Hear & Now

OFF COLOR
The Offspring's video for their new single ''Original Prankster'' may be pretty fly (and a TRL hit), but it's less funny now that MTV has nixed several of its gags. ''It's interesting which battles they pick,'' says frontman Dexter Holland. ''There's one scene where two [naked schoolgirls] are on their principal's lap, and it zooms [to a newspaper clipping] that says 'Principal Arrested for Molesting Students.' They made us get rid of 'molesting.' They're okay with the pedophilia, but you've gotta take out that word. It just gets weird.'' MTV's biggest beef involved a smelly canine substance (it rhymes with ''goo''), which a kid puts in his dad's sandwich. ''First they wanted us to take the scene out,'' Holland complains. ''Then they were like, 'Okay, but you can't show him biting into the sandwich, although you can show him spitting it out.' It's amazing. MTV has their own show, Jackass, where they show a guy with human excrement [all over him]. It pisses me off that they're not adhering to their own standards.'' Asked to comment on this apparent hypocrisy, an MTV spokesperson will say only that ''we don't eat s--- here at MTV.'' And that's the straight poop.

'KAY, BALLARD!
Making the new Dave Matthews Band album is proving to be more complicated than a 15-minute violin solo. The band recorded an album's worth of material earlier this year in Charlottesville, Va., with longtime collaborator Steve Lillywhite. It was supposed to hit stores just before their summer tour, on which they previewed much of the new material. Instead, they've scrapped the 13 Lillywhite tracks and are in L.A. working on entirely new songs with pop producer Glen Ballard. ''The record they decided not to continue was very good, but they wanted to go to the next level as songwriters and musicians,'' says Bruce Flohr, the band's RCA A&R exec. ''Plus, even the hardcore fans have never heard these songs, and it's hard to keep anything this band does a secret. Glen is giving the band a focus and tightening every song.'' Lillywhite says Matthews himself called with the news that his work was being shelved, but he won't comment about the group's decision. The new album, still untitled, will probably include the tunes ''Angel,'' ''When the World Ends,'' and ''I Did It,'' and is now set for a February release.