Top stories from the last three days:

• RATM Rant Against “Fascist” Agenda at RNC
• In the Studio: Fall Out Boy
• Rage Show at RNC Ends in Protest, Arrests
• Kanye, Aguilera Added to VMAs
• TV On the Radio Talk New Album, Pot Smoke
• Britney Spears Opening VMAs, Won’t Sing
• Peter Travers on Oscar-Worthy Comedies
• John Mellencamp Covers Classic Dylan Tune
• The New Issue: What’s So Funny?
• On the Charts: The Game, Slipknot
• All American Rejects Pick Album Title
• NKOTB Celebrate First New Album in 14 Years
• Bono Talks New U2 Album, Pushed to 2009
• Ben Folds Five Reuniting For MySpace Show
• Breaking: Sharon Little

Scroll down for full news stories, commentary and much more in Rock Daily.

This week’s bizarre collision of talk TV and rock & roll comes to us from Australia, where Sonic Youth visited a morning show hosted by a woman who looks like a methed-up Gwen Stefani on a set that might have been vomited by Timothy Leary. Watching Thurston Moore try to explain “No Wave” and nonchalantly talk about the rap videos that have been shot in the alley behind their apartment is pretty surreal, but it’s mostly fun to watch the drably-dressed Youth juxtaposed with that leopard print desk.

This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the MTV Video Music Awards, and to celebrate the occasion, the week’s Rock List features our favorite music videos from the decade where it all began: the 1980s. We’ve spent the last hour digging through YouTube to find our favorites, so now tell us yours. On Monday, if we’re not burned out by the VMA live-blogging, we’ll count the votes and reveal your picks. Now, for your viewing pleasure, our five favorites:

A-ha – “Take On Me”
(above)

Twisted Sister – “We’re Not Gonna Take It”



Paula Abdul – “Opposites Attract”

Metallica – “One”

Peter Gabriel – “Sledgehammer”

Jewelry owned by 50 Cent, Notorious B.I.G., Alicia Keys, Tupac Shakur, Diddy, Pharrell and many more will go to auction in what’s being called “Hip Hop’s Crown Jewels.” The auction will feature over 70 pieces of custom-made bling, worth an estimated $3 million and worn by hip-hop’s finest. The Phillips de Pury Company will host the auction, with three non-profit organizations run by Russell Simmons’ the benefactor. Among the prized items is Tupac’s “Diamond and Ruby Crown ring,” Slick Rick’s multicolor diamond eye patch, Lil Jon’s “Guinness World Record Diamond Pendant” and Diddy’s “Important Diamond Bracelet.” The bling hits the gavel October 1st.

Related Stories:

• Diddy, 50 Cent Added to MTV Program Schedule

• Lil Jon Frees Crunk Rock From TVT

• Lil Jon Launches Winery

This week’s Republican National Convention ruffled all sorts of feathers this week, as Rage Against the Machine stirred the pot and the McCain campaign used Heart’s “Barracuda” as a theme song for VP candidate Sarah Palin, much to the chagrin of Nancy Wilson. What Palin should have done was consult the readers of Rock Daily, who are always quick to provide useful, practical advice. For example, reader CRS2265 offered up this idea: They should use artists that support Republican views. One comes to mind being Ted Nugent. They could have used “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang” for her entrance!” We’ll be waiting for the comment from the Nuge’s camp, though it’s unsure even he supports shooting wolves from planes.

There are only a few sure things in life: Death. Taxes. AC/DC. This fall, the band will drop Black Ice, an album that returns them to their hard rocking roots after flirtations with their bluesier side on their previous two albums. “I was hoping the songs would lend themselves to more of a — ‘pop’ is the wrong word, but hooky sort of treatment. Like, ‘Back in Black’ or ‘Highway to Hell’ and even ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,’” says producer Brendan O’Brien. “I was trying to just make people remember, ‘This is the same band. I have missed this band. I love this band. Where have they been?’” Click below for more on the return of rock’s most consistent, hardest-rocking bands.

• Let There Be Rock: AC/DC Plan Big Comeback

Related Stories:

• Listen to AC/DC’s “Rock & Roll Train”

• AC/DC Announce Three Album Cover Colors For Black Ice

• AC/DC’s Black Ice Gets Track List, Release Date, Preorder Info

Oprah Winfrey
Photo: Steve Granitz/ WireImage

Oprah Winfrey has reportedly denied a Drudge Report item that claims the talk-show host was considering having Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin on her show.

Winfrey issued a statement saying: "The item in today's Drudge Report is categorically untrue. There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my show," according to TMZ.

"At the beginning of this presidential campaign, when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates," the statement continued. "I agree that Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over."

The Drudge item quoted an Oprah "insider" as saying: "Half of her staff really wants Sarah Palin on. Oprah's Web site is getting tons of requests to put her on, but Oprah and a couple of her top people are adamantly against it because of Obama."

Winfrey is a longtime Obama supporter who has campaigned for him. He has appeared twice on her show — in January 2005 and October 2006 — before he announced his candidacy for president.

The Republican National Convention, which featured addresses from Palin on Wednesday night, closed with candidate John McCain's address on Thursday night. Amid many stories in the past week about Palin, her daughter Bristol's pregnancy and Bristol's boyfriend Levi Johnston, late Thursday night the rock band Heart, whose song "Barracuda" was used during the convention in a nod to Palin's old nickname, leading the band to reportedly issue a cease-and-desist letter to the campaign.

"The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission," says a statement from Heart's camp, according to TMZ.com. "We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored."

T.I. featuring Jay-Z, Kanye West and Lil Wayne, “Swagger Like Us” [Immukization Remix]
Kanye, Weezy, Jigga and T.I. get crammed inside what sounds like some odd outtake from the TRON soundtrack. Fittingly, this is the only musical environment in which using that aggravating vocoder effect actually makes sense.

Dr. Dre, “85 Live!” [Mixtape]
An hour-long timewarp, this classic set from DJ Dr. Dre (the Yo! MTV Raps one, not the N.W.A one) combines all the hi-top party jams you’d forgotten you loved into one sweet, sweltering mix.

Ol’ Dirty Bastard, “Broken Language Freestyle” [Live]
More evidence of ODB’s unhinged genius, this freestyle from ‘96 finds the late Russell Jones backstroking in his own stream-of-consciousness, varying his vocal tone and delivering Mad Lib rhymes with manic intensity. He even manages to make his screw-ups rhyme.

The Walkmen, “In The New Year” [Live]
In the new year, perhaps indie bands will find more glamorous places to record. In the meantime, this live clip from a basement will suffice.

Nick Catchdubs, “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” [Mix]
It’s sort of remarkable to see a DJ getting accolades for doing what every bad commercial radio station in the ’90s did 24 hours a day (Tripping Daisy? Really?), but, hey, we’re as nostalgic as the next blog.

John McCain addresses the Republican National Convention on Thursday
Photo: Emmanuel Dundand/ Getty Images

ST. PAUL, Minnesota — After a week when Republicans blasted Democrats for being the same old tax-and-spend liberals and a star was born in the form of GOP vice-presidential candidate Governor Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain had a simple task Thursday night (September 4) on the final night of the Republican National Convention: seal the deal.

Never the first choice of the conservative core of the Republican party, McCain set out to do that in his nearly one-hour speech by stressing his independent streak and inviting delegates to get onboard his express train to a new day for the Grand Old Party.

"You all know, I've been called a maverick, someone who marches to the beat of his own drum," McCain told the packed house, which gave him a nearly two-minute standing ovation. "Sometimes it's meant as a compliment, and sometimes it's not. What it really means is I understand who I work for. I don't work for a party. I don't work for a special interest. I don't work for myself. I work for you."

It was a theme he would return to often during the low-key speech — his drive to rise above party — and while McCain's address mostly lacked the sparkle and partisan bite of Palin's crowd-rouser the night before, he took on the slow and steady tone of a man who has learned the importance of carefully measured steps.

"I'm not in the habit of breaking promises to my country, and neither is Governor Palin," said McCain, who was interrupted twice early on by protesters who were dragged out of the hall to the shouts of "USA! USA!" from the audience. "And when we tell you we're going to change Washington and stop leaving our country's problems for some unluckier generation to fix, you can count on it. And we've got a record of doing just that and the strength, experience, judgment and backbone to keep our word to you."

While McCain took a few digs at Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama in the speech, they were mostly in an attempt to show how his policies would be different from his Democratic rival's, and he steered clear of any personal attacks or questions about Obama's character. Curiously, for a speech in which he was accepting his party's nomination, McCain often returned to the theme that he was not beholden to a party, but to the American people and his drive to change the old way things are done in Washington. "But let there be no doubt, my friends, we're going to win this election," he said. "And after we've won, we're going to reach out our hand to any willing patriot, make this government start working for you again, and get this country back on the road to prosperity and peace."

"The constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving these problems isn't a cause, it's a symptom," he said. "It's what happens when people go to Washington to work for themselves and not you. Again and again, I've worked with members of both parties to fix problems that need to be fixed. That's how I will govern as president. I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again. I have that record and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not."

McCain, who prefers the intimacy of town-hall-style meetings over large campaign gatherings, was in his element Thursday on a stage that was reshaped to include a ramp that extended out into the Xcel Center floor and put the candidate closer to his constituents.

In addition to battling the specter of Obama's big-stage speech in front of 80,000 at Invesco Field a week before, as well as the still-warm afterglow of Palin's address, McCain faced the further obstacle of convincing the party faithful that his outsider, maverick image as a reformer who sometimes crosses partly lines to get the job done is one that works for the GOP and one that it should embrace. And while the faithful did whoop and cheer for his many red-meat lines, there were quite a few lines — especially ones in which McCain promised to work with Democrats and reach across party lines without a focus on credit-taking — that drew polite, tepid responses. When McCain decried corruption in Washington, including his own party, there was a noticeable silence in the hall.

But again and again, he stressed that he and Palin would make serious changes in Washington. "I'm very proud to have introduced our next vice president to the country. But I can't wait until I introduce her to Washington," McCain said. "And let me offer an advance warning to the old, big-spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second Washington crowd: Change is coming."

After months of attacking Obama as too inexperienced to be president, McCain made scant mention of that Thursday night, though Palin and other GOP surrogates have been repeatedly putting out the message that the first-term Alaska governor and former small-town mayor has more executive experience than the Illinois senator. With Palin onboard — and, seemingly with her, the party's more conservative, evangelical base that had not fully embraced McCain prior to this point — McCain reiterated some of the campaign's top talking points: increased oil drilling and a strong pro-life stance, as well as a desire to shrink government and put more money in the pockets of average Americans.

McCain will be hard-pressed to beat the numbers put up by Palin, who roped in 37.2 million voters on Wednesday night, according to Nielsen Media Research, crushing the DNC numbers for day-three addresses by former President Bill Clinton and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden by 55 percent. The numbers were so huge for Palin's national political debut that they almost reached the Super Bowl-worthy ratings put up by Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama, whose speech was seen by 38.4 million.

As the campaign has done all week, the speech also focused on McCain's service to his country as a soldier, an element of his biography that the senator talked about when describing his love of the United States. "I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's," McCain said. "I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency, for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man anymore. I was my country's."

Making the case that Obama and three-decade Senate fixture Biden are about politics as usual, McCain, himself a 26-year member of Congress, exhorted his party to rally to his message of change and reform or risk losing more than just the presidency. Less sure of himself on the stage than Obama, McCain, 72, who would be the oldest president ever elected to office for a first term if he wins in November, didn't try to outperform his more polished Democratic rival, but instead delivered a speech that mixed a number of his tried-and-true stump lines with a sense of the vigor that Palin's addition to the ticket has injected into his quest.

Following Palin's speech Wednesday, Obama strategist David Axelrod decried her attacks while speaking to reporters on Obama's campaign plane, saying that instead of talking about issues such as health care and the economy or the war in Afghanistan, Palin sounded and looked "very much like she'd fit in very well there when you see how she brings these attacks. They all felt very familiar to Americans who are used to this kind of thing from Washington."

John McCain might not be the candidate all Republican Party stalwarts were hoping for, but the combination of his stirring personal story line and his insistence on running as an outsider within his own party made for great political theater. And when the Vietnam hero exhorted the crowd to "fight with me, fight with me" at the end of the speech, he was drowned out by the thundering ovation as a deluge of red, white and blue confetti and balloons rained down.

Afterward, the mood in the hall was celebratory, though even party die-hards had to admit that McCain didn't necessarily deliver the kind of signature moment that could seal the speech in history.

John Engle, a 19-year-old convention page from Maui, Hawaii, said that even though McCain was a bit stiff, he loved the speech and praised the Arizona senator for showing respect for Obama and not bashing his rival. "I thought it was an excellent speech and I like his plans for the economy, because I'm scared of a socialized medicine plan that could bankrupt the country."

"It's blindingly obvious he give a different kind of speech [than Palin or Obama]," said Eric Peterson, 23, who was gathering up confetti and McCain signs in the stands. "But there's never been a presidential candidate with the same story and ... he's not as charismatic as Senator Obama, but he has a lot more substance."

Peterson said that the big difference for him between the Obama and McCain addresses was his sense that McCain's was more optimistic. "If you listened to the Democrat speeches, you would think this country is down in the dumps and some kind of third-world county," he said. "But the Republicans see a great future."

Don't miss out on the action: MTV News and our Street Team '08 will be on the ground at the Republican National Convention to sort through all the speeches, streamers and ceremony and find the information you need to choose our next president. Head to Choose or Lose for nonstop coverage of the 2008 presidential election.

• Republican National Convention 2008

John McCain addresses the Republican National Convention on Thursday
Photo: Emmanuel Dundand/ Getty Images

ST. PAUL, Minnesota — After a week when Republicans blasted Democrats for being the same old tax-and-spend liberals and a star was born in the form of GOP vice-presidential candidate Governor Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain had a simple task Thursday night (September 4) on the final night of the Republican National Convention: seal the deal.

Never the first choice of the conservative core of the Republican party, McCain set out to do that in his nearly one-hour speech by stressing his independent streak and inviting delegates to get onboard his express train to a new day for the Grand Old Party.

"You all know, I've been called a maverick, someone who marches to the beat of his own drum," McCain told the packed house, which gave him a nearly two-minute standing ovation. "Sometimes it's meant as a compliment, and sometimes it's not. What it really means is I understand who I work for. I don't work for a party. I don't work for a special interest. I don't work for myself. I work for you."

It was a theme he would return to often during the low-key speech — his drive to rise above party — and while McCain's address mostly lacked the sparkle and partisan bite of Palin's crowd-rouser the night before, he took on the slow and steady tone of a man who has learned the importance of carefully measured steps.

"I'm not in the habit of breaking promises to my country, and neither is Governor Palin," said McCain, who was interrupted twice early on by protesters who were dragged out of the hall to the shouts of "USA! USA!" from the audience. "And when we tell you we're going to change Washington and stop leaving our country's problems for some unluckier generation to fix, you can count on it. And we've got a record of doing just that and the strength, experience, judgment and backbone to keep our word to you."

While McCain took a few digs at Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama in the speech, they were mostly in an attempt to show how his policies would be different from his Democratic rival's, and he steered clear of any personal attacks or questions about Obama's character. Curiously, for a speech in which he was accepting his party's nomination, McCain often returned to the theme that he was not beholden to a party, but to the American people and his drive to change the old way things are done in Washington. "But let there be no doubt, my friends, we're going to win this election," he said. "And after we've won, we're going to reach out our hand to any willing patriot, make this government start working for you again, and get this country back on the road to prosperity and peace."

"The constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving these problems isn't a cause, it's a symptom," he said. "It's what happens when people go to Washington to work for themselves and not you. Again and again, I've worked with members of both parties to fix problems that need to be fixed. That's how I will govern as president. I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again. I have that record and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not."

McCain, who prefers the intimacy of town-hall-style meetings over large campaign gatherings, was in his element Thursday on a stage that was reshaped to include a ramp that extended out into the Xcel Center floor and put the candidate closer to his constituents.

In addition to battling the specter of Obama's big-stage speech in front of 80,000 at Invesco Field a week before, as well as the still-warm afterglow of Palin's address, McCain faced the further obstacle of convincing the party faithful that his outsider, maverick image as a reformer who sometimes crosses partly lines to get the job done is one that works for the GOP and one that it should embrace. And while the faithful did whoop and cheer for his many red-meat lines, there were quite a few lines — especially ones in which McCain promised to work with Democrats and reach across party lines without a focus on credit-taking — that drew polite, tepid responses. When McCain decried corruption in Washington, including his own party, there was a noticeable silence in the hall.

But again and again, he stressed that he and Palin would make serious changes in Washington. "I'm very proud to have introduced our next vice president to the country. But I can't wait until I introduce her to Washington," McCain said. "And let me offer an advance warning to the old, big-spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second Washington crowd: Change is coming."

After months of attacking Obama as too inexperienced to be president, McCain made scant mention of that Thursday night, though Palin and other GOP surrogates have been repeatedly putting out the message that the first-term Alaska governor and former small-town mayor has more executive experience than the Illinois senator. With Palin onboard — and, seemingly with her, the party's more conservative, evangelical base that had not fully embraced McCain prior to this point — McCain reiterated some of the campaign's top talking points: increased oil drilling and a strong pro-life stance, as well as a desire to shrink government and put more money in the pockets of average Americans.

McCain will be hard-pressed to beat the numbers put up by Palin, who roped in 37.2 million voters on Wednesday night, according to Nielsen Media Research, crushing the DNC numbers for day-three addresses by former President Bill Clinton and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden by 55 percent. The numbers were so huge for Palin's national political debut that they almost reached the Super Bowl-worthy ratings put up by Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama, whose speech was seen by 38.4 million.

As the campaign has done all week, the speech also focused on McCain's service to his country as a soldier, an element of his biography that the senator talked about when describing his love of the United States. "I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's," McCain said. "I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency, for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man anymore. I was my country's."

Making the case that Obama and three-decade Senate fixture Biden are about politics as usual, McCain, himself a 26-year member of Congress, exhorted his party to rally to his message of change and reform or risk losing more than just the presidency. Less sure of himself on the stage than Obama, McCain, 72, who would be the oldest president ever elected to office for a first term if he wins in November, didn't try to outperform his more polished Democratic rival, but instead delivered a speech that mixed a number of his tried-and-true stump lines with a sense of the vigor that Palin's addition to the ticket has injected into his quest.

Following Palin's speech Wednesday, Obama strategist David Axelrod decried her attacks while speaking to reporters on Obama's campaign plane, saying that instead of talking about issues such as health care and the economy or the war in Afghanistan, Palin sounded and looked "very much like she'd fit in very well there when you see how she brings these attacks. They all felt very familiar to Americans who are used to this kind of thing from Washington."

John McCain might not be the candidate all Republican Party stalwarts were hoping for, but the combination of his stirring personal story line and his insistence on running as an outsider within his own party made for great political theater. And when the Vietnam hero exhorted the crowd to "fight with me, fight with me" at the end of the speech, he was drowned out by the thundering ovation as a deluge of red, white and blue confetti and balloons rained down.

Afterward, the mood in the hall was celebratory, though even party die-hards had to admit that McCain didn't necessarily deliver the kind of signature moment that could seal the speech in history.

John Engle, a 19-year-old convention page from Maui, Hawaii, said that even though McCain was a bit stiff, he loved the speech and praised the Arizona senator for showing respect for Obama and not bashing his rival. "I thought it was an excellent speech and I like his plans for the economy, because I'm scared of a socialized medicine plan that could bankrupt the country."

"It's blindingly obvious he give a different kind of speech [than Palin or Obama]," said Eric Peterson, 23, who was gathering up confetti and McCain signs in the stands. "But there's never been a presidential candidate with the same story and ... he's not as charismatic as Senator Obama, but he has a lot more substance."

Peterson said that the big difference for him between the Obama and McCain addresses was his sense that McCain's was more optimistic. "If you listened to the Democrat speeches, you would think this country is down in the dumps and some kind of third-world county," he said. "But the Republicans see a great future."

Don't miss out on the action: MTV News and our Street Team '08 will be on the ground at the Republican National Convention to sort through all the speeches, streamers and ceremony and find the information you need to choose our next president. Head to Choose or Lose for nonstop coverage of the 2008 presidential election.

• Republican National Convention 2008

Lily Allen at The <i>GQ</i> Men Of The Year Awards in London on Tuesday
Photo: Eamonn McCormack/WireImage

The verbal catfight between Lily Allen and Elton John at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in London on Tuesday was grossly blown out of proportion, Allen says in her MySpace blog. John's jabs about the young singer's drinking, and her quips about the pop icon's age, were nothing more than onstage banter, she asserts.

"Elton John and I are friends," she wrote. "I was honoured when Elton asked me to present the GQ Awards with him this year in association with Elton's AIDS foundation. Not only was it for a good cause, but who would say no to Elton?"

During the show John, 61, reportedly called out the 23-year-old for drinking while co-hosting the celeb filled bash. "I'm not defending my drunkenness because I don't need to," Allen says. "I'm 23; it was an awards ceremony; I drank the free champagne. How awful of me."

She goes on to say the notion that she and John were fighting was really the work of "bitter journos" trying to stir the pot by mischaracterizing their comments. "Trying to create a feud ... and trying to make me out as being some rude little girl with a drink problem is just unfair.

"Elton and I exchanged jokes and there were no hard feelings at all," she continues. "In fact, neither of us gave it a second thought."

In the blog entry, Allen also airs her feelings about the media and the treatment they've given her since the incident. "All these showbiz journalists are just bullies when it comes down to it. I have felt really very bullied this week."

At Tuesday's event, The Times of London also reported that Allen blurted out the previously secret news that her brother Alfie was engaged his girlfriend, actress Jaime Winstone. But Allen says this was another exaggeration. "Alfie and Jamie had never been engaged," she wrote. "Jamie and I are the best of friends, and I was just winding Alfie up. He's my little brother, and that's what siblings do."

• Lily Allen
• Elton John

50 Cent digs Lil Wayne, but he can’t help but notice the similarities between Weezy’s summer smash “Lollipop” and his own 2005 hit “Candy Shop.” “‘Lollipop’” is ‘lick lick lick lick it like a lollipop,’” 50 told Rolling Stone, singing the verse to prove his point. “And ‘Candy Shop’ is ‘I’ll take you to the Candy Shop/ I’ll let you lick the lollipop.’”

Rip-off or not, 50 is no longer spinning Wayne’s track — or any other rappers’, for that matter. “”I’m not really listening to anyone else’s records,” he says, adding that his new album, Before I Self-Destruct, will drop by the end of the year. “Now I’m in another space where I gotta make what I’m excited about.”

50 is mum on the details of his new disc — the last on his contract with Interscope Records — but he promises to shake things up. “[Other rappers] can take what I’ve done for the last five years and do their version of it and be successful with momentum,” he says. “Meanwhile, I have to reinvent the wheel.”

Related Stories:

• 50 Cent Meets With Officials About House Fire

• 50 Cent Sues Taco Bell

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Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump (file)
Photo: Matt Sayles/AP Photo

LOS ANGELES — "Hell yes, this record is political. But it's not ever going to be overt. You have to look beyond that," Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump said from the studio where he and his bandmates are putting the finishing touches on their Folie à Deux album. "I think this is a very political record, but that gets misunderstood really easily. I think people don't really care what 'politics' even means anymore. If there's a simple theme that I would want to express through the music, it's that you really need to think about things."

Stump is speaking, of course, about the recent reports of the (supposed) political slant on the FOB album that's due November 4. While his sentiments are probably only going to further confuse fans — and provide ammo to critics — we've got to admit that he's pretty dead-on in his assessment. At least, judging from the tracks we heard.

On Thursday night, MTV News visited Fall Out Boy — who, coincidentally, are nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2008 Video Music Awards — at an L.A. studio to get a sneak peak at a handful of songs from Folie, all of which bore tentative titles ("America's Sweethearts," "Never Believe," "Does Your Husband Know?") and a healthy dose of political edge. But not of the red state/ blue state variety, mind you.

Rather, the new songs delve deep into the politics of the heart and mind, exploring decaying relationships, moral dilemmas and societal shortcomings. The lyrics — written once again by bassist Pete Wentz, who works through a series of thoroughly detestable characters on the new album — deal heavily with concepts like truth and trust, arrogance and infidelity, responsibility and commitment. It's a world where there's not all that much difference between a marriage vow and a campaign speech, in that both are rooted in a promise, one that is easily — and often — corrupted.

"One of the things I wanted to do on this record is — and it was very conscious — but I don't think enough people give Pete Wentz any credit. ... I think he's awesome, I think he's a very talented guy," Stump said. "People only take pictures of him on his way to somewhere. So you just see him with his cup of coffee walking into the studio, but you don't see him in the studio. He's in here working a lot. He totally outdid himself on this record. He doesn't even know how good his lyrics are here. ... So I really had to do something to suit that. So I've been using musical style as a palette to support his lyrics."

The best example of this synergy is probably "Husband," which struts in on a massive drum line and crunching, processed guitars, gets amplified by a four-piece horn section, then falls away to a simple, somber piano line. It's sexual one minute, heartbreaking the next — the perfect accompaniment for Wentz's tale of infidelity and deception.

"Swagger is a great way to describe it, because on the song, he's lyrically adopting a character that has swagger, so I wanted the music to have that swagger. The verse is so confident and funky and forward because the lyric is so full of itself," Stump explained. "And then everything stops, and there's a piano breakdown, and it's very melancholy and sad and theatrical, and the lyric shifts to the doubt that's behind all that arrogance. And ultimately, I wanted the music — in conjunction with the lyric — to express that arrogance is usually a mask for terrible insecurity.

"What I took out of [the lyrics] was that there was something so compelling about the character in the song. ... Like in 'Silence of the Lambs,' when Hannibal Lecter is talking about how he doesn't kill, he covets. ... The song is about that — the prowl of chasing a woman," he continued. "I think it meant, like, this guy is cheating on his girlfriend, but he knows she's not cheating on him. There's this total 'looking into the mirror and trying to convince yourself of absolute lies' kind of thing. People ask all the time, 'Oh, Pete got married, how does that affect the record?' and I think, if anything, he just wanted to point out how lightly people are taking their marriages. No one seems to be worried about what's going on, they just want to have things."

And that focus on the failings of society continues on "Never Believe," which is powered by drummer Andy Hurley's work — this time a taut marching cadence — and lush, open guitarwork from Joe Trohman. Stump's voice is loud and clear as he urges the listener to "throw your cameras in the air/ Wave 'em like you just don't care."

" 'Never Believe' contains my favorite Fall Out Boy lyric, maybe ever. Because everything we're trying to say about pop culture, it's in this song," Stump said. "The chorus — 'Change will come, but I will never believe in anything again' — that's about the '90s, when we really cared, [but] then we got into all this awful mess. And I think people stopped believing in the goodwill of man and that you can change the world or do any good. So everything became internalized. The past decade has been totally about 'me.' It's totally about 'Oh, I'm sad. I want this. I know somebody who knows this person. Me me me me me,' so that's what that song is about."

And while he was at it, Stump decided to dissect the first single from Folie, the strutting "I Don't Care," which the band debuted earlier this week on their official site. Seems that it, too, is another attack on the vapidity of the era we currently inhabit, one obsessed with celebrity and the self. It's an attack you can shout along to, of course. It is a Fall Out Boy song, after all.

"Like the chorus says, 'I don't care what you think as long as it's about me.' It's that pop culture thing again, where people don't care about anything but the superficial, and I think there's something so tragic about that," he laughed. "I also thought there was something so ironically anthemic about the chorus, where it's not something you want to sing along to, because it's vacuous and empty. So I wanted something really anthemic underneath it, like something you'd hear at sports games or whatever, because I wanted people to hear it and be confronted with how empty that is. I didn't want anything to be superficial on this record unless the point was to point out superficiality."

• Fall Out Boy