We take you back to the wild and woolly 80s, the golden age of anything-goes alternative radio, for one of the most exciting bands of that decade.

Jesus and Mary Chain burst into our consciousness in 1985 with their feedback-drenched Psychocandy, drawing comparisons to Velvet Underground on speed.

Their sessions for the followup Darklands (featuring breakthrough hits “April Skies” and “Happy When It Rains”) included several cover songs for B-sides. Bo Diddley‘s “Who Do You Love” was one. The Beach Boys‘ “Surfin’ USA” was another and surf music has never been the same.

Jim and William Reid, brothers who possibly have fought even more than the Gallagher brothers, broke up The Jesus And Mary Chain “forever” in 1999, but reunited for a triumphant set at the 2008 Coachella Festival. No word on what the future holds but enjoy this vintage slice of awesome guitars with reverb!

Where, we all wondered, did this beautiful nobody come from, fully formed with that sultry look and that mesmerizing song? The buzz got so big so fast that network TV’s tastemaker show “Saturday Night Live” even booked Del Rey as the musical guest last month, unheard of for a new artist without an album out.

With only a few small club shows under her belt, her television debut was underwhelming to some, a disaster to many. She barely moved onstage and weakly projected the lyrics to the two songs she performed. She looked like she was somewhere between sedated and overwhelmed.

This past weekend, “Saturday Night Live” addressed the controversy with the brilliant Kristin Wiig doing a spot-on impersonation.

They talked not just about Del Rey’s appearance, but also about her name and image change after her real debut record came out under the name Lizzy Grant.

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Here are the two songs the real Del Rey performed on the show on January 15th.

But wait, there’s more! See what else the doubters are saying about Lana Del Rey and tell us what you think too.

Now that Old Man Madonna is off the stage in Indy it is time to turn our attention to next year’s Superbowl XLVII halftime show in New Orleans.

What’s the rush? Because it’s time for us the fans to have a voice too. They didn’t ask what we wanted when they forced the freaking Black Eyed Peas on us last year or when they brought on the surviving half of The Who in 2010.

Here at the Kevin and Bean Show we floated an idea last year that still sounds great. And Juilan Garcia from the New York Daily News said it better than we could in his piece that ran on Superbowl Sunday.

“Time for a true American icon to be invited to the Super Bowl halftime stage: Weird Al Yankovic“

Al! Al! Al!

(TIMOTHY A. CLARY - AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

This morning we talked to Mr. Garcia about his article and what we can do to make this dream come true.

We talked about how Weird Al has cross-generational appeal, with fans of all ages. How by the very nature of what he does – parodying recent pop hits – his music is always fresh and current. And that he puts on an amazing multimedia live show that would play great even in a stadium.

Read the whole article here. Hear the interview below and then let us if you have any ideas of what we can do to keep the ball rolling. Let’s do this!

Today, we’ve got the dude who killed the other dude and then took his brain on a picnic.

Also, the woman whose next-to-last words were “Thank you, God, for another year of life.”

The latest dumb-ass (how many have there been now?) who smoked while hooked up to an oxygen tank.

The dead lady found in a tree. How’d that happen?

And a touching story about the fiancee who died but that didn’t stop her from getting married.

Listen to reaction to these stories:

35-year-old Tyree Lincoln Smith was arrested in Lynn Haven, Florida this week for suspicion of killing a man with an axe. The force of the blows split the victim’s head wide open so Tyree helped himself to an eyeball and some brains, put them in a baggie, and had a little picnic in a nearby cemetery.

Smith had found a Mr. Angel Gonzalez, 43, sleeping outside one night and invited him into his apartment to get warm. Awwwww! At least the victim was comfortable before he was a snack, right?

MSNBC has more here.

PAGE 2 Tweet the future? Die!

Meet the man who died courtesy of the needle above while attending something called a “pumping party” with a woman pretending to be a doctor!

And the poor guy who died in a movie theater restroom … and his body wasn’t discovered for FIVE days!

Those pygmy elephants sure are cute, right? Until they charge you and KILL you while on a safari vacation!

How about the friend who stopped to assist the driver of the car ahead of him who had been in an accident and got killed doing so? D’oh!

And one for the Bean’s Death Corner Hall Of Fame: the headline says it all: Man Eats Cocaine From Brother’s Butt, Dies.

This delightful woman, Kasia Rivera, was pretending to be a physician (like our own Dr. Drew) and holding a “pumping party” at her New Jersey home where she injected silicone into a 22 year old man’s penis to increase its size.

That man, Justin Street, developed a clot in his lungs from the procedure (?) and died the next day. This incident happened last year but is back in the news after a similar story in Florida just last month where another female quack was injecting cement and other deadly toxins into her patients’ butts and sealing the incisions with superglue!

Britain’s Daily Mail has the deets!

PAGE 2 Chipwrecked is bad for your health.

Uh, not so fast, Binky!! Who says the president automatically gets to be the Democratic nominee just because he’s the incumbent? He’s not the only one out there who wants the job, you know.

Prepare to meet my candidate, Vermin Supreme! Even his name is cool. And he’s the only politician promising FREE PONIES FOR EVERY AMERICAN. Yeah, you heard that. And he has a plan to solve the country’s energy problems by harnessing ZOMBIE POWER.

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P.S. Another thing I love about Vermin, “In 2006, Vermin Supreme underwent a kidney transplantation to save his mother. In 2011, he declared that if he became President, he would make kidney transplantation compulsory for everyone.” (via Wikipedia)

Vermin Supreme (photo: Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

Vermin Supreme’s ambushes Ron Paul. Read the story here.

We have a Google alert hardwired into our heads so we can track whatever awesomeness is going on in Al’s life 365/24/7 and believe me, Al’s life is always awesome and always better than whatever you and I are doing at the same moment.

Last week on New Year’s Eve, though, Al experienced a night that was even mind-blowing for The Man himself.

Every New Year’s Eve for the rest of my life is gonna suck. bit.ly/u3FFaA—
Al Yankovic (@alyankovic) January 02, 2012

Twitpic

In what has to be one of the strangest concert lineups ever, Al and legendary rocker Alice Cooper were already on the bill at the Mala Wailea Restaurant in Maui, along with former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald. I know, right?

Then Aerosmith front man and American Idol judge Steven Tyler showed up and jumped on stage, unannounced, to perform a few songs. Watch the video below to see Tyler, Cooper, and Yankovic tackling the Beatles‘ “Come Together.”

Popcrush.com has more and we’ll be talking to Al himself just after 9:00 am too so don’t miss it!

**UPDATE: We spoke with Al this morning about performing with Alice Cooper & Steven Tyler. Take A listen.

This week is the best concert of the year with the 22nd Annual KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas shows.

And today we blew the dust off the all-time holiday classic “Santa Claus On A Helicopter” by the amazing Honk Kong singer WING.

Have you heard it yet? You must. Now.

Read on to try to unravel the mystery of how a man drowned in a tiny, shallow shopping mall pool!

Recoil in horror at the woman who died with her skin fused to her armchair! Hope she didn’t drop the TV remote and have to get up.

What about the man with the unfortunate nickname who was electrocuted while putting up his Christmas lights? That is NOT the holiday spirit.

Then there’s the family who would rather forget this December as three of them suffered heart attacks the same day!

And the remorseful deer hunter who accidentally shot his hunting buddy (paging Dick Cheney) except you won’t believe what this guy did next!

So how did this happen? California Pavilion in Studio City is your typical strip mall. California Pizza Kitchen, Jamba Juice, you know the type. Last week a man’s body, apparently a drowning victim, was found in the mall fountain. Looking at the photo above, there can’t be more than a foot of water in there, right?

How did that happen? The body had not been in the water very long at all when it was discovered and that was at 7:15 in the morning! If the guy were just drunk and fell in, what was he doing at a shopping center at that time of day? Curious.

Our friends at KTLA Channel 5 have more. And if you know anything about this one, please notify the authorities.

PAGE 2 Stuck to a chair and you can’t get out.

He’s covered a lot of ground in his career with Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver and on his solo records, but we’ve never heard him, um, croon before.

“Rock ‘n’ roll pays the bills,” admits Weiland, “but I have a lot of different musical tastes. And if I were just stuck in one genre, I wouldn’t be doing this gig anymore.”

Read more from Scott next and see the video for his take on the classic Winter Wonderland.

Here’s Scott Weiland, talking to The Sudbury Star in Ontario, Canada about the doubters: “Well, you know what, man? People don’t know me. They know what someone’s opinion is. And they know my songs. But they really don’t know me. Christmas, ever since I was a kid, was a big thing. It still is a big thing.”

“My memories of Christmas are very joyful,” he says. “It was a special time. I remember we would wake up in the morning, and my father would put on the record player and play old albums. He would usually start out with orchestral versions of classics and chorals. Listening to those songs is something I always remember.”

What do you think?

Scott’s holiday album is called “The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” and is available wherever fine music is sold.

PAGE 2 Who wants some Winter Wonderland fun facts?