The new GUNS N' ROSES song "Better" has been receiving airplay across the country, but there is no official single release. No one seems to know where the song came from or how it got out. Did GUNS N’ ROSES purposely leak the track?

"Here's what I know," keyboardist Dizzy Reed explains to GunsNRoses.com. "We were doing a commercial with Harley-Davidson. Harley was going to do a version using 'Paradise City' and another version using 'Better'. Their web site even had a version up for like one day with 'Better', but the version of 'Better' that they had was an unfinished, unapproved demo. That's why it was removed. The version that's getting airplay is that same demo.

"Our understanding of how that happened is that an experimental edit using 'Better' in place of 'Paradise City' was somehow accidentally mislabeled as the 'Paradise City' Harley-Davidson video/commercial and was inadvertently released on the Internet. We believe the 'leak' came from this source tape and someone with access to it.

"For the record, absolutely none of the songs that have been leaked have come from the band or our organization. None of the songs that have been leaked are anything more than demo versions, works in progress. No final mixes.

"It's really frustrating working on something as hard as we have and then having it wind up on the Internet before it’s finished. Hearing a demo on the radio really sucks."

To see a copy of the letter the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota radio station 93X Rocks (KXXR-FM) received from Axl Rose's attorneys demanding that they "cease and desist" from any further broadcast of "Better" or any song from "Chinese Democracy" until such time that such broadcast is authorized, click here.

Source BBM

Larry Carroll of MTV.com reports: Last week, an Internet sensation was set in motion when "Halloween" director Rob Zombie and producer Andy Gould revealed to MTV News a willingness to revise John Carpenter's classic franchise theme song. Now, depending on who you ask, that tune is apparently being changed — in more ways than one.

"MTV misunderstood what I was saying about the music," the director posted on the "Halloween" MySpace page over the weekend. "Oh well, I am still shooting and haven't even [begun] to explore the music side of things yet."

Ending his brief message, Zombie stated: "I always planned on using the original theme since the beginning."

This undoubtedly came as a bit of a shock to those who read the MTV set visit report last week, which catalogued the copious changes Zombie is making for the August 31 release — it especially surprised this writer, who had asked the simple question, "Are you going to keep that famous 'Halloween' theme song?"

Zombie's response at the time was: "I don't know, we'll see," followed by an uneasy laugh. (Watch Zombie give his reply right here.)

He then amended that statement with: "I'm not sure about anything, because we're not done yet. You never know where things are gonna go. The plan was at some point to do that, to change it around, because the way it sounds now doesn't work with what we're doing."

Source MTV

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame says they're not to blame for David Lee Roth skipping tonight's (Monday, March 12th) induction ceremony for Van Halen. Last week, Roth told the Los Angeles Times that he was barred from singing with Velvet Revolver, who will perform in tribute to Van Halen at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. But that's just not the case, according to Rock Hall President and CEO Joel Peresman.

In a statement, Peresman said, "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is sorry that David Lee Roth will not attend this year's induction of Van Halen. We offered him opportunities to play and sing a Van Halen song of his choice with our house band, including his own guitar player, or a song with Velvet Revolver, and he refused those opportunities. We made every effort, and the decision not to come was solely his, not ours."

The Times confirmed what us originally reported last week -- that Roth wanted to do "Jump" with Velvet Revolver, but was told there wasn't enough time to get the song down. The newspaper added that Roth was given the chance to do "You Really Got Me" with Velvet Revolver, but he refused, partly because he said it's a Kinks song and not a true Van Halen number. And on Friday, Roth was told he could do "Jump" with the house band, which is led by Late Show With David Letterman keyboardist Paul Shaffer, but he said it was too late to make travel and rehearsal arrangements.

Last week, when Roth announced that he would skip the event, he told the Times, "I don't make speeches for a living. I sing and dance for my dinner... It's just not an option for me to go and watch some other band -- who are only performing because they have some new record coming out -- do our music. I have nothing against Velvet Revolver -- I'm not familiar with their music -- but that was my three minutes and 22 seconds up there."

Velvet Revolver play "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" and "Runaround" at the ceremony, which will air live on VH1 Classic beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET. The band's Scott Weiland and Slash will also give induction speeches for Van Halen.

As of now, the only Van Halen alumni who will be on hand to accept the honor are original bassist Michael Anthony, whom Eddie Van Halen fired last year, and former singer Sammy Hagar, who's done two tours of duty with the band. Eddie won't be at the Waldorf because he's in rehab, and Alex Van Halen is sticking close to the family's Southern California home base to be supportive of his brother.

Source IceBergRadio