SonicNet rocks World Wide Web

On what concert dates will Beck open for Dave Matthews Band? Will Metallica ever record with Madonna? Why does Johnny Quest think Less Than Jake are sellouts? How many ribs does Marilyn Manson really have?

REVIEW
	http://www.sonicnet.com Three Stars

These intriguing questions and many more can be answered on the music extravaganza Web magazine known as SonicNet. A combination of music bios, pictures, sound bites, chat rooms and much more grace the links of this Web page. With a barrage of music information, sound and excitement, SonicNet has some of the most jamming music coverage on the Internet.

With brief news articles updated daily, SonicNet provides crisp features and funky album reviews, covering a wide array of new popular and independent artists. It has great information for both the avid fan searching for the date concert tickets go on sale or a listener who just likes a song heard on the radio. Along with the articles and reviews, it provides solid, in-your-face interviews of music stars and performers.

Along with its extensive news section, SonicNet's Music Guide has a database of thousands of bands and artists. The Guide contains bios, album reviews, discographies and audio clips from the albums. Searching the Guide is simple, browsing by topics such as artists, concerts, labels and genres. Just be ready to wait a little while because it takes some time to jump to other sections.

The user-friendly SonicNet links to many other sections on the Web directly from the Music Guide's front page. The Guide is very helpful in attaining more information that it doesn't have, linking to a throng of quirky newsgroups, great fan sites and way cool online stores.

A store known as the Music Boulevard can be found in SonicNet as well. The Boulevard has a quick, easy search through its tremendous catalogs of moderately priced albums and merchandise. Whether looking for that hard-to-find Radiohead concert video or that always wanted Guns 'N Roses T-shirt, the Boulevard is bound to have it.

After browsing through Boulevard's quaint online store, drop into the Station for a dose of music culture and lore. In the Station, a pulsating rain of live music, sounds and videos floods the computer screen. Also located here are numerous chat rooms set up to converse with other idiosyncratic music lovers. Along with the News and the Music Guide, the Station is a third major section of SonicNet that brings a jolting multimedia interactive thrust to the computer.

Attributes for enhancing the Internet with such an entertaining web page go to Michael Goldberg, editor in chief of both SonicNet Music News and Addicted To Noise. His precise reporting and comprehensive information make for a beneficial search to learn more about those favorite bands. The popularity of SonicNet has spawned three other versions in Switzerland, Australia and Japan, which all can be accessed from the main one.

These others are very intriguing, but none compare to the original SonicNet. Whether it is interviews with Pete Townsend, live chats with the Cherry Poppin Daddies or those must-have Debbie Gibson posters, SonicNet puts on a great show and rocks the World Wide Web.

04-21-98