Madonna practises Kabbalah, of course, and she wishes to inform readers about this embrace of what she imagines to be Jewish mysticism, having been told about it at a dinner party 14 years ago. “Life no longer seemed like a series of Random events,” she writes, deploying capital letters to devastating effect. “I started to see patterns in my life. I also began to see that being Rich and Famous wasn’t going to bring me lasting fulfillment and that it was not the end of the journey. That it was the beginning of the journey.”

The singer reveals all about her Kabbalah faith in an Israeli newspaper

There’s more – much more – but I’ll spare you the full slog. Underpinning it all is Madonna’s amusing inability to grasp the fact that actual Jewish scholars find it vaguely irksome being lectured to by someone who is academically satisfied by overpriced McWisdom, $26 red string bracelets, and a belief that magic water not only cures illness, but neutralised nuclear radiation in a lake within the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Traditional Jewish Kabbalah study is regarded as so complex that one is only permitted to embark upon it after the age of 40, and only then with a deep knowledge of Jewish law. In Madonna’s version, although you have to fork out hundreds of dollars for the 23-volume holy book, you don’t even have to read Hebrew to get the benefit. According to the insurance salesman who started the sect, you just look at the books and the “energy” will come. “By simply possessing the books,” the Kabbalah Centre’s website promises, “power, protection and fulfilment come into [your life] You may find that hard to believe, but that was before you owned a set. Have one delivered today and see what we’re talking about.”

Truly an amazing journey.

History of Linkin Park

The band started with Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, and Rob Bourdon, three high school friends from California who enjoyed playing together. After graduation, they decided to see how far they could take their group, and then recruited three new members: Joe Han, Dave Ferrell, and Mark Wakefield. The new group gave themselves the name “Zero” and began to record and produce their own songs. The original songs were produced in Mike’s bedroom studio, but they were struggling to land a record deal.

As with many similar bands, the lack of success led to tension. This caused two of the members to leave. First to leave was Wakefield, who was Xero’s vocalist, followed by Farrell, who went on to tour with other groups.

The group had to recruit a new vocalist, and they turned to Chester Bennington. His unique singing style landed him a spot, and the new group changed its name to Hybrid Theory. As the band came back to life, it changed its name again to Linkin Park.

Still, the band continued to struggle. They turned to Jeff Blue, vice president of Warner Bros. Records, who had referred Chester Bennington to them in the past. With his help, they signed a deal with Warner Bros. Records in 1999, and their first successful album Hybrid Theory, was released in 2000.

The first album contained much of the work from the group over the last ten years. Music fans enjoyed it, and it sold over 4.8 million records its first year. Singles from the album were popping up all over the place, including several hit movies. The album was nominated for three Grammies, winning the Grammy for the best hard rock performance, which solidified the band’s popularity.

Over time, bassist Dave Farrell rejoined the group, and they published the remix album Reanimation, which earned second spot on the Billboard 200. This opened the band to touring, and in 2002 the band released its third album, Meteora, which featured a variety of styles.
Between 2004 and 2006, the band rested from recording for a while, allowing its members to work on side project while the group did some tours. Linkin Park came back together in 2006 to record Minutes to Midnight, which was not released until November of 2008 due to the band’s busy tour schedule.

Trivia About Linkin Park

- The band is named after Lincoln Park in Santa Monica
- The Linkin Park song Leave out All the Rest was played in the movie Twilight
- Shadow of the Day is the first music video produced by Linkin Park that did not feature the entire band
- The first show the band performed was at The Whisky
- The What I’ve Done video is the most popular among YouTube users who download music videos online
- The band owns its own record company, which is called “Machine Shop Records”
- The band’s most popular song is “In the End” from Hybrid Theory
- The album cover for Hybrid Theory was designed by Mike
- The band’s music is considered Nu-Metal and Rapcore
- Meteora’s name came from a set of monasteries in Greece

By knowing a little more about the group, downloading music videos of Linkin Park will be much more enjoyable. The group continues to make new music, so new music videos will continue to be produced for avid fans to enjoy.

Coldplay have responded to the latest plagiarism claim about their song Viva La Vida by insisting that they “haven’t done anything wrong”.

Will Champion, Coldplay’s drummer, was answering Yusuf Islam’s claim that the band copied his 35-year-old song for their recent hit. “It’s tough when people accuse you of stealing something when you know that you didn’t,” Champion told Hampton Roads. “We’re confident we haven’t done anything wrong.”

Islam claims that Viva La Vida borrows from Foreigner Suite, recorded when the singer-songwriter was known as Cat Stevens. Islam’s is the second recent plagiarism claim, with American guitarist Joe Satriani already suing Coldplay for copyright infringement.

Viva La Vida has been a worldwide chart-topper and won this year’s Grammy award for best song.

“For some reason, God only knows why, the successful songs that seem to be the ones that are accused of being stolen,” Champion said. “So you go figure it out.” Despite these comments, Champion also seemed to accept the similarities between Coldplay’s song and the others. “There are elements of our music that I’ve heard in other people’s music,” he said, “but it’s kind of … I don’t know. It’s interesting, but a very difficult thing to define.”

“There are only eight notes in an octave and no one owns them. And there are probably about 12,000 songs that feature the exact same chord progression. I think it lies on an intent to steal, which we certainly have never done and never would. So it’s unfortunate but it’s the way people are. That’s that.”

Bob Dylan has celebrated his latest album going to No 1 on both sides of the Atlantic by hinting that his next project could be a collaboration with Paul McCartney.

Dylan’s 33rd studio album, Together Through Life, is reported to have sold 125,000 copies in its first week in America. But instead of dwelling on his chart victory, the iconic singer-songwriter has been busy telling Rolling Stone magazine that he would definitely consider working with McCartney.

“That would be exciting, to do something with Paul,” Dylan said. “But, you know, your paths have to cross for something like that to make sense.” McCartney’s spokesman responded by saying: “I should think he would be very interested in hearing about it. As you can imagine, it would be a pretty major thing if it went ahead.”

The success of Together Through Life follows Dylan’s 2006 album, Modern Times, which also went to No 1 in the US. Of Dylan’s extensive back catalogue, only five albums have made it to the top of the Billboard chart. Dylan fairs slightly better this side of the pond with seven, including The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and Bringing It All Back Home, although his last UK No 1, New Morning, was in 1970.

His current chart success includes No 1 positions in Austria, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, New Zealand, Austria and Ireland.

It is a commercial renaissance for Dylan who, with the exception of Modern Times, hasn’t scored a No 1 album in the US since 1976’s Desire. Together Through Life is out on Columbia.