“When something’s gone / I wanna fight to get it back again” shouts Eddie Vedder in the already-smash-hit The Fixer from Pearl Jam’s new and long-awaited album Backspacer. We know they’ve been gone a long while, but we hate to have to break this to him: Eddie’s not going to have to fight to get anything back, because it’s definitely apparent that Pearl Jam still has it.

It’s been almost 4 years since Pearl Jam’s last album and as Josh Modell at Spin writes, it’s like “the explosion at the end of an extremely long fuse.” He couldn’t be more correct. We’re already on our second time through. Ear buds tucked tight, volume maxed out, and reminiscing about our younger days listening to Ten and Vs. in our garages on clunky, beat-up single disc boom boxes. We think it’s safe to say these albums, along with Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream and Nirvana’s Nevermind, helped define a good chunk of the 90s generation. A few of us admittedly took a fan’s leave-of-absence after Vitalogy to pursue our taste in other music genres, but it’s good to be back. And Backspacer has definitely welcomed us with open arms.

We’d be hard pressed to find a track on this album we didn’t like, and if we had to choose our favorites, the tracks that will be the most responsible for the soreness in our necks tomorrow, they’d definitely have to be: Got Some, The Fixer, and Johnny Guitar. All 3 take on a notably more upbeat and optimistic tone, which might not sit well with some long-time fans who prefer the more grungy, melancholy sound characteristic of their earlier albums. But some of us think it’s a nice departure. If nothing, it shows that Pearl Jam is still capable of experimenting with their sound, refusing to be pigeon-holed into a single, limited category. An early Rolling Stone review noted “the more you listen, the more it just sounds like Vedder’s spending a nice day surfing. After toughing out the Bush years, Pearl Jam aren’t in the mood for brooding; at long last, surf’s up.” Oh, and we can’t forget Amongst The Waves. “Love ain’t love until you feel it / Up riding high amongst the waves / I can feel like I / Have a soul that has been saved / I can see the light / Coming through the clouds in rays.” The weather today might be a little depressing, but Backspacer has made our morning anything but. If only we could go surfing…

If you haven’t heard the album, the band has apparently cut a deal with MySpace where you can listen to it for free (with a few commercial interruptions, naturally). What do you think? Has Pearl Jam exploded out of their hiatus with a hit? Take this poll and tell us what you think.

For your viewing pleasure, here’s the video for The Fixer. Does anyone else think Eddie looks like The Dude from The Big Lebowski in this video? Just sayin’. Enjoy!

It’s a sad day for millions all over the world today as we cope with the loss of Michael Jackson, the undisputed “King of Pop,” who passed away yesterday at 50 years of age. Jackson was not breathing when the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call at 12:30pm (PST) yesterday, June 25, 2009. They attempted to resuscitate him, but to no avail. Jackson was pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center at 2:26pm (PST).

The media has covered this extensively in the last 12 hours and major TV networks even canceled regularly scheduled primetime programming to run specials highlighting his life and times last night. Vigils were said to have taken place in multiple cities across the globe, honoring the late great pop star and proving that despite his increasingly reclusive nature and admittedly strange behavior in recent years, Michael Jackson had a tremendous impact on millions of people.

Jackson’s death comes at a time when he was gearing up to start another world tour including shows in London’s O2 stadium that were widely regarded as the “Hottest Tickets on the Planet”, selling some 750,000 tickets at rates of 11 per second, 657 per minute, and 40,000 per hour, prompting this comment from a Ticketmaster representative: “We often talk about unprecedented demand, but this week we have witnessed a live entertainment phenomenon. Today, we saw well over 250,000 fans hitting the Ticketmaster site at 7am for the general sale tickets. This was undoubtedly the busiest demand for tickets for an event which we have ever experienced.”

His musical career spanned nearly 4 decades, beginning in 1971, and included sales of 750 million albums, 13 grammy awards, and 13 number 1 singles, earning him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Most Successful Entertainer of All Time.” He was known as someone who was very generous with charities and had an affection for children he claimed to be innocent, but that raised many eyebrows and actually landed him in court a few times. His life certainly seemed to be a rollercoaster with some great highs and some awful lows, which might explain why it was a heart attack that ultimately put an end to it. And yet, despite all the controversy surrounding him, one thing is certain: he will go down in history as a legend, the King of Pop, forever. He is survived by his three children, Prince I, Paris, and Prince “Blanket” II.

It’s not surprising that LivingSocialites love Michael Jackson as well. His major records show up in 15,209 collections and have been reviewed 700+ times. We’ve also got a whole host of books written by or about MJ in our Visual Bookshelf. Have you had the chance to review your favorites? If not, visit our Michael Jackson albums section to catalog your King of Pop albums and review them, or the Michael Jackson books section to do the same for literature.

We’re also seeing a lot of activity in our Pick Your Five and Polls applications, with many people picking their favorite Michael Jackson songs and videos. If you’d like to do the same, follow the links below!

Pick Your Top 5 Michael Jackson Songs

Pick Your Top 5 Michael Jackson Albums

What’s the Best Michael Jackson Album?

What’s the Best Michael Jackson Video?

And of course, you’ve always got the option to create your own Poll in honor of Michael Jackson to share with friends.

Just the other day I was listening to an Eminem tune on my iPod and I thought to myself, "Where in the World is Marshall Mathers?!" The potty-mouthed rapper known as much for fueling controversy as spitting out rhymes at incomprehensible speeds hasn't put out an album since the critically acclaimed Encore in 2004. It seems as though the answer to my question has arrived, as Mr. Em is set to release his latest album, Relapse, on May 19th, according to MTV.com. He's also been tapped to perform at MTV's 2009 MTV Movie Awards. His newest single, "We Made You," which can be seen here, shares similarities in style to Without Me from 2002's The Eminem Show. In true Eminem style, he makes fun of a whole lot of people in the video, including Sarah Palin, Jessica Alba, Jessica Simpson, Tony Romo, Bret Michaels, and the list goes on. All of it makes for a good laugh, and of course, a cameo by Dr. Dre is only natural.

What's Hot on the Billboard Top 100

1. Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas
2. Poker Face by Lady GaGa
3. Right Round by Flo Rida
4. Kiss Me Thru The Phone by Soulja Boy Tell 'em feat. Sammie
5. Blame It by Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain
6. Dead and Gone by T.I. feat Justin Timberlake
7. Day n' Nite by Kid Cudi
8. Gives You Hell by The All-American Rejects
9. You Found Me by The Fray
10. The Climb by Miley Cyrus

Pearl Jam Back in the Mix

It has been reported that the legends of the grunge scene are set to release a new album, film, and launch a U.S. tour, according to Billboard.com. The album is rumored to contain 14 songs, the tour they'll be playing will supposedly include the Austin City Limits Music Festival, where Dave Matthews, Beastie Boys, and Kings of Leon are supposedly also headlining, and the video is said to be a collection of film compiled to honor the bands 20th Anniversary.

T.I. Riding Paper Trail all the way to Jail

Rapper T.I.'s 4th studio album, entitled "King," served in many as foreshadowing the future for the golden boy of Southern Hip-Hop, whose popularity has gone through the roof ever since King's release in March of 2006. He's the proud owner of nine Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 singles, 3 of which reached #1. Despite his global success, and contrary to the "change" he wants all of us to see in him, T.I. was arrested in October 2007 after purchasing 3 unregistered machine guns just four hours before the BET Hip-Hop Awards. In March of 2009, he was sentenced to 1-year and 1-day in prison for the offense. Of course, this did nothing but fuel the fire of his latest album, Paper Trail, which dominates the charts and airwaves. In a vague interview with MTV's Sway Calloway, T.I. talked about re-releasing Paper Trail with 5 additional tracks, which Sway cleverly pointed out was a way for T.I. to keep himself in the mainstream while behind bars. The rapper also spoke of releasing a new album once he is released from prison that will be a "Celebration" of putting troubled times behind him. Check out MTV.com for more on this, and the interview with Sway.

Green Day is Bringin' the Heat!

It's been five long years since Green Day's latest album, American Idiot took the world by storm, and for those of us who consider ourselves fans, that's just way too long! Fortunately for us, Green Day will be releasing another album in May called 21st Century Breakdown, which MTV seems quite impressed with. The album is set to release mid-May, but Green Day will be premiering the video, which is reportedly going to be heavy on the pyrotechnics, for it's "Enemy" track, on April 24th on more than 250 MTV on-air and online outlets worldwide. A snippet of that is available on MTV.com.