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Music junkies normally rest up after the holidays, when the deluge of releases slows to a trickle. But dust off those headphones-the floodgates are about to open.
NEO -- ALT-ROCKERS If you can't get your fill of white guys with guitars, keep your peepers peeled for platters from Sebadoh (The Sebadoh, February), D Generation (Through the Darkness, February), Blur (March), Fountains of Wayne (Utopia Parkway, April), the Verve Pipe (May), Ween (May), Atari Teenage Riot (May), G. Love & Special Sauce (spring), Smash Mouth (spring), Third Eye Blind (fall), Ben Folds Five (spring), and ex -- Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell's solo debut (May). PLUS New entries from Beck (summer), Wilco (fall), and, if you like white girls and guitars, the Cranberries (April).
HIP-HOP, IT DON'T STOP On the real tip, the hardcore beats will keep coming from the likes of Nas (I Am, March), Ghostface Killah (May), Snoop Dogg (Topp Dogg, spring), C Murder (Bossalinie, March), the Roots (February), Krayzie Bone (Thug Mentality, March), Too Short (I Can't Stay Away, March), and the inimitable Ol' Dirty Bastard (later this year). Though recording hasn't begun, Wyclef Jean promises the Fugees will have Class Reunion out by year's end: ''We're definitely gonna get back together to record that real soon.'' (Melky Sedeck, featuring Jean's little brother and sister, will release their debut album this spring.)
CLASSIC ROCK REDUX Let's do the time warp again with upcoming discs from the late Jimi Hendrix (Live at the Fillmore East, February), Neil Young (April), Tom Petty (spring), Don Henley (fall), Jeff Beck (March), Steely Dan (summer), and Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, and Emmylou Harris (February). In March expect to see Van Morrison's Back on Top and Sammy Hagar's Red Voodoo. Keep an eye out for boxed sets from Bad Company, Buffalo Springfield, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Also blowin' in the wind are newly remastered Dylan reissues keyed to the resurgence of Bob-O.
MO' METAL Steel your ears for a live Korn album (later this year), as well as onslaughts from Rage Against the Machine (March), Pantera (summer), silverchair (March), Stone Temple Pilots (summer), Limp Bizkit (summer), and AC/DC (November). On a lighter note, there's the return of Def Leppard (fall).
SOUL MEN Break out the bubbly and heat up the massage oil for Barry White's Staying Power (spring), along with the latest from Babyface (March), the Neville Brothers (February), Ginuwine (spring), Tevin Campbell (spring), D'Angelo (spring), and Jamiroquai (spring). Also Discs from crooners BLACKstreet (March) and Mint Condition (April).
THE HIPPIES' Revenge Collective Soul will unleash Dosage (February), and the Spin Doctors threaten to return from the dead.
THE SENSITIVE LADS The male troubadour tradition is alive and well, as Ron Sexsmith's Whereabouts (spring), Paul Westerberg's Suicaine Gratifaction (February), Billy Bragg (September), and Freedy Johnston (summer) will prove. And if you're in the mood for a little insensitivity, try talk-show host Jerry Springer's country album, due this spring.
