Quick Rock News

A three-pack of Metallica songs has become the most popular seller for the Rock Band video game, which has been responsible for paid downloads of more than 2.5 million tracks in the eight weeks since the game went on sale. Bundles of tracks from the Police and Queens of the Stone Age came in second and third, while the top-selling singles were Foreigner's "Juke Box Hero," Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" and Weezer's "Buddy Holly."

Unsubstantiated rumors suggest that Black Sabbath offshoot Heaven and Hell will join forces with Judas Priest for a co-headlining tour this summer. There's no official word of either band's tour plans at the moment. Heaven and Hell plans to write and record a new CD after staging a successful 2007 world tour, while Priest is putting the finishing touches on its conceptual album about the life of the mystic Nostradamus. (Blabbermouth)

Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos says that the Scottish group's third studio effort is shaping up as a "dirty pop record," adding that it will be "the opposite of punk/pop, which took something that was wonderful and removed all the dirt." The quartet is recording in its hometown of Glasgow and hopes to release the album this summer. (Billboard.com)