BONO FOR PRIME MINISTER?

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair says in his new memoir, A Journey, that he thinks U2 frontman Bono would be great in the job. According to Spinner, Blair writes late in the massive book that Bono "could have been a president or prime minister standing on his head. He had an absolutely natural gift for politicking, was great with people, very smart and an inspirational speaker . . . motivated by an abundant desire to keep on improving, never really content or relaxed."

Blair adds, "I knew he would work with George (W. Bush) well, and with none of the prissy disdain of most of his ilk."

Bono has been heavily involved in political, social and international causes over the course of his career. focusing mostly on hunger, AIDS and poverty in Africa and other parts of the Third World.

U2 guitarist The Edge told us that U2's successes as a band and activists have allowed Bono to be an effective lobbyist for change: "I'm just really proud, I suppose, of him, and proud of the fact that our band -- and our work -- has created this environment where it's possible for him to walk into some of these corridors of power and actually get people to take him seriously."

U2 has been touring Europe for the past month and also claims to have several albums worth of new material ready to release.

AUDIO: THE EDGE SAYS U2'S SUCCESS ALLOWS BONO THE RESPECT NEEDED FOR HIS PUBLIC WORKS

ROCK QUICK HITS

Kings Of Leon have chosen "Radioactive" as the first single from the band's upcoming fifth album, Come Around Sundown. The track will hit rock radio stations next Wednesday (September 8th), the same day that the music video premieres on the band's official website. Come Around Sundown will arrive on October 19th and also features the songs "The End," "Pyro," "Mary," "The Face," "The Immortals," "Back Down South," "Beach Side," "No Money," "Pony Up," "Birthday," "Mi Amigo" and "Pickup Truck."

Korn has released its new music video online for "Let The Guilt Go," the second single from the band's latest album, Korn III - Remember Who You Are. The new clip and single follow up the first track issued from the record, "Oildale (Leave Me Alone)." Korn III debuted at Number Two on the Billboard album chart when it came out in July, marking the band's tenth Top 10 release. See the new video at http://tinyurl.com/25bfb46

Three Days Grace is giving away tickets and meet-and-greet passes for the band's upcoming shows with Nickelback in Detroit, New York, New Jersey, Cleveland, New Orleans, Anaheim and Las Vegas. All fans have to do to enter is send a text to the specific number for each date. The text numbers and more info can be found at http://tinyurl.com/2degvfr

The promoters of Wednesday night's (September 1st) Guns N' Roses concert in Dublin, in which the band showed up over an hour late, left after bottles were thrown onstage, and returned an hour later to play to a diminished crowd, have issued an apology to concertgoers. The statement said that the promoters apologized "for any inconvenience caused due to late running of the show," adding that "the artist was prevented from leaving the venue by the promoter and following backstage discussions Guns N' Roses went back on stage." No announcement has been made about whether fans who left the show will receive refunds. (Gigwise)

Alien Ant Farm and P.O.D. will headline a Never Again benefit concert at Moreno Valley College in Southern California on September 18th in memory of 17-year-old murder victim Norma Lopez. All proceeds from the show's $10 tickets will go to the Norma Lopez Benefit Concert Fund, which will assist her family with paying funeral expenses and add to the reward to help law enforcement find and catch her killer or killers. Norma Lopez went missing last July 15th while walking home from summer school, with her body discovered in a nearby field on July 20th.

DISTURBED ON TRACK FOR FOURTH CONSECUTIVE NUMBER ONE ALBUM

Disturbed is on track to land its fourth straight Number One album on the Billboard chart next week with its newly released fifth studio effort, Asylum. According to Billboard.com and Hits Daily Double, the disc could sell anywhere between 130,000 and 160,000 copies in its first week of release, by the time the sales week ends on Sunday (September 5th). The band's last release, 2008's Indestructible, debuted at Number One with sales of 253,000 copies in its first week.

Disturbed's previous Number One albums include 2005's Ten Thousand Fists and 2002's Believe.

The band's best-selling record remains its 2000 debut, The Sickness, which has sold over four million copies.

With a decade of platinum albums and high-profile touring behind them, we asked guitarist Dan Donegan if there's anything he'd still like to accomplish: "Headline Soldier Field in Chicago, where the Bears play. I mean, that's just huge. We've played all the great venues that we grew up to seeing some of our favorite bands, but that's the next biggest thing, you know, that we haven't done. So that might take a few more years, but I think Soldier Field would be a huge accomplishment."

Asylum arrived in stores this past Tuesday (August 31st) in both standard and limited editions.

All editions of the album come with an one-hour documentary in either DVD or digital format called Decade Of Disturbed.

Disturbed is currently headlining the Uproar Festival tour with Avenged Sevenfold. The trek pulls into Birmingham, Alabama on Friday (September 3rd).

AUDIO: DISTURBED'S DAN DONEGAN ON WHAT HE'D STILL LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH

NEW LINKIN PARK SONG HITS THE WEB

Linkin Park has begun streaming a new song called "Wretches And Kings" at Noisecreep.com. The track is taken from the band's upcoming album, A Thousand Suns, and will be given away as a free download to anyone who pre-orders the record at the band's official website. A Thousand Suns arrives in stores on September 14th.

Although fans have heard "The Catalyst" and can now check out this new song, vocalist Mike Shinoda told us that the best way to listen to A Thousand Suns is all at once: "People are used to consuming music in kind of small, bite-sized pieces, as we are too. But yeah, we kind of made a six-course meal or a 15-course meal for you. If you decide to just, you know, check it out in little bits and pieces, that works. That's fine, but you will be kind of foregoing an experience that is special, and we want people to know that the record is, you know, something that if you listen to it from beginning to end you'll get something extra out of it."

Linkin Park will perform "The Catalyst," the first single from A Thousand Suns, live for the first time at the MTV Video Music Awards, scheduled for September 12th in Los Angeles.

Linkin Park will play a special show on the date of the album's release at the Nokia Theater in New York City, before heading to South America and Europe throughout the fall.

AUDIO: MIKE SHINODA SAYS NEW LINKIN PARK CD IS BEST HEARD ALL AT ONCE

NEXT BLINK-182 ALBUM WILL BE 'MODERN, RELEVANT, FAST AND FUN'

Blink-182 frontman Tom DeLonge said backstage during the band's appearance at the U.K.'s Leeds Festival last weekend that fans can get a clue about what the group's next album will sound like by listening to the solo work from all three members.

DeLonge told the U.K.'s Rock Radio, "The record will be very modern, relevant, fast and fun. It'll be a mixture of drum 'n' bass, indie rock and stadium rock . . . Anyone who listens to my band Angels & Airwaves will know where I sit musically. If you imagine that, mixed in with what the other guys do in their spare time, you get it. It's going to be a really great collaboration of the best of three different genres of music."

Blink plans to get down to work on a new record later this year after finishing up their current overseas road trip.

The band reunited after a five-year hiatus in early 2009, partially as a result of drummer Travis Barker's near death in a plane crash.

DeLonge says that the punk trio are "getting on better than we ever have, and there's a confidence there now. We love what we do and we know we do it pretty well."

NO REALITY TV ON THE HORIZON FOR SAMMY HAGAR

Chickenfoot/ex-Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar and his band The Wabos just finished up a run of dates opening up for Aerosmith on Thursday night (September 2nd) in Cincinnati. While Hagar says that he and Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler have been friends for over 30 years, Hagar told us you won't see him showing up to visit Tyler at his new gig as an American Idol judge. In fact, Hagar says you won't ever catch him on any reality or talent shows: "I've been offered not that show, but every other show that's just like it, you know. They keep offering, offering, offering. I do not want to be a TV star. If I would have wanted to be a TV star, I'd have had a reality show the first day they started because I've been offered every one of those on the planet too by every network on the planet. I think TV ruins people. I mean, you know, it kind of makes you big, and then it chews you up and spits you out."

Steven Tyler is all but confirmed to join American Idol as a judge after Aerosmith finishes its current North American tour.

Hagar and Chickenfoot will play in Indio, California on September 10th and Stateline, Nevada on September 11th.

The band, which also features former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, guitarist Joe Satriani and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, tentatively plan to record their second album this fall, but may have to seek out a new drummer due to Smith's recording commitments with the Chili Peppers.

AUDIO: CHICKENFOOT'S SAMMY HAGAR SAYS NO THANKS TO REALITY TV

SLASH RELEASING 3D MUSIC VIDEO

Slash is set to release a 3D version of the music video for his song "By The Sword," according to Spinner.com. The clip was first released several months ago in a regular flat format and has now been converted to 3D. Slash told Spinner, "We're applying 3-D to it after the fact. It's actually the perfect video for it because it's got a lot of depth shots and shots where everything stops, freezes and stuff is moving around it, so the 3D of that will look cool."

The track, which features Wolfmother frontman Andrew Stockdale on vocals, is taken from the ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist's self-titled debut album.

The video is set in a post-apocalyptic landscape in which Slash, Stockdale and members of Slash's band are seen performing the song in an underground venue.

The stereoscopic version will premiere at the 3D Entertainment and Technology Festival, which will be held in New York's Times Square from September 24th through the 26th.

Plans are also in the works for it to be shown on different networks and at selected Hard Rock outlets, although it is not clear whether glasses will be made available to watch the clip.

Slash is currently touring behind his solo disc and plays on Saturday (September 4th) in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.