Kid Rock
Photo: Rick Diamond/ WireImage

This may not come as much of a surprise, but Kid Rock isn't exactly the biggest fan of following the rules.

So when it came time to release the third single off his Rock N Roll Jesus album, he decided to forego conventional wisdom, ignoring the most popular singles medium out there — a little thing called "digital" — and opting instead to simply push the tune to radio stations. And just why did he choose to do this? Well, because he's Kid Rock, that's why.

"I've always had a problem with people telling me, 'Oh, you have to do this because you have to do it,' " laughed Rock, who was just announced as a performer at this year's VMAs. "So when everyone was telling me that I had to release my single on iTunes because they own the market and that's just what you've gotta do these days, I decided that I wasn't going to do it. My whole career, I've done that. Whenever everyone's headed in the same direction, I turn around and run the other way."

Essentially, by saying no to iTunes, Rock made it impossible for fans to download "All Summer Long." He was instead betting on the fact that most people would be willing to shell out $15 for a copy of his album in order to own the song. It was a risky move, but in the end, it paid off. Jesus, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard albums chart back in October but had all but disappeared from the top 200, rocketed back into the top 10, and has sold more than 1.3 million copies so far. And "All Summer Long" continues to be a beast on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, thanks mainly to its near-constant radio play. And while most artists would spend every waking minute trumpeting successes like these, Rock is doing quite the opposite.

"This whole thing wasn't some attempt to change the way the industry works or some sh-- like that. It was basically me knowing I had a good song, one that people would love when they heard it," he explained. "I mean, people say iTunes is popular because it's convenient, but so is McDonald's — that don't mean people aren't still making reservations to go eat at fancy restaurants too.

"I knew the track was solid — it's got two of the best songs of all time mashed up together [Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Sweet Home Alabama' and Warren Zevon's 'Werewolves of London'], it's got great melodies, so really, my work was done," he continued. "I knew people would hear it and know I wrote it. They'd know it was real, and there'd be that connection. And that's what's missing in music today. I think people don't believe half the sh-- they hear some rapper or some pop girl singing about ... but with me, they do. And that's why people have reacted the way they have to the song."

Of course, it doesn't hurt that the song is a totally killer summer anthem — a nostalgic celebration of sun-drenched days and beery evenings that just so happens to sound great on sun-drenched days and beery evenings — or that Rock is promoting the tune the old-fashioned way; by touring the bejeezus out of it alongside one of its progenitors, the almighty Skynyrd. It's an old-school formula for success — one that the notably old-school Rock finds remarkably refreshing, given the times in which we live.

"I think today everyone's worried about looking cool, about over-thinking everything, about all this bullsh--. If Jesus Christ were to come back tomorrow and forgive our sins, I feel like the first blogger who wrote about it would say something like, 'Oh, Jesus Christ is a douche bag,' " he laughed. "I just think that's a waste of time, and I think a lot of other people do too. I just want to have fun, enjoy life and have a good time. And I think there's a lot of people out there who are just like me."

And while he's sticking with that line of reasoning, if prodded, Rock will finally admit to enjoying the success of "Summer," if only because it stands as one giant middle finger to an industry that counted him out and called him crazy. And why does he feel this way? Because he's Kid Rock, that's why.

"I keep saying I wasn't trying to reinvent the wheel. I just knew I had a great song that flew in the face of everything you hear on the radio or in pop music. Basically, all pop music is now just bad rap songs, or like, Mariah Carey or girl pop, so this song is really a breath of fresh air," he said. "People wanted to tell me how to release it, or that I was making a huge mistake by choosing to ignore iTunes and all that, but I've always known I can say 'F--- you' to the best of 'em, and I have done just that, many times before. And I'm sure I'll do it many times again."

• Kid Rock
• Mariah Carey
• Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Warren Zevon

John Mayer
Photo: Danny Clinch

John Mayer wasn't kidding when he named his new album Heavier Things. The singer/songwriter's second LP will outweigh all others on next week's Billboard albums chart.

With the force of the single "Bigger Than My Body" behind him, the troubadour moved more than 316,000 copies of the album last week, according to SoundScan, to best the closest competition, Hilary Duff, by more than 200,000 copies.

Prior to the album's release, Mayer wasn't sure how the album would be received, though at least it passed muster with his toughest critic, himself.

"There are no punches that are pulled on this record," he said. "So I don't know if it's a one-star record, I don't know if it's a five-star record. I don't know if on [the day the album comes out] I should have the car running and be ready to drive up to Canada, find a little cabin and just give it up. But what I do know is that at every turn of this record, I felt like I was doing something right."

Comparatively, Mayer's last album, Room for Squares, took roughly nine months to even crack the top 200. And then it went on to sell more than 3 million copies, so Heavier Things has its work cut out for it.

Former king of the mountain Duff's Metamorphosis sold 107,000 copies to retain high placement three weeks after its release.

Seal's first album in five years, Seal IV, will make a strong first-week showing, landing at #3. After such a lengthy drought, "Get It Together" must have helped the fanbase of the former Sealhenry Samuel to keep it together to the tune of more than 81,000 copies sold.

Mary J. Blige's Love & Life moving from #2 to #8 (59,000) is the largest variation in the top 10. In its third week out, weekly sales of Blige's sixth album dropped by nearly 50,000 copies.

With the exception of the two debuts, every other album in the top 10 also took a significant dip in weekly sales. Alan Jackson's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 moves a spot lower to #4 (more than 79,000 copies sold); Beyoncé's Dangerously in Love does the same to #5 (74,000); The Neptunes Present ... Clones holds at #6 (60,000) and cracks the half-million mark in total sales; Evanescence's Fallen, among the chart's most stubborn after 28 weeks among the best-sellers, drops two spots to #7 (60,000); Chingy's Jackpot descends by two steps to #9 (58,000); and the "Bad Boys II" soundtrack slips a notch to #10 (53,000).

Last week's deaths of two greats, Warren Zevon and Johnny Cash, renewed awareness in both artists, which translated to a boost in their album sales. Zevon's 3-week-old The Wind will move up 28 spots to #12 with an almost 25,000-copy increase in weekly sales. Further down the chart, Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon re-enters the top 200 at #168, 10 months after its release.

Since Cash passed on Friday, only three days of shopping helped his latest album, American IV: The Man Comes Around, jump from #94 to #22, goosed by a 24,000-copy increase. A reissue of The Essential Johnny Cash also resurfaced at #130, with more than 8,300 in sales last week.

Thanks to a single featuring the Clipse, "Quarterbackin'," Bay Area veteran E-40 takes over the #16 spot with his eighth album, Breakin News. Heavy metal icons Iron Maiden's latest LP, and second since the return of singer Bruce Dickinson, Dance of Death, debuts with a #18 placement.

Other notable debuts on next week's chart include the soundtrack to "The Fighting Temptations," featuring contributions from the film's star, Beyoncé, at #39; skate punks Pennywise's From the Ashes at #54; mostly bearded Texas rockers ZZ Top's Mescalero at #57; spastic party animal Andrew W.K.'s The Wolf at #61; metal-tinged screamers From Autumn to Ashes' Fiction We Live at #73; metalheads Spineshank's Self-Destructive Pattern at #89; and Southern sad sacks My Morning Jacket's It Still Moves at #121.

• John Mayer
• Hilary Duff
• Seal
• Mary J. Blige
• Warren Zevon

Warren Zevon
Photo: Artemis

More than a year after being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, singer/songwriter Warren Zevon, age 56, died in his sleep on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, according to his label, Artemis Records.

The acerbic singer with the raw voice and an often cynical view on modern life released his final album, The Wind, two weeks ago. Recorded with an all-star cast of friends following his diagnosis last August, the album, which entered the charts at #16, was his highest charting effort in more than 25 years, according to Billboard magazine. Among the high-profile guests on the album are Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Tom Petty, Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, the Eagles’ Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit.

Much has been made of the fact that Zevon was the rare popular musician who had the chance to write his own musical epitaph. The singer, a longtime smoker whose logo was a skull with a cigarette dangling from its jaws, was often weak during the sessions, but was determined to finish the album.

But rather than record a maudlin goodbye, Zevon penned a touching tribute to past loves and the fading of the light, accepting his fate gracefully and with his typical wit, spirit and eloquence. In the opening lines to the album’s first song, "Dirty Life and Times," he sings, "Some days I feel like my shadow’s casting me/ Some days the sun don’t shine/ Sometimes I wonder what tomorrow’s gonna bring/ When I think about my dirty life and times."

Born on January 24, 1947 in Chicago to a father who was a professional gambler, Zevon lived a peripatetic life as a kid, moving across the country from California to Arizona and, along the way, picking up the classical piano as a diversion from his parents' divorce. Zevon moved to New York at 16 with hopes of becoming a folk singer, but met with little success and returned to California, where he recorded as part of a duo named Lyme & Cybelle. He released his solo debut, Wanted — Dead or Alive, in 1969, which was met with little fanfare, forcing him to return to writing advertising jingles and working as a session musician.

He played piano with the Everly Brothers for a time and took an extended sabbatical in Spain before returning to Los Angeles in 1975 to record his 1976 self-titled album, produced by friend and fellow singer/songwriter, Jackson Browne. Excitable Boy, released in 1978, got Zevon on the mainstream map with his most popular song, "Werewolves of London." Like so many of Zevon's most beloved tunes ("Excitable Boy," "Play It All Night Long," "Lawyers, Guns and Money," "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me"), "Werewolves" showcased the singer's mix of cynicism, literary knowledge and dark, satirical humor.

After a period of inactivity due to treatment for alcoholism, Zevon returned sober and full of his signature skepticism to record a 1987 album with the members of R.E.M., Sentimental Hygiene. Another set from those same sessions was released three years later under the name Hindu Love Gods.

After 1995's poorly received Mutineer, the singer took nearly five years off before releasing 2000’s Life'll Kill Ya and last year’s My Ride’s Here, which featured a guest appearance from talk show host and longtime friend David Letterman.

In August 2002, several months after the album’s release, Zevon was diagnosed with mesothelioma, an inoperable form of lung cancer (see "Singer Warren Zevon Terminally Ill").

At the time, he said in a typically dark official statement, "I'm okay with it, but it'll be a drag if I don't make it till the next James Bond movie comes out."

In a clear allusion to his state of health and a nod to his gallows sense of humor, Zevon covered Bob Dylan’s "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" on The Wind. Imbuing the often recorded rock classic with a new sense of desperation mixed with a cocky acceptance, Zevon ad libbed the lines "open up, open up, open up."

He closed the album with the heartfelt "Keep Me in Your Heart," a sedate acoustic ballad in which the singer, known for his jaundiced view of the world, bid a loving, emotional farewell. "Shadows are falling and I’m running out of breath/ Keep me in your heart for a while/ If I leave you it doesn’t mean I love you any less/Keep me in your heart for a while."

• Warren Zevon

Who better to talk about Love & Life than Mary J. Blige? And who better to take the reins on the new album than P. Diddy, the producer responsible for getting Mary's career off the ground more than a decade ago? That's not the only reunion on Love & Life — the single "Love @ 1st Sight" features one of Blige's best-remembered collaborators, Method Man. But this record isn't just a rehashing of Blige's former formulae: She's got new blood in the form of 50 Cent on "Let Me Be the 1" and Eve on "Not Today."

Warren Zevon's The Wind was recorded after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer (see "Singer Warren Zevon Terminally Ill") and features special guests Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Tom Petty, Jackson Browne and Dwight Yoakam. In a clear allusion to his state of health, Zevon covers "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and closes the album with the ballad "Keep Me in Your Heart."

Metamorphosis, the sweet-rock debut LP by actress Hilary Duff, features the single "So Yesterday," written and produced by the Matrix. Meanwhile, Phish bassist Mike Gordon, fresh off of his backstage misunderstanding involving a 9-year-old girl and his subsequent arrest for child endangerment (see "Phish Bassist Arrested For Child Endangerment" ), makes the news for a more pleasant reason this week: his new album, Inside In.

The Bronx, a California foursome who were both formed and signed within nine months, release their self-titled debut alongside rapstress 24K's album Quotable and Brookville's Wonderfully Nothing, which features James Iha.

The Nappy Roots return with their second major-label album, Wooden Leather, and the lead single "Roun' the Globe," which is their attempt to show the world they're not Kentucky-fried country bumpkins. But rather, we all are.

Out Tuesday, August 26:

• 24K - Quotable (Madd)
• Gary Anglin and the Voices of CCC - Gary Anglin and the Voices of CCC (Eagle)
• Art Ensemble of Chicago - Tribute to Lester (ECM)
• Ben Atkins - Mabelle (HighTone)
• Avenged Sevenfold - Waking the Fallen (Hopeless)
• Mary J. Blige - Love & Life (Geffen)
  Read: "Mary J. Blige: Love Of My Life"
  Buy Now: Love & Life (Geffen)
  
• Joe Bonamassa - Blues Deluxe (Medalist)
• Boo & Gotti - Perfect Timing (Universal)
• Bouncing Souls - Anchors Aweigh (Epitaph)
• Rick Braun - Esperanto (Warner Bros.)
• Bright Calm Blue - Direct Approach for Casual Conversation (EP, Level Plane)
• The Bronx - The Bronx (White Drugs/Ferret)
• Brookville - Wonderfully Nothing (Unfiltered)
• The Business - Hardcore Hooligan (BYO)
• Michel Camilo - Live at the Blue Note (2 CDs, Telarc Jazz)
• Caribbean Jazz Project - Birds of a Feather (Concord Picante)
• John Carty - At It Again (Shanachie)
• Tommy Castro/Lloyd Jones/Jimmy Hall - Triple Trouble (Telarc)
• The Chesterfield Kings - The Mindbending Sounds of ... (Sundazed)
• Clearlake - Almost the Same (EP, Domino)
• Client - Client (Mute/Toast Hawaii)
• Dressy Bessy - Dressy Bessy (Kindercore)
• Hilary Duff - Metamorphosis (Buena Vista)
  Read: "Hilary Duff: Not Just For Kids"
  Buy Now: Metamorphosis (Disney)
  
• Envy - A Dead Sinking Story (Level Plane)
• Forty Foot Echo - Forty Foot Echo (Hollywood)
• Ghazal - The Rain (ECM)
• Scott Gibson - Make Ready (Hayden's Ferry)
• Glasseater - Everything Is Beautiful When You Don't Look Down (Victory)
• Mike Gordon - Inside In (Ropeadope/Atlantic)
• Growing - The Sky's Run Into the Sea (Kranky)
• Hamell on Trial - Tough Love (Righteous Babe)
• The Havoc - Our Rebellion Has Just Begun (Punkcore)
• The Heavenly States - Heavenly States (Future Farmer)
• Hella - Total Bugs Bunny on Wild Bass (EP, Narnack)
• Hot Shots - Jubilee (Sundazed)
• Stacey Kent - The Boy Next Door (Candid)
• Bill Mallonee - Perfumed Letter (Paste)
• T.S. Monk - Higher Ground (Thelonious/Hyena)
• Joye B. Moore - The Cocoon (Moore Music/Lightyear)
• Nappy Roots - Wooden Leather (Atlantic)
  Read: "Nappy Roots Out To Show They're Not Just Country Boys"
  Buy Now: Wooden Leather (Atlantic)
  
• Aaron Neville - Nature Boy: The Standards Album (Verve)
• Overseer - Wreckage (Columbia)
• Pedal Steel Transmission - The Angel of the Squared Circle (Cardboard Sangria)
• Pepe Deluxe - Beatitude (Emperor Norton)
• Pigeon John - Is Dating Your Sister (Basement)
• Po' Girl - Po' Girl (HighTone)
• Pro-Pain - Run for Cover (Spitfire)
• Radio 4 - Electrify (EP, Astralwerks)
• Josh Rouse - 1972 (Rykodisc)
• Eric Sardinas - Black Pearls (Favored Nations)
• Simply Red - Home (SimplyRed.com)
• Soundtrak - Soundtrak (EP, Ace-Fu)
• Streetlight Manifesto - Everything Goes Numb (Victory)
• Jimmy Sturr - Let's Polka 'Round (Rounder)
• The Talk - No, You Shut Up! (MoRisen)
• Vaz - Dying to Meet You (Gold Standard Laboratories)
• Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site (Epitaph)
• Keller Williams - Home (SCI Fidelity)
• Pamela Williams - The Perfect Love (Shanachie)
• Gerald Wilson - New York, New Sound (Mack Avenue)
• Warren Zevon - The Wind (Artemis)
• Various artists - Exile on Blues Street (Telarc)
• Various artists - The Future Is My Melody (Den of Thieves/Milan)
• Various artists - "Jeepers Creepers 2" soundtrack (Varese Sarabande)
• Various artists - "Sweet Charity" soundtrack (Decca)
• Various artists - Uncorrupted Steel 2 (Metal Blade)
• Various artists- Verve Remixed 2 (Verve)
• DVD Atomic Kitten - Right Here, Right Now: Live (Eagle Vision)
• DVD Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - God Is in the House (Mute)
• DVD Cher - The Farewell Tour (Image Entertainment)
• DVD Sinéad O'Connor - Goodnight, Thank You. You've Been a Lovely Audience (Eagle Vision)

September 2:

• Mariah Carey - Remixes (Sony)
• Raveonettes- Chain Gang of Love (Sony)

September 9:

• John Mayer - Heavier Things (Sony)
  Read: "John Mayer Tries Hip-Hop With Help From Roots' ?uestlove"
  Buy Now: Heavier Things (Sony)
  
• Seal - Seal (Warner Bros.)

September 16:

• Elvis Costello - North (Universal)
• Bubba Sparxxx - Deliverance (Interscope)
  Read: "Bubba Sparxxx Softens Bumpkin Image, Teams Up With Justin For A 'Hootnanny' "
  
• Carnie Wilson - For the First Time (KMA)

October 7:

• Jin - Almost Famous (Virgin)
  Read: "Ruff Ryders' New Dog: Jin"

• Mary J. Blige
• Nappy Roots
• Hilary Duff
• Warren Zevon
• Mike Gordon

Warren Zevon
Photo: Publicity

Acerbic singer/songwriter Warren Zevon has been diagnosed with an advanced, untreatable case of lung cancer. The 55-year-old "Werewolves of London" singer learned of the diagnosis in August and has perhaps as little as two months left to live, according to his spokesperson.

"I'm okay with it, but it'll be a drag if I don't make it till the next James Bond movie comes out," Zevon said in a typically dark official statement. The Chicago-born singer, who quit a lifelong smoking habit eight years ago, has split his time since the diagnosis between hanging out with his two adult children and recording as many songs as he can.

Zevon's most recent album, 2002's My Ride's Here, was highlighted by collaborations with his literary friend and fishing pal, Carl Hiaasen, as well as contributions from writers Paul Muldoon, Mitch Albom and Hunter S. Thompson and backing vocals from TV host David Letterman, who shouts encouragement on the song "Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)." His previous album, 2000's Life'll Kill Ya, which, like many of his releases, featured Zevon's signature logo — a skull with a cigarette dangling from its mouth — ended with the somber ballad "Don't Let Us Get Sick."

On that track, Zevon sings, "Don't let us get sick/ Don't let us get old/ Don't let us get stupid, all right?/ Just make us brave."

Zevon's first album, Wanted Dead or Alive, was released in 1969 and it was followed by a self-titled album in l976, produced by Jackson Browne. Excitable Boy, released in 1978, got Zevon on the mainstream map with his most popular song, "Werewolves of London." Like so many of Zevon's most beloved tunes ("Excitable Boy," "Play It All Night Long," "Lawyers, Guns and Money," "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me"), "Werewolves" showcased the singer's mix of cynicism, literary knowledge and dark, satirical humor.

After a period of inactivity due to treatment for alcoholism, Zevon recorded an album with the members of R.E.M. in 1987, Sentimental Hygiene, with another set from those same sessions released three years later under the name Hindu Love Gods. After 1995's poorly received Mutineer, the singer took nearly five years off before releasing Life'll Kill Ya.

Zevon was slated to perform on Letterman's show in October to promote the upcoming 22-track Rhino Records career retrospective, Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon, due October 15, but it is unknown if he will be able to make the appearance due to the state of his health.

• Warren Zevon