Rock News Two: The week in pop music

ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

The first generation of punk rockers joined Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, former teen idol Brenda Lee and soul singer Isaac Hayes in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2002 Monday night.

The induction ceremony was held at New York's post Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and taped for airing Wednesday on VH1.

CNN.com reports Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder sported a mohawk hairdo as he inducted The Ramones. Vedder swigged from a bottle of wine as he recalled it being "terribly frightening and totally blissful" the first time he saw The Ramones in concert. Their induction is especially bittersweet, in the light of lead singer Joey Ramone's death from cancer last April.

Also joining the hall -- the Talking Heads; country's Chet Atkins, who died last June; early 1960s hitmaker Gene Pitney; and Stax Records co-founder Jim Stewart.

Other celebrity presenters included Wallflowers frontman Jakob Dylan, Jewel, Alicia Keys, Brian Setzer and country singer Marty Stuart.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is in Cleveland.

SOUL TRAIN MUSIC AWARDS

Newcomer Alicia Keys and veteran group the Isley Brothers were the big winners at the 16th Annual Soul Train Music Awards, handed out Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

Keys won awards for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist and Female Album, as well as the Sammy Davis Jr. Entertainer of the Year, Female, according to Allstar News, while the Isley Brothers took home awards for Best R&B/Soul Single and Album by a Group, Band or Duo.

The syndicated show -- co-hosted by Faith Evans, Arsenio Hall, Yolanda Adams and Shemar Moore -- will air between March 30 and April 7 (check local TV listings).

The winners:

Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist: Alicia Keys

Best R&B/Soul Album, Female: Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor

Best R&B/Soul Album, Male: Usher, 8701

Sammy Davis Jr. Entertainer of the Year, Female: Alicia Keys

Sammy Davis Jr. Entertainer of the Year, Male: Dr. Dre

Best R&B/Soul Single by a Group, Band, or Duo: Isley Brothers, "Contagious"

Best R&B/Soul Album by a Group, Band, or Duo: Isley Brothers, Eternal

Best R&B/Soul Single, Female: Aaliyah, "Rock the Boat"

Best R&B/Soul Single, Male: Musiq Soulchild, "Love"

Best R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year: Jay-Z, The Blueprint

Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video: Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, "Get Ur Freak On"

Best Gospel Album: Donnie McClurkin, Live in London

2002 Quincy Jones Award for Outstanding Career Achievements: The O'Jays

AEROSMITH

Aerosmith has been selected as the second mtvICON honoree in celebration of the band's nearly 30-year career.

Billboard.com reports that as with last year's tribute to Janet Jackson, Aerosmith's songs will be performed by other acts -- including Kid Rock, Train and Pink, who's expected to cover the group's 1989 hit "Janie's Got a Gun." The event will be taped April 14 in Los Angeles and air three days later on MTV.

Jackson herself will offer a "testimonal" at the start of the show, while Aerosmith will take the stage for the finale. Additional participating artists will be announced soon.

R.E.M.'S PETER BUCK

R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck says he doesn't remember his alleged drunken behavior during a trans-Atlantic flight last April.

The rocker, 45, went on trial in London this week on charges of being drunk on an aircraft, assault and damaging British Airways property.

Billboard.com reports the rocker, 45, testified Wednesday that one of his last memories of the Seattle-to-London flight was downing a sleeping pill with a glass of wine. He said the next thing he knew, he woke up in a police cell at Heathrow Airport.

Prosecutors said Buck -- who was en route to Britain to promote R.E.M.'s "Reveal" album -- drank about 15 glasses of wine in the first three hours of the flight. They say he behaved like a "drunken lout," becoming increasingly unruly, staggering around and tussling with crewmembers.

The guitarist insisted he only had three glasses of wine. He said he was overcome with shame when told of his alleged actions. "To me it was just incomprehensible ... I have never been in trouble before ... I will go miles away to avoid confrontation. I really don't like it," he told the jury.

BACKSTREET BOYS

The Backstreet Boys are being sued by a songwriter and session keyboardist who played on their "Millennium" album.

The lawsuit was filed March 15 in federal court in California by Florida-based musician Tommy Smith, according to Allstar News. He claimed in court papers that he and Nick Cater jointly wrote "The Answer to Our Life" and that he, Brian Littrell and songwriter Guy Walker co-wrote "Time." Both tracks appear on the Backstreet Boys' 2000 album "Black & Blue."

Smith is seeking credit for the songs he claims he co-wrote and 50 percent of all money received from "The Answer to Our Life" and 33.33 percent of money received from "Time," plus court costs.

TOMMY LEE

Former Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee is denying claims by his ex-wife, actress Pamela Anderson, that he infected her with hepatitis C.

In a statement released by her publicist, Anderson -- who said she's undergoing outpatient treatment at UCLA Medical Center -- blamed the infection on sharing a tattoo needle with Lee, adding that he never told her during their marriage that he had the disease.

But Lee is challenging Anderson's allegations. "Her actions today are a clear attack on Tommy," said the statement issued by his publicist, "and hopefully she will realize that she is only doing more harm to her children and herself by trying to use the media as a tool to hurt Tommy and their two boys."

The couple is battling for custody of their children.

THE SAM AND DAVID SHOW?

Former Van Halen frontmen David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar reportedly are discussing a possible summer tour together.

E! Online quotes Hagar's official Web site, RedRocker.com: "Believe it or not, Sammy and David Lee Roth are talking about touring this summer. Sammy was blown away at how well they got along together. ... If this happens, this would have to be the party of a lifetime!!! Stay tuned! We'll keep ya posted!!"

A spokesman for Roth confirmed only that the two exes "have met for the first time."

Roth fronted Van Halen from its beginnings in the late 1970s until 1985, when he left to focus on a solo career. Hagar then took over until the mid-1990s, when he was replaced by former Extreme singer Gary Cherone.

OZZFEST

The 2002 edition of Ozzfest will feature the first appearances by the as-yet-unnamed new band formed by Soundgarden's Chris Cornell and Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello, Brad Wilk and Tim Commerford, Billboard.com reports. They'll join main stage participants Ozzy Osbourne and System Of A Down as well as P.O.D., Drowning Pool, Adema and Tenacious D on the road trip that kicks off July 6 in Bristol, Va., and wraps Sept. 8 in Dallas.

Rob Zombie will headline the second stage, while World Wrestling Federation stars will make personal appearances at each tour stop. (The WWF is a sponsor of Ozzfest.)

For the first time, Ozzfest will also tour Europe. The 17-date trek will take in 10 countries in May and June -- including Germany, Sweden, and Portugal. Osbourne, Tool, System Of A Down, Slayer, American Head Charge and Cradle Of Filth are all slated to appear during a May 25 U.K. date at Donnington Park.

U.S. tour dates:

July 6: Bristow, Va. (Nissan Pavilion)

July 7: Burgettstown, Pa. (Post-Gazette Pavilion)

July 10: Wantagh, N.Y. (Jones Beach)

July 12: Camden, N.J. (Tweeter Center)

July 13: Hartford, Conn. (Ctnow.com Amphitheatre)

July 16: Boston (Tweeter Center)

July 19: Holmdel, N.J. (PNC Bank Arts Center)

July 24: Raleigh, N.C. (Alltel Pavilion)

July 26: West Palm Beach, Fla. (Mars Music Amphitheatre)

July 28: Atlanta (Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre)

Aug. 3: Columbus, Ohio (Polaris Amphitheatre)

Aug. 4: Noblesville, Ind. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)

Aug. 10: Tinley Park, Ill. (Tweeter Center)

Aug. 11: East Troy, Wis. (Alpine Valley)

Aug. 13: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (Blossom Music Center)

Aug. 15: Cincinnati (Riverbend Amphitheatre)

Aug. 17: Somerset, Wis. (Float-Rite Park)

Aug. 19: St. Louis (Riverport Amphitheatre)

Aug. 20: Bonner Springs, Kan. (Sandstone Amphitheatre)

Aug. 22: Denver (CityLights Pavilion)

Aug. 25: Sacramento, Calif. (Sacramento Valley Amphitheatre)

Aug. 27: George, Wash. (the Gorge)

Aug. 29: Mountain View, Calif. (Shoreline Amphitheatre)

Aug. 31: San Bernardino, Calif. (Blockbuster Pavilion)

Sept. 5: Phoenix (Cricket Pavilion)

Sept. 7: San Antonio (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)

Sept. 8: Dallas (Smirnoff Amphitheatre)

ALICIA KEYS

Alicia Keys has announced dates for the rest of her summer tour, which kicks off July 4 at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. Allstar News reports the road trip will be her second headlining trek. Several late-July stops on the tour will serve as makeup dates for cancelled shows from Keys' March tour.

Tour dates:

July 4, New Orleans, Louisiana Superdome

July 17, Wantagh, N.Y., Jones Beach Amphitheatre

July 19, Camden, N.J., Tweeter Center

July 20, Atlantic City, N.J., Trump Taj Mahal

July 22, Atlanta, Chastain Park Amphitheatre

July 26, Tempe, Ariz., Gammage Auditorium

July 27, Los Vegas, Aladdin Hotel and Casino

July 30-31, Los Angeles, Greek Theatre

Aug. 1, Paso Robles, Calif., California Mid-State Fair

Aug. 4, San Diego, Summer Pops at Navy Pier

Aug. 5, Santa Barbara, Calif., Santa Barbara Bowl

Aug. 7, Marysville, Calif., Autowest Amphitheatre

Aug. 8, Concord, Calif., Chronicle Pavilion

Aug. 10, Seattle, Key Arena

Aug. 11, Vancouver, General Motors Place

Aug. 12, Portland, Ore., Rose Garden Arena

Aug. 16, Louisville, Ky., Kentucky State Fair

Aug. 17, Des Moines, Iowa, Iowa State Fair

Aug. 18, Kansas City, Mo., Starlight Theatre

Aug. 20, Memphis, Tenn., Orpheum Theatre

Aug. 21, Maryland Heights, Mo., UMB Bank Pavilion

Aug. 23, St. Paul, Minn., Minnesota State Fair

Aug. 25, Syracuse, N.Y., New York State Fair

Aug. 27, Allentown, Pa., Allentown Fair

Aug. 29, Columbia, Md., Merriweather Post

INXS

INXS is planning a U.S. club tour this summer, with a new lead singer.

Hollywood.com reports the band has tabbed Jon Stevens to stand in for original frontman Michael Hutchence, who committed suicide in 1997. Stevens used to be with the Aussie band Noiseworks and has been performing with INXS on short jaunts throughout Australia and Europe.

The road trip kicks of May 30 in Anaheim, Calif., and will include stops at the House of Blues in Las Vegas on June 1, the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles on June 4, Utah State Fair Park in Salt Lake City on June 11, the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix on June 13, and the City Lights Pavilion in Denver on June 15.

KORN

They've been absent from the rock scene for a while but Korn wants everyone to know they're "Here to Stay."

Following a brief tour of Mexico and South America, the band is planning a North American road trip -- slated to begin June 20 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., MTV News reports. That's nine days after Korn's fifth album, "Untouchables," hits store shelves.

Korn's new single, "Here to Stay," is currently receiving widespread airplay.

Confirmed tour dates:

6/20: Wilkes-Barre, PA

6/21: Hartford, CT

6/23: New York, NY

6/26: Toronto, ONT, Canada

6/27: Montreal, QC, Canada

6/29: Pittsburgh, PA

6/30: Cleveland, OH

7/2: Grand Rapids, MI

7/3: Detroit, MI

7/5: Chicago, IL

7/8: Peoria, IL

7/9: Lexington, KY

7/11: Indianapolis, IN

7/12: Columbus, OH

7/13: Dayton, OH

Venues and more dates will be announced shortly.

BARRY MANILOW

Barry Manilow has added 30 more shows to his "LIVE2002! Concert Tour." The summer leg opens June 14 at the new City Lights Pavilion in Denver and continues to Kansas City, San Diego, Tucson, Irvine, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, Indianapolis, Nashville, Birmingham, Charlotte, Boston, Saratoga, Philadelphia, and New York.

"LIVE2002!" highlights songs from Manilow's latest album, "Here At The Mayflower," as well as many of the classics from the "Ultimate Manilow" collection of Greatest Hits.

BILLY JOEL

An inflamed vocal cord and an upper respiratory infection has forced Billy Joel to postpone the rest of his U.S. concert dates with Elton John, Jam Music reports. Joel's spokeswoman, Claire Merucuri, said the "Face to Face" tour shows will be rescheduled.

'SPIDER-MAN' SOUNDTRACK

Songs by Sum 41, Alien Ant Farm, Default and Slipknot's Corey Taylor are being considered for the upcoming "Spider-Man" movie soundtrack, MTV News reports.

Sum 41 plans to contribute a Rick Rubin-produced version of "It's What We're All About," according to an Island Def Jam spokesperson. The song is expected to be the soundtrack's first single.

Alien Ant Farm recorded the track "Bug Bytes" in January, according to their publicist; and a song by Slipknot lead screamer Corey Taylor's solo project has been submitted, according to a source close to that band.

A publicist close to the project said Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell, Nickelback singer Chad Kroeger and Saliva frontman Josey Scott are preparing the tentatively titled "Hero," while Default will lend their "Blind" to the collection.

Aerosmith recently recorded a few possible tunes for the soundtrack in Maui, Hawaii, according to their publicist. And Planet Us -- a group featuring former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar and current bassist Michael Anthony along with Journey guitarist Neal Schon and drummer Deen Castronovo -- have offered two possibilities, the band's manager said.

The soundtrack album is due out April 30, a week later than previously expected, according to a Columbia Records spokesperson. The film -- which stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst -- opens May 3.

MORE ALBUM NEWS

-- Oasis has finally come up with a title for its upcoming album. Britain's New Musical Express quotes singer Liam Gallagher confirming that the follow-up to "Standing On The Shoulder of Giants" will be titled "Heathen Chemistry." The CD is due out in July. The first single will be "The Hindu Times."

-- Marilyn Manson's new album will be titled "The Golden Age of Grotesque." MTV News says although the band is still recording, Manson describes the album on his Web site as a "genius deluge of hardcore guitar-drum violence" and "reckless electronic-punk vaudeville mixed with '30s cabaret decadence." The rocker adds that several songs are finished, including one called "Use Your Fist and Not Your Mouth."

-- Underworld's sixth album -- the follow up to 2000's live effort "Everything, Everything" -- is due out this September. RollingStone.com reports that so far the album is set to include "Two Months Off," "Momove," and "Sola Sistim," composed by frontman Karl Hyde and Underworld cohort Rick Smith. Darren Emerson left the group in 2000 to focus on his DJ career. Underworld will perform a handful of shows throughout Europe this summer in preparation for their official live comeback at Britain's Creamfields festival on August 24 in Liverpool. A North American road trip is in the works at year's end.

-- Don't look for a new album from Blur anytime soon. Blur's Dave Rowntree says the band's follow-up to 1999's "13" won't be released until next year. In an exclusive interview with NME.com Wednesday, Rowntree confirmed that Blur was returning to the studio in May but added: "All speculation in the NME about the title of the singles, or what we have recorded, is giving us all a good laugh. We are closer to the start of the process than the end." Last week, Blur's Damon Albarn let drop that the band had recorded 14 songs and that "Don't Bomb When You Are The Bomb" was the likely new single.

-- Brad Paisley performs the title track on "Sharp Dressed Men: A Tribute to ZZ Top." The album, due in stores April 30 (on RCA Records), is a collection of ZZ Top songs sung by country artists in tribute to the famous rock trio. Country.com reports Paisley's "Sharp Dressed Man" is one of 15 tracks on the all-male tribute album. Other artists include Alan Jackson, Montgomery Gentry, Brooks & Dunn, Hank Williams Jr. and Hank Williams III, Trace Adkins, Willie Nelson and Dwight Yoakam. The group -- Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard -- was in Nashville during the recent Country Radio Seminar to tape an episode of "CMT Crossroads." They were paired with Brooks & Dunn in a swap of country and rock influences. The show debuts April 21 (at 8 p.m. ET/PT) on CMT.

B2K

B2K's in-store appearance in Concord, Calif., was cut short Monday when some fans didn't want to wait their turn in line.

MTV News reports the pop/R&B quartet -- whose self-titled debut CD hit stores March 12 -- were signing autographs at the Sun Valley Mall Sam Goody store when some of the more than 1,000 fans waiting outside rushed the storefront.

Kim Eri Opacic, the mall's marketing director, said they'd been told by B2K's record label to expect a couple hundred people, so the mall's staff was caught off guard. In response, the mall was closed for about 30 minutes until the fans left.

Opacic said Sam Goody has held similar autograph signings for jazz musicians and has never had any kind of problem.

"They usually draw about 100 people," she said.

BONO

Bono is going to Africa with U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill next month to see the effects poverty and AIDS have had on the continent. NME.com reports the visit is part of the U2 lead singer's ongoing campaigns against Third World debt and the threat of AIDS in developing countries.

The trip was announced Thursday by O'Neill at a news conference at the United Nations. He said he had the utmost "respect" for the Irish rocker. "This is a person who has invested enough of his own time and energy to learn about and go see on the ground what life is like," he said.

No concrete details of itinerary have been released.

During the World Economic Forum in New York in February, Bono and O'Neill took to the stage in a debate over foreign aid to developing countries.

R.E.M.

R.E.M. is going to bat for the nation's forests. In public service announcements sponsored by The Paper Campaign, frontman Michael Stipe urges people to "insist that the paper you use is tree-free."

All three R.E.M. members -- Stipe, Mike Mills and Peter Buck -- are featured in the campaign, which was unveiled Monday night at the Vanity Fair "Rock the Casbah" pre-Oscar party in Hollywood benefiting the Environmental Media Association. The goal is to change the way paper is made in the United States.

"The perception is that third-world countries are the only places being wiped out ... what people don't realize is that the forests being most devastated are in our back yard -- the American South," said Mills.

"Market campaigns, like the one being led by the Dogwood Alliance and ForestEthics, are the most effective way to cut to the chase and protect our forests," added Buck.

(Web site: ThePaperCampaign.com)

DOVE AWARDS

St. Louis Rams Quarterback and NFL MVP Kurt Warner and singer Yolanda Adams will co-host the 33rd Annual Dove Awards, which will be presented April 25 in ceremonies at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.

The show will air on PAX-TV (beginning at 9 p.m. ET), marking the first time the ceremonies will be shown live on a national network.

In addition, FamilyNet will televise live a two- hour pre-show where more than 25 Dove Awards will be handed out. The broadcast will also feature backstage interviews and will direct viewers to PAX-TV at its conclusion.

The Dove Awards recognizes achievement in all genres of contemporary Christian and Gospel music. A complete list of nominees can be found online at doveawards.com.