Rock Music

It's taken more than 20 years, but Cheap Trick has finally figured it out. The key to success, that is. "All of us are going to quit the band," reveals principal songwriter, lead guitarist and resident madman Rick Nielsen. "But we're re-forming immediately. That way you can say the whole band is back together. "I feel like such an idiot . . . you know, that our band didn't break up just so we can re-form and become more and more popular."

And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days. Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune, And over it softly her warm ear lays. --James Russell Lowell, 19th century American man of letters * I wanna rock and roll all nite, and party every day. --Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, 20th century American gargoyles of rock * If Heaven should softly cup its warm ear earthward over Irvine Meadows on Saturday evening, as Mr. Lowell imagined, it is in for a hell of a shock.

New York's Spin Doctors were on a roll. Their 1992 debut album, "Pocket Full of Kryptonite," sold 7 million copies and spun off a couple of hit singles, both of which are still staples of rock radio. At the same time, the band's exuberant retro approach helped open the door for the commercial success of a whole new crop of bands who gave a fresh spin to old rock with enthusiastic jamming, among them Blues Traveler, the Dave Matthews Band and Phish.

Rock fans were stunned by the announcement Wednesday that Van Halen had reunited with singer David Lee Roth--who left the band acrimoniously in 1985--and had fired his replacement, Sammy Hagar. But not as stunned as Hagar. "[Eddie Van Halen] just wanted me to change one lyric in a new song, and I didn't want to," said Hagar, recalling the incident that precipitated the upheaval. "I thought [the song] was great," Hagar said.

"I'll make you happy, baby Just wait and see" Parenthood, "that's the real love story," says pop music icon Linda Ronstadt, who has just released her first children's album, "Dedicated to the One I Love." The album is made up mostly of golden rock oldies that Ronstadt, a single mom with two young children, has transformed with uncloying delicacy into remarkably evocative, tender expressions of parental love.

In the realm of rock 'n' roll, Bill Miller is the first of the Mohicans. The Native American singer-songwriter hopes many more will follow, and not just from his own tribe. Over the last three years, Miller, who opens for Tish Hinojosa on Tuesday at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, has shared a festival bill with Pearl Jam (he found a friend and fan in Eddie Vedder) and opened on tour for Tori Amos and the BoDeans.

Lemmy doesn't worry a lot about offending anybody's sensibilities. When a record label head once complained that Motorhead offended too many people, Lemmy's response was: " 'What the [expletive] are they doing that I shouldn't offend them? Tell me that! Why do you keep offending me telling me this [expletive]? I'm on your label.' He should have been sticking up for me, but of course that was too much to hope for. Everybody's so scared of everything, afraid of offending this lobby and that lobby."

"Knowledge is invaluable. There's no replacement for it," claims Lemmy, singer-bassist-grisly-figurehead of Motorhead. But, ye fans of this deathless metal band, don't be too concerned that Lemmy's going professorial on you. He might like to include a bit of social comment and world history in his lyrics, but he also likes to say [expletive] a whole lot.

There are two things, at most, that the spacesuited members of the rock trio Supernova will admit to taking seriously. The first, in some dispute from their own record company, is that they see a bright future selling their infectiously silly, puerile but very catchy and well-played punk-pop to the kiddie market. "We're hoping this [aptly named debut album, 'Ages 3 and Up'] will make it to Toys R Us. We're serious about it," says Art, a gangly, rubber-faced bassist who isn't serious about much.

The members of rock band Seven Mary Three belong to a minority of young rockers: those willing to acknowledge that the road to commercial success is paved with compromise. The Orlando, Fla.-based quartet has seen alternative-rock radio warm to its single, "Cumbersome," and has seen its major-label debut album, "American Standard," crack the Top 100 of Billboard's album chart (it's currently No. 31).