Green Day

Green Day have just been announced as performers for the 2012 MTV Video Awards, joining a list that already includes Alicia Keys, One Direction and P!nk. When Green Day takes the stage for the show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on September 6, they'll be doing so for the fifth time — a mark that trails only Madonna's seven VMA performances. Meanwhile, tune in to MTV tonight at 7:49 p.m. ET to see the premiere of Green Day's new video for "Oh Love," which takes place as part of MTV First: Green Day. The trio will then stick around to answer fan-submitted questions in a 30-minute interview on MTV.com.

The Now That's What I Call Music franchise collects its 16th chart-topping album this week as Now 43 debuts at #1 on the sales chart. The set sold 111,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Last week's #1 album, Rick Ross' God Forgives, I Don't, bumps down to #2 with 60,000 sold, and at #3, Frank Sinatra's 2008 Nothing But the Best greatest hits set re-enters the chart with 40,000 sold after Amazon MP3 discounted it for 99 cents for one day last week. Singer/songwriter Elle Varner makes her bow at #4 with Perfectly Imperfect, selling 33,000, and Country act Colt Ford debuts at #5 with Declaration of Independence, shifting 31,000 units.

Alicia Keys posted an update on her website in which she says that her next album will be called Girl On Fire. "I'm in the studio right now working away on my new album and I am SO excited! I'm ignited! I'm like a match to a flame," the singer wrote excitedly. "I've had the title of this album in my mind for a long time. It is called Girl on Fire! And that’s exactly how I feel! You'll be learning more about it soon. but let me just say before making this record, in some ways I felt like a lion locked in a cage. I felt like a girl misunderstood that no one really knew, I felt like it was time to stop making excuses for any part of my life that I wanted to change. Once I made that choice I became a Girl on Fire, the lion broke free!" The invigorated singer added that "Girl on Fire is about new beginnings, new perspectives and fresh starts… stripping away all the bad energy in your life and taking full control of the reigns and how you want to live. There is something really empowering about finding yourself and your own inner strength." Keys did not mention a release date for the new LP.

Katy Perry

Unique R&B singer Janelle Monáe just wrapped her first advertising shoot for Cover Girl, which will appear in the September issue of Vogue. "I believe it’s time that women truly owned their superpowers and used their beauty and strength to change the world around them," said Monáe. "One of my core values is to help redefine what it means to be a strong and beautiful woman in the music and fashion worlds and to empower the wonderful things that make us unique. Becoming a Cover Girl is truly an honor and a gift: it opens up a new platform for me to inspire women to feel stronger, braver and more beautiful inside and out." P!nk was recently announced as a Cover Girl model as well.

Neil Young revealed to Rolling Stone that his next album with backing band Crazy Horse will be titled Psychedelic Pill. There is no release date yet for the album but it is expected out by the end of 2012. Young and Crazy Horse will be on the road this fall, starting in Windsor, Ontario on October 3.

On October 23 will see the multi-format release of Live at the Bowl '68 from The Doors. The concert, recorded on July 5, 1968 at the Hollywood Bowl, has been painstakingly restored using the original camera negatives and the audio has been remixed and mastered from original multi-tracks by the group’s engineer Bruce Botnick. Live at the Bowl '68 will include three previously unreleased tracks from the performance. Technical issues with the recording of “Hello, I Love You,” “The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat),” and “Spanish Caravan” prevented them from being released in the past, but now, through meticulous restoration of the audio, all three will be included. Eagle Rock Entertainment will release the concert on Blu-Ray, DVD and digital video, while Rhino Records will release the remixed audio via CD, digital and double-LP.

Trey Anastasio's forthcoming solo album, Traveler, is due on October 16. Anastasio co-produced the album with Peter Katis (The National, Interpol) last fall in Katis' Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT. "My goal was to create an album that used the studio as an instrument," says Anastasio, who began recording Traveler after Phish wrapped up its 2011 summer tour. "I wanted to work with Peter because he is a master at creating a sonic landscape. We were hoping for a cinematic end result."

Metal band Baroness was involved in a serious bus crash in England, with nine people injured in the accident. According to reports, the bus fell 30 feet off a viaduct, with all nine people on board going to the hospital. The band's label Relapse Records announced that Baroness have canceled the rest of their European tour.