Author: Rap Hooks

System of a Down has made “Johnny” available on streaming platforms for the first time, part of a wider rollout marking the 25th anniversary of Toxicity.

The track had previously surfaced only on international editions of the album and a U.K. 7-inch pressed alongside “Chop Suey!,” never receiving its own standalone release until now.

Toxicity arrived Sept. 4, 2001, produced by Rick Rubin, and became one of the defining metal albums of its era, fusing heavy riffing with Armenian folk influences and pointedly political lyrics addressing the environment, protest movements and U.S. foreign policy.

The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — a chart run that fell in the week of the Sept. 11 attacks, a coincidence that shadowed the record’s early rollout, as “Chop Suey!” was pulled from radio playlists over lyrics some deemed sensitive in the moment. Lead single “Chop Suey!” nonetheless became the band’s first song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, part of a run that saw all three of the album’s singles — “Chop Suey!,” “Toxicity” and “Aerials” — reach the chart, with “Aerials” eventually topping both Billboard’s Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock tallies.

Critics and fans connected immediately with the album’s unusual fusion of heavy riffing, progressive structure and Armenian musical heritage, delivered alongside lyrics tackling the environment, protest movements and U.S. foreign policy. Toxicity has since been certified seven-times platinum in the U.S. and two-times platinum in the U.K., with an estimated 15 million units sold worldwide. “Chop Suey!” alone has surpassed 2 billion Spotify streams as of this past May, cementing its status as the band’s signature song.

The anniversary rollout centers on a new vinyl reissue pressed on red smoke-colored vinyl, bundled with a bonus one-sided 7-inch featuring “Johnny” on the A-side and a custom “25” etching on the B-side.

The reissue also corrects a longstanding tracklist error: the hidden closing track, long informally known among fans as “Arto,” is now officially credited as “Der Voghormia,” a traditional Armenian hymn. The package additionally includes a custom double-sided poster, and the reissue is available now for preorder.

Violet Grohl delivered a stripped-down cover of The Cure’s “High” for Triple J’s Like a Version series, trading the original’s layered guitar work for a barebones acoustic arrangement built around her own vocal.

“I love the childlike joy of the lyrics… it’s such a cute love song,” Grohl told Triple J of the 1992 single, the lead track from The Cure’s Wish. She said “High” has been a personal favorite for years, and traced her fandom for the band back to age 12 or 13, when hearing “Friday I’m in Love” sent her deep into their catalog.

“I think it’s a perfect example of their sound during the early ’90s,” she said, “and I love all the imagery in the lyricism.” Grohl said she aimed to capture a “teenage crush kind of feeling” in the performance, adding of Cure frontman Robert Smith: “I adore Robert Smith… I would hope that they would at least think it was okay.” She also performed her own song “595,” from her debut album, in the same acoustic setting.

The dreamy arrangement tracks with the sound of Be Sweet to Me, Grohl’s debut album, released May 29 via Auroura and Republic Records. Recorded across 2024 and 2025, the project draws on alternative rock from the late ’80s and early ’90s, with Grohl citing The Cure, Cocteau Twins, the Pixies, Soundgarden and the Breeders as touchstones. “There’s something so powerful about that period of music, from the messaging to the visuals,” she said in a statement announcing the album. “It’s authentic and raw.”

Grohl, the eldest daughter of Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl — who’s been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame both with Nirvana (2014) and Foo Fighters (2021) — has spent years building toward a solo career around the family’s musical orbit. She’s contributed backing vocals to Foo Fighters tracks including “Show Me How,” which hit No. 21 on Hot Hard Rock Songs in 2023, and performed at the band’s 2022 tribute concerts for late drummer Taylor Hawkins.

In 2021, she and her father recorded a cover of X’s “Nausea,” which they later performed together on Jimmy Kimmel Live! alongside Krist Novoselic, Dave Lombardo and Greg Kurstin — though that appearance came as a guest alongside her father, not under her own name. Her true TV debut as a billed solo artist came in June, when she performed “Bug in the Cake” with a full band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Grohl made her own Billboard chart debut earlier this year when “THUM” entered the Adult Alternative Airplay chart at No. 38 — a small but symbolic milestone given her father’s own chart record with Foo Fighters, who have logged 44 songs on the Alternative Airplay chart, tied with U2 for the most in the format’s history.

She’s set to play a run of U.S. festivals this fall, including Riot Fest, Shaky Knees, CBGB Festival, All Things Go D.C. and Corona Capital, ahead of her own headlining U.S. tour and a stint supporting Beabadoobee on her upcoming European dates.

Bad Bunny won his first Primetime Emmy on Saturday (Sept. 5) – night one of the Creative Arts Emmys, which were held at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. The Puerto Rican superstar won outstanding variety special (live) for The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny (NBC). He won as both the lead performer and a producer.

It’s just the second Super Bowl Halftime Show to win the top program Emmy. The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show Starring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent won four years ago. Shawn Carter (Jay-Z), Desiree Perez and Jesse Collins won as executive producers of both shows. Dave Meyers won as co-executive producer of both shows.

The other nominees in the category this year were 83rd Annual Golden Globes (CBS), 68th Annual Grammy Awards (CBS), The Oscars (ABC) and 78th Annual Tony Awards (CBS).

The award comes seven months after Bunny became the first artist to win album of the year at the Grammy Awards for a Spanish-language album. He won for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.

The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny won seven awards, easily becoming the most-awarded Super Bowl halftime show in Emmy history, surpassing the aforementioned 2022 hip-hop show, which won three. It is also the first Spanish-language program to win outstanding variety special (live).

It was also the most-awarded program on night one of the Creative Arts Emmys. See the full list of all programs that won multiple awards below.

Bunny’s Halftime Show also won outstanding music direction; outstanding directing for a variety special; outstanding sound mixing for a variety series or special; outstanding choreography for variety or reality programming; outstanding lighting design/lighting direction for a special; and outstanding technical direction and camerawork for a special.

A second program starring Bunny won a Primetime Emmy: The Season 51 opener of Saturday Night Live that he hosted won outstanding makeup for a variety, nonfiction or reality program.

Another pop megastar, Taylor Swift, was nominated for outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show (Disney+), but lost to another Disney + program, The Muppet Show.  The show, which paid tribute to the beloved series, also featured top talent, including Sabrina Carpenter (who won her first Primetime Emmy as an executive producer and performer on the special), Maya Rudolph and Seth Rogen. The other nominees in the category were Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable… (Netflix), Nikki Glaser: Good Girl (Hulu) and Wicked: One Wonderful Night (NBC).

For the record, Swift is already a Primetime Emmy winner. She won a non-competitive “juried award” in 2015 – outstanding creative achievement in interactive media – original interactive program for AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience. She has also won 14 Grammys and is widely seen as the front-runner to win the Oscar on March 14 for “I Knew It, I Knew You” from Toy Story 5.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert won five awards, two for episodes that featured rock royalty by name in the episode descriptions. The series, which concluded an 11-year run in May, won outstanding picture editing for variety programming (segment) for an episode that featured Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello and outstanding lighting design/lighting direction for a series for an episode that featured Bruce Springsteen and special surprise guests.

Billy Joel: And So It Goes (HBO Max • HBO) won outstanding sound mixing for a nonfiction program.

The “Blink Again” segment of Sean Combs: The Reckoning (Netflix) won outstanding picture editing for a nonfiction program.

Mr. Scorsese, the Apple TV program about film director Martin Scorsese, won outstanding documentary or nonfiction series.

Two of the seven music categories were presented on Saturday – Miguel Gandelman won outstanding music direction for Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show. Tyler Strickland won outstanding music composition for a documentary/nonfiction or reality program for John Candy: I Like Me. These were the first Primetime Emmys for both.

Gandelman is the third person to win outstanding music direction for work on a Super Bowl Halftime Show. Adam Blackstone won for the aforementioned all-star hip-hop show. Kendrick Lamar and Tony Russell won last year for The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar.

Hamish Hamilton won for outstanding directing for a variety special for the third time in the past four years. He won this year for his work on Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime show. He won in that category in 2023 for co-directing (with Jay-Z) the Super Bowl Halftime Show starring Rihanna and in 2024 for directing the Oscars.

A total of 49 categories were presented on Saturday. A total of 53 categories will be presented on night two of the Creative Arts Emmys on Sunday (Sept. 6). Just 19 categories will be presented on the live Emmy telecast, set for Monday Sept. 14.

The Creative Arts Emmys are not telecast or streamed but highlights from the two ceremonies will air on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 8 p.m. PT on FXX. The program will be available to stream on Hulu starting the next day.

Mariska Hargitay won two awards on Saturday for producing and directing My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay, about her mother, 1960s sex symbol Jayne Mansfield. Hargitay is set to host the 78th Emmy Awards telecast, which will air live coast-to-coast on NBC on Monday, Sept. 14, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT from the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live. It will also stream on Peacock.

Here’s a complete list of programs that won multiple awards on night one of the Creative Arts Emmys.

Taylor Swift was featured answering questions during an “iHeartCountry House Party” on BOB 94.9 FM out of Harrisburg, Pa., Saturday night (Sept. 5). Why make a random appearance on Pennsylvania country radio this weekend?

Well, Swift made a return to country airplay this summer with “I Knew It, I Knew You,” the original song she penned for Toy Story 5 — and that track was the topic of conversation on Saturday. The station’s also based just about an hour west of Swift’s childhood home in Wyomissing, where she lived before bringing her family to Nashville to launch her country career.

Though Swift’s appearance was said to have a 7 p.m. ET start by the station, her voice didn’t get any airtime until about 7:45 p.m. Q&A clips with her were sparse from that point on, with just a few questions broadcast overall as it neared 10 p.m.

The 45-minute lead-up to any sign of Swift had a modern country playlist of singles like Morgan Wallen & Post Malone’s “I Ain’t Comin’ Back,” Lainey Wilson feat. John Mayer’s “Phone, Keys, Wallet,” Kip Moore’s “Somethin’ Bout a Truck” and Russell Dickerson’s “Worth Your Wild” before Swift’s latest hit, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” finally got airplay. Next up was Cole Swindell’s “Single Saturday Night,” Thomas Rhett’s “After All the Bars Are Closed” and, at last, a Swift classic, “Teardrops on My Guitar.” Soon the first question of the night for Swift came up.

She talked about her contribution to the Toy Story 5 soundtrack, zoning in on the beloved film franchise’s “legacy” musical landscape. Swift gushed that “it has a sonic world that Randy Newman has crafted so beautifully.” Fortunately, “I Knew It, I Knew You” got the “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” creator’s approval: “He told me he likes it, which is really all I need to know.”

“House Party” by Sam Hunt, “Hands Up” by Jelly Roll, “Painted You Pretty” by Hudson Westbrook, “Kid Myself” by John Morgan, “I Need Some Help” by Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen and “South of Sanity” by Zach Top all played on the station before host Wayne D tuned back in to Swift, who, now two decades into her career, offered some insight on having a successful songwriting session.

“One thing I’ve learned over the many years of studio sessions and writing sessions and working with people collaboratively is your energy and attitude you bring into the room can affect absolutely everything about the day,” said Swift, who added, “If you come in and act like you don’t want to be there, everyone else is gonna pick up on that.”

“Be enthusiastic about being able to be making art every day that you can make art,” Swift advised.

Many more country songs, by various artists, followed before Swift’s voice made a return on air, with what would be the most interesting piece of the night for Swifties, or anyone who loves to pore over a good lyric booklet.

Swift revealed she went into writing “I Knew It, I Knew You” with words that could support two interpretations.

“I love that the lyrics of this song are really being delved into by the fans. There are several lyrics that have more than one meaning to them,” Swift said of “I Knew It, I Knew You.”

“You only have so long in a song to convey and surmise and sum up this entire film [Toy Story 5] that people just watched. Sometimes you’ll try to have a double meaning in a line,” she continued.

Swift gave specific examples from the first couple lines of the song: “I knew you through the daze of the blades of the grass in summer/ Parachutes for the free fall of being younger.”

“The word daze is spelled ‘d-a-z-e’ in the lyrics, but you could also, if you wanted to, think of it as days, ‘d-a-y-s,’ you could perceive it as that. I thought of it as like a childhood daze of you look back and you see this sort of blurry, beautiful memory that’s kind of blurry at the edges,” Swift explained.

“Blades of the grass in summer, that harkens back to childhood and playing and using your imagination, but also there’s the added meaning of they’re toys,” she said. “They can only see up to the height of blades of grass.”

“Parachutes for the free fall of being younger: There’s the actual parachute army toys in Toy Story, as well as symbolically, somebody who helps you grow up, helps your landings be softer,” said Swift.

Later in the evening, another Swift moment aired. She spoke of the inspiration behind writing “I Knew It, I Knew You.” Swift was drawn to Toy Story cowgirl Jessie upon attending an early screening of Toy Story 5 — “I was seeing that she was going through a full-circle moment as a character,” Swift said, in part — plus seeing “a lot of reunions of old friends, seeing people that you haven’t seen in a while, and kind of forgiving past heartbreak, or whatever, and kind of healing that within yourself.”

Swift spoke fondly of her country roots in a recent conversation with Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. held at the Grammy Museum.

“The further along this path I get, I want to honor them more and more, and I feel more and more tied and more loyal to them — the people that shaped who I am as an artist and as a writer,” she said at the Aug. 18 event that focused on her songwriting and had her performing an acoustic mashup on piano of “I Knew It, I Knew You,” “August” and “All Too Well” that felt like a mid-late 2024 Eras Tour throwback.

Swift’s most recent original, full-length studio album was 2025’s The Life of a Showgirl. The pop collection tallied 12 weeks total at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Her next original, full-length studio album, which she has yet to speak about, will mark the 13th of her career. (This number doesn’t count her successful series of re-recorded albums, the four “Taylor’s Version” releases she put out prior to ultimately obtaining ownership of her masters last year.)

Jay-Z opened his two-night stand at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Friday (Sept. 4) with a tribute to Beyoncé on her 45th birthday, pausing his set for the sold-out crowd to serenade her with “Happy Birthday” as fireworks lit up the stadium.

Beyoncé, watching from a VIP suite with friends, appeared on the venue’s giant screens in a hoodie, blowing kisses and waving to fans below.

The show marked Jay-Z’s first UK headline performance in nearly 13 years — his last solo London date was 2013’s Magna Carta World Tour at The O2 Arena — and the first time he’s played the city since 2018’s On the Run II Tour with Beyoncé. The run celebrates the 30th anniversary of his 1996 debut album, Reasonable Doubt, and follows a similarly star-studded trio of shows at New York’s Yankee Stadium last month, which also marked 25 years of The Blueprint.

Sir Idris Elba opened the night with the same spoken intro that led off Jay-Z’s 2007 album American Gangster, before Jay moved into a set spanning his catalog, from early cuts to career-defining hits. The night’s guest turns gave it the same event-show energy as the Yankee Stadium run: DJ Khaled joined for “God Did” alongside U.K. rapper Giggs, who also performed his own breakout single, “Talking the Hardest.” Later, Ms. Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean surprised the crowd with a run of Fugees classics — “Ready or Not,” “Killing Me Softly” and “Fu-Gee-La.”

The show drew a heavy celebrity turnout, including David Beckham, Cynthia Erivo, Michael B. Jordan, Rick Rubin, Thomas Tuchel, Dave, Olivia Dean, AJ Odudu and Kano.

Jay-Z plays a second Tottenham Hotspur date Saturday (Sept. 5) before the tour continues to Paris’s Stade de France on Sept. 10 and wraps with two shows at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium in late October — additional dates added on top of the run’s original schedule as demand grew.

A judge says Sean “Diddy” Combs can keep pursuing defamation claims over a NewsNation broadcast that suggested he laced baby oil with drugs to incapacitate alleged sexual assault victims.

A Friday (Sept. 4) court ruling, first obtained and reported by Billboard, denies motions by both NewsNation and lawyer Ariel Mitchell to outright dismiss Combs’ $100 million slander lawsuit. A third defendant in the case, Courtney Burgess, has not responded to the claims and is facing the prospect of default judgment.

Mitchell was the attorney for Burgess, who claims to know the Bad Boy Records founder and was a witness before the grand jury that charged Combs in 2024 over his sex parties known as “freak-offs.” The indictment claimed Combs kept “more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil” in his home for these events — a headline-grabbing allegation that quickly became synonymous with the case.

Burgess and Mitchell appeared on NewsNation for multiple interviews following Combs’ arrest. In one broadcast, Mitchell said she had done “research” indicating that baby oil could be mixed with drugs before being doused on a sexual assault victim, thereby “lowering her defenses.” Combs alleges in his lawsuit that this is scientifically baseless, and it was defamatory for Mitchell and NewsNation to spread such lies.

Judge John P. Cronan said in Friday’s order that there’s sufficient basis for Combs to allege defamation based on this statement. “In the view of the Court,” wrote the judge, “it is plausible that anyone who heard such a claim would at the very least entertain serious doubts as to its accuracy.”

The judge ruled that Combs can also keep suing Mitchell for saying during the NewsNation interviews that Burgess had access to video recordings of Combs engaged in sexual assault, which Combs unequivocally denies. However, the judge said NewsNation itself cannot be held liable for those statements, since the cable news channel provided all the proper context for its viewers.

“NewsNation presented Burgess’s claims as exactly what they were: allegations,” wrote Judge Cronan. “The host reminded viewers that Combs ‘has not been convicted of any crimes’ and that ‘everything against him is an allegation until it is proven in a court of law.’”

Reps for Combs, NewsNation and Mitchell did not immediately return requests for comment on Friday’s ruling.

The decision is not a final determination on the merits of any claims, but rather a procedural step that allows Combs to move forward with obtaining evidence from Mitchell and NewsNation through the discovery process. The next phase would be a trial, unless a settlement is reached to resolve the case.

This is further than Combs got in his other major defamation lawsuit against a media network, NBCUniversal; in April, a judge threw out his claims over the 2025 Peacock documentary The Making of a Bad Boy after determining that it complied with journalistic standards. Combs is appealing that ruling.

Combs is currently serving prison time for illegal prostitution, though he was acquitted at trial of more serious charges that sought to frame his “freak-off” parties as the results of a racketeering and sex-trafficking enterprise. He’s currently scheduled to be released in early 2028.