Music Is My Weapon

The Who will launch a world tour this summer that will bring the band to North America for its first extended trek in nearly four years. The group now consists of Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend backed by bassist Pino Palladino, keyboardist John Bundrick, drummer Zak Starkey and guitarist Simon Townshend. They were forced to take a hiatus in 2005 due to Starkey's touring commitments with Oasis and Palladino's stint with the John Mayer Trio.

Ministry's Al Jourgensen is readying new material for a sleazy side project. Fresh off Ministry's Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance for "The Great Satan," frontman Al Jourgensen is gearing up to drop new records by both the industrial powerhouse and his side project, the Revolting Cocks, this spring.

This holiday season, Shayne Ward, the winner of Britain's ITV1's talent show "X Factor," is expected to take the coveted Christmas number one spot in this year's UK pop charts, music stores.

And against my wishes, Eminem remained at Number One in another big week of holiday shopping, as his first-ever hits compilation, Curtain Call, sold 324,000 copies. This may inspire the rap giant, whose impending retirement has been rumored for months, to consider rolling out a whole series of lucrative, low-effort releases in 2006. Can you say, "Slim Shady: The Lost Tapes of 1983"?