With his debut album “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” rapper 50 Cent set the record for most albums sold by a new artist on a major record label in the first week of release. Breaking the previous record of 803,000 with Snoop Doggs "Doggystyle," "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" scanned 872,000 copies last week. The album also entered the pop charts at number one and was the first smash hit of the year. ,50 Cent, aka, Curtis Jackson, was signed to Interscope Records’ Aftermath by mentor Eminem after being dropped by Columbia who never released his album in 2000. This was shortly after being shot nine time in the front seat of his car. 50 Cent was raised in Queens, New York by his grandmother, in a bad neighborhood deep in the borough. He took to selling crack cocaine before he started rapping and was later taken under the wing of the late Jam Master ...

Metallica will set off on tour this summer to promote their coming album titled St. Anger. The Summer Sanitarium Tour line up will consist of Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Deftones and Mudvayne opening for Metallica. They will hit the road sometime in July visiting cities such as St. Louis, Orlando, New York, Houston and Los Angeles to name a few. Specific tour dates have not yet been released. St. Anger will be Metallica’s first studio album in five years and their first recording since James Hetfield went into rehab for alcoholism and other addictions last year. The release of St. Anger on June 10th will bring fans the old Metallica from the early days before the Black Album. The album is said to have the same thrash metal vibe that gained them underground popularity in the mid '80s. Metallica is now finalizing and choosing which tracks, out of 30 recorded, will be included on the album. ...

Halloween may be nine months away, but every day is a little like Halloween when you listen to Frank Zappa. Now the work of the legendary mastermind behind songs such as “Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow,” “Valley Girl” and “My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama” is coming to DVD-Audio with DTS’ release of Frank Zappa’s Halloween: Live in New York on February 4, 2003. Assembled and mixed into 5.1 surround sound by Joe Chicarelli and Zappa’s son Dweezil, the DVD-Audio disc will feature a previously unreleased vintage 1978 live performance at the Palladium in New York. As an added bonus, the disc will also contain pre-show interviews, a video clip of Zappa’s "Dancing Fool" performance on "Saturday Night Live" and an official discography of the late musician’s nearly 100 album career. For more information on DTS’ DVD-Audio discs visit www.dtsentertainment.com.

May 6th will mark the release of Steely Dan’s new album “Everything Must Go.” The album took almost a year to complete and was recorded using only live tracking. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan won several Grammys, including Album of The Year, for “Two Against Nature,” their 2002 release Which was their first album in over 20 years. “Two Against Nature” has now been released on DVD-Audio and contains a photo gallery, screen lyrics, and other bonus material. To read the AudioRevolution.com review of Steely Dan “Two Against Nature” Click here...

SACD had a big CES with announcements from Sony Music, Universal Music Group and EMI. As reported in AudioRevolution.com weeks ago, EMI UK will be releasing Pink Floyd’s legendary Dark Side of the Moon remixed for 5.1 surround on SACD this spring. It will be marketed under the EMI/Capitol label in the US. EMI has a few other SACD titles being released in the U.S. but is also releasing DVD-Audio titles in the states. Universal Music Group will have a regular slate of SACD releases in 2003. In the coming months major artists are releasing their newest albums on the SACD format. This includes: Peter Gabriel -Up; The Roots - Phrenology; The Wallflowers - Red Letter Days; and Three Doors Down - Away From The Sun. Peter Gabriel is releasing his entire catalog on SACD in stereo (1, 2, 3, Security, Plays Live, Birdy [OST], Passion: The Last Temptation of Christ [OST], ...