KROQ Spends Weekend With Hole, Manson

Is there any relief coming from these stifling conditions?

Not the weather--but pop music, mired in a stagnant run of inconsequential acts and novelty sounds for well over a year.

With that in mind, KROQ-FM (106.7)--its reputation for being the nation’s new music leader suffering through the months of fluff--made the most of it when new songs by Hole and Marilyn Manson fell into the station’s hands last weekend.

Between Friday evening and Sunday night, KROQ played Hole’s “Celebrity Skin” and Manson’s “Dope Show” 24 times each--with much attendant hubbub regarding the “world premiere” coups. And they would have kept playing them through the week if not for the cease-and-desist orders that arrived Monday from the acts’ record companies, since these were unauthorized airings.

“They’ll both be big songs for us and we really need it now,” says KROQ music director Lisa Worden, noting that with the two records joining the Beastie Boys in heavy rotation, the station will have a solid presence again of substantial core artists.

Worden says that listener response for both songs was overwhelming, with interest running about “neck and neck.” Opinions, collected by station operators, were a bit sharper for Manson, both positive and negative.

“Manson has a stigma attached to him, so some people just aren’t going to be into anything he does,” she says. “But the positive responses were overwhelming.”

Another source at the station said that, though it was close, there seemed to be more enthusiasm for Manson’s move into something of a David Bowie (circa “Diamond Dogs”) approach, with some reservations for Hole’s new sound, a more pop direction than the tumult of 1994’s “Live Through This.” The two acts’ new albums will be out within a week of each other, Hole’s “Celebrity Skin” on Sept. 8 and Manson’s “Mechanical Animals” on Sept. 15.

“I love both of them,” Worden says. “I’m a Hole fan and hadn’t really been a Manson fan, but his song is amazing, like Bowie and more melodic than his past songs. [Hole’s song] is lighter weight than what they’ve done before--though it’s heavier than other things on the album. It’s a different sound for [Courtney Love]. This is not the Courtney with the ripped white dress diving into the crowd. But it’s so good. I was worried with her fashion change, but I’m really pleased with this song.”

VINYL SOLUTION: Bong Load Records may have lost out on the new Beck album. The collection--which is being billed as a “side project” rather than the follow-up to the smash “Odelay”--was originally intended for Bong Load, Beck’s original label home. However, it is ending up at Geffen.

But Bong Load is happy with its consolation prize--the vinyl LP rights to the new album. The label released the vinyl version of “Odelay” and has sold more than 30,000 copies, quite decent numbers for a small company. The album is due in October, with the possibility that the vinyl will be released a week or so before the CD.

Bong Load also has the vinyl rights to Elliott Smith’s debut for DreamWorks Records, with expectations for sales far exceeding the 3,000 it did of LPs of his last album, “Either/Or,” which was released on CD by the small Kill Rock Stars label.

“Vinyl seems to be a niche that people are showing interest in,” says Tom Rothrock, who runs the company with partner Rob Schnapf. “For this, like ‘Odelay,’ we’re using the expensive audiophile vinyl. People who buy that like it because it’s the best storage medium for long term.”

Meanwhile, Bong Load, which was largely inactive while negotiating a new distribution deal earlier this year, is gearing up with a heavy slate including the debut of Famous Monsters, a female surf-music trio led by White Zombie bassist Sean Yseult.

BOYCHICKS N THA HOOD: Can Fairfax and Beverly be as much a center for hip-hop as, say, Florence and Normandie? That’s the premise of M.O.T. (Members of the Tribe), an L.A. duo making a Jewish-oriented brand of rap they refer to as “Hebe Hop.”

Yes, it’s comedy--the two use the aliases Dr. Dreidel and Ice Berg and their manager is referred to as Meshugge Knight, while they cite Woody Allen among their influences.

But it’s not just a joke, a la the late-’80s spoof 2 Live Jews. The group’s debut album, “19.99,” due Oct. 20 from Sire/Warner Bros. Records, puts the Jewish humor in a context of accomplished satire and musical legitimacy, with such songs as “Kosher Nostra” (chicken soup for the gangsta soul) and “Town Car” (with the line, “Sold my Chevy to the Levys, but the Levys can’t drive”).

“We keep it on a comedic tip,” says Dr. Dreidel, whose real name is Hillel Tigay, and who is the son of a Judaica scholar and fluent in Hebrew. “Yet we really see ourselves crossing over. 2 Live Jews was comedians with a drum machine. We write our stuff and the music is important.”

Tigay (who had a record deal with A&M;, though a planned early-’80s album was never released) and partner Andrew Rosenthal (who was a member of L.A. art-pop duo Martini Ranch with actor Bill Paxton) plan to make the circuit of morning shows to open the doors. And once they get them open, they have big plans, including “Viva Oy Vegas,” a screenplay they’re writing for their characters.

Says Tigay, “We see us as a global Mensch Mob.”