A couple quick clarifications on the Nine Inch Mystery story from Thursday, which ended with a bit of humor about a cryptic message that reportedly appeared on the Nine Inch Nails site. First a quick recap so you know what is being discussed here. That story was taken from a Metal Underground report that stated: "The band's website was also updated yesterday with the message 'Two Weeks', creating speculation that the band may release yet another album soon." A reader emailed us and said that the message was actually posted last week. We couldn't find it on the site today to confirm that, but NIN did post a new video under the heading "Spend The Day With Us: Watch This Video 2500 Times". Gotta love Trent's humor. Some are reading into that video post that Trent will be signing all the deluxe editions of "Ghosts". But guessing at anything (even a half joking guess) can turn around and bite you in the rear. As we learned yesterday.

After the Metal Underground quote we added a bit of fun playing around with the mysterious nature of such an announcement when we said, "our guess is it has to do with the new Guns N' Roses album. Robin is in both groups after all. Maybe they'll team up for a tour? See what kind of rumors can start by these cryptic messages!" I was a bit shocked that some people took that seriously. It was a joke (like unimaginative idiots that take the names of rock stars for message board usernames and quote Seinfeld.) The posting should have made that clear with phrases like "our guess" and the dead giveaway, "See what kind of rumors can start by these cryptic messages!" It does look like Axl is working to release Chinese Democracy at last (if we take the recent statements into account, and the fact that he has signed with new powerhouse management.) But the mention here was a joke related to how cryptic messages can be taken way out of context when people try to guess what they mean. I thought the "our guess" and the bit about starting a rumor would make it obvious that it wasn't serious, but some GNR fans didn't pick up on that. Sorry guys, we're as excited about the new CD as anyone and can't wait for it to finally be in our greedy little hands, but it's really doubtful Trent and Co would announce it. On the other hand, Trent knows something we don't know, so we can have wild guesses all day long. People tend to read what they want to believe, not what is actually written. Maybe Trent knows that as well.

A quick update on the Late Night Aiken story from earlier this week. Jimmy Kimmel's publicist dropped us a line on Thursday to let us know that Clay Aiken's appearance has been moved to May 16th. While it means that Claymates will have to wait longer to see their hero interviewed on the show, on the positive side, this means that it's taking place on a Friday night so staying up late to catch it will be easier. Though it might make you a little groggy for those Sat morning cartoons.

Jack wrote in with this: "I love your site and read it everyday but why do you report on some many bands I never heard of?" - Answer: You've heard of them now! In all seriousness, we try and mix things up a little and offer a pretty broad range of coverage. There are plenty of mainstream music news outlets if that's the only thing you are after, but this site was started, in part, to expose our readers to all kinds of music- especially lesser known stuff you may not have heard of before or that is being ignored by the "mainstream" music media. You can skip over those stories and reviews or you can read them and maybe check them out for yourself. Who knows, maybe one of those bands you never heard just might be your future favorite band? It's been known to happen.