you can dig deeper into all our U2 coverage in our archive): "Get On Your Boots" The likely first single,...

From "Chinese Democracy" to Britney's comeback, the year's biggest stories January • Britney Spears began 2008 with a child-custody related meltdown (dubbed the Hostage Brituation) that led to a brief hospitalization. As a result, her father was able to wrestle control of her financial affairs via a conservatorship that will remain in place indefinitely. [Full Story] • With talk of a Kinks reunion in the air, the band's guitarist, Dave...

The Killers, Weezer, Katy Perry, Kings of Leon, Beyonce - the year's best clips, as voted by the readers of Rolling Stone 1. The Killers - "Human" 2. Radiohead - "House of Cards" • The Best Music, Movies and Photos of 2008

The 50 Albums of the Year TV on the Radio partied as the world collapsed, Dylan hit the vaults, Lil Wayne topped hip-hop and Metallica thundered back Read...

The actor on fame, life with six kids and how playing an old man made him grow up Brad Pitt is having technical difficulties. "I normally need my kids to do this," he mutters, as he attempts to connect my iPod into his stereo. "They're so beyond me in technology, it's hard to keep up. Our seven-year-old was searching the word 'weapons' on Google the other day and ended up on some white-supremacist site. I'm sure now we're on all kinds of watch lists." Eventually, Pitt gives up and summons an assistant, and soon enough we're listening to Townes Van Zandt. Pitt has never...

TV on the Radio partied as the world collapsed, Dylan hit the vaults, Lil Wayne topped hip-hop and Metallica thundered back 1 TV on the Radio DEAR SCIENCE DGC/Interscope The year's finest...

TV on the Radio partied as the world collapsed, Dylan hit the vaults, Lil Wayne topped hip-hop and Metallica thundered back 1 TV on the Radio DEAR SCIENCE DGC/Interscope The year's finest...

Beyoncé grabbed the ring, My Morning Jacket swung for the bleachers, Lil Wayne cracked up and Coldplay ruled the world 1 "Single Ladies"   BY BEYONCÉ Love has always been a high-stakes business transaction for Beyoncé, ever since that lousy boyfriend maxed out her credit card in "Bills, Bills, Bills." "Single Ladies" is her...

Beyoncé grabbed the ring, My Morning Jacket swung for the bleachers, Lil Wayne cracked up and Coldplay ruled the world 1 "Single Ladies"   BY BEYONCÉ Love has always been a high-stakes business transaction for Beyoncé, ever since that lousy boyfriend maxed out her credit card in "Bills, Bills, Bills." "Single Ladies" is her...

Rolling Stone contributing editor Jenny Eliscu first interviewed Britney Spears in RS 877, when the pop star appeared on her third cover. Here Eliscu talks about the changes she's seen in Britney over the years, and what it was like getting access to the singer for her new story, Britney Returns. When did you first meet Britney? It was in summer of 2001. She had just moved into a new house in the Hollywood Hills and she was decorating it with her mom. She was dating Justin...

A year after her very public meltdown, Britney is back to work and out of trouble. But what has the comeback cost her? • Video: Go Behind Britney Spears' Cover Shoot • Britney Spears: The Rolling Stone Cover Gallery • Britney Spears' Life in Photos: A Timeline of Her Rise, Fall and Comeback • Behind the Britney Story: Q&A With Writer Jenny Eliscu There's an understanding among those who know...

From a futuristic pop star to Ambien tripping, the 70 hottest bands, actors, drugs, movies of '08 and beyond Illustration: Shepard Fairey Yes we did. Barack Obama's on his way to Washington, Britney's got a new album, gossip girls are dying to kiss vampires, and Mickey Rourke — Mickey Rourke! — is an Oscar contender. The 2008 Hot List is full of hopeful surprises — just like the man headed to the White House. • View List: The 2008 Hot List

Annie Lennox by Rob Thomas Anybody my age turning on MTV and seeing Annie Lennox sing "Sweet Dreams," that was enough right there. And then when she started doing songs like "Walking on Broken Glass" or "Missionary Man," there's just something that's so soulful in those — and it's not like a put-on, blue-eyed soul kind of thing: It's just pure power, this gigantic voice. The Eurythmics was her fantastic voice mixed in with Dave Stewart and his otherworldly, ahead of its time...

James Taylor by David Crosby James Taylor has a tremendously rich and beautiful voice, and he controls it so well. It's easy to get fooled by his understatement: As beautiful as James' voice is, there's nothing mellow about a performance like "Fire & Rain" — it's a song of great depth sung by a man who's experienced the highs and lows of life, and has the ability to convey them directly and honestly. It also doesn't hurt that he's up there as a songwriter alongside Lennon & McCartney,...