The late Michael Jackson, who passed away a little over a month ago now, is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine — not as a tribute issue, which was already released at the start of this month, but as a regular coverstory chronicling the last days of the King of Pop‘s life … including the comeback he never got the chance to complete. Here is MJ‘s coverphoto of the new issue of RS mag:

In the days just before his death, Michael Jackson was working harder than he ever had in hopes of staging “the greatest show on Earth” according to our latest cover story. Claire Hoffman retraced the pop icon’s final moments for “The Last Days of Michael Jackson” in the latest issue of Rolling Stone, and found that Jackson was well aware of how the public came to perceive him in recent years and that he had fully dedicated himself to a comeback tour that he hoped would erase that perception. “He wanted people to see his work and not just talk about his lifestyle,” AEG CEO Randy Phillips tells Hoffman in her cover story. He was also eager to finally clean up his finances and settle down in Las Vegas. “He was ready to stop living like a vagabond and settle down and earn money again,” Phillips tells Rolling Stone. And those who were inside his final rehearsals say that the show he was prepared to mount may have actually succeeded on all fronts. “He was so brilliant on stage,” tour director Kenny Ortega tells Hoffman. “I had goose bumps.” “I turned to somebody and said, ‘This is amazing,’” adds Ken Ehrlich, the longtime Grammy Awards producer who sat in on rehearsals. “For so many years I have watched Chris Brown and Justin Timberlake and Usher and the Backstreet Boys and En Vogue all imitate Michael Jackson — and now here we were this many years later, and he was going to do it again. I got chills, literally. The hairs on the back of my neck were raised. Those are the moments you hope for.”

At this point, what hasn’t already been said about the “comeback that never was”? From what I’ve gathered from this new Rolling Stone piece, there really isn’t anything new that we haven’t heard already … still, RS has a great tradition of music journalism and I’m sure MJ fans will be happy to read any stories on the late King of Pop. To be honest, I’m much more interested in finding out the results of MJ‘s autopsy/toxicolgy reports — which are supposedly due for release this week. We may definitively know, very soon, what exactly was the cause of MJ‘s death. Until then, tho, we wait. After the jump, check out a short video from Rolling Stone that features Claire Hoffman, the author of this MJ coverstory, talking about her article and explaining what is in store for readers — be warned, the video autoplays …

Rolling Stone, arguably the definitive Rock & Roll magazine, is paying tribute to the memory of the late Michael Jackson by publishing a tribute issue of their magazine. The mag, which will offer 4 different coverphotos, is now available for pre-order HERE (it ships on July 10) and will offer essays on the life of Michael Jackson from the musicians who presumably knew him best. Here is one of the coverphotos of the Rolling Stone tribute issue along with a short description of the mag:

Rolling Stone brings you the definitive tribute to the King of Pop, with a dazzling 96 page special issue (plus 4 covers) chronicling the thrilling highs and chilling lows of Michael Jackson from Motown to Thriller to Neverland Ranch. The vast majority of the material here is new, thanks to essays from Will.i.am, Smokey Robinson, Quincy Jones, Sheryl Crow, Slash, Adam Lambert, Usher, L.A. Reid, Akon, Brooke Shields, Gamble and Huff, Wyclef Jean, Ne-Yo, Weird Al, Martin Scorsese, Glen Ballard, John Landis, plus the Rolling Stone staff. Also included are reprints of two classic Rolling Stone cover stories, one from 1973 by Ben Fong Torres, and a 1983 piece by Gerri Hershey.

I’m quite perplexed as to why, exactly, Adam Lambert was asked to contribute to this tribute issue but I’m sure AI fans are thrilled. It makes sense that RS would honor the memory of MJ in this way, he graced the cover of their mag many, many times thruout his life and career. It seems fitting that he would grace their cover at least one … or four more times.

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The brothers known as Jonas are featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Try as I might to ignore them, these young men have fully infiltrated pop culture (as evident from their latest magazine cover) and have even started mingling into the goss world (by way of youngest brother Nick‘s rekindled romance with Miley Cyrus, essentially making them the Justin and Britney of this new generation) and therefore are finally worth talking about … or at least mentioning. Whether or not they remain worthy of talking about on a daily basis for months and years to come remains to be seen. But, since they are the coverstory band on the new issue of Rolling Stone … well, here we go. Here is the Jonas Brothers coverphoto of the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine along with a portion of their coverstory interview:

If the Jonas Brothers‘ first moment on the cover of Rolling Stone found them reaching the height of teen pop stardom, their latest — on stands this week — finds them pushing for an even loftier goal: musical credibility. “I think we are working to make that trade without having to give anything up,” Kevin Jonas tells Rolling Stone in our cover story. “But I think it will take time, because of where we came from. I would honestly say to anybody, if you were in a band like us, you would take advantage of those platforms too. It’s easy for people to say, ‘No, I’m a real rock & roller,’ but I think you do what you’ve got to do.” Our Jenny Eliscu spent time with the brothers in Los Angeles as they prepared to hit the road in support of their most ambitious album yet, Lines, Vines and Trying Times. The album, the tour and much of what the band does these days seems designed to help facilitate the leap from teen pop to contemporary rock. It’s a challenging feat that few have pulled off. But the brothers are working hard on what they know will be a long, slow march to credibility. Eliscu found Nick on point as the band’s creative lead, putting their touring band through their paces (his brothers have started calling him “Mr. President”), while Kevin helps to steer the Jonas business and image (he even built a foam 3-D scale model of the band’s new stage set, which now takes 180 people to assemble at each show). “We have an operation around us that we run,” Kevin tells Rolling Stone. “It’s not run for us, or dictated to us. Everything that we do, we sign off on.” But even with a strong operation and a lot of hard work, the band knows that teen idols rarely make the leap to “serious artist.” “Personally, I’m not in the band to say, ‘Hey, you need to respect us, take us seriously,’ because that’s kind of stupid,” Joe tells RS. “We’re doing it because we love it, and we don’t care what age group we attract. If they like our music, they like our music, and if they don’t, fine. We don’t need you like our music.”

In the end, I really respect that these young guys have as much control over their careers as they do. They seem pretty grounded and are talented … whether you appreciate their music or not (which I don’t) you have to give them props for doing their thing to the best of their ability and enjoying much success from all of their hard work. Gone are the days when popstars are completely controlled and exploited by larger entities (for example, like Tiffany in the 1980′s who was a huge popstar that had no say about anything and ended up with NOTHING after her career was all said and done). These days, these millionaire tween stars have a lot of control over their careers … it’s pretty incredible. After the jump, check out a few photos from their RS photoshoot …

Earlier this week we saw the cover of the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine featuring American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert and now we get to see some of the outtake photos from the magazine’s photospread … behold:

One thing’s for sure … Lambert

Adam Lambert, the runner-up in this year’s American Idol competition, is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine. As was widely expected, Lambert opens up in the coverstory titled Wild Idol: The Psychedelic Transformation and Sexual Liberation of Adam Lambert and comes clean about his much speculated-about sexuality … telling Rolling Stone that he doesn’t think “it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that [he's] gay”. On that account, I think he’s right. Here is Adam‘s RS coverphoto and a portion of his coverstory interview:

American Idol’s glamtastic runner-up Adam Lambert opens up in the next issue of Rolling Stone, speaking frankly about his sexuality, though he doesn’t think his revelation is particularly shocking. “I don’t think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I’m gay,” Lambert says in the new issue of Rolling Stone, hitting newsstands this week. The flamboyant Idol singer hits our cover and bares all, talking about his childhood (”I started to realize I wasn’t like every other boy,” he says), the drug-fueled Burning Man epiphany that led him to AI (”I realized that we all have our own power, and that whatever I wanted to do, I had to make happen,” he tells RS) and his run on the show (”I was like, ‘I’m going to glue rhinestones on my eyelids, bitch!’ “). And yes, he talks about his sexuality. “Right after the finale, I almost started talking about it to the reporters, but I thought, ‘I’m going to wait for Rolling Stone, that will be cooler,’ ” he tells us. “I didn’t want the Clay Aiken thing and the celebrity-magazine bullshit. I need to be able to explain myself in context. “I’m proud of my sexuality,” Lambert adds. “I embrace it. It’s just another part of me.” Ultimately, however Lambert tells RS contributor Vanessa Grigoriadis that there are other parts of his life that he’s trying to keep front and center. “I’m trying to be a singer, not a civil rights leader,” he says. It was that mission — and his Burning Man “psychedelic experience” — that lead him to Idol after years in musical theater. “I knew that it was my only shot to be taken seriously in the recording industry, because it’s fast and broad,” he tells RS. He details his experience on Idol, his true thoughts on winner Kris Allen and how his sexuality impacted his Idol run in our cover story, “Wild Idol: The Psychedelic Transformation and Sexual Liberation of Adam Lambert,” which hits newsstands this week.

I’m happy to hear that Adam is proud of his sexuality and choosing to openly discuss a personal matter like that on the cover of a major magazine is pretty much proof of that fact. I completely understand why he wouldn’t want to talk about any of his personal biz while he was competing on American Idol. While it works to the advantage of some competitors to talk to the voting audience about their wife/husband and kids, we still live in an age where discussing your homosexuality would still work against you. In any event, it’s very cool that Adam is finally feeling free enough to talk about his life as openly and honestly as possible. After the jump, check out a few behind-the-scenes photos from Adam‘s Rolling Stone covershoot …

On Wednesday we learned that Lady Gaga is featured on the cover of Rolling Stone‘s Hot List issue for 2009 but she is not the only “hot” person/thing featured in the mag. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been chosen as the Hot Actor, Bat for Lashes has been chosen as the Hot Singer, Rupert Grint (who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films) has been chosen as the Hot Sidekick and the LA band Silversun Pickups has been chosen as the Hot Band. Here are some pics of these hot folks as featured in the mag:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been a hot actor for some time but it seems like folks are finally waking up to the fact that he rules … here’s hoping his stint in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra doesn’t undo all of the hard work he’s done over the years. Bat for Lashes has to be one of the most exciting new artists to burst on the scene. While Lady Gaga is trying really hard to stand out and be different, Bat for Lashes is actually standing out and being wonderfully different. Her album rules. Rupert Grint is really a very cool sidekick for Daniel Radcliffe‘s Harry Potter, as anyone familiar with the movies should know. He really brings Ron Weasley to life. You can click HERE to read Rolling Stone‘s thoughts on his awesome sidekickness. After The Oohlas (who are my fave LA band), I’d have to pick the Silversun Pickups as my second fave band. They are so the Mazzy Star/The Sundays alternarock band of the times. I’ve loved every song they’ve ever written … their sound hearkens back to my shoegaze youth and makes the experience feel new all over again. Rolling Stone doesn’t always get the “hot” things right every year but this time, they’ve picked a few winners. Kudos for them for finally gettin’ their fingers on the pulse.

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Lady Gaga is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine. She graces the cover of the annual Hot List issue and was photographed by David LaChapelle … which totally makes sense since they both seem to have the same aesthetic for inventive, colorful and eye-catching images. Here is Gaga‘s cover and a portion of her coverstory interview:

Watch out, Katy Perry: there’s a new princess of pop who kisses girls (for real), claims Marilyn Manson and Madonna as fans and is on the verge of becoming the defining pop star of the year. Lady Gaga struts the streets pants-less, has everyone from Weezer to Justin Timberlake singing her songs and has moved nearly 10 million digital singles — and now she’s on the cover of Rolling Stone’s annual Hot List. “I don’t feel like I look like the other perfect little pop singers,” she tells RS‘ Brian Hiatt in our new feature, on newsstands today. “I think I’m changing what people think is sexy.” Gaga is also changing what it means to be a 21st century pop star, and she’s doing it through 24 hours a day of work — she’s a walking Gaga art project known as much for her outrageous fashion sense as her Eighties-flavored dance hits. “The truth is, the psychotic woman that I truly am comes out when I’m not working,” she says (during Hiatt’s time with the star, she rocks a massive radio concert, takes advice from Cyndi Lauper at a photo shoot and suffers a brief breakdown at a Walmart.com taping). “When I’m not working, I go crazy” … “When they called and told me about [my cover], I nearly cried,” she tells us on the set. Lady Gaga’s devotion to being a star drove her to order bags of cocaine and spend hours perfecting her hair and makeup in a tiny Lower East Side apartment after she dropped out of NYU several years ago — well before she was actually famous. “It was quite sick,” she admits. “I suppose that’s where the vanity of the album came from.” Her debut, The Fame, was almost entirely inspired by her relationship with a heavy-metal drummer named Luke, and their breakup profoundly changed Gaga. She tells Hiatt she’s bisexual, but her attraction to women is purely physical. It’s an aspect of her sexuality that makes boyfriends “uncomfortable,” she says. Her sexuality proclivities don’t seem to offend Marilyn Manson, however, who lobbed a series of awful pickup lines at his new friend at our cover shoot (grab the issue to hear his worst). “She knows exactly what she’s doing,” he tells RS. “She’s very smart, she’s not selling out, she’s a great musician, she’s a great singer, and she’s laughing when she’s doing it, the same way that I am.” The savvy Gaga reveals her real musical goals are serious, though: “My true legacy will be the test of time, and whether I can sustain a space in pop culture and really make stuff that will have a genuine impact.”

I suppose it can finally be said that Lady Gaga has made it … that is, if you consider landing the cover of Rolling Stone magazine “making it” anymore. I, personally, am not the biggest fan. While I like some of her songs, I really do not like her album The Fame. She deffo has the skillz to write amazing pop songs (as she has done for other artists) but the songs she chose for her album aren’t that great, IMHO. I’m really looking forward to hearing what her second album is like … that will be the determiner for me if she really has the chops to have a serious career. I admire her need to look “different” but I feel that she tries way too hard to look “out there”. It doesn’t seem cool to me to be trying so hard. But, it’s her thing and she is running with it … good for her. Click HERE to watch a short behind-the-scenes video from her Rolling Stone photoshoot. As I said, I find Lady Gaga to be very talented … but, thus far, those talents have yet to speak to me in order to make me go ga-ga. What do you think … should Lady Gaga be the covergirl for Rolling Stone‘s Hot Issue this year?

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The young cast of The CW hit series Gossip Girl is featured in the pages of the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine. The cover, tho, features only the two main girls, Blake Lively and Leighton Meester, which all the devilishly fun high school drama swirls around on the show. Here are a few photos of Blake and Leighton (who play Serena and Blair, respectively) that were shot by photographer Terry Richardson for the mag and a portion of the magazine’s coverstory:

It’s been a heart-wrenching month for fans of the CW Network’s sexily subversive drama Gossip Girl while TV’s hottest show took a brief hiatus. But now Blair, Serena, Chuck Bass and Co. are back — and on the cover of the new issue of Rolling Stone. To get the dirt on what it’s like starring as beautiful young people in New York while being beautiful young people in New York, Jason Gay hung out with the cast on set and after hours, tagging along to their favorite drinking haunts — where the beverage of choice is the potent Golden Monkey — and catching the action as the show filmed on the streets of the Big Apple. “The outdoor sets were pretty fun, because the fans come out,” Gay says. “There were many kids from local private schools, foreign tourists and tons of paparazzi. It’s strange to to see a mob of paparazzi photograph Blake and Serena in character as they film an outdoor scene. It’s as if the reality of the show exists behind two lenses — in real time and TV time. All the actors enjoy the outside stuff because of the fans, too. It’s like playing on stage or something. More energy, more excitement and the sense that anything could happen. And sometimes it does. There is no such thing as a closed set in NYC!” Despite barely scraping together 3 million viewers a week, the show has become the most talked-about, culturally relevant series on television. “It’s not a conventional TV hit in terms of viewership. Its numbers are low and it loses to stuff like The Secret Life of the American Teenager, a far more wholesome show that runs on cable,” Gay says. “But in terms of having a ‘moment,’ however you want to define it, GG definitely is having one. It will be very interesting to see if the show grows, or remains a clubby, small hit. Teen shows seldom have long runs — and I don’t get the feeling this will turn into ER. But it seems to be here to stay as long as the principals involved want to keep doing it.” Part of the show’s appeal is its authenticity. “The show is sharp and connected to modern life, references, music and so on. Gossip Girl doesn’t feel like something that got drummed up in some network focus group by 55-year-old white dudes,” Gay explains. “No one’s going to accuse Gossip Girl of being The Wire or Mad Men, but if you roll with the fantasy/absurdity, it’s fun to watch, from the infighting to the insane clothes and snappy dialogue.” Right now, the stars who bring those tart lines to life — Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Ed Westwick, Chace Crawford, Penn Badgley — somehow haven’t let fame go to their heads, according to Gay. “They’ve all reached the point where they’re in the public eye, but they’re not rolling around in blacked-out SUVs or being chased around like Madonna. A lot of them take the subway and they still complain about the price of rents and monthly car parking,” Gay reveals. “They’re in a nice place in their careers. They’re now recognizable enough to get interest for other things, but not so recognizable that daily life is a drag.” Though he’s now a Gossip guru, Gay admits, “I didn’t jump on the bandwagon immediately. But by the end of the first season, I was getting so annoyed with the fuss I had to check it out.” So what’s his favorite Gossip Girl moment? “The scene in the ‘Non-Judging Breakfast Club’ episode where Blair, Chuck and Nate rally behind Serena after she confesses about her wild night with Georgina. Nate and Blair then confess regrettable things they’ve done, and when Blair asks Chuck to contribute, he just says, ‘I’m Chuck Bass,’ ” Gay says. “It’s the kind of thing that if you watched the show for the first time, it would mean nothing to do you, but if you’re a fan, you’re dying. I think that’s one of the shrewder things about Gossip Girl — it does reward its loyal viewers.”

My, my … what suggestive photos. The second photo, of the girls sharing an ice cream cone, is the one that is used as the magazine’s coverphoto. But, the entire young cast of the series is featured in the mag. After the jump, check out a few more photos of Gossip Girl gang — Blake, Leighton, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick, Jessica Szohr, Penn Badgley and Taylor Momsen — together in bed …

Brad Pitt is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine wherein he talks about his upcoming new movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (natch), the Obama victory and a few personal things on the homefront. I’m kinda bothered that he likes to call Angelina “Angie” … she does not strike me as an “Angie” but more like an “Ange” … but I digress. Here is Brad‘s RS coverphoto and a portion of this interview:

Brad Pitt’s priorities have changed, in more ways than one. “I have this fantasy of my older days, painting or sculpting or making things,” the actor tells Rolling Stone’s next issue, out Friday. “But right now, it’s about getting the work done and getting home to family. I have an adventure every morning getting up.” Pitt, 44, has six children with partner Angelina Jolie. His fantasy drama, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, opens Dec. 25. Making the film made Pitt think about his own mortality. “Angie and I do not fight anymore,” he tells RS. “What occurred to me on this film, and also with the passing of her mother (actress Marcheline Bertrand in 2007), is that there’s going to come a time when I’m not going to get to be with this person anymore. I’m not going to get to be with my children anymore. … And so, if we have a flare-up, it evaporates now.” He adds, “I don’t want to waste time being angry at someone I love.” And he is defensive about Jolie. When asked about a recent New York Times story critical about her relationship with the press, he responds, “It sounded to me like the story made Angie out to be manipulative in some way. … She is savvy. But one of the things I’m most proud of is that not only did these guys who follow us and make our lives miserable and get in my kids’ faces, not only did they not get the money, but it went to people who really need it.” People and Hello! magazines paid millions to charity for exclusive photos of the Jolie-Pitts after the twins’ births. “When it came to the birth of our children, a huge bounty was placed on their heads. And people were going to go to incredible lengths to get it.” And so he credits Jolie’s method of handling publicity about the family. It comes as no surprise, then, that his favorite Jolie film is 2005′s Mr. & Mrs. Smith, in which he co-starred. Why? “Because you know … six kids. Because I fell in love.”

Awww … so cute. Still, I can’t help but ONLY think about how Brad and Ange were cheating together while they made Mr. & Mrs. Smith (which I don’t find romantic at all) but … that is SO water under the bridge. After the jump, check out one more photo from Brad‘s Rolling Stone magazine spread and find out what he has to say about being in Grant Park in Chicago, IL on Election Night …

BritneySpears.com has been updated today with a few very fun behind-the-scenes photos of our dear Britney Spears preparing for her big performance at the Bambi Awards in Germany last night as well as some behind-the-scenes pics from the set of her Rolling Stone magazine photoshoot. First up, here is a very cute pic of Britney with her crew (including papa Jamie Spears, her manager Larry Rudolph, her personal assistant Brett and some dude named Jeff) hanging out at their hotel in Germany:

Aww … they look so cute but also so cold. Here are a few pics that have been posted on Britney‘s official website from the Bambi Awards last night:

Gotta love the prayer circle. Looks like the man above (or wherever) was paying attention to her pleas of support ;) After the jump, check out a few pics that were snapped on the set of her Rolling Stone magazine photoshoot …