"It just felt it was right again," frontman Damon Albarn told NME. "It somehow feels like there's something for us to do again, we're not completely useless or pointless, we've got a reason to exist."

While Britney Spears tops the chart with the latest in her string of comeback albums (details), Axl Rose has good reason to be crying in the December Rain. Guns N' Roses "Chinese Democracy" looks like its exiting the US Top 10 after just one week. Hitsdailydouble.com is estimating that the album will sell around 80,000 units this week in America, and with 69.42% of the week's sales counted, has the album projected for number 12. more. So much for that online promo company that was hired to (mis)market it!

Outkast's Andre "Andre 3000" Benjamin, along with the Cartoon Network and Turner Broadcasting, is being sued for $2 million in damages by a Boston postal worker who claims they ripped off his idea for an animated series about a group of young musicians and aired it as "Class of 3000."more.

DMX is back behind bars. X was apprehended in Florida today, just days after a bench warrant was issued for his arrest after the rapper missed a court appearance last Friday in Arizona, reports TMZ. more

Paul McCartney has denied that a track from "Electric Arguments" was pinched from an old blues song, reports NME.com at Abbeyrd's Beatles Page first made you aware of this issue on Nov. 29 and Nov. 30. In the album liner notes for "Electric Arguments," Paul acknowledged the Blind Willie Johnson blues song "Let Your Light Shine On Me" had inspired EA's "Light >From Your Lighthouse." But, as they told NME, "It's true that The Fireman used the Blind Willie Johnson track as inspiration for our own song," they said. "His is a traditional song and this is not the first time an artist has made their own version using such a traditional song."

After much speculation, it has been confirmed that The Roots are indeed the house band for Jimmy Fallon's new NBC talk show, which will replace Late Night With Conan O'Brienmore

Bob Marley's Yamaha SG 1000 electric was a big scoop for Christie's latest pop culture auction. Along with John Lennon's Vox organ and Kurt Cobain's bass, the guitar was expected to fetch $30,000 - $40,000 on 24 November. Now, Aston Barrett � bassist and founding member of Bob Marley And The Wailers � has filed a lawsuit claiming the axe was his. more

With the Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious arriving in theaters next month, Sean "Diddy" Combs has been involved in the soundtrack, but not the film itself. Speaking to MTV News, he said that he recently saw the finished film and approves of the story of Biggie's life, as well as his own portrayal. more

And You Will Know Us By Our Silly Long Name[a.k.a. Trail of Dead] has put the finishing touches on its next album, "The Century of Self," which is due Feb. 17. It will be the first release on the band's Richter Scale imprint in conjunction with Justice Records. more

Helmet has announced January and February 2009 European tour dates with Oakland's Totimoshi more

Unearth will headline the Massachusetts Winter Meltdown Fest on January 31st, 2009 with special guests Every Time I Die, Sick Of It All, Emmure, Since The Flood (original lineup), Impending Doom and Born Of Osiris. more

The Honorary Title have recorded a 4-song Christmas EP in just two days in the back of an elementary school. Dan Myers, a touring member of Adam Greene and Guster, produced the project as well as contributing by playing horns on the EP. The opening track, "City on Christmas" is currently streaming at www.myspace.com/thehonorarytitle.

Mikoto has announced the departure of Matt Moody (guitar/vocals), Kelly Orr (bass), and Max Cuzor (drums), who are all leaving the group to focus on their pop outfit, Teen Hearts.more

Epic president Charlie Walk will exit his post at the end of the month, sources tell Billboard. His future plans have not yet been revealed.more

Take the Blue Screen of Death With You! Is the much-rumored Zune phone finally to see the light of day? A report in Barrons' cites Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research predicting that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will unveil a device combining the Zune music player with the recently-acquired Danger Sidekick during his Jan. 7 keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show. more

Mariah Carey: The Ballads will be released on January 20, 2009.

Dates have been announced Meshuggah's forthcoming North American tour with Cynic and The Faceless. Grab the latest (two additional shows will be announced) right here

Today marks the airing of the second episode of Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... The guests for this week are Lou Reed and director Julian Schnabel. highlights

Billboard Magazine named Leona Lewis the Top New Artist of the Year in 2008. This news follows last week's announcement of her 3 Grammy Award nominations for Record of the Year ("Bleeding Love"), Pop Vocal Performance ("Bleeding Love"), and Best Pop Album (Spirit). Also this week, Leona celebrates breaking another music business record with her new UK single "Run" (a cover of the Snow Patrol song), hitting #1 and becoming the fastest selling digital release ever.

Warped Tour's Kevin Lyman recently spoke to Tom Rowles of NotMTV about the forthcoming 2009 of the long-running tour. Kevin is promising forty minute sets rather than the traditional thirty minute runs. The show will feature less stages - just one main stage. more details and some lineup announcements

In a statement released on Tuesday, the band responded to a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by guitarist Joe Satriani last week in federal court in Los Angeles. That lawsuit says the Grammy-nominated song contains "substantial, original portions" of his 2004 song, "If I Could Fly."

"Chi remains in a coma, and as of this morning there's been no significant change in his condition. Last week he was moved out of the Intensive Care Unit and transferred to a brain rehabilitation hospital in Northern California.

The block has also meant that millions of users in the UK are now unable to edit the encyclopaedia's pages. Commenting for the first time since most internet service providers in Britain blocked part or all of Wikipedia, Wales told Channel 4 News, "My first thoughts when I was told that the IWF had blocked the Wikipedia page was that we should take them to court. But because they're not a statutory body, I've been told we can't necessarily challenge their decision."

Ben saw the article last week about film-maker Eddie Martin's plans to make a movie about the AC/DC singer.

The group was formed in 2000 while Keenan had time off from TOOL, but which has been inactive since 2004. However, Keenan revealed that the band might just post a couple of new songs online instead of doing an entire album. "I doubt if we'll do any touring or, you know, do a full album," he said.

Chris Baker, Travis Barker's best friend and assistant, died in the private jet crash last September. His wife, Otilia Villar Baker and son Sebastian, claim in a lawsuit filed today in L.A. County Superior Court that the pilots "negligently decided to abort and/or reject the takeoff." In other words, the lawsuit claims the proper procedure should have been to take off with the ruptured tire/tires.

"I've just been gone too damn much lately and if I hadn't spent so much time on the road in recent years...coupled with having three kids (come January) then I'd still be out on the road in the new year. It's just that the rate that NIN has been touring...is something that I can't keep up with right now. My kids need their Dad around and I want to be around for them.

Their self-titled debut album will be released on January 20 via ATO Records. Fiction Family will kick off a 21-date nationwide tour beginning January 13 in Ann Arbor, MI.

If successful, some analysts believe a similar model could be adopted to 'monetise' piracy across the entire internet. The university idea is that a portion of students' tuition fees would be taken by a non-profit organisation (a royalty collection society in the same vein as ASCAP or the UK's PRS) and divvied out to copyright owners. Students would then be able to continue using filesharing networks to download music without fear of legal action.