As the Iowa caucuses begin the 2008 presidential nominating process today, it is only natural to reflect on where we are as a nation. In a song that captures this moment in time better than any candidate has, Bruce Springsteen’s “Long Walk Home,” from his album Magic, could be our country’s theme song today.

As the darkness on the edge of town (so to speak) creeps into Main Street U.S.A., we’re left to figure out what went wrong. But it wouldn’t be a Bruce Springsteen work if the chorus of this modern day anthem didn’t leave some room for hope - that we will someday regain all that seems so very lost.

Follow the link to take a listen and watch the “Long Walk Home” video.

As 2007 drew to a close, Rolling Stone released its top 100 songs of the year, and the winner is a black superhero, a modern-day legend who goes to the movies and comes back with an even better film in his head, set to music that plays like the Copacabana scene in Goodfellas translated into hip-hop.

The most triumphant sound anyone came up with all year, Jay-Z’s “Roc Boys” makes you fly in more ways than one. After thanking his drug connection and tipping his hat to God, the soon-to-be former Def Jam CEO toasts the high life over a gritty Brooklyn funky-horns riff. It’s a celebration, bitches!

The music video for Jay-Z’s “Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)” meets the lofty expectations set by what many believe is one of 2007’s biggest songs.

Jay’s “Roc Boys” narrowly edged out Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” (a song so big it also became a hit for Marie Digby, who covered it acoustically) Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Long Walk Home” and many other hits.

It’s Britney, bitch.

That’s the opening to the first single released from Blackout, Britney Spears’ sex and drugs masterpiece.

The term “masterpiece” is used loosely, but Seattle’s The Stranger still believes Blackout is - we’re serious - an underappreciated smash!

All of America saw Britney Spears’ MTV disaster, “grinding” that pole like a cat on Valium. That was enough for some. Yet Britney Spears, at 26 years old, remains the seventh-best-selling female artist of all time. It’s bizarre.

With her ridiculous antics, it’s challenging to engage in a serious conversation about Britney. Despite selling 80 million albums, it’s doubtful she will ever be appraised as more than a signifier of other, more relevant cultural trends.

The intelligentsia doesn’t consider Britney Spears a musician, but a vessel.

Some critics say Britney Spears is a wholly manufactured sound / brand, the only difference between Spears and a computer program being her ability to walk onstage. But, one blogger insists, this is simply not true.

Spears has a way of dipping at the end of a verb as if she is having an orgasm so intense and fast the only thing to do is dance through it.

Other times she’s forceful, or innocent; she always feels it at exactly the right time. She doesn’t have “pipes” like Mariah or Christina. What the “Piece of Me” sex kitten has is a sweet Southern drawl that tells listeners a story, which is strange, because it’s a story she doesn’t seem to fully understand.

Her songs seem to contradict each other; and as she continues to get older, Britney’s schoolgirl drawl is being ripped in two, leaving a ragged, adult edge evidenced on almost all the songs in Blackout, her best album by far.

It’s the sound of a voice at its peak, about to go into steep decline.

Continue reading this exploration of why Brit matters …

Radiohead revealed that 15 fans paid the maximum amount for its new record, In Rainbows, when the band pulled a surprise move and allowed fans to name their own price for the download of the album last year.

The record was released online in October, and those wanting it could set their own price anywhere between free or the upper limit the band set - £99.99.

“That was the limit we had set beforehand and until now 15 (have paid that for the album),” lead singer Thom Yorke told The Independent. “And I swear to you that the band members are not among that 15.”

In fact, Thom Yorke has already admitted he downloaded the album for free, although this morning (January 3) he said he usually pays for downloads.

“I always pay… well, I got our own album from our webpage free of charge,” Thom Yorke explained, though claimed he did it with the best intentions.

“I wanted to play my mum some of the new songs and downloaded them onto her computer,” he said. “A journalist found out and announced immediately that I wouldn’t pay for music from the Internet. But why should I pay for my own possessions and in practice, just shovel my money from one pocket to the other? That’s ridiculous.”

Thom Yorke said that he was not bothered by Radiohead fans who downloaded their album for free but explained: “If you think our songs are no good after listening to them, then that’s a pity indeed.”

Who needs American Idol when we’ve got… YouTube! Internet phenom Marie Digby (pronounced Mar-ee-ay), 24, achieved online buzz and borderline fame in 2007 with simple videos of herself singing and playing the acoustic guitar, doing covers of hits by other artists as well as her original songs.

Millions and millions of views later, here’s Marie Digby performing her beautiful version of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” on Last Call with Carson Daly last year …

Reigning American Idol winner Jordin Sparks will get the rare opportunity to sing the national anthem in her hometown just before the kickoff to Super Bowl XLII.

According to The Arizona Republic, Sparks, who hails from Glendale, Ariz., and won Season 6 of the popular Fox reality TV competition this year, was tapped to sing “The Star Spangled Banner” before the February 3 football title game.

Last week’s announcement that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will play the Super Bowl halftime show was unexpected, but speculation had been mounting for months that Sparks would have a role in the day’s entertainment.

Her hometown is hosting its first Super Bowl, her father Phillippi Sparks played for 10 years in the NFL, and American Idol’s network, Fox, will be airing the sports spectacle to tens of millions of living rooms.

She’s #1: Jordin Sparks will kick off the Super Bowl.

News of her selection comes weeks after the 18-year-old released her self-titled debut album, Jordin Sparks, which was preceded by the single “Tattoo.”

The big Super Bowl appearance should certainly help keep momentum from those two releases, which has been slow but steady, going a bit longer.

This influx of publicity is no doubt welcomed by Jordin Sparks, who is expected to do a concert tour in 2008. Her album debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200, the weakest album opening to date by an American Idol winner.

Jessica Simpson is getting back to her roots.

No, not reality TV ditz-dom. We mean singing!

Struggling mightily to remain relevant, the one-time pop star and actress has begun recording a country album, according to several industry sources.

“I am a country girl,” she said. “I grew up in Texas, and country music was what I listened to. I always wanted to wait until the time was right.”

Why now, though? Well, Simpson’s movie efforts have sputtered, with her most recent flick, Blonde Ambition, getting only a limited theatrical release and 2006’s Employee of the Month also failing to find a large audience.

Her last pop CD, 2006’s A Public Affair, also underperformed. Her previous three efforts - released in 1999, 2001 and 2003 - were all commercial successes.

Jessica Simpson says she’ll even be writing some of her own songs!

“Writing is a huge release for me,” Jessica Simpson said. “It’s a way for me to tell my story. That’s not to say I wouldn’t record a song that I didn’t write. It’s just that it has been a while since I have opened the book.”

If you believe everything you read, country star Keith Urban and his Oscar winning wife, Nicole Kidman, have had “about 30 babies by now.”

That’s according to Kidman’s spokesperson, who dismissed new rumors that the actress is pregnant. As you can tell, this is a semi-frequent thing.

Nicole and Keith Urban, who married in 2006 (the same year he released his hit album Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing, have no children. Kidman has two adopted children, ages 14 and 12, with her first husband, actor Tom Cruise.

Keith Urban won’t be a daddy just yet… we don’t think.

Urban and Kidman, both 40, have dodged baby questions in the past, denying that they were trying to get pregnant, but admitting they’d love to raise some children together …. someday. Kidman just wrapped up filming a new epic movie, called Australia, while Keith Urban has taken a month off from touring.

Keith hits the road again in January for a tour with Carrie Underwood!

Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts was the top country album of 2007, according to Billboard, and her follow-up, Carnival Ride, may follow suit.

Carrie’s new single from Carnival Ride, “All-American Girl,” was co-written by Carrie herself along with Nashville songwriters Kelley Lovelace and Ashley Gorley.

As Underwood, 24, tells Dial-Global, each of the track’s three writers put some of their own history into “All-American Girl.”

“I think everybody kind of put their own viewpoints on it, and for me it was being the last of three girls,” she says of the second single from Carnival Ride.

Carrie Underwood is the youngest of three daughters.

“I was my parents’ last-ditch effort at having a boy … not that there’s anything wrong with having girls, but I know that they probably would’ve liked to have switched things up a little bit and had a little boy.”

Some Hearts, her debut album released in 2005, was the year’s top seller, having sold at least six million copies to date. Carnival Ride, released in October of this year, has already given Carrie another two million in U.S. sales alone.

Carrie Underwood is keeping busy after Christmas, as the fourth season American Idol winner is slated to perform live, in New York City’s Times Square, on New Year’s Eve as part of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2008.

Her tour with Keith Urban begins January 31 in Connecticut.

Never a group you can expect to be conventional, and always one to put on a hell of a concert, Radiohead is set to webcast its upcoming New Year’s gig.

During the band’s “Thumb’s Down” webcast, which took place last month, the acclaimed British band parodied the Brad Pitt film Se7en.

Thom Yorke and his cohorts are excited for The New Year’s webcast, which will feature the band performing all tracks from their latest album, In Rainbows.

Guitarist Ed O’Brien said they would be doing more cover songs.

  Radiohead has previously covered The Smiths and Bjork during telecasts.

Reports have hinted that Thom Yorke, Ed O’Brien, Phil Selway and Colin and Jimmy Greenwood are “likely” to cover a Siouxsie and the Banshees track.

The upcoming New Year’s Radiohead performance will be aired exclusively in the United States by Current TV on both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Phil Costello the head of TBD Records, Radiohead’s U.S. record label, said: “We are pleased to partner with Current for its innovative spirit.”