Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes.

Building from the musical structure of thrash metal and early black metal, death metal emerged during the mid 1980s.^[2] Metal acts such as Slayer,^[3][4] Kreator,^[5] Celtic Frost,^[6] and Venom were very important influences to the crafting of the genre.^[2] Possessed^[7] and Death,^[8][9][10] along with bands such as Obituary, Carcass, Deicide and Morbid Angel are often considered pioneers of the genre.^[11] In the late 1980s and early 1990s, death metal gained more media attention as popular genre niche record labels like Combat, Earache and Roadrunner began to sign death metal bands at a rapid rate.^[12] Since then, death metal has diversified, spawning a variety of subgenres.^[13]

History[link]

Emergence and early history[link]

English heavy metal band Venom, from Newcastle, crystallized the elements of what later became known as thrash metal, death metal and black metal, with their 1981 album Welcome to Hell.^[14] Their dark, blistering sound, harsh vocals, and macabre, proudly Satanic imagery proved a major inspiration for extreme metal bands.^[15] Another highly influential band, Slayer, formed in 1981. Although the band was a thrash metal act, Slayer's music was more violent than their thrash contemporaries Metallica, Megadeth and Exodus.^[16] Their breakneck speed and instrumental prowess combined with lyrics about death, violence, war and Satanism won Slayer a rabid cult following.^[17] According to Allmusic, Slayer's third album Reign in Blood "inspired the entire death metal genre".^[18] It had a big impact on the genre leaders.^[16]

Jeff Becerra of Possessed, who christened the term "Death Metal" in 1983 on the band's 1984 demo of the same name.^[19][20]

Possessed, a band that formed in the San Francisco Bay Area during 1983, was attributed by Allmusic as "connecting the dots" between thrash metal and death metal with their 1985 debut album, Seven Churches.^[21] While attributed as having a Slayer influence,^[22] current and former members of the band had actually cited Venom and Motorhead, as well as early work by Exodus, as the main influences of their sound.^[23][24] Although the group had released only 2 studio albums in their formative years, they have been described by both music journalists and musicians as either being "monumental" in developing the death metal style,^[25] or as being the first death metal band.^[26][27][28] Earache Records noted that "....the likes of Trey Azagthoth and Morbid Angel based what they were doing in their formative years on the Possessed blueprint laid down on the legendary Seven Churches recording. Possessed arguably did more to further the cause of 'Death Metal' than any of the early acts on the scene back in the mid-late 80's."^[29]

Chuck Schuldiner (1967–2001) of Death, during a 1992 tour in Scotland in support of the album Human.

During the same period as the dawn of Possessed, a second influential metal band was formed in Florida: Death. Death, originally called Mantas, was formed during 1983 by Chuck Schuldiner, Kam Lee, and Rick Rozz. In 1984 they released their first demo entitled Death by Metal, followed by several more. The tapes circulated through the tape trader world, quickly establishing the band's name. With Death guitarist Schuldiner adopting vocal duties, the band made a major impact on the scene. The fast minor-key riffs and solos were complemented with fast drumming, creating a style that would catch on in tape trading circles.^[30][31] Schuldiner has been attributed by Allmusic's Eduardo Rivadavia as being "widely recognized as the Father of Death Metal".^[32] Death's 1987 debut release, Scream Bloody Gore, has been described by About.com's Chad Bowar as being the "evolution from thrash metal to death metal",^[33] and "the first true death metal record" by the San Francisco Chronicle.^[34]

Along with Possessed and Death, other pioneers of death metal in the United States include Autopsy, Necrophagia, Master, Morbid Angel, Massacre, Atheist, Post Mortem,^[35][36][37] Obituary and Deicide.

Growing popularity[link]

By 1989, many bands had been signed by eager record labels wanting to cash in on the subgenre, including Florida's Obituary, Morbid Angel and Deicide. This collective of death metal bands hailing from Florida are often labeled as "Florida death metal". Death metal spread to Sweden in the late 1980s, flourishing with pioneers such as Carnage, God Macabre, Entombed, Dismember and Unleashed. In the early 1990s, the rise of typically melodic "Gothenburg metal" was recognized, with bands such as Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates, and In Flames.

	"Death Metal" noicon Music sample of Possessed's "Death Metal" from the album Seven Churches (1985).
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

	"Blessed Are the Sick" noicon Music sample of Morbid Angel's "Blessed Are the Sick" from the live album Entangled in Chaos (1996).
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Following the original death metal innovators, new subgenres began by the end of the decade. British band Napalm Death became increasingly associated with death metal, in particular, on 1990's Harmony Corruption. This album displays aggressive and fairly technical guitar riffing, complex rhythmics, a sophisticated growling vocal delivery by Mark "Barney" Greenway, and socially aware lyrical subjects, leading to a merging with the "grindcore" subgenre. Other bands contributing significantly to this early movement include Britain's Bolt Thrower and Carcass, and New York's Suffocation.

To close the circle, Death released their fourth album Human in 1991, an example of modern death metal. Death's founder Schuldiner helped push the boundaries of uncompromising speed and technical virtuosity, mixing technical and intricate rhythm guitar work with complex arrangements and emotive guitar solos.^[38] Other examples are Carcass's Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious, Suffocation's Effigy of the Forgotten and Entombed's Clandestine from 1991. At this point, all the above characteristics are present: abrupt tempo and count changes, on occasion extremely fast drumming, morbid lyrics and growling vocal delivery.

Earache Records, Relativity Records and Roadrunner Records became the genre's most important labels,^[39] with Earache releasing albums by Carcass, Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, and Entombed, and Roadrunner releasing albums by Obituary, and Pestilence. Although these labels had not been death metal labels, initially, they became the genre's flagship labels in the beginning of the 1990s. In addition to these, other labels formed as well, such as Nuclear Blast, Century Media, and Peaceville. Many of these labels would go on to achieve successes in other genres of metal throughout the 1990s.

In September 1990, Death's manager Eric Greif held one of the first North American death metal festivals, Day of Death, in Milwaukee suburb Waukesha, Wisconsin, and featured 26 bands including Autopsy, Broken Hope, Hellwitch, Obliveon, Revenant, Viogression, Immolation, Atheist, and Cynic.^[40]

Later history[link]

Death metal's popularity achieved its initial peak between the 1992–93 era, with some bands such as Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse and Obituary enjoying mild commercial successes. However, the genre as a whole never broke in to the mainstream. The genre's mounting popularity may have been partly responsible for a strong rivalry between Norwegian black metal and Swedish death metal scenes. Fenriz of Darkthrone has noted that Norwegian black metal musicians were "fed up with the whole death metal scene" at the time.^[41] Death metal diversified in the 1990s, spawning a rich variety of subgenres which still have a large "underground" following at the present.

Characteristics[link]

Instrumentation[link]

The setup most frequently used within the death metal genre is two guitarists, a bass player, a vocalist and a drummer often using "hyper double-bass blast beats".^[42][43] Although this is the standard setup, bands have been known to occasionally incorporate other instruments such as electronic keyboards.^[44]

The genre is often identified by fast, highly distorted and droptuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking. The percussion is usually aggressive, and powerful; exceedingly fast drum patterns frequently add to the complexity of the genre.^[45]

Death metal is known for its abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes. Death metal may include chromatic chord progressions and a varied song structure, often shunning the standard verse-chorus arrangement. In some circumstances, the style will incorporate melodic riffs and harmonies for effect. This incorporation of melody and harmonious playing was even further used in the creation of melodic death metal. These compositions tend to emphasize an ongoing development of themes and motifs.

Vocals and lyrics[link]

Death metal vocals are often guttural roars, grunts, snarls, and low growls colloquially known as death growls. Death growling is mistakenly thought to be a form of screaming using the lowest vocal register known as vocal fry, however vocal fry is actually a form of overtone screaming, and while growling can be performed this way by experienced vocalists who use the fry screaming technique, "true" death growling is in fact created by an altogether different technique.^{[46][specify]} The three major methods of harsh vocalization used in the genre are often mistaken for each other, encompassing vocal fry screaming, false chord screaming, and "true" death growls.^{[47][Full citation needed]} Growling is sometimes also referred to as Cookie Monster vocals, tongue-in-cheek, due to the vocal similarity to the voice of the popular Sesame Street character of the same name.^[48] Although often criticized, death growls serve the aesthetic purpose of matching death metal's aggressive lyrical content.^[49] High-pitched screaming is occasionally utilized in death metal, being heard in songs by Death, Exhumed, Dying Fetus, Cannibal Corpse, Job for a Cowboy and Deicide.

The lyrical themes of death metal may invoke slasher film-stylized violence,^[50] but may also extend to topics like Satanism, anti-religion, occultism, nature, mysticism, philosophy, science fiction, and politics.^[51][52] Although violence may be explored in various other genres as well, death metal may elaborate on the details of extreme acts, including mutilation, dissection, torture, rape and necrophilia. Sociologist Keith Kahn-Harris commented this apparent glamorization of violence may be attributed to a "fascination" with the human body that all people share to some degree, a fascination which mixes desire and disgust.^[53] Heavy metal author Gavin Baddeley also stated there does seem to be a connection between "how acquainted one is with their own mortality" and "how much they crave images of death and violence" via the media.^[54] Additionally, contributing artists to the genre often defend death metal as little more than an extreme form of art and entertainment, similar to horror films in the motion picture industry.^[2] This explanation has brought such musicians under fire from activists internationally, who claim that this is often lost on a large number of adolescents, who are left with the glamorization of such violence without social context or awareness of why such imagery is stimulating.^[2]

According to Alex Webster, bassist of Cannibal Corpse, "The gory lyrics are probably not, as much as people say, [what's keeping us] from being mainstream. Like, 'death metal would never go into the mainstream because the lyrics are too gory?' I think it's really the music, because violent entertainment is totally mainstream."^[55]

Origin of the term[link]

The most popular theory of the subgenre's christening is Possessed's 1984 demo, Death Metal; the song from the eponymous demo would also be featured on the band's 1985 debut album, Seven Churches.^[56] Possessed vocalist/bassist Jeff Becerra said he coined the term in early 1983 for a high school English class assignment.^[57] Another possible origin is a fanzine called Death Metal, started by Thomas Fischer and Martin Ain of Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. The name was later given to the 1984 compilation Death Metal released by Noise Records.^[58][59] The term might also have originated from other recordings. A demo released by Death in 1984 is called Death by Metal.^[60]

Subgenres[link]

It should be noted that cited examples are not necessarily exclusive to one particular style. Many bands can easily be placed in two or more of the following categories, and a band's specific categorization is often a source of contention due to personal opinion and interpretation.

• Melodic death metal: Scandinavian death metal could be considered the forerunner of "melodic death metal". Melodic death metal, sometimes referred to as "melodeath", is heavy metal music mixed with some death metal elements. Unlike most other death metal, melodeath usually features screams instead of growls, slower tempos, much more melody and even clean vocals are heard at rare times. Carcass is sometimes credited with releasing the first melodic death metal album with 1993's Heartwork, although Swedish bands In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, and At the Gates are usually mentioned as the main pioneers of the genre and of the Gothenburg metal sound.

• Technical death metal: Technical death metal and "progressive death metal" are related terms that refer to bands distinguished by the complexity of their music. Common traits are dynamic song structures, uncommon time signatures, atypical rhythms and unusual harmonies and melodies. Bands described as technical death metal or progressive death metal usually fuse common death metal aesthetics with elements of progressive rock, jazz or classical music. While the term technical death metal is sometimes used to describe bands that focus on speed and extremity as well as complexity, the line between progressive and technical death metal is thin. "Tech death" and "prog death", for short, are terms commonly applied to such bands as Nile, Edge of Sanity, Opeth, Origin and Sadist. Cynic, Atheist, Pestilence and Gorguts are examples of bands noted for creating jazz-influenced death metal. Necrophagist and Spawn of Possession are known for a classical music-influenced death metal style. Death metal pioneers Death also refined their style in a more progressive direction in their final years. The Polish band Decapitated gained recognition as one of Europe's primary modern technical death metal acts.^[61][62]

• Deathcore: With the rise in popularity of metalcore, some of its traits have been incorporated into death metal. Bands such as Suicide Silence, Salt the Wound and the early works from Job for a Cowboy combine metalcore with death metal influences. Characteristics of death metal, such as fast drumming (including blast beats), down-tuned guitars, tremolo picking and growled vocals, are combined with screamed vocals, melodic riffs and breakdowns. Decibel magazine stated that "One of Suffocation's trademarks, breakdowns, has spawned an entire metal subgenre: deathcore."^[63]

• Death/doom: Death/doom is a style that combines the slow tempos and melancholic atmosphere of doom metal with the deep growling vocals and double-kick drumming of death metal.^[64] The style emerged during the late 1980s and gained a certain amount of popularity during the 1990s.^[64] It was pioneered by bands such as Autopsy, Winter,^[65] Asphyx,^[65] Disembowelment,^[65] Paradise Lost,^[65] and My Dying Bride.^[65]

Aborted are "key contributors to the death-grind genres," according to Allmusic.^[66]

• Goregrind and deathgrind: These styles mix the intensity, speed, and brevity of grindcore with the complexity of death metal. They differ from death metal in that guitar solos are often a rarity, shrieked vocals are more prominent as the main vocal style (though death growls are still utilized and some deathgrind bands make more use of the latter vocal style), and songs are generally shorter in length, usually between one and three minutes. These styles differs from grindcore in the more technical approach and less evident hardcore punk influence and aesthetics. Some notable examples of deathgrind are Brujeria, Cattle Decapitation,^[67] Cephalic Carnage, Pig Destroyer,^[68] Circle of Dead Children and Rotten Sound.

• Death 'n' roll: is a style that combines death metal's growled vocals and highly distorted detuned guitar riffs along with elements of classic rock and roll and 1970s hard rock and heavy metal.^[69][70] Notable examples include Entombed^[69] and Gorefest.^[70]

• Blackened death metal: is a style that combines death metal and black metal.^[71][72] Examples of blackened death metal bands are Belphegor,^[73] Behemoth,^[74] Akercocke,^[75] and Sacramentum.^[76]

Other fusions and subgenres[link]

There are other heavy metal music subgenres that have come from fusions between death metal and other non-metal genres, such as the fusion of death metal and jazz. Atheist and Cynic are two examples; the former went so far as to include jazz-style drum solos on albums, while the latter incorporated elements of jazz fusion. Nile have also incorporated Egyptian music and Middle Eastern themes into their work, while Alchemist have incorporated psychedelia along with Aboriginal music. Some groups, such as Nightfall, Septic Flesh, and Eternal Tears of Sorrow, have incorporated keyboards and symphonic elements, creating a fusion of symphonic metal and death metal, sometimes referred to as symphonic death metal.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Death metal

• List of death metal bands

References[link]

Literature[link]

• Ekeroth, Daniel (2008). Swedish Death Metal. Bazillion Points Books. ISBN 978-0-9796163-1-0
• Albert Mudrian, Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore (Feral House) ISBN 978-1-932595-04-8
• Kahn-Harris, Keith 'Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge' Berg, http://soulremnants.com, ISBN 1-84520-399-2
• Purcell, Natalie J. 'Death Metal Music: The Passion and Politics of a Subculture' McFarland & Company, ISBN 0-7864-1585-1
• Ian Christe. Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal. (New York, NY. Harper Collins, 2003) ISBN 978-0-380-81127-4
• Harrell, Jack. "The Poetics of Destruction: Death Metal Rock." Popular Music and Society. Spring 1995. Republished, April, 1996 in the Social Issues Resources Series (SIRS) database.

v t e Heavy metal Subgenres Alternative metal Black metal Cello rock Celtic metal Christian metal Crossover thrash Crust punk Deathgrind Death metal Death 'n' roll Deathcore Death/doom Djent Doom metal Drone metal Extreme metal Experimental metal Folk metal Funeral doom Funk metal Glam metal Goregrind Gothic metal Grindcore Groove metal Grunge Industrial metal Mathcore Medieval metal Melodic death metal Metalcore Neo-classical metal Nintendocore Nu metal Pagan metal Pornogrind Post-metal Power metal Progressive metal Rap metal Sludge metal Speed metal Stoner metal Symphonic black metal Symphonic metal Technical death metal Thrash metal Traditional heavy metal Unblack metal Viking metal Notable scenes New Wave of British Heavy Metal Mediterranean scene Norwegian black metal Swedish death metal Gothenburg metal Bay Area thrash metal Brazilian thrash metal Teutonic thrash metal Australian heavy metal New Orleans heavy metal New Wave of American Heavy Metal Neue Deutsche Härte Culture Heavy metal subculture Fashion Subgenres Bands Festivals Umlaut Headbanging Sign of the horns Portal

Justin Timberlake
Timberlake at the premiere of Shrek The Third in 2007.
Background information
Birth name	Justin Randall Timberlake
Born	(1981-01-31) January 31, 1981 (age 31) Memphis, Tennessee
Origin	Shelby Forest, Tennessee, United States
Genres	Pop, dance, R&B
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer, actor, businessman
Instruments	Vocals, keyboards, guitar, beatboxing
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Jive, RCA
Associated acts	'N Sync, The Y's, Timbaland, Nelly Furtado
Website	justintimberlake.com

Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981)^[1] is an American singer, actor, and businessman. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez. Timberlake became famous in the late 1990s as the lead singer and youngest member of the boy band 'N Sync, whose launch was financed by Lou Pearlman.

In 2002, he released his debut solo album, Justified, which sold more than seven million copies worldwide. The album was a commercial success, spawning the hits "Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body". Timberlake continued his success with his second solo album, FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006), debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, and produced the US number-one hit singles "SexyBack", "My Love", and "What Goes Around... Comes Around".

Timberlake has won six Grammy Awards and four Emmy Awards. His first two albums made him one of the most commercially successful singers in the world, each selling in excess of 7 million copies. He also has an acting career, having starred in films such as The Social Network, Bad Teacher and Friends with Benefits. His other ventures include record label Tennman Records, fashion label William Rast, and the restaurants Destino and Southern Hospitality.

Early life[link]

Timberlake was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Lynn Harless (née Bomar) and Randall Timberlake.^[1] Timberlake is of almost entirely English descent, however he has some very distant German and Native American ancestry.^[2][3][4] His paternal grandfather, Charles L. Timberlake, was a Baptist minister, and Timberlake was raised Baptist, though now considers himself more "spiritual than religious".^[5]

Timberlake's parents divorced in 1985, and both have remarried. His mother, who now runs an entertainment company called Just-in Time Entertainment, remarried to Paul Harless, a banker, when her son was five. His father, a choir director at a Baptist church, has two children, Jonathan (born c. 1993) and Steven Robert (born August 14, 1998), from his second marriage to Lisa Perry. Timberlake's half-sister, Laura Katherine, died shortly after birth on May 14, 1997, and is mentioned in his acknowledgments in the album *NSYNC as "My Angel in Heaven."^[6] Timberlake grew up in Shelby Forest, a small community between Memphis and Millington. His first attempts at a singing career were country music songs on Star Search as "Justin Randall."^[7]

In 1993, Timberlake joined the cast of The Mickey Mouse Club. His castmates included future girlfriend and pop superstar Britney Spears, future tourmate Christina Aguilera, future bandmate JC Chasez, and future movie actor Ryan Gosling.^[8] The show ended in 1994, but late in 1995 Timberlake recruited Chasez to be in an all-male singing group organized by boy band manager Lou Pearlman^[9] that eventually became 'N Sync.

Entertainment career[link]

1995–2002: 'N Sync[link]

Timberlake and JC Chasez were the two lead singers of the popular 1990s boy band 'N Sync.^[10] The group formed in 1995, started its career 1996 in Europe, and hit it big in the United States in 1998 with the U.S. release of its debut album *NSYNC, which sold 11 million copies.^[11] The album included a number of hit singles, including "Tearin' Up My Heart". For the next two years, encouraged by similar developments with the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync engaged in a lengthy legal battle with manager Lou Pearlman. Eventually the band signed with Jive Records.^[12] In March 2000, 'N Sync released a long-awaited album, No Strings Attached, which became the fastest-selling album of all time with 2.4 million copies sold in its first week^[13] and produced a #1 single, "It's Gonna Be Me". The release was followed by the band's third album, Celebrity, which was the second-fastest selling album of all time. In 2002, after the completion of a Celebrity Tour and the release of "Girlfriend", the third single from Celebrity, the group decided to take time off, at which point Timberlake began work on his first solo album and the group went into a hiatus. In its lifetime, 'N Sync was internationally famous and performed at the Academy Awards,^[14] the Olympics,^[15] and the Super Bowl,^[16] as well as selling more than 50 million copies worldwide,^[17] becoming the third-best selling boy band in history.^[18]

In late 1999, Timberlake made his acting debut in the Disney Channel movie Model Behavior. He played Jason Sharpe, a model who falls in love with a waitress after mistaking her for another model. It was released on March 12, 2000.^[19]

As a member of 'N Sync, Timberlake developed into a major celebrity in his own right in addition to achieving respect as a musician, since he was the writer or co-writer of all three singles from Celebrity. The rise of his own stardom and the general decline in the popularity of boy bands led to the dissolution of 'N Sync. Band member Lance Bass has stated that he believes the group is finished,^[20] and is openly critical of Timberlake's actions in his memoir Out of Sync. On the other hand, Chris Kirkpatrick remarked in August 2008 that the five remain friends, and he believed a reunion was possible:^[21] he repeated that opinion in October 2009.^[22] In September 2008, Bass also made conciliatory comments.^[23] However, in 2011 and 2012, JC Chasez said that a reunion will probably never happen.^[24][25][26]

[edit] 2002–04: Justified and Super Bowl

In August 2002, after months of recording Justified, his debut solo album, Timberlake performed at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards. He premiered his first single, "Like I Love You", a sparse dance track produced by The Neptunes.^[27] The song reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[28] Following the single, Timberlake released Justified on November 5, 2002.^[29] The album sold fewer copies than previous 'N Sync efforts. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 album chart, selling 439,000 copies in its first week of release. It eventually went on to sell more than three million copies in the U.S. and more than seven million copies worldwide.^[30] The album also received critical acclaim, thanks to its heavy R&B influence provided by hip-hop producers The Neptunes and Timbaland.^[31] It spun off hits throughout late 2002 and 2003, including the top ten singles "Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body".^[28] Timberlake supported the album by co-headlining the Justified/Stripped Tour with Christina Aguilera in the summer of 2003.^[32] At the end of the year, Timberlake recorded a song entitled "I'm Lovin' It". It was used by McDonald's as the theme to its "I'm Lovin' It" campaign. The deal with McDonald's earned Timberlake an estimated $6 million. A tour entitled Justified and Lovin' It Live was included with the deal as well.^[33] Timberlake was featured on Nelly's song, "Work It", which was remixed and included on Nelly's 2003 remix album.^[34]

In February 2004, during the halftime show of the Super Bowl XXXVIII broadcast on the CBS television network, Timberlake performed with Janet Jackson before a television audience of more than 140 million viewers. At the end of the performance, as the song drew to a close, Timberlake tore off a part of Jackson's black leather costume in a "costume reveal" meant to accompany a portion of the song lyrics. According to CBS, "both Jackson and Timberlake had confirmed they planned it 'independently and clandestinely' without informing anyone."^[35] Part of the costume detached, and Jackson's breast was briefly exposed.^[36] Timberlake apologized for the incident, stating he was "sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance of the Super Bowl...."^[37] The phrase "wardrobe malfunction" has since been used by the media to refer to the incident and has entered pop culture.^[38] As a result of the controversy, Timberlake and Jackson were threatened with exclusion from the 2004 Grammy Awards unless they agreed to apologize on screen at the event.^[39] Timberlake attended and issued a scripted apology when accepting the first of two Grammy Awards he received that night (Best Pop Vocal Album for Justified and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Cry Me a River").^[40] He had also been nominated for Album of the Year for Justified, Record of the Year for "Cry Me a River", and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Where Is the Love?" with The Black Eyed Peas.^[41] In 2004 American Idol judge Simon Cowell described Timberlake in People Magazine as "just some white kid who's tried to act black over the last several years".

2004–06: Collaborations and acting[link]

After the Super Bowl controversy, Timberlake put his recording career on hold to act in several films, having starred in a few feature films earlier in his music career.^[8] The first role he took during this time was as a journalist in the thriller Edison Force, which was filmed in 2004 and received a direct-to-video release on July 18, 2006.^[42] He also appeared in the films Alpha Dog, Black Snake Moan, Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, and voiced Prince Artie Pendragon in the animated film Shrek the Third, released on May 18, 2007.^[43] He also appeared as a young Elton John, in the video for John's song "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore".^[44] Timberlake was considered to play the role of Roger Davis in the film version of the rock musical Rent, but director Chris Columbus had insisted that only the original Broadway members could convey the true meaning of Rent.^[45]

He continued to record with other artists. After "Where Is the Love?", he again collaborated with the Black Eyed Peas on the 2005 track "My Style" from their album Monkey Business.^[46] When recording the 2005 single "Signs" with Snoop Dogg, Timberlake discovered a throat condition.^[47] Nodules were subsequently removed from his throat in an operation that took place on May 5, 2005.^[48] He was advised not to sing or speak loudly for at least a few months.^[49] In the summer of 2005, Timberlake started his own record company, JayTee Records.^[50]

Timberlake made a cameo in the video for Nelly Furtado and Timbaland's single "Promiscuous", released on May 3, 2006.

[edit] 2006–07: FutureSex/LoveSounds

Timberlake at a concert in St. Paul, Minnesota (2007)

Timberlake released his second solo album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, on September 12, 2006.^[51] The album, which Timberlake created from 2005 to 2006, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart, selling 684,000 copies its first week.^[51] It is the biggest album for pre-orders on iTunes, and beat Coldplay's record for the biggest one-week sales of a digital album.^[52] The album was produced by Timbaland and Danja (who produced a bulk of the album), will.i.am, Rick Rubin and Timberlake himself, and features guest vocals by Snoop Dogg, Three 6 Mafia, T.I. and will.i.am.^[53] A studio representative described it as being "all about sexiness" and aiming for "an adult feel".^[48]

The album's lead single, "SexyBack", was performed by Timberlake at the opening of the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for seven consecutive weeks.^[54] "My Love", the album's second single, also produced by Timbaland and featuring rapper T.I., reached number one on the Hot 100, as did third single "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around Interlude". The song is reported to have been inspired by the break-up of his childhood friend and business partner, Trace Ayala, with actress Elisha Cuthbert.^[55] In October 2006, Timberlake said that he would focus on his music career rather than his film roles, specifying that leaving the music industry would be a "dumb thing to do at this point".^[54] He was the special guest performer at the 2006 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show for being where he sang SexyBack. In January 2007, Timberlake embarked on the FutureSex/LoveShow tour. "Summer Love/Set the Mood Prelude" was the fourth U.S. single off the album, and the next single in the UK was "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows Interlude". The song "Give It to Me", a Timbaland single on which Timberlake guests with Nelly Furtado, reached the Hot 100 number-one spot.^[56]

In February 2008, Timberlake was awarded two Grammy Awards. At the 50th Grammy Awards ceremony, Timberlake won the Male Pop Performance Award for "What Goes Around...Comes Around", and the Dance Recording Award for "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows".^[57]

2007– present: Last music appearance, return to acting[link]

The song "4 Minutes", was first played by Timbaland at Philadelphia's Jingle Ball on December 17, 2007.^[58] When released on March 17, 2008, "4 Minutes" was revealed to be a duet between Timberlake and Madonna, with backing vocals by Timbaland. It was lead single from Madonna's eleventh studio album Hard Candy, which featured four other song-writing collaborations with Timberlake. The single was an international hit, topping the charts in over 21 countries worldwide.^[59] Timberlake also appears in the music video, which was directed by Jonas & François. On March 30, 2008, Timberlake performed the song at Madonna's Hard Candy Promo Show at Roseland Ballroom in New York City.^[60] On November 6, 2008, Timberlake performed the song with Madonna on the Los Angeles stop of her Sticky & Sweet Tour.^[61]