94XPOSED WEDNESDAY APRIL 21

1973 – Alice Cooper hit #1 with the "Billion Dollar Babies" album.

ALICE COOPER - NO MORE MR. NICE GUY
JIMMY EAT WORLD - BLEED AMERICAN

Jimmy Eat World's follow-up to 2007's Chase This Light is nearly finished and could come out sometime this year. The band began working on their seventh studio album in 2008 and started recording it earlier this year with producer Mark Trombino (Silverstein, Gob), who helmed their Static Prevails, Clarity and Bleed American (retitled Jimmy Eat World after 9/11) albums. The as-yet-untitled disc now looks closer to being available in stores and online. "new album update: we're almost done mixing and the songs sound incredible thanks to Mr. Trombino," the band tweeted on Monday (April 19). "can't wait for you all to hear it." Last year, Jimmy Eat World played a special tour to mark the 10 year anniversary of their 1999 Clarity album. A performance from that tour was recorded in Tempe, Ariz. and released as Clarity Live the same year.

----------------------------BREAK------------------------------

METALLICA braved long bus and boat rides - and bitter memories of a band member's death - to dodge the fallout of an Icelandic volcano and stick to its rigorous European tour schedule. Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett told reporters in Vilnius, where the band was giving its second concert Wednesday, that Metallica traveled 28 hours to get from Oslo to the Latvian capital of Riga - a trip that normally takes just over two hours by plane. "I just could not relax, thinking, 'Wow, those buses have changed a lot since we traveled.' They are so much more comfortable. You see, we did not use this means of transportation for more than two decades since the tragedy," Hammett told reporters. In September 1986, during a European tour, bassist Cliff Burton was killed when the band's bus skidded out of control and flipped several times near Dorarp, Sweden. "When we boarded the bus again this week and had to travel overnight, I realized that those bad memories are still here. I still haven't overcome the fear of buses. But the show must go on," Hammett said.

METALLICA - SEEK AND DESTROY
HOLE - SKINNY LITTLE BITCH

Courtney Love is ditching her most famous moniker in favor of Courtney Michelle Harrison because she feels "oppressed" by her stage name. That's not all, Rock Radio had this: Courtney Love doesn't want to talk about Kurt Cobain any longer. She wants to consign her two-year marriage with the tragic Nirvana star to the past, and she's even changing her stage name in a bid to shake off the demons of history. Love, now to be known by her real name of Courtney Michelle, has made her feelings known as the UK club where she and Cobain are said to have become engaged announces its closure. She tells the NME: "I am not his spokesperson on Earth. I don't know what he'd be like now. He could be into society girls, or fat girls, or he could be homosexual. We don't know – he died at 27."

--------------------------BREAK--------------------------Yes, Pearl Jam is also with Coco. Conan O'Brien upped the musical ante of his "Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television" tour last night (April 19) in Seattle, when a pair of Pearl Jammers showed up unexpectedly to rock the late-night host's post birthday gig. Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder played a three-song mini-set. Accompanying himself on mandolin, Vedder began with "Rise," from his 2007 solo soundtrack to the film "Into The Wild." Next, he picked up a Telecaster-styled ukulele for a version of John Lennon's "Oh Yoko," on which he led a sing-along of "Oh Conan" in honor of the comedian's 47th birthday the day before. For his finale, Vedder brought out Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready for a cover of the Who's "Baba O'Riley" that was backed amusingly by O'Brien's horn section.

PEARL JAM - DAUGHTER