Less than a month from now, dozens of bands and tens of thousands of music fans will be making their way to Chicago’s Grant Park for the annual Lollapalooza music festival. If you currently find yourself on the outside looking in—three-day passes to the festival are currently sold out—well then, we have some good news to share with you.

With a click of your mouse and some light typing by your fingers, you can enter the You Oughta Lolla sweepstakes. Five grand-prize winners will receive 1) A pair of General Admission 3-Day Passes, 2) VIP, front-of-line access to the You Oughta Know FYE Autograph Tent for each day of the Festival and 3) Side-stage access to select You Oughta Know performances for each day of the Festival. Of course, VH1 Top 20 and VH1 News crews will be on hand in the Windy City to cover performances from VH1 You Oughta Know artists like Foster The People, Fitz And The Tantrums, Christina Perri, Lissie, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals and Two Door Cinema Club, among others. But really, what could be better than actually being there yourself to see all of these amazing artists live and in the flesh?

To enter the contest, all you have to do is head over to the You Oughta Lolla contest entry page and fill out the required information. Complete contest rules and regulations are on that site as well. GOOD LUCK!

Yesterday, we introduced you to the upper reaches of our Top 100 Videos of 2011 … So Far list, serving up the #100-51 videos that you’ve been clicking on most so far this year. Although a hefty portion, consider that first installment just an appetizer for today’s first course and tomorrow’s main entree. Going a bit deeper into the list, we now give you #50-11, inching closer and closer to #1.

50. Train, “Hey, Soul Sister”
49. Goo Goo Dolls, “Notbroken”
48. Jennifer Lopez, “Love Don’t Cost a Thing”
47. Jennifer Hudson, “Where You At”
46. Beyonce, “Run The World (Girls)”
45. My Chemical Romance, “SING”
44. Adam Lambert, “If I Had You”
43. Fitz and The Tantrums, “Money Grabber”
42. Kid Rock ft. Sheryl Crow, “Collide”
41. Bruno Mars, “Just The Way You Are”

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At Bonnaroo‘s tenth anniversary, three things stood out: triple digit heat, a permeating dust, and an eclectic mix of music topped by hip-hop. If you wondered the 700-acre campground, you were bound to run into all kinds of music — even Mongolian folk. We saw, for instance, a pretty-as-expected set by Americana star Justin Townes Earles, hip-hop by Big Boi that unfortunately came off like it had Attention Deficit Disorder (why not play some full songs instead of 30-second samples of Outkast and Sir Luscious?), a promising set by indie/country newcomers Futureheads, the metal of The Sword, and the reggae of Black Uhuru. See Bonnaroo photos and video, then continue reading after the jump.

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Festival season continues this weekend with Bonnaroo‘s 10th anniversary in Manchester, Tennessee, so we’re here again to help guide the 80,000 wristband holders through the tough choices of the weekend’s lineup. (Don’t have a ticket? You’re in luck! Some of the big-tent performances will be webcast at VEVO.) As always, we recommend checking out at least one band you haven’t heard before; might we recommend country-rocker Hayes Carll, (who plays one set each today and tomorrow)?

Jam-band and bluegrass aficionados have a plethora of options all weekend—perhaps too many tough choices. For the more pop-minded among us, here are five big intersection points to break down for you:

FRIDAY AFTERNOON
Choices: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (3:15 p.m., What Stage) and Matt & Kim (3:15 p.m., This Tent)
Decision: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Both groups are embarking on summer tours in midsize venues with reasonable ticket prices, but Matt & Kim, though they showed at the OMAs that they can play bigger, do have a certain energy that’s amplified when it’s contained in a club full of kids that are ridiculously hyped up. You Oughta Know artists Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, on the other hand, don’t lose any of their power from midday open-air big-tent staging.
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Kenny Chesney‘s fourteenth album Hemingway’s Whiskey came out last September, but standout track “You and Tequila” only this morning premiered on CMT as the album’s fourth single. Chesney may have saved the song, a duet with You Oughta Know bandleader Grace Potter, for the summer, since its late-night, drunk, California love themes suit the warmer weather.

Potter’s Nocturnals have had success on the VH1 Top 20, and country has made its inroads, but can this summery love duet break into next Saturday’s charts (or possibly the race for Song of the Summer)? Your votes, starting next week, will decide.

Phew! As we get close to putting a wrap on the first week of Big Morning Buzz Live, VH1′s new morning show, we wanted to take a few moments to remind you about one of the most interactive ways for you to talk to your favorite celebrities. The process could not be any more simple: First, submit a question for either our lovely host Carrie Keagan or any of our upcoming guests through the widget above or by visiting our Big Morning Buzz Live page on VYou.com. Then, kick back and wait for them to respond via webcam when they stop by our offices. Like we said, it doesn’t get much simpler than that!

Remember, if you have a specific question for a specific celebrity, just leave their name IN CAPS to denote that a particular question is intended for them. You can submit questions anonymously, but if you leave your email, you’ll receive a notification if and when one of the many stars that swing by our set answers your query. Just this week alone, celebs like Morgan Spurlock, Linda Perry, Lily Collins and Nick Offerman took the time to answer your questions. And next week, we’ll have people like Grace Potter (Tuesday), The Script (Wednesday), Christina Perri (Wednesday) and Matt Nathanson (Thursday) stopping by, so start submitting those questions!

Lollapalooza announced its 2011 festival lineup at midnight last night, with headliners Eminem, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Muse, My Morning Jacket, Deadmau5, A Perfect Circle, Cee Lo Green, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley & Nas, the Cars, and Ween sure to a draw massive crowd to Grant Park in Chicago on August 5-7.

But what of the 88 other bands on the Lollapalooza 2011 lineup? Well, here are your eight best bets, listed alphabetically—and including five You Oughta Know artists: [click to continue…]

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals have lots of fans here at VH1. It’s not just any group that gets selected as You Oughta Know artists, invited to play “Paris (Ooh La La)” at 2010′s VH1 Divas Support the Troops and a set in our You Oughta Know Live series with a four-song set featuring a cover of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” (as part of a month we spent with the band as part of VH1′s Posted series).

So of course we were excited to see the band taking on another challenge of a cover, Beyoncé‘s “Why Don’t You Love Me,” over at Billboard.com. Watch the band’s rendition above, and click through for the full story.

One of the many perks of working here at VH1 is that there always seems to be incredible musicians and gorgeous celebrities roaming the hallways here in Times Square. Take You Oughta Know artist and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, for example. A few weeks ago, we were fortunate enough to be treated to a short set from the breakout stars of the most recent VH1 Divas show, right here in our lobby. They played an intimate yet rocking three song set, including their big single “Paris (Ooh La La)” and this smokin’ cover of Jefferson Airplane’s trippy, late sixties psychadelic anthem, “White Rabbit.”

The band first performed this song for last year’s Alice In Wonderland soundtrack. As you’ll see, Grace Potter delivers her vocals with the same sort of passion and intensity that Grace Slick did way back in the Summer of Love. Rather than keep this awesomeness all to ourselves, we figured we’d share this entire You Oughta Know Live performance with you guys, too. Enjoy!

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