Metallica paid tribute to the late King of Pop last weekend during its encore at 's Sonisphere Festival. Honoring Michael Jackson during its July 4th headlining appearance at the event, the metal giants played a portion of 'Beat It' before easing into a riotous cover of Queen's 'Stone Cold Crazy.'

Of course, the original version of Jackson 's 1982 classic proudly featured the guitar work of Eddie Van Halen. The hard rock virtuoso's forceful, finger-tapped solo helped to bring MJ's iconic 'Thriller' album to the attention of legions of metal kids around the world.

At a press conference on day two at Bonnaroo, comedian-actress Janeane Garofalo said that when someone plays the festival, they need to match its vibe. "We all saw what happened with Kanye last year," she said. "It didn't work."

She was referring to Kanye West's disastrous set in which he kept the crowd waiting for three hours in the field, performing his "Glow in the Dark" show as the sun was coming up for a thin, largely unimpressed crowd. Metallica, on the other hand, "were humbled to be Bonnaroo," said Garofalo. Their excitement and energy matched "the vibe" and paid off via an unforgettable set of classics and rarities that even patchwork-wearing hippies got down to.

Heavy metal, hip-hop and guitar rock highlighted last night's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in Cleveland, as Metallica, Run-D.M.C. and Jeff Beck were among the several inductees honored.

A very happy Metallica were all smiles and hugs when they accepted their honors along with Ray Burton, the father of former bassist Cliff Burton, who died in a bus accident in 1986. The special occasion also saw Metallica reunite with Jason Newsted, who was the heavy metal band's bass player for 15 years, and had appeared on the classic albums '...And Justice for All' and 'Metallica.' Both Metallica and Newsted were onstage together performing 'Master of Puppets' and 'Enter Sandman.'

"An award like this at a time when Metallica is still current, vital and relevant is just an honor," said guitarist Kirk Hammett at the podium. "It's a truly, truly great honor to be with you guys in this wild music adventure and I'm looking forward to continuing to create inspired music."

Metallica frontman James Hetfield was hospitalized over the weekend with a case of food poisoning, forcing the last-minute cancellation of the band's Sunday gig at Stockholm's Ericsson Globe Arena.

"As you can clearly see, one of the members of Metallica isn't with us up here on stage tonight," Lars Ulrich told a disappointed crowd of 16,000 fans shortly after 8 pm yesterday, according to the Expressen newspaper. "Unfortunately, I have to let you know that James has had a really, really bad day and he's on his way to the hospital right now."

Here's one for irony. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich admitted that he recently downloaded the band's latest record without paying for it. Funny given Ulrich's high-profile battle against Napster back in 2000, and his adamant stance against file sharing.

"I sat there myself and downloaded 'Death Magnetic' [illegally] from the Internet just to try it," Ulrich said in an interview with VH1 Classic's 'That Metal Show.' "I was like, 'Wow, this is how it works.'"

Who wouldn't want to be Kilmister, the vocalist, bassist and all around badass who's been fronting the legendary British hard rock band Motörhead since 1975? Thanks to 'Guitar Hero: Metallica,' due in stores this spring, "being" Lemmy is possible, since he will appear as a playable character in the game.

Gamers will have the option to either watch Lemmy's in-game likeness as he hammers away at his bass and sings in his signature, whiskey-drenched vocals, or they can step into his cowboy boots and learn to play Motörhead's 2008 re-recorded version of their biggest hit, the anthemic 'Ace of Spades.'

"It's great to be in 'Guitar Hero' with all these famous people and I'm really pleased to be in it with Metallica," Lemmy said, "but [frontman] James [Hetfield] is still taller than me."

Metallica and Motörhead have long enjoyed a mutual admiration of one another's work, as Metallica once played seven Motörhead covers under the moniker "The Lemmys." So sweet, those two.

Miranda Lee Richards has had an up and down career so far -- some cool, some not. In the last ten years, she's been a member of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, performed with the Jesus and Mary Chain, and yet was dropped by Virgin in 2003, forcing her to explore other label alternatives.

All of this has only propelled her.

A long time Mazzy Star fan, Richards was able to snag Hope Sandovol's drummer Keith Mitchell for a new album, 'Light of X,' a collection that is much more country-tinged than fuzzed out guitar space rock. "A lot of my songs don't have the slow tempo [that Mazzy Star has], but Keith naturally fills that pocket of hypnotic, almost druggy kind of way," Richards tells Spinner. "He creates incredible space and mood in the music -- because sometimes when things pick up in tempo, they can lose some subtle feelings and frequencies."

This isn't the only Mazzy Star connection, either. Richards was taught by Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett, where they'd jam on 'Fade IntoYou.' "He opened me up to some new chord structures and patterns," she says. "I learned my B-minor chord there."