Of the five primary performers during the Grammys gay-marriage extravaganza last night, three—Macklemore, Ryan Lewis, and Madonna—count as gay allies. (They're all more or less openly heterosexual.) One—Mary Lambert—is an actual, open homosexual. And the last—Queen Latifah—is... well, we all know what she is. She just won't say it.

A few months ago, Jahmir Wallace — a ten-year-old fifth grader from New Jersey — decided he wanted to learn to play the trumpet.

Rap Genius, the lyric-explanation site, made a lot of money for three guys from Yale. It is not, however, universally popular among actual rappers. Some rappers would prefer that their lyrics be written down correctly.

Prog rock. It's socially aware. It's high concept. It's the Nostradamus of 1970s pot-smoking teens. And it totally knew the Trade Center towers were going down in a (thermite) fireball, man.

A video from vlogger Boy in a Band that began circulating over the weekend claims to expose the music industry's "biggest secret": That a statistically significant number of the biggest pop hits of the last two decades were all written and produced by a single person you may never have heard of.

Beyoncé upped her feminist cred yesterday in an essay on the Shriver Report website, one in a multi-author series on gender equality. "We need to stop buying into the myth about gender equality," she writes. "It isn't a reality yet."

"Distract your subject with hardcore lesbian sex happening right next to him" doesn't seem like a viable interview strategy, but then 2 Live Crew mastermind Luther Campbell is no ordinary interviewer. The, uh, chat above happened in 1997, around the time of the release of Jay's second album, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. The rapper/mogul pair attempt to discuss Jay Z's music, but that proves impossible, which is the point, I guess? If everyone had two women hooking up next to them, no one would get any work done.

"Should Beyoncé choose to settle in the world of Adult Contemporary one day, she'll have most of the legwork already done." - Pitchfork's Carrie Battan on Beyonce's BEYONCÉ, which earned a rating of 8.8.

He's the one on the left. He died of pulmonary disease in Burbank, survived by his brother Don, wife Patti, two children, and—astonishingly—his mother. RIP Phil Everly.

"Fenriz, the drummer of Norway's Darkthrone, a group known for sounding like they are recording in a garage with one microphone, says bands that overuse computers are 'losers.'" The Wall Street Journal takes a look at metal's BPM arms race.

Lots of music was recorded and released in 2013. More music than anyone—even you, cool internet guy, who loudly commandeers the iPod at parties and impatiently explains to strangers why they music they like is garbage—could possibly listen to. Here's the stuff you missed.

Yesterday, a YouTube playlist unlike any other graced the internet with its presence. That playlist is Psybrid Theory, a reimagining of Linkin Park's first album, Hybrid Theory, using the vocals from "Gangnam Style." Yes, it's exactly as amazing as it sounds.

"I'll be honest, I really wanted to win the Best Rap Video, but this Moonman right here stands for a lot more," the rapper Macklemore said earlier this year, holding the MTV Video Music Awards "Best Video With a Social Message" trophy. The honor was for the video accompanying his gay-equality anthem "Same Love," a song that he called "the most important record" out of everything he's written. "To watch this song in the last year spread across the world is a testament to what is happening right now in America on the forefront of equality," he told the crowd, echoing the song's self-important earnestness.

When country music critic Grady Smith sat down to write his list of the top 10 Best Country Albums of 2013 he made a startling revelation: All the chart-topping country songs of 2013 sounded exactly the same.

Here is a comprehensive list of topics discussed in the pit at Brooklyn's Barclays Center during Thursday night's Beyoncé concert:

Miley Cyrus appropriated Santa's lap as her own personal crotch-warmer at the Jingle Ball on Friday at New York's Madison Square Garden (see above), but she was a no-show at the Jingle Ball Boston show on Saturday night, thanks to inclement weather. That didn't stop the radio station from hosting the festival, Kiss 108, from claiming that she was there throughout the night, though.

iTunes says that Beyoncé's terrific self-titled album sold 828,773 digital copies worldwide in just three days (617,213 moved in the U.S.). They couldn't have paid for better promotion than...absolutely no promotion.

When Beyoncé walks, she tells us, she walks with a vengeance. When she enters the room, she commands every eyeball and ear her way. And what an entrance it was, the release of her surprise fifth album, the consistently dazzling BEYONCÉ, which landed on iTunes without previous announcement last night.

Just when you thought it was safe to go to bed on a quiet Thursday night, Beyoncé has released her new album. It appears to be called BEYONCÉ — either that or it has no title at all — and is being dubbed as a "visual album," which continues 2013's trend of pop stars delivering highly anticipated albums in highly impractical formats. Let's blame it on "disruption."

"She wanted to make it very personal," said Britney Spears' manager Larry Randolph of the diva's eighth studio album, Britney Jean. Randolph said that back in September, right around the announcement of Spears' two-year residency in Vegas. Last week, the album finally arrived in stores and we are now able to hear for ourselves these confessional songs that are "all custom made for her, based on what's going on with her life and in her head."