No Doubt Return to the Studio, Trent Reznor Disses Smashing Pumpkins Reunion, AC/DC P

August 25, 2007, 03:34 AM

• Three-quarters of No Doubt are hard at work in the studio, blueprinting the rough tracks that will become the band's first album since 2001's Rock Steady. The absent fourth, singer Gwen Stefani, is currently touring in support of The Sweet Escape. The band anticipates the album will be released sometime next year.

• Speaking from the Leeds and Reading Festivals where the two bands share a bill, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor called the Smashing Pumpkins reunion “a little corporate.” We wonder where he got that idea.

• Finally, something Oprah and 50 Cent see eye to eye on: A Detroit record company CEO is suing the Canadian government for discriminating against African-Americans and rappers at the border. Oprah and 50 have been subpoenaed in the $900 million lawsuit, along with Jay-Z, Spike Lee and Eminem.

• AC/DC will end their hiatus by releasing the double-DVD Plug Me In on October 16th. The collection will cull live performances from 1976 to 2003, with the first disc featuring the Bon Scott era and the second disc full of Brian Johnson lead singing. A limited-edition third DVD will contain twenty-one extra live performances.

• Think you can beat the Wu-Tang Clan at chess? RZA and GZA will appear at the Hip-Hop Chess Federation tournament in San Francisco this October along with DJ Q-Bert, Rakaa of the Dilated Peoples and Josh Waitzken, who was the subject of the film Searching For Bobby Fischer.