Anyone who subscribes to the theory than Liberal Democrat Vince Cable foresaw the current global recession should check out N.E.R.D’s ‘Sooner Or Later’. Pharrell Williams saw this one coming ages ago. Check out the video on RTV Channel now. The acronym N.E.R.D. stands for “No One Ever Really Dies,” but childhood friends Chad Hugo, Pharrell Williams, and Shay most certainly used the group to proudly emphasize the nerdier aspects of their musical personalities. Before this side project took shape, Hugo and Williams — as the Neptunes — had established themselves as giants in the field of pop production, whether they were working with hardcore rappers, smooth crooners, or teen pop groups. Although their faces were known to many due to this prominence, N.E.R.D. allowed the duo to take center stage, as rock stars, even if a new alias was being used.

The trio recorded its first album, In Search Of…, and released it in Europe in late 2001. Not entirely happy with the results, they reshaped the album using live instrumentation — with significant assistance from the funk-rock band Spymob, to further differentiate the material from Neptunes productions — before issuing it in the U.S. in March of 2002. Singles “Lapdance” and “Rock Star” made minor indentations on the singles charts; despite this, the album didn’t come close to achieving the kind of commercial success won by the average Neptunes production. In March of 2004, after another endless influx of hitmaking Neptunes work, they resurfaced with Fly or Die. This time out, Hugo and Williams handled more of the instrumentation. Unrelenting in their knack for the absurd, lead single “She Wants to Move” was promoted with a video that depicted the three members performing in the rear “compartment” of a female-shaped space vessel — a very literal interpretation of the line “Her ass is a spaceship I want to ride.” The trio’s third album, Seeing Sounds, followed four years later. Andy Kellman, All Music Guide

There are “sleeper” films, and then there is Shelter. This small indie film received a very limited theatrical release in the spring of 2007 with a television debut on the subscription-only here! network only a month later. And suddenly, it was all anyone could talk about. Plenty of folks deemed it “the gay surfer movie,” but it’s ultimately as much about surfing as Brokeback Mountain is about animal husbandry. Instead, Shelter is a riveting family drama and a story of first gay love set in a working class world. Starring Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss’s Brad Rowe in a career-reviving performance and newcomer Trevor Wright, there are no gay bars in Shelter, no drugs, no drag queens, no circuit anthems, no gay-bashings, no AIDS scares, and no screaming parents to speak of. And we gay folks loved it anyway. Or maybe, because it was so fresh and different, that’s why we loved it.

Original album propelled band to superstardum; lots of goodies in new take. Pearl Jam has unearthed a host of unreleased tracks and special surprises from its vaults for a reissue of its 1991 debut album, “Ten.” Four different editions will be available March 24 from its former Epic Records label; pre-orders begin Wednesday at PearlJam.com. Each version includes a digitally remastered version of the original album as well as a new remix of the set by longtime producer Brendan O’Brien, who did not work on “Ten” but produced Pearl Jam’s subsequent four albums. Bassist Jeff Ament and designer Andy Fischer teamed to revamp the artwork.

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It’s official. Sex isn’t all that, but romance is. This, according to a recent story in the Boston Globe. The author cites Taylor Swift as part of a step in the right direction because of her anti-Britney, anti-Christina, anti-hypersexualized ways. And because of songs that suggest there’s more to romance than sex. The story also gives Swift a shout-out for representing “a radical departure from the last wave of teen icons, whose seductive looks and lyrics encouraged girls, like all teenagers, impatient to grow up, to hurry it up.” Amen. Even a recent poll on glamour.com found that 75 percent of women believe in soul mates. So if it’s romance young women want, then they should be adding more country music to their playlists. Despite some of their black leather attire, Kellie Pickler and Martina McBride have plenty of songs about wholesome love. And Julianne Hough is another example of a star who’s singing about the kind of falling-in-love stories that young girls really dream about. (As opposed to the raunchy one night stands boys wished girls dreamed about.)

According to a recent Fox News report, a new law in Indiana makes it legal for teenagers to have sex so long as they’re no more than 4 years apart in age. Public Law 216 creates a legal defense, nicknamed the “Romeo and Juliet defense,” against charges of sexual misconduct with a minor. The law went into effect July 1.

“The change in the law decriminalizes consensual sex among teenagers in a dating relationship if they are within four years age difference,” said Larry Landis, executive director of the Indiana Public Defender Council.

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MTV.com spoke to Hairspray composer/producer Marc Shaiman about the treatment that John Waters turned in for the sequel to the Hairspray film.

MTV.com reports that “Scott and I are certainly on board. John Waters wrote a treatment that is so f-king hysterical!”

The site reports that as for the plot, “he said: ‘People hate Tracy (Nikki Blonsky) because she doesn’t lose weight. They ask ‘Now that you’re famous, why won’t you lose weight?’. And Link (Efron) experiments with drugs. Throughout half the movie, he has an ongoing dialogue with three pimples on his forehead.

Edna (John Travolta) loses weight, but sees her husband (Christopher Walken) lusting after fat women,” Shaiman laughed, citing one of the musical numbers he’s particularly eager to write. “And so, she finally breaks down and runs over to a snack table. Just within one number, she gets fat (more…)