Garbage’s Shirley Manson inadvertently let the cat out of the bag last week, and Green Day finally confirmed it yesterday: Green Day is hard at work in the studio on their new album with veteran producer Butch Vig.

Manson let the news slip recently on “The Carson Daly Show.” Over the weekend, Green Day posted a video on their YouTube page that shows the band in the studio’s control room working with Vig. Small bits of two new songs can be heard in the background, but not enough to get a feel for the vibe of the new material.

Check it out for yourself.

Vig has worked his production magic for such bands as the Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth and Jimmy Eat World. But he is perhaps best known as the producer of Nirvana’s Nevermind.

The new Green Day album, which would be the follow-up to 2006’s Grammy-winning American Idiot, won’t be ready to go until sometime in 2009. Green Day, however, surfaced a few months ago masquerading as the band Foxboro Hot Tubs, releasing an album and playing a handful of shows throughout the U.S.  American Idiot has sold 5.8 million copies in the United States alone. 

In a case of real life mirroring fiction (or something like that), the success of the video game Rock Band has spawned a reality show. As reported by ew.com, today (Oct. 15) VH1 Classic will launch a series titled Rock Band 2: The Stars.

Alice Cooper and Sebastian Bach will host the show, which features 12 aspiring rock musicians who share a loft and compete in challenges structured to showcase Rock Band 2’s new features. The show will consist of six mini-episodes that combine game play with a “general rock attitude.” One contestant will be eliminated each week, and a final showdown between the remaining contestants will take place at the famous Viper Room in Los Angeles.

With less than one week to go before the release of AC/DC’s long-anticipated new album, Black Ice, the Australian rockers are allowing listeners to hear the album online in its entirety on VH1’s The Leak.

Black Ice, which is AC/DC’s first new album in eight years, will be available to buy on October 20 exclusively through Wal-Mart. But why wait? Listen to the whole album here.

The legendary rock band is also set to launch a world tour in support of Black Ice on October 28 at the Wachovia Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The European leg of the tour was just announced, and begins Feb. 18, 2009 at the Telenor Arena in Oslo, Norway. Click here for a complete list of AC/DC’s tour dates.—Gabriel J. Hernandez

It seems a Massachusetts man is either livin’ on a prayer, or perhaps has taken some bad medicine. In court documents filed late last week, a musician named Bart Steele launched a $400 billion lawsuit against Bon Jovi, alleging the band copied lyrics from a 2004 song of his titled “(Man I Really) Love This Team.”

Steele alleges that Jon Bon Jovi heard the original song ― which was used as an anthem for the Boston Red Sox ― while campaigning for presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004. As reported by antimusic.com, Steele calls the Bon Jovi hit “I Love This Town” (which was later used as a promotional track for Major League Baseball) an “unauthorized derivative version” of his original composition.

The suit went on to stipulate the following: “As intent will be easy to prove, we are seeking the statutorily authorized amount of $100,000 per CD sold. Just under four million CDs have been sold to date. This totals almost $400 billion.”

A host of other entities are listed as co-defendents in the suit, among them Turner Broadcasting System, Time-Warner and Major League Baseball.

To reiterate the disclaimer noted by antimusic.com, the allegations have yet to be proven in court and no admission of guilt has been made by any parties accused of wrongdoing. ―Russell Hall

Fans of Pink Floyd have a chance to own one of the last items signed by band members Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright.

On Oct. 15, the Web site Buy Once Give Twice will place up for auction a unique Fender Stratocaster that bears the four members’ autographs, plus a feature design on its finish painted by U.K. artist Gerald Scarfe.

As reported by MusicRadar.com, Scarfe worked closely with the band on the graphics for The Wall album, and indeed the Mexican Strat features his rendition of a scene from The Wall. The one-of-a-kind guitar is being auctioned in aid of the homelessness charity Crisis. The winning bidder will also receive a Scarfe On The Wall limited edition box set, which includes eight prints signed by Scarfe. Included with the set is a “monograph” book signed by Roger Waters. The box set is also available for purchase, in a limited run of 300 copies. For further details, or to register to bid, go here. ―Russell Hall

Forty years after they were recorded, a selection of highlights from a pair of Neil Young live recordings will be released as Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968 on Nov. 25 via Reprise Records.

The concerts were recorded over Nov. 9-10, 1968 at the Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, Mich., just a few days before Young’s 23rd birthday. Having left Buffalo Springfield six months earlier, the album represents one of the earliest known recordings of the singer’s solo material, including solo versions of tracks like “Mr. Soul,” “Expecting To Fly” and “Broken Arrow.”

Meanwhile, the release date for Young’s much-delayed Archives Vol. 1 (1963-1972) has been pushed back yet again. Now the set is scheduled to arrive in 2009 and will most likely only appear on DVD. ―Aidin Vaziri

Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968 tracklist, according to Billboard:

• (Emcee intro)
• “On the Way Home”
• Songwriting rap
• “Mr. Soul”
• Recording rap
• “Expecting To Fly”
• “The Last Trip To Tulsa”
• Bookstore rap
• “The Loner”
• “I used to” rap
• “Birds”
• “Winterlong” (excerpt) and “Out of My Mind” (intro)
• “Out of My Mind”
• “If I Could Have Her Tonight”
• Classical Gas rap
• “Sugar Mountain” (intro)
• “Sugar Mountain”
• “I’ve Been Waiting for You”
• Songs rap
• “Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing”
• “Tuning Rap & the Old Laughing Lady” (intro)
• “The Old Laughing Lady”
• “Broken Arrow”

When Activision’s Guitar Hero World Tour launches on October 26, it will be accompanied shortly after by a diverse array of downloadable content that includes tracks from alt.rock pioneers R.E.M. and ‘90s icons Blind Melon, while Metallica’s Death Magnetic album, already available for download with Guitar Hero III in the Xbox and Playstation formats, will be forward-compatible with the new World Tour game. Also available for download at launch will be a ‘70s anthem-themed Classic Rock Track Pack that features Boston’s “Rock and Roll Band,” “Hot Blooded” by Foreigner and Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl.” The latter three tracks will also be available separately.

The R.E.M. Track Pack will be available exclusively on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for two weeks beginning October 30, for play on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 system. The pack features three songs from R.E.M.’s latest album, Accelerate, “Horse to Water,” “Man-Sized Wreath,” and “Supernatural Superserious.”

Also available for download during launch week is Blind Melon’s “No Rain,” the #1 single that established the band as one of the icons of ‘90s modern rock. The Guitar Hero World Tour launch will also feature Guitar Duels, free downloadable original compositions by ax stars Zakk Wylde and Ted Nugent that can be played outside the game’s Career mode.

Guitar Hero World Tour expands 2007’s top-selling game franchiseinto a cooperative band experience featuring online and offline modes that include Band Career and a Battle of the Bands feature that allows eight players in two bands to directly compete for the first time. ―Jerry McCulley

Def Leppard pissed off hockey fans over the weekend during a live performance at the NHL’s opening night ceremonies at the Fox Theater in Detroit. No, it wasn’t because the British rockers refused to play “Love Bites.” As you can see in the video footage below, after Red Wings forward Darren McCarty drove out on to the stage on a motorcycle to triumphantly hand the group’s frontman Joe Elliott the coveted Stanley Cup, the singer proceeded to walk over and display it … upside-down! You know it’s bad when even The Tehran Times  is calling out your blunder. Elliott shrugged off the whole faux pas by saying, “We’re soccer boys, what do we know?” Maybe next year they can get Nickelback? ―Aidin Vaziri

Dave Grohl may have sold millions of albums with the Foo Fighters, rocked the Live Earth concert and jammed with members of Queen and Led Zeppelin, but everyone knows it doesn’t mean anything until you get your own street.

Now the former Nirvana drummer can tick that accomplishment off his list, too. According to The Cleveland Leader, Grohl is getting a street named after him in his hometown of Warren, Ohio.

The newspaper says the push to give the current Market Alley the much more exciting name of Dave Grohl Alley was instigated by local police sergeant Joe O’Grady and radio DJ Fast Freddie. The measure was unanimously passed by Warren’s city council despite some concerns over the cost.

Grohl ― who only lived in Warren for a short time while an infant but still has family there ― was unavailable for comment. Most likely because he was out shopping for his own island. ―Aidin Vaziri