John Mellencamp's hotly-anticipated self-titled debut album for Columbia Records will be in stores on Oct. 6th. On Oct. 7th (John's birthday), he'll sign autographs and meet his New York fans at the uptown Tower Records in Manhattan.

David Bowie is the latest artist to sign on for the soundtrack to the upcoming Rugrats film and has already recorded his contribution, "Skylife," which reunites him with former producer Tony Visconti. Bowie and Visconti worked on several classic albums including Space Oddity (1969) and Low (1977) but the two had a falling out during the '80s and had not been in a studio together since 1980's Scary Monsters (according to Billboard.)

More details have emerged about the new U2 retrospective, U2 - The Best Of 1980-1990, due out Nov. 3rd. The group recently headed back into the studio with producer Steve Lillywhite to enhance the previously released b-side track, "Sweetest Thing," by adding new vocals and instrumentation. The song was originally recorded as part of the sessions for The Joshua Tree, but was relegated to the flip side of the "Where The Streets Have No Name" single when "Thing" couldn't be completed in time to make the album. U2 plans to release the revamped version of "Sweetest Thing" as a new single on Sept. 29th. The new 14-track record is the first in a pair of 'greatest hits' albums from the band. U2 - The Best Of 1980-1990 will be available at a reduced cost when released as a limited edition double-CD, in which it will be packaged with a 15-track compilation of b-sides taken from U2's singles.

The Smithereens are the latest 80's group hoping to cash in on the current wave of 'college rock' comebacks with plans underway to release a live record and a studio album in the next few months as a part of their new deal with Velvel Records. "The working title for the new record is 'This Is The Way The World Ends, Baby," explains frontman Pat DiNizio, "and I'm approaching it in a more thematic way than with any record we've done before. It's going to be really strange and interesting, sort of somewhere conceptually between Stephen King's 'The Stand' and that Fox TV show, 'Millenium.'"

Wednesday night, the White House rocked with something other than scandal. We're talking real rock 'n roll music with a real rock star: Lou Reed. Stodgy old state dinners may never be the same. The Clintons were in fine form: the President smiling if slightly subdued; the first lady effusively greeting guests. They heard plenty of encouraging words, although Stevie Wonder was the only one to bear-hug both Clintons. "I told the president a long time ago that I was his friend," the singer said. "And I am of the belief that when you say you are someone's friend, it doesn't mean that you're a fair-weather friend. You're there all the time." Also attending were (actress/model) Paulina Porizkova and Ric Ocasek formerly of The Cars.