Britney Spears leads the list of nominees for the 4th annual Teen Choice Awards with five: Best Actress in a Drama/Action Adventure and Best Chemistry (with Anson Mount) for "Crossroads," Best Single for "I'm a Slave 4 U," Best Female Artist and Female Hottie. Usher, Pink, Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys, Shakira, No Doubt, Mandy Moore and Ludacris will also compete for multiple awards at the ceremony, which will air August 19 on Fox. ...

O-Town have bumped the release date for O2 to August 6. The pop favorites are premiering new songs such as "I Showed Her," produced by Shep Crawford (Whitney Houston) and "From the Damage," co-written by the group's Ashley Angel, on the Sneak Preview Tour, which hits Salisbury, Maryland, June 5 and ends June 23 in Charlotte, North Carolina. ...

Napster filed for bankruptcy protection Monday (June 3), nearly three weeks after the file-sharing service announced it was selling its assets to Bertelsmann for $8 million. Napster's software had been disabled since July, and it was attempting to launch a new, subscription-based service when it filed for its financial safeguard. ...

DJ Shadow has dropped off this year's Smokin' Grooves Tour (Outkast, Lauryn Hill, the Roots) because of scheduling conflicts. Shadow will now play a run of headlining club dates in the U.S. before heading to Japan, and the Grooves Tour will proceed as planned, starting July 18 in Mountain View, California, and running through August 7 in Atlanta. ...

Hatebreed's "I Will Be Heard" will serve double-duty as the single from both the group's latest album, Perseverance, and the soundtrack to the forthcoming Vin Diesel/Samuel L. Jackson flick "XXX." Other bands featured on the soundtrack, which hits shelves August 6, include Rammstein and Orbital, who both have cameos in the film. ...

Former Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the New York College of Health Professions in Syossett, New York, at the school's graduation ceremony Tuesday. Snider, who does voice-overs for MSNBC and hosts a morning radio show on a Hartford, Connecticut, radio station as well as the syndicated show "House of Hair," is being honored for his public stance against music censorship in the 1980s. ...

Stereomud are currently in a Los Angeles studio with producer John Travis working on the follow-up to their 2001 debut, Perfect Self. Tentative song titles include "Drop Down," "Anything but Jesus," "Control Freak" and "Show Me." ...

5.31.02

"How High" co-stars Method Man and Redman have signed on for another fish-out-of-water movie for Universal Pictures, this time playing undercover cops who investigate a drug ring. The script is still being written by Don Scott, who co-wrote "Barbershop," the upcoming comedy starring Ice Cube and Eve. ... Members of Naughty By Nature past and present once handed down the credo to "guard your grill, knuckle up," and Wednesday they had to follow their own mantra, according to sources within NBN's camp — during a live appearance on New York radio station Hot 97, Treach urged former Naughty producer and DJ, Kay Gee, to meet him at an undisclosed location and handle their differences. The two came to blows later that day, and although police were called to the scene to calm things down, no one was arrested. ...

Billy Corgan collaborated on the song "Sacred and Profane" for Berlin's first studio album since 1986's Count Three and Pray. Due September 3, Voyeur blends Berlin's signature new wave with the pop balladry of their biggest hit, "Take My Breath Away." ... Garbage drummer Butch Vig, who suffered a bout of hepatitis A last November, is down in the dumps again. Vig, suffering from an acute inner ear infection, had had to drop off the band's U.S. tour and has been temporarily replaced with Matt Chamberlain. ... Asesino, the band featuring Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares and Static-X bassist Tony Campos will open for Static-X on the Puro Marano Tour. The nine-show trek starts June 7 in Houston, and the last date is June 28 in Ventura, California. ...

Silverchair have had to cancel all upcoming tour plans, including 14 North American dates, because frontman Daniel Johns' reactive arthritis, which was diagnosed late last year, has left him too disabled to perform. Though the condition is causing him chronic joint swelling, impaired movement and extreme pain, doctors expect him to eventually make a full recovery. ... Natalie Merchant is asking high school students to submit 1,000-word essays for a contest that will coincide with her summer tour with Chris Isaak. Details on the "My Generation" theme contest, which has a June 20 deadline and a $2,500 grand prize, are available at www.nataliemerchant.com. ... Former Weezer bassist Matt Sharp scheduled a performance for Saturday at Chispa Studios in Los Angeles. ...

Def Leppard have set a July 30 release date for their 10th studio album, X. The British rockers collaborated on the new material with longtime producer Pete Woodruffe, Marty Frederickson (Aerosmith) and Andreas Carlsson and Per Aldeheim (Britney Spears). ... Deathray, a quartet composed of former Cake members Greg Brown, Victor Damiani and, most recently, Todd Roper, will release the five-track EP White Sleeves June 11. The group, which also includes singer Dana Gumbiner, will support the follow-up to their 2000 eponymous debut with a handful of West Coast tour dates that begin June 20 in Los Angeles. ... To coincide with their latest world tour, the Rolling Stones are re-releasing 22 classic albums on August 20 in the new dual-layer hybrid Super Audio CD format, which can be spun on both SACD machines and regular CD players. The material was all originally released between 1963 and 1971. ...

Cathedral will head into the studio July 1 to record their new album, Songs of Praise. ... Engorged's new, self-titled album hit stores June 4. ... Death metal band Marduk had to pull from their upcoming tour with Danzig due to problems with immigration. ... Downthesun, the first signing to Slipknot's now-defunct Maggot Records label, has signed with Roadrunner Records. ... Shadows Fall will tour with Kittie, Poison the Well and Killswitch Engage. ... Due to the declining relevance of singles as a format, Billboard announced that its Hot Rap Singles chart, which depended heavily on sales and therefore was often skewed by obscure independents, will be replaced with the Hot Rap Tracks chart. The new chart will lean more on radio airplay with the intention of more accurately reflecting the most popular rap songs in the country. ...

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