Weekend reading: Metallica, Beck, AC/DC

AC/DC is releasing a new album — score! — and it’s supposed to be more rock ‘n’ roll than their recent albums — sweet! — so the group’s releasing it directly through Wal-Mart.

Aweso — Umm. Wait, huh?

Well, OK. I mean, that’s cool. That’s the way the Eagles released its last album, so we all know it’s a good business decision, which is, uh, rock ‘n’ roll.

Anyway, we get an excerpt from a Rolling Stone piece about the new album this week, along with plenty of other good articles. Read on, readers.

Metallica has to warm up before shows because they be getting on in the years, we find out in the NY Times.

Beck was stung by a bee, or wasp, or something, we find out in this long-ish Pitchfork interview.

In case you missed Bumbershoot, here’s more than you probably need to know.

Blender asked songwriter Randy Newman and Girl Talk to analyze the presidential candidates music picks. Here’s a direct link to their brief remarks.

TV on the Radio are really horrible at titling things, we find out in this Rolling Stone Q&A.

According to this Rolling Stone excerpt, the idea for AC/DC’s “TNT” came from Road Runner cartoons, which is — going out on a limb here — cool.