As the Red Hot Chili Peppers release their tenth studio album this week, we can’t help but daydream ruminate about how much of a sex symbol frontman Anthony Kiedis was—who could forget the sock?!—and still is. Time has been kind to Mr. Suck My Kiss, and he is definitely not alone in that regard; there’s an entire legion of men in music whose good looks and sex appeal have fermented in the manner of a perfectly-mature wine.

Whether you grew up with one of their faces taped to your Trapper Keeper or you’re old enough to be their mom, there’s a hunk on this list for you. From rock to hip hop, songwriters to bass players, we’ve got Arena Gods, men who are Good With Their Hands, Smooth Operators, International Flavors, and like the Chili Peppers’ singer, Spicy Sex Symbols. Keeping it simple, we’re celebrating the 45 to 70-year-old vintages by exhibiting their physical evolution through their respective careers. You’ll be taking in images from when they got their start, their “middle years,” and how they look in the present. Take a moment to step into the wine cellar and relish in each man’s beauty of the past and, at the end,toast to their continued maturing in the future by weighing in on who you think has aged best. Apologies in advance for the ladyboners!

While it will still be another 18 months or so until Twilight-mania finally subsides, the next big franchise poised to gobble up the disposable income of America’s rabid teenage girl fanbase will almost certainly be The Hunger Games¹. There is currently a film adaptation in the works, and it is scheduled to hit theaters next March. Earlier today, The Hollywood Reporter landed the scoop that there will be not one but TWO soundtrack albums produced for the Lionsgate film. One will feature the instrumental score co-composed by Grammy-winning soundtrack maestros T. Bone Burnett and Danny Elfman, while the other will feature “collections of the songs featured in the film and songs directly influenced by the themes — freedom, rebellion, survival, family — and subject matter of the film.” No specific artists have been announced yet, but we’re not going to let a silly thing like that stop us from speculating about the contents of said soundtrack. Here is the The Hunger Games soundtrack tracklisting … of our dreams.

(And if you’re into this sort of thing, check out The Hunger Games Soundtrack (Of Our Dreams) on Spotify.)

1) Temple Of The Dog, “Hunger Strike”
2) Lenny Kravitz, “Always On The Run”
3) Eric Carmen, “Hungry Eyes”
4) Weird Al Yankovic, “Eat It”
5) The Clash, “Career Opportunities”

6) Duran Duran, “Hungry Like The Wolf”
7) The Postal Service, “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight”
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As we parallel park into July and officially hit the curb of this year’s halfway point, it’s time to take a quick look back at what the past six months have taught us. Not conventional life lessons, however; we’re talking about stuff that’s a little bit less intense and also involves YOU! That’s right, in the first installment of our Top 100 Videos of 2011… So Far, we’re spilling the beans on the #100-51 most clicked-and-viewed videos on VH1.com. You’ll see that this piñata-like list of content contains tasty treats and slippery surprises alike! We’ve got brand-new videos that just recently launched, some VH1 Classic leaning clips (hey there, Megadeth), repeat offenders, and of course, effervescent, essential vids from the music video cannon. So take a look at the first fifty videos below and don’t forget to come back later this week as we continue on our quest to discover what artist snags the #1 spot!

100. Jack Johnson, “From The Clouds”
99. Chris Brown, “Deuces”
98. Ke$ha, “Tik Tok”
97. Bruno Mars, “The Other Side”
96. Beyoncé, “Video Phone (Extended Remix)”
95. Usher, “OMG”
94. B.o.B, “Airplanes”
93. Taylor Swift, “Mine”
92. Sara Bareilles, “King Of Anything”
91. John Legend & The Roots, “Wake Up Everybody”

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The gates open at 11:00am tomorrow in Indio, California for the twelfth incarnation of the Coachella Festival, and for the lucky few (hundred thousand) with wristbands (and the jealous/curious rest of us), the festival has posted set times for this weekend’s jam-packed lineup. There’s at least one performer worth seeing at any given time (especially for fans of British rock, pop, and dance), so if you’re going, definitely try to check out at least one band you haven’t heard before. (For relatively early risers, may we recommend The Joy Formidable at 12:55PM on Saturday at the Gobi Stage?)

The real challenge, then, is when two or more great artists play at the same time on different stages. The schedule is pretty well-scheduled, but we’ve identified five particularly tough choices:

FRIDAY: Kings of Leon vs. Robyn: Kings of Leon’s hometown Storytellers taping was heartfelt but powerful, and the riffs on Come Around Sundown are just as catchy as (if slightly less ubiquitous than) the band’s Only by the Night singles. Robyn, meanwhile, is a bonafide superstar in Europe who with this year’s critically-acclaimed Body Talk has for the second time nearly achieved the American pop breakthrough she had once, in 1997. The Swedish electro-pop songwriter puts not just her heart but her whole body into her emotive vocal performances.

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Before the plane lifted off for a flight back to NYC from Austin’s South By Southwest Music Festival, the airline attendant joked via loudspeaker: “You all look so hip and cool.” Some passengers laughed, but probably no one disagreed. How could a flight with members of TV on the Radio be anything else? In fact,the packed plane felt like a microcosm of the festival itself, where thousands of bands, industry executives, celebrities and music fans worked and played for five days at parties in clubs, bars and makeshift venues like parking garages.

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papercranes

Papercranes, a rock/folk act fronted by Rain Phoenix (yes, Joaquin‘s sis), features a rotating crew of periodic collaborators and guests including Rain’s sisters Summer and Liberty, Vic Chesnutt and Flea. Papercranes opened for R.E.M. at SXSW in 2008, and return this year with Let’s Make Babies In the Woods, a sophomore album that shifts in tone from dark and angry to bittersweet. It was created in the wake of Rain’s divorce.

After the jump, Rain’s picks.

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