Madonna
Photo: Evan Agostini/Getty Images

All but one of the tracks on Madonna's upcoming Confessions on a Dancefloor have leaked onto the Internet, but that's not going to force her hand to put out the album any sooner. Confessions is still slated for a November 15 release, according to Madge's label rep. ...

Ashanti's upcoming remix album will feature four new tracks, including the first single, "Still on It," with Paul Wall and Method Man. "I Love You," "Show You" and "Found It in You" are the other new tracks on Collectables by Ashanti, due December 6. ... Salt-N-Pepa are reuniting for one night on Thursday (November 3) for Motorola's annual Hollywood benefit for Toys for Tots. Paris Hilton, Eva Longoria and Nicole Richie are among those expected to attend. ...

On December 6, the White Stripes will release Walking With a Ghost, an EP featuring not only Jack White's revved-up cover version of Tegan & Sara's tune of the same name, but also four live tracks, two of them recorded at the Teatro Amazones in Manaus, Brazil, hours after White tied the knot with model Karen Elson. The other two are from the Stripes' appearance on radio station KCRW-FM's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" program in September. The EP will also be available for download on iTunes November 14. ...

MySpace Records will launch on November 15 with a compilation disc, MySpace Records: Volume One. The album will feature contributions from Weezer, AFI, Fall Out Boy, All-American Rejects, Dashboard Confessional, the Click Five and others. ... Shinedown have canceled Thursday's show in Orlando, Florida, as singer Brent Smith is being monitored at a hospital for a non-threatening blood circulation problem. Status of further shows will be determined on a day-to-day basis. ...

The Isley Brothers will release a career retrospective DVD called "Isley Brothers: Summer Breeze - Greatest Hits Live" on November 15. Starting off the set is "Between the Sheets" (which forms the bedrock of Notorious B.I.G.'s "Big Poppa" as well as Gwen Stefani's current single, "Luxurious"), followed by "Footsteps in the Dark," rock standards "Shout" and "Twist and Shout" and covers of Seals & Crofts' "Summer Breeze" and Todd Rundgren's "Hello It's Me." Ronald Isley's alter ego, Mr. Biggs, also makes an appearance with "Down Low" and "Contagious" (featuring cameos from R. Kelly). ... Papa Roach singer Jacoby Shaddix just began shooting his first feature film, an as-yet-untitled supernatural thriller directed by Ryan McKinney. Lou Diamond Phillips and Pam Grier are co-starring in the flick, which is shooting in Sacramento, near Shaddix's hometown of Vacaville, California. ...

Mudhoney's seventh studio album, Under a Billion Suns, will see the fuzzy glow of retail light on March 7. It's the Seattle group's first fresh offering since 2002's Since We've Become Translucent, and will feature 11 tracks, including "A Brief Celebration of Indifference," "Where Is the Future" and "I Saw the Light." ... "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening has announced plans to release All Tomorrow's Parties: Pacific 2003, a collection of live tracks taken from the 2003 ATP festival he curated in California. Artists on the comp include Modest Mouse, the Shins and Sonic Youth. The album is due in stores on December 6. ... "All Dolled Up," a DVD featuring some of the earliest live performances by the recently reunited New York Dolls, will hit stores December 6. Compiled from more than 40 hours of footage shot during the early 1970s by rock photographer Bob Gruen, the feature-length documentary includes performances of "Frankenstein," "Pirate Love," "Bad Detective" and other songs at New York's Kenny's Castaways and Max's Kansas City as well as West Hollywood's Whisky a Go Go and other iconic venues, not to mention revealing interviews, "backstage banter and late-night debauchery." ...

After bloggers flamed the action, Sony Music said on Wednesday that it will distribute a free software patch that reveals hidden files that are automatically installed on computer hard drives by some of its music CDs. According to an Associated Press report, the software was designed to block music piracy, but when a Windows expert reported that his CD drive was disabled when he tried to remove the hidden files, it unleashed charges that Sony was attempting to guard its intellectual property by secretly installing software on the PCs of unsuspecting users. The company said the patch was being offered as a precaution, not because of any security vulnerability, though computer experts cautioned that the software could be used by hackers to mask their programs. The copy-protection technology, which limits how many times a CD can be copied, was included on about 20 titles, including albums by the Bad Plus and Vivian Green. The patch does not remove the copy-protection software. ...

11.02.2005

Shar Jackson opens up about her breakup with ex-boyfriend Kevin Federline (now Mr. Britney Spears) in the December issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine. While stressing that all she wants from Federline is for him to spend more time with their two children, she also makes it clear that her relationship with him was far from over when he took up with the pop star. The night Federline met Spears, Jackson told the mag, he was staying at a friend's house so that he could go to an audition in Los Angeles. Jackson says he then told her that he had callbacks that week and would be staying up there a little longer. She didn't question his story, she says, because "I ain't like one of them females that are like, 'Where you at? Why you ...?' Maybe I should convert." Jackson only started worrying when she couldn't reach him that weekend, "because here I am, six and a half months pregnant, and I ain't heard from my man." When he finally called back, she says, he admitted hanging out with Spears, but told her it didn't mean anything. Later on, he told her he was booked for a commercial and had to fly overseas for it, so she helped him prepare, "getting him his passport and all that stuff." She even spent "the whole hour" before he boarded the plane comforting him, because "he doesn't like to fly." "And in all actuality, he was going to see her," Jackson said. The rest, as they say, is history. ...

A Slipknot fan's Halloween costume inadvertently forced officials at California's Placer County Jail to place the facility on lockdown. According to a report in the Auburn Journal, police dispatchers at Placer County's Sheriff's Department fielded a call on Sunday regarding a man wearing an orange inmate's jumpsuit and shackles who was getting into a car at a local Taco Bell. Fearing one of its inmates might've escaped, "they locked down the entire jail," Lt. George Malim, a spokesperson for the Placer County Sheriff's Department, told the paper. "When you hear something like that, you err on the side of caution." Officials conducted a head count, and all the inmates were present. Patrol officers caught up with the car and confirmed the fan was not criminal. When that fan, Eddie Hail, learned of his costume's unintended effect, he replied, "Oops." His girlfriend had purchased the orange jumpsuit for him so that he could dress up as a member of Slipknot. He later opted to ditch the mask and be a convict for Halloween instead. ...

Mariah Carey and Jay-Z are slated to be honored by the New York Grammy chapter at the Recording Academy Honors gala to be held December 7 at Gotham Hall. The event will also honor Yoko Ono, John Lennon and film composer Howard Shore. ... R. Kelly, Green Day and Toby Keith are among the headliners for this year's Billboard Music Awards, which will air live from Las Vegas' MGM Grand December 6 on FOX at 8 p.m. ET/tape-delayed PT. Carmen Electra, Bo Bice, Nick Cannon, Chingy, Hulk and Brooke Hogan and the Blue Man Group are slated to appear. ...

Hilary Duff's mom is in her stuff — according to a lawsuit filed by youth clothing manufacturer NTD Apparel in Los Angeles Superior Court last week. The lawsuit claims that Susan Duff interfered with an exclusive merchandising agreement for the Stuff by Hilary Duff brand when she granted Target a retail license for it, despite NTD having already entered an agreement with the pop star, when she granted it rights to use her name and image on sports clothing to launch in spring 2004. ... 'Tis (almost) the season, so the White Stripes, Death Cab for Cutie, Hot Hot Heat and Coheed and Cambria have signed up for Bay Area rock station Live 105's alternative holiday fest, Not So Silent Night. The concert will take place December 9 at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. ...

What better way to capture the ultimate concert experience than by way of the fans? That's what the Beastie Boys did when they handed 50 handheld cameras to a throng of concertgoers at one of their shows last year at New York's Madison Square Garden to capture the madness from each person's unique perspective. The end result is their documentary film called "Awesome: I F---in' Shot That," directed by the group's Adam "MCA" Yauch, who said of the film, "[It was shot by] a bunch of untrained camera operators, but that gives the film sincerity. The people that shot it were feeling it." Indie film distributor THINKFilm has confirmed that it has nabbed the rights to distribute the doc, which is tentatively set for a spring release. ... Neil Diamond has launched his own MySpace page, and he's chosen to debut his new album, 12 Songs, there too. From now until the day the album hits stores (November 8), fans can cruise on over to MySpace.com/NeilDiamond and listen to the entire thing for free. 12 Songs is Diamond's first album in more than four years, and was produced by Rick Rubin. ...

Run-DMC's Darryl McDaniels has shot two videos for his solo album, Checks Thugs and Rock 'n' Roll, due in January and featuring Kid Rock, Korn bassist Fieldy and others. The first is for "Just Like Me," which chronicles DMC's discovery that he was adopted and features Sarah McLachlan. The second is for the war commentary "Machine Gun," which features backing vocals from "CSI" star Gary Dourdan, who appears in the video directed by Ondi Timoner, coming off her award-winning documentary, "Dig." ... Mope-master Morrissey is reaching out to the masses to fill them in on the status of his new album, tentatively titled Ringleader of the Tormentors. In a letter posted on fan site True-To-You.net, the Mozzer writes that he is currently mixing the album in Rome with producer Tony Visconti, and that the whole recording process has been "a dazzling experience." He also writes that the first single off Ringleader will be released to radio in the second week of February and that the album will hit stores on March 20. ...

Napster has joined up with Clear Channel Entertainment's Instant Live program to offer new and cataloged live recordings by the likes of Bauhaus, the Allman Brothers Band and the Black Crowes. Instant Live, which records concerts on site for instant purchase, will provide full-length performances that can be purchased, downloaded or streamed as part of the deal. ...

• Madonna
• Ashanti
• Fall Out Boy
• R. Kelly
• Shinedown

Shinedown (file)
Photo: Amy V. Cooper

Some bands write songs about life on the road, others compose entire albums about their travels. After almost two years of nonstop touring, hard-rockers Shinedown are talking like their next disc will be focused on the pavement itself.

"A lot of [our fans] are like, 'What are you going to write about on the next one?' " singer Brent Smith said. "And I'm like, 'White lines going down the road, probably! Lots of trees ...' "

Smith's somewhat unhinged answer is understandable when you consider how much time the band has spent trekking in support of its 2003 debut album, Leave a Whisper. Shinedown have been touring for more 20 months, and they don't plan to stop until they hit the two-year mark.

Despite the exhaustion that naturally follows so much time on a tour bus, Shinedown remain wide-eyed and excited about performing every night.

"We're lucky to do it," said drummer Barry Kerch. "When you get on that stage [everything else] goes away. Every night's a different thing, and whether it's a great show or a not-so-great show, you're still lucky."

That optimism is hard-won for Shinedown, whose frontman has struggled with drugs, alcohol and a rough upbringing (see "Shinedown Can't Ignore Pain — And Don't Think Anyone Should").

"Sometimes you have to pull yourself out of a really dark place," said Smith. "You don't have anyone to blame but yourself if you don't."

Since forming in 2001, Shinedown — which also includes guitarist Jasin Todd and bassist Brad Stewart — have worked to pull themselves up from obscurity, and on this trek the band had the good fortune of touring with 3 Doors Down and Seether, and playing more than a dozen shows with Van Halen.

"We've done so many festivals that we've basically played with any band that's been out in the last five years," Smith said. "We've played with so many different bands that we've really been able to make a lot of friends."

More importantly, Shinedown have expanded their fanbase, and as they've returned to cities throughout their lengthy tour, the band has seen its crowds steadily grow.

"You'll hit a city four and five times over the course of 20 months," said Kerch, "and you see 100 people, 200 people, and then the place is sold out. And you're like, 'Wow, we accomplished something. People are listening in this city.' "

It's the small-town crowds, though, that they enjoy playing for the most.

"They don't get it as much," said Stewart. "They're hungry for it, so the whole town shows up and they just get everything they can possibly get out of the show. A lot of people in bigger cities are jaded and they're kind of standing there waiting like, 'Show me something.' "

After so much time away from the recording studio, the band is starting to think it might be time to show fans something else — like a sophomore album.

"When you think about it," said Smith, "there are some hardcore fans that have been there since day one that have been waiting on a new record for a long time. ...We've been trying so hard to get this record to the masses and the public, and it's not a greedy thing. We just want people to know about the band. But you do have to think about those 250-300,000 [albums] that you first sold, and those people have been waiting a long time. And you definitely don't want to disappoint them."

Shinedown tour dates, according to Atlantic Records:

• 1/13 - Odessa, TX @ Dos Amigos
• 1/14 - Lubbock, TX @ Depot Warehouse
• 1/15 - Amarillo, TX @ Aztec Music Hall
• 1/18 - Houston, TX @ The Meridian
• 1/19 - Baton Rouge, LA @ Varsity Theater
• 1/21 - Wichita, KS @ The Cotillion
• 1/22 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Diamond Ballroom
• 1/23 - Tulsa, OK @ Cain's Ballroom
• 1/25 - Minneapolis, MN @ Quest Club
• 1/26 - Des Moines, IA @ Val Air Ballroom
• 1/28 - Saguet, IL @ Pop's
• 1/29 - Columbia, MO @ The Blue Note
• 1/30 - Memphis, TN @ New Daisy Theatre
• 2/1 - Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
• 2/2 - Jackson, MS @ Headliner's
• 2/4 - Jacksonville, FL @ Plush
• 2/5 - Ft. Myers, FL @ Ricichet's
• 2/7 - Greenville, SC @ The Handlebar
• 2/8 - Knoxville, TN @ Blue Cats
• 2/10 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
• 2/11 - Traverse City, MI @ Streeters
• 2/12 - Flint, MI @ Machine Stop
• 2/13 - Flint, MI @ Machine Stop

• Shinedown

Shinedown (file)
Photo: Atlantic

Many music lovers have considered Lynyrd Skynyrd a guiding light through tough times, a friend with open arms when there's no place else to turn for comfort. Shinedown think of the Southern rock legends as more like family. In fact, if Ronnie Van Zant were alive today, Shinedown guitarist Jasin Todd's 3-year-old daughter would call him Gramps.

The rocker is engaged to Van Zant's daughter, Melody, and the two will marry in October. That explains why Skynyrd helped Todd and singer Brent Smith find musicians when they were working on the demos for their debut album, which was recorded at Made in the Shade, a studio owned by Ronnie's widow, Judy Van Zant. Smith even stayed in Judy's guest house during the recording of what became Shinedown's Leave a Whisper.

Now that Shinedown are making a roar at rock radio with their single "45," the group hopes to pay tribute to the Van Zant family by releasing the Skynyrd song "Simple Man" as the next single. "It's my favorite Lynyrd Skynyrd song," Smith said. "From the first moment I heard it, I thought it would be good to do as a rendition. I felt like we do the song justice, and it represents us as a band and what we're about."

Shinedown played the song for the first time early this year at Judy Van Zant's Freebird Cafe as a nod to the owner for all the help they'd received. It sounded so good that they played it live on the air at WAAF-FM in Boston about a month later. Soon after, the song wound up on the Net, where it's been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times, according to Smith. "We felt the rest of the country might want to hear it," he said, "so me and Jason went to a studio in Orlando and recorded it acoustic."

They also recorded acoustic versions of "45" and "Burning Bright," which may be released along with "Simple Man" later this year. If "Simple Man" is not released as the band's next single, the album track "Burning Bright" likely will be, a record company spokesperson said. "That's a song about triumph in the darkest moments of your life," Smith explained. "It's just about shining and understanding who you are, and accepting you're not perfect but you have to be yourself. It's just about shining through and making sure you believe in yourself."

The theme of hanging on in the face of adversity is a recurring one for Shinedown, and it echoes throughout the video for "45." The clip was shot last month in Los Angeles by Glenn Bennett (Seether, Trapt) for a mere $50,000.

In the video, Smith sulks in existential pain, then his girlfriend enters and tries to ease his sorrow by being affectionate. He rejects her advances and the couple start fighting. Then she throws a fit, flings a vase at his head and storms out. Throughout the clip, Smith gazes at a closed gun box. The ominous tone is heightened by the chorus "Staring down the barrel of a .45." Even so, Smith insists, the song is one of hope.

"By no means does it glorify suicide," he explained. "That's where the significance of the box comes in. I wanted people to understand that the box is never opened. I might have lost the girl, but at the end of it all I'm still there. Basically I wanted to show the struggle between someone contemplating [ending] their life and staying on earth, and how that struggle can absolutely turn people's lives upside-down."

• Shinedown
• Lynyrd Skynyrd

Shinedown
Photo: Atlantic

Songs about suicide and substance abuse may be old hat in the hard rock genre, but Shinedown frontman Brent Smith doesn't write music with an Alice in Chains lyric sheet in one hand and a Staind songbook in the other. For him, pain and self-destruction are universal subjects that can't be ignored.

"It's really important that people realize there is a real world out there no matter what they want to think," he said. "If they want to hide in a fairy tale that's fine, but it will come crashing down on you if you don't understand that life is not perfect and neither is anyone else."

"45," Shinedown's second single from their album Leave a Whisper, is rife with pain. The track is slower and softer than their first radio single, "Fly From the Inside" (see "Shinedown Finally Unzip Their 'Fly,' Leave Listeners Whispering"), starting with an undistorted guitar arpeggio and yearning vocals, then building into a dramatic chorus composed of a crashing beat and sustained power chords. The subject matter, however, is far more sobering, as revealed by the chorus: "I'm staring down the barrel of a .45."

"It's the most personal song on the record," Smith revealed. "It's about an individual who has come to the end of his rope and is trying to decide whether or not they want to continue living."

Smith admits the song was written from personal experience, but says he wasn't the one holding the gun. Other than that, he leaves it to the listener to guess what happened to the tortured subject. And even though the track addresses a serious subject, the singer doesn't view it as a desperate suicide song.

"When I wrote that song I wanted people to understand that it's about hope," Smith said. "I think in a lot of ways, I reach the end of my rope every day, and somehow I regain strength within myself through music and through the people that are surrounding me to go on because I know I'm loved and I know I'm cared for. Even though it can get really, really bad, it's not worth destroying yourself and the people around you because you want to give up."

There have been plenty of times over the last 10 years that Smith wanted to give up. His hard upbringing included drug and alcohol use and a damaging family environment. Instead of whining about the past, however, he confronts it in his music and proves that through perseverance people can overcome almost anything.

"I've seen a lot of crazy things," he said. "One of my friends who was another musician took his own life, and everyone was completely stunned because no one saw it coming. And I've had friends who have had drug overdoses. But that's how you grow up sometimes. I've also had friends who have gone through divorce and addictions and then figured out they didn't want to live their life that way and they rose above it and just went on with their lives."

It's a position Smith often finds himself in. Even though his band has been successful, he still gets depressed and frustrated on a regular basis about the music industry, relationships and his own personal flaws. Strangely, one thing that doesn’t bum him out is being compared to bands like Alice in Chains, Staind and Puddle of Mudd.

"I don't see why anyone would think that would bug me because we're all in the same genre of music," he explained. "If you're going to compare me to bands that have sold a lot of records and have a lot fans, then thank you. I consider that a compliment."

Shinedown are on tour with 3 Doors Down and Seether through November 29 in Tupelo, Mississippi.

• Shinedown

Shinedown
Photo: Atlantic

Jacksonville, Florida's alternative hard rockers Shinedown have a love/hate relationship with their record label.

On the one hand, the company that recently released the group's debut album, Leave a Whisper, has caused the band more pain and frustration than a dozen bee stings. On the flip side, the label inspired the band to create the single "Fly on the Inside," which is getting strong airplay around the country.

The track begins with four bars of a riff that's half-acoustic and half-electric and ends with singer Brent Smith groaning, "The weight of the world on my shoulders." Then the song shifts into a propulsive rocker with Alice in Chains-style vocal harmonies and an arrangement reminiscent of Creed. Had Shinedown's A&R rep not been harassing the musicians to write something that would sound good on radio, the song would never have existed.

"I was at a very, very pressured point when I wrote that song," Smith said. "And that's where the line 'I found a way to steal the sun from the sky/ Long live that day that I decided to fly from the inside' came from. Basically what I'm saying is to not give up. If you have a goal or a dream and it just seems unreachable, that's when you have to go inside of yourself and pull it out."

Here's where the drawbacks of being a product of AOL/Time Warner come in. Shinedown's glossy, commercial hard rock seems kind of dated because many of the songs on Leave a Whisper were written almost three years ago. Between then and now, the group had to play label politics rewriting, tweaking, waiting, talking and waiting some more for the moment of reckoning. The headaches, temper tantrums and battles of will that preceded the album's release contributed significantly to its title.

"Sometimes in your life you work your ass off trying to get ahead and all these things get in the way," Smith said. "We were trying to write songs as vigorously as we could and put them together as honestly and emotionally as we could. And the draining effect of that was enormous. We just had to fight through it and use it as inspiration. The name Leave a Whisper came from that because after you've fought and screamed and argued, when the dust settles, you just leave a whisper and let the music speak for itself."

Two years before he started Shinedown, Smith had a major-label deal with another band he was fronting. But internal tensions and record-company complications caused him to bail on that venture and start Shinedown. He found his bandmates — guitarist Jasin Todd, bassist Brad Stewart and drummer Barry Kerch — banging around the Jacksonville scene and brought them into the fold. The band chose its name from an ordinary incident that took place at Stewart's home.

"Brad has a picture in his house, and it fits so perfectly on this wicked wall of his," Smith said. "One day I was looking at it, and I was like, 'Brad, man. You know what dude? If you had a light that was on top of the picture and it shined down on it, it would look wicked.' And the next day, we were going through band names, and Brad came in and said, 'What about shining down?' That couldn't have been a more perfect name for this band because that's what the music is about. Sometimes you shine and sometimes you're down."

• Shinedown

If you had just awakened from a five-year coma, you could learn an awful lot about modern mainstream hip-hop by listening to the soundtrack to the film "Bad Boys II." The disc, the first P. Diddy offering since his new distribution deal with Universal Records, offers a broad swath of original performances and collaborations. The first single, Jay-Z's "La, La, La," is receiving strong airplay.

Diddy himself surfaces with Lenny Kravitz and Loon on the Neptunes-produced "Show Me Your Soul," with Nelly and Murphy Lee on "Shake Your Tailfeather" and Fat Joe and Dre on "Girl, I'm a Bad Boy." One of the most intriguing cuts is "Realest N---as," which features a recording of the late Notorious B.I.G. matched up with 50 Cent. The album also includes songs by Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Mary J. Blige, Mario Winans and Foxy Brown, Snoop Dogg and others.

A hip-hop heavyweight who didn't contribute to the soundtrack, Ludacris, plays a major role in one of the other top releases of the week, the debut by 23-year-old Chingy, called Jackpot. The disc, the first on Ludacris' Disturbing Tha Peace Records, features production by Trackmasters and cameos by Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, Murphy Lee and DJ Quik. The single "Right Thurr" has been a club hit since last fall and is burning up at radio.

Keith Murray's first album in five years, He's Keith Murray, sees the rapper making a re-entry in grand style. The disc features tracks with Redman, Busta Rhymes and Erick Sermon and five skits with Jamie Foxx.

Cold aren't the only hot hard rock band out of Jacksonville, Florida. A shining beacon on the metal radio landscape, Shinedown offer moody guitar rock that sounds like a hybrid of Creed and Alice in Chains. Their debut, Leave a Whisper, features the single "Fly From the Inside," which is receiving strong support from alternative and active rock radio.

On www.berniewilliams.com, Paul McCartney said this of Yankees star center fielder Bernie Williams' album, The Journey Within: "I was blown away by his talent. Go Bernie. It's a homerun!" The disc's release coincides with the 74th All-Star Game and features jazz and Latin numbers as well as covers of Kansas' "Dust in the Wind" and Billy Joel's "And So It Goes."

Frontman Ken Andrews hopes he has more luck with Year of the Rabbit than he did with his last band, Failure. The group's self-titled debut is a galactic mixture of fist-tight riffs and tuneful vocals reminiscent of a more commercial Queens of the Stone Age. And if it doesn't work out, Andrews can continue his side career as a producer, working with bands like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, A Perfect Circle and Tenacious D.

GWAR frontman Dave Brockie's second solo disc from DBX, Songs for the Wrong, follows up his 2001 album, Diarrhea of a Madman. Long Island alt-rockers Diffuser present their sophomore disc, Making the Grade. The My Bloody Valentine-influenced group Medicine return from an eight-year absence with the noise-tinged pop album The Mechanical Forces of Love. And Pearl Jam pal Pete Droge releases his fourth rootsy rock album, Skywatching.

Here's the full rundown of what's coming out this week:

Out Tuesday, July 15:

• Beehive & the Barracudas - In Dark Love (Swami)
• Si Begg - Director’s Cut (novamute)
• Brainstorm - Soul Temptation (Metal Blade)
• Dave Brockie Experience - Songs for the Wrong (Metal Blade)
• Bukshot - They Still Don’t Love Me (Pale Horse/Mob Style)
• Cheap Sex Launch - Off to War (Punkcore)
• Chingy - Jackpot (Capitol) Read: "Chingy Set To Hit The Jackpot With Ludacris, Murphy Lee"
  Buy Now: Jackpot (Capitol)
  
• Cranes - Live in Italy (Instinct)
• Rob Crow - My Room Is a Mess (Absolutely Kosher)
• Deadweight - Stroking the Moon (Alternative Tentacles)
• Diffuser - Making the Grade (Hollywood)
• Pete Droge - Skywatching (United Musicians)
• Evil Jake - Be My Ex-Girlfriend (Evil)
• The Fondas - Coming Now! (Sympathy for the Record Industry)
• Friends Forever - Killball (Load)
• Honeyrider - All Systems Go (Orange Sky)
• The Incredible Moses Leroy - Become the Soft.Lightes (Ultimatum)
• Left Front Tire - 42 Ways to Lose a Friend (Yep Roc)
• Lordz of Brooklyn - Graffiti Roc (Tunnelvizion)
• Medicine - The Mechanical Forces of Love (Wall of Sound/Astralwerks)
• The Methadones - Career Objective (Thick)
• Keith Murray - He's Keith Murray (Def Jam)
• Nicotine - School of Liberty (Asian Man)
• Patrick Park - Loneliness Knows My Name (Hollywood)
• Pole - Pole (Mute)
• RX Bandits The Resignation (Drive-Thru/MCA)
• Shinedown - Leave a Whisper (Atlantic)
• Chris Standring - Groovalicious (Pyramid Media)
• Throwdown - Haymaker (Trustkill)
• Tokyo Rose - Reinventing a Lost Art (SideCho)
• Twisted Method - Escape From Cape Coma (MCA)
• Warlord - And the Cannons of Destruction (Metal Blade)
• Bernie Williams - The Journey Within (GRP)
• Year of the Rabbit - Year of the Rabbit (Elektra)
• Various Artists - Across 155th St. - The EBC/Rucker Park Soundtrack (DreamWorks)
• Various Artists - Pure Trance 2 (Water Music)
• Original Soundtrack - Bad Boys II (Bad Boy) Read: "50 Cent, Biggie, Justin Timberlake On 'Bad Boys 2' Soundtrack"
• Original Soundtrack - Hip Hop Story (Pyramid Media)
• Original Soundtrack - Johnny English (Decca)

July 22:

• Jane's Addiction - Strays (Capitol)
  Read: "Jane's Addiction Breathe, Gush And Pump All Over Hypersonic"
  Buy Now: Strays (Capitol)
  
• Kiss - Symphony: Alive IV (Sanctuary)
  Buy Now: Symphony: Alive IV (Sanctuary)
  

August 5:

• Various artists - The Neptunes Present: Clones (Arista)
  Read: "Summer Music Preview: Neptunes' Star Trak Presents ... Clones"

August 19:

• Tamia - Still (Elektra)

September 2:

• Mariah Carey - Remixes (Sony)

• Jay-Z
• Chingy
• Keith Murray
• Bernie Williams
• Shinedown

MTV.com Exclusive: Shinedown Photos 11.16.2005

• Shinedown

Shinedown live at Buzzfest in Houston TX 10.30.2004

• Shinedown

MTV.com Exclusive: Shinedown Photos 12.09.2004

• Shinedown

Shinedown live at the Voodoo Music Festival in New Orleans, LA 10.17.2004

• Shinedown

Shinedown live at Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ October 17, 2003

• Shinedown