Coldplay's new album "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" holds on to #1 on the Billboard Album Chart for the second straight week. The Capitol effort moved 249,000 U.S. copies, according to Nielsen Soundscan, a 66% drop from its 721,000 start.





Rage Against the Machine’s Zach de la Rocha will release an EP with his side project One Day As a Lion on July 22nd. The band also features ex-Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore.




Panic at the Disco and rapper Snoop Dogg are planning to collaborate together in the studio soon. The pair met when they performed “Gin & Juice” together during a concert in Germany.





Beck's new album Modern Guilt will be previewed in an unusual place: digital jukeboxes at restaurants and bars around the country. Beginning next Tuesday, July 1, the entire record will be available via TouchTunes jukeboxes at approximately 10,000 locations.





Be Your Own Pet have left their slot on the Warped tour, saying “We have been going non-stop for the past 6 months and didn’t realize how much the intense schedule would take out of us. Something had to give.”






Capitol Records have back to back artists at # 1 and 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, with Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" (2-1) trumping Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" (1-6). The last pair of titles from the label to reign consecutively on the Hot 100 was Sylvers' "Boogie Fever" and Wings "Silly Love Songs" in May 1976.

"I Kissed a Girl" also becomes the 1,000th No. 1 of the rock era, which began with Bill Haley and His Comet's "Rock Around the Clock" in 1955. The first 36 of those on the Best Sellers list, and the remainder on the Billboard Hot 100.

Bono has called Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want experiment for In Rainbows “courageous and imaginative in trying to figure out some new relationship with their audience,” the U2 frontman says. The comments are in stark contrast to those made recently by U2’s manager Paul McGuinness, who said that Radiohead’s experiment “backfired.” “Radiohead are a sacred talent, and we feel blessed to be around at the same time,” Bono said. Despite Bono’s praises, U2 will not follow a similar path as In Rainbows when they release their new album.




Barack Obama has revealed what is inside of his iPod in the current issue of Rolling Stone.

 Artists who have endorsed him like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan are among his favorites, including 30 tracks by Dylan. He calls Stevie Wonder his musical hero, name checks Earth, Wind and Fire, Elton John and the Rolling Stones and adds he has everything from Howlin’ Wolf to Yo-Yo Ma to Sheryl Crow.


He names other songs and albums specifically. For all the goodies go to RS.


With London and Barcelona under its belts, Coldplay kicked off a week of U.S. promotion last night (June 23) in New York by hosting a third and final free concert at Madison Square Garden. The 70-minute set featured mostly material from the new "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends," with a smattering of old hits.

Frontman Chris Martin was in good spirits throughout the night, making several jokes about the free nature of the concert, skipping around the stage during his vocal-only songs, and acknowledging the band's newfound place atop the Billboard Hot 100 with "Viva La Vida."

"Somehow this made it to No. 1 in your country," Martin began. "It just goes to show you what good marketing and a handsome bass player can do."

There were a few hiccups during the night, but Coldplay took them with stride. Martin stuttered a bit during the beginning vocals of "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face," and "Lost!" had a botched ending, where Martin completely stopped the song, proclaiming, "My ear plug fell out." But they completed the last 10 seconds after his minor readjustment, much to the delight of the crowd.

"Fix You" was marred by forgotten lyrics, with Martin substituting in the lines "When there's lyrics to old songs you don't know" and "It doesn't matter when everyone got in for free."

The Smashing Pumpkins are planning on celebrating their debut album Gish with a box set and a tour, according to a new post on their Web site. In the posting, the band promises that "plans are currently underway that will lead to the eventual release of a pre-Gish/Gish box set. A "Gish tour sometime in 2008" is also mentioned, which will coincide with the box set. Gish was originally released in 1991.



Amy Winehouse has been diagnosed with emphysema, the singer’s father confirms. Doctors have warned Winehouse that if she continues to smoke drugs, she’d not only lose her voice, but “it will kill her,” as only 70 percent of her lung capacity remains.






The members of Staind will unveil their sixth studio album, The Illusion Of Progress, on August 19. The first single, "Believe," hits radio and iTunes on June 24. The new album was produced by Johnny K (Disturbed) and recorded in the home studio of Staind vocalist Aaron Lewis.

"We went into the studio with the mindset of making our heaviest record yet, but the record that came out has flavors of Pink Floyd and straight-up blues," Lewis says. "We didn’t use the same rigs that we use onstage; we used all vintage guitars and amps, and I’m pretty psyched about it! The songs are pretty timeless in their texture.


Coldplay’s Viva La Vida posted huge numbers on it's first day of release Tuesday, selling 316,000 copies. Viva is expected to usurp TC3 as the SoundScan king next week on its way to expected sales in the 700-750,000 range. If Coldplay can hit that number, it will be the first time since 2005 that albums with sales over 700,000 topped the charts in consecutive weeks. Coldplay’s last album, X&Y, sold 737,000 in its debut week in 2005. Coldplay’s big Tuesday is the third-best since SoundScan launched their Building Chart last year, with only Kanye West and Lil Wayne faring better. Viva La Vida also broke the record for most iTunes downloads in a single day, previously held by Jack Johnson.



A compilation of rare songs by the Smiths, simply called Rare, has popped up on digital music services like Amazon and Rhapsody. While it hasn’t been determined whether the release is Warner-approved or a bootleg that somehow infiltrated these shops, the compilation does have some interesting, hard-to-find tracks, like “This Charming Man” B sides “Jeane” and “Wonderful Woman” and a studio version of Johnny Marr’s instrumental “The Draize.” The set is also reportedly available on some countries’ iTunes stores, but we couldn’t locate it in the U.S. one. Still, hard-core Smiths fans question the validity of this release, as many of the songs are available on other bootlegs, and Rare doesn’t seem to have improved sound over those release.

Weezer have announced that they will release three separate versions of their 'Pork And Beans' single in the UK - each featuring a different cover song as a B-side. The band will release two 7" vinyl singles - one with a cover of REM's 'Oddfellows Local 151' as the B-side and the other with a cover of The Psychedelic Furs' 'Love My Way'.

The CD single features a cover of Tubeway Army's as the B-side.

'Pork And Beans' is the first single from Weezer's new self-titled album, also known as the 'Red Album', which came out in the US on June 3 and in the UK on June 16.

Nine Inch Nails have unveiled details on the CD release of The Slip. The album will be released July 22 in North America as an individually numbered limited edition, with a bonus DVD of live performances from the band's rehearsals for this summer's tour. The album will not be a limited release in the rest of the world. The Slip will also be released on vinyl two weeks later. Trent Reznor adds that The Slip "will remain free for download indefinitely" via NIN.com.



Coldplay raced to a No. 1 debut on the new U.K. album chart yesterday (June 15) with "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" (Parlophone/EMI), even though the album was only released on Thursday, halfway through the sales week.

"Viva La Vida" sold 302,000 units through Saturday night, according to data from the Official U.K. Chart Company, making it the band's fastest-selling release. The total compares to the 465,000 sold by 2005's "X&Y" in a full sales week, and 274,000 for 2002's "A Rush of Blood to the Head."

As expected, Beck will release a new studio album, officially titled Modern Guilt, on July 8. It had been rumored that the record could see a "surprise" release, a la The Raconteurs' Consolers Of The Lonely. The album's 10 songs, produced by Danger Mouse of Gnarls Barkley, reportedly "vacillate between economy and experimentation, hybrid and pop classicism, while consistently manifesting Beck and Danger Mouse's shared interest in psych-rock, folk, electronic minimalism and orchestration."

Beck spoke to Rolling Stone last month about the album, saying that Modern Guilt "was the most intensive work I’ve ever done on anything. It was like trying to fit two years of songwriting into two and a half months. I know I did at least 10 weeks with no days off, until four or five in the morning every night."

Modern Guilt track list:

"Orphans"
"Gamma Ray"
"Chemtrails"
"Modern Guilt"
"Youthless"
"Walls"
"Replica"
"Soul of a Man"
"Profanity Prayers"
"Volcano"

Scott Weiland just can't seem to stay away from legal troubles. Currently out on the road with the reunited Stone Temple Pilots, the singer is being sued, along with drummer Eric Kretz, by their label, Atlantic Records. Atlantic says that Weiland and Kretz have threatened to stop touring and want out of their contract unless the label renegotiates their deal. According to Rolling Stone, STP owes three more albums to Atlantic. Brothers Dean and Robert DeLeo were not part of the lawsuit because Atlantic dropped them in 2003 to allow them to work on other projects. In recent interviews, the band has suggested that the reunion tour could lead to a return to the studio and a new album, which would be their first since 2001.

STP released a statement in response to the suit, saying, "Stone Temple Pilots were deeply disappointed to see that Atlantic filed a surprise lawsuit against two members of the legendary band STP when they were in the middle of what were believed to be cordial and positive discussions about STP returning to the studio to make a new album after five years. Despite the allegations in the complaint, the band never threatened anything more than remaining away from the studio until equitable terms could be arranged. The precipitous filing of this action is yet another example of the difficulties facing artists in the new music environment, as relationships between artists and their labels fall further and further apart."

"Eric and Scott have not yet been served and hope that Atlantic will allow cooler heads to prevail, and have the courtesy of shelving this action to permit negotiations to continue in a positive spirit rather than under a dark cloud of hostility. Should everyone operate in good faith, STP are certain that a new album from the band will be available soon. Should Atlantic instead pursue this scorched earth policy towards the band, the ultimate victims will be STP's fans, who will never be able to enjoy a new album from the group."


Police have charged a man and a woman in London with supplying drugs to Amy Winehouse. The charges stem from a video that appeared to show the singer smoking crack cocaine.

London police say John Blagrove and Cara Burton have been charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and MDMA, also known as ecstasy.

The suspects were released on bail today (June 12) until their next court appearance on July 1.

Police began an investigation after photos from the footage were published in The Sun newspaper in January. Detectives say Winehouse will not be charged in the case.



Pearl Jam has struck a deal with Verizon Wireless' V Cast service to sell select tracks from the authorized live bootlegs that will be available in conjunction with the band's upcoming summer tour. The trek begins tomorrow (June 11) in West Palm Beach, Fla.

This extension of Pearl Jam's long-running live bootleg program will result in three tracks from each show (excluding Bonnaroo) immediately being available via V Cast and PearlJamConcerts.com: one as a free mobile download, and two others for purchase.

All V Cast tracks will be "dual downloads," meaning once purchased, they are sent to both the mobile phone and the user's computer. They will feature Verizon's existing DRM system, and will also be sold as ringtones and ringbacks.



Coldplay has been forced to postpone the start of its North American tour by two weeks due to unspecified "production delays which mean that the show simply won't be ready" for its planned June 29 kick-off in Philadelphia.

The itinerary will now begin July 14-15 in Los Angeles; it was to close Aug. 4 in Chicago but will instead wrap that day in Boston. Tickets for the scrapped dates will be valid for the new ones, but refunds are also available at points of purchase. For an updated itinerary, visit the band's Web site.



Black Rebel Motorcycle Club drummer Nick Jago has split with the band for a second time, just prior to the launch of a European tour. However, core members Robert Levon Been and Peter Hayes insist Jago is not "fired" and that they "look forward to playing with him again in the future."

"We just feel Nick needs time to sort out exactly what he wants right now," they wrote in a MySpace post. "His heart and all his energy and attention is on his own solo project and he needs to see that through. We welcome his singing and songwriting in BRMC, but his focus, at least at the present time, is on doing his own thing and we wish him the best."

In an earlier MySpace post, Jago admitted, "I don't make it easy for them. Maybe playing drums for BRMC all the time is not my calling and there is something else I'm supposed to do. We will see."



The White Stripes returned to the stage last night June 8 in Detroit, but alas, they didn't play any music.

Coming back from the encore break of the Raconteurs' concert at the Fillmore Detroit, Jack White was accompanied by ex-wife and White Stripes drummer Meg White, who sat at Patrick Keeler's kit and tapped on a few of the drums.

With the audience going nuts, thinking it was about to see a surprise performance by the Stripes, Jack shouted, "Hey everybody, this is Meg White!" -- after which she waved, got up and walked off the stage while the rest of the Raconteurs filed on for the encore.



Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones turned an already high-profile Foo Fighters show into a once-in-a-lifetime event Saturday night at London's Wembley Stadium, joining the Foos for covers of Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" and "Ramble On."

Drummer Taylor Hawkins took the microphone for the former, while frontman Dave Grohl sang the latter. Grohl, a lifelong Zeppelin fanatic who was on hand for the group's one-off reunion last December in London, told the crowd Satruday's experience constituted "the greatest day of my entire life."


Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready recently told reporters on a conference call that the band won't be premiering any new material during its upcoming performance at the Bonnaroo Festival, but McCready was open to the idea of being joined onstage by one of the other performers at the event. Asked whom he himself would like to jam with, McCready had one person in mind: "I'd love to have Jack White up. I just, I think he's just a phenomenal guitar player and I'd love to see him play up close. I've seen The White Stripes in Europe, but it was kind of far away. But I'd love to have him up there and jam because he's got a killer voice and he's a great lead player too. So that would be exciting to me."





The reissues of U2’s first three albums — Boy, October and War — will each contain discs full of rarities and live performances as well as B-sides from the era. Boy will be accompanied by three unreleased songs “Speed of Life,” “Cartoon World” and “Saturday Night,” along with a different mix of “I Will Follow.” Live performances from the Hammersmith Palais and the Paradise Theater in Boston will join October, while War will feature the unreleased track “Angels Too Tied to the Ground” and a bunch of remixes of “New Years Day” and “Two Hearts Beat as One.” All three deluxe editions will be out on July 22nd.




To mark the release of Radiohead’s Best Of, EMI put the rest of the band’s non-In Rainbows discography on iTunes. The songs can be purchased as both full albums and individual tracks.









The remainder of Kurt Cobain’s ashes have been stolen from Courtney Love. Love was storing the ashes in a pink bear-shaped handbag that was hidden in the wardrobe closet of her Hollywood home and believes the bag was taken by a former friend. “I can’t believe anyone would take Kurt’s ashes from me. I find it disgusting and right now I’m suicidal,” Love said. The majority of Cobain’s ashes were spread at a New York Buddhist temple and in Washington’s Wishkah River, but Love said she kept a small amount (as well as a lock of his hair) for herself. This isn’t the first time Love has had something of her husband stolen: In March, Love alleged that thieves used Cobain’s social security number to steal several million dollars from his estate. In both cases, Love believes she knows who is responsible for the theft.


After word spread that Prince covered Radiohead's "Creep" at the Coachella festival, the tens of thousands who couldn't be there ran to YouTube for a peek. Everyone was quickly denied -- even Radiohead.

All videos of Prince's unique rendition of Radiohead's early hit were quickly taken down, leaving only a message that his label, NPG Records, had removed the clips, claiming a copyright violation. But the posted videos were shot by fans and, obviously, the song isn't Prince's.

In a recent interview, Thom Yorke said he heard about Prince's performance from a text message and thought it was "hilarious." Yorke laughed when his bandmate, guitarist Ed O'Brien, said the blocking had prevented even him from seeing Prince's version of their song.

"Really? He's blocked it?" asked Yorke, who figured it was their song to block or not. "Surely we should block it. Hang on a moment." Yorke added, "Well, tell him to unblock it. It's our ... song."



311 are recording their next studio album with Bob Rock (Metallica, Our Lady Peace). The band writes online, "No album title, song titles, or release date is known at this time. This is the early stages of a long process." 311 begins a summer tour with Snoop Dogg on June 24 in Phoenix. 




Scars On Broadway, the collaboration between System of a Down guitarist/singer Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan, will release their self-titled debut on July 29. With Malakian sitting in the Scars' producer chair, he and Dolmayan entered the studio last September, recorded nearly two-dozen songs for the album, and then whittled down the final track listing to 14 songs.  Scars plans to tour extensively to support the new album.





3 Doors Down, they of “Kryptonite” fame, topped the charts as their eponymous fifth album sold 154,342 copies in its debut week, marking the band’s second consecutive album to reach Number One. Last week’s winner, Death Cab for Cutie’s Narrow Stairs rounded out the top five.





U2’s Bono received an honorary degree yesterday from Japan’s Keio University for his contribution to music and humanitarian causes.








Alicia Keys had been dreaming about other Rock-leaning collaborations. Some of the artists she'd like to work with are Queens of the Stone Age, Linkin Park and Coldplay, but the White Stripes are at the top of her list. "I think that combining that style with mine, which already has a raw feel to it, and my voice, I just think we could do something really interesting that mixes rock and soul together, the blues and emotion, and it could be really touching," Keys said of the Stripes, according to Rolling Stone. As for when the possible collaboration may take place, she stated, "We’ve had some conversations. When the time works out, and it definitely will, it will happen."



The Smashing Pumpkins plan to celebrate their 20th anniversary this year with a DVD, a tour and more. In a new video interview on the band's Web site, Billy Corgan says, "We're working on a DVD that's sort of a documentary of our residency Fillmore shows. We're going to put out hopefully some of our early demos for Christmas, probably put out a new Pumpkins single with new pumpkins in the fall and then do a fall tour, and then we start putting out a new Pumpkins album probably beginning next year."



Radiohead, Beck and Eddie Vedder are among the artists that have chosen their favorite Sonic Youth song for the  Starbucks compilation Hits Are For Squares. You can pick it up in San Francisco or online on June 10th.





Pearl Jam, the Foo Fighters and the Flaming Lips will take the stage on July 12th to pay tribute to the Who in an upcoming VH1 Rock Honors episode. The Who will also perform at the event, with all proceeds from the concert benefiting the Teenage Cancer Trust.







The Raconteurs and Justice will headline the second Treasure Island Music Festival, to be held Sept. 20-21 in San  Francisco.

Justice anchors the bill on night one, alongside TV On The Radio, Goldfrapp, Hot Chip, CSS, Antibalas, Aesop Rock, Amon Tobin, Foals, Mike Relm and Nortec: Bostich + Fussible.

The Raconteurs headline on Sept. 21, with Tegan & Sara, Vampire Weekend, Spiritualized, Okkervil River, Tokyo Police Club, the Kills, Dr. Dog, John Vanderslice and Fleet Foxes supporting.