Unlike the SPICE GIRLS, who sported a decked-out double-decker, attention-attracting tour bus in their movie Spice World, HANSON bros ISAAC, 17 TAYLOR, 15 and ZACHARY, 12, aren't looking for their motion to cause commotion while they're out and about on tour this summer - or are they? "We're having this sepcialized two-mile tour bus, where we can Rollerblade on it," Zac jokes to BOP, during a recent phone conversation. But he can't pull one over on us with big brother Isaac around. Isaac assures us that he and his babely bros will cross the country in "no special tour bus. Just a tour bus." Bummer, we won't be able to spot the boys coming from way beyong. But you can still be on the lookout for the terrific trio, who have yet to hit the West Coast with their "Weird" ways.

Bably BOP BOYS!' IMAJIN are definitely looking out for Hanson, because JAMAL HAMPTON, 16, TALIB KAREEM, 15, OLAMIDÉ FAISON, 13, and JOHN FITCH, 15, hope their soulful single "Shorty (You Keep Playin' With My Mind)" and self-titled debut will bop to the top of the charts like the Tulsa trio's did. "They're doing the same thing we're doing," John tells BOP. "We're trying to get to their point at this point in life right now." The cute quartet puts Hanson at the tip top of their list of musical influences - mainly because the "MMMBop" boys can do it all, just like Imajin. "Sometimes we dance," John beams. "Sometimes we sing and play, sometimes we play - it just varies."

Dancing and playing wasn't what the FOO FIGHTERS expected from the designer-clad crowd, including NO DOUBT darling GWEN STEFANI and actress MINNIE DRIVER, when they played at a recent Versus fashion show - but acclaimed director WODDY ALLEN plugging his ears wasn't what they had in mind, either. Nevertheless, the Foo Fighter's fabulous frontman, DAVE GROHL, got a kick out of it. "That was the highlight of my career," Grohl, whose band is behind 1997's The Colour and the Shape, has laughed. "I watched him during the entire performance and I didn't know what to think, but afterward K.D. LANG said, 'Take that as a compliment, my friend.' So I did."

Rumors are a big bummer that often haunt big stars, such as our favorite ladies in spice, the SPICE GIRLS. Just before GERI "GINER SPICE" HALLIWELL left her Spiceworld for a solo one, VICTORIA "POSH SPICE" ADAMS had chatted with BOP's foriegn correspondent about rumors. During this convo, Victoria said that one of the weirdest rumors she heard was "the one that we were all splitting up. That was a bit of a weird one because we never even thought about that." Unfortunately, this one eventually turned out to be true - but we're betting that Victoria and the other gals in the group, EMMA BUTON, MELANIE CHISHOLM and MELANIE BROWN, can positively dispel some of the silly stuff said of the spicy quartet. In good humor, Victoria added, "I think the one about us all being men in drag is another weird one." No doubt!

Speaking of weird, don't you feel a strange silence this summer? I do. Perhaps that is because the father of the festival circuit, LOLLAPALOOZA, is nowhere to be found this year! Organizers couldn't get big enough acts to fill the bill after a recently reunited-and-soon-after-divided JANE'S ADDICTION pulled out a few months ago. "Before we started in October, I wasn't into doing a big tour," Janes' DAVE NAVARRO, who recently quit as guitarist for RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, has explained about why they're not headlining Lollapalooza as planned. "Both [fellow Pepper] FLEA and I were dead set against doing another one." Organizers are already getting it together for next year.

By the way, dont' worry, the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS haven't gone "Under The Bridge" for good with the recent loss of their guitarist. Singer ANTHONY KIEDIS, bassist FLEA and drummer CHAD SMITH have already replaced Navarro with their former guitarist, JOHN FRUSCIANTE. The guys are back in the studio working on their next album, which they hope to have our early next year.

If you simply can't wait that long for more good music, the LILITH FAIR, which kicked off in mid-June, is up and running with major girl-power galore! Set to share the stage at the SARAH McLACHLAN-organized event at different spots around the country through August 31 are PAULA COLE, BONNIE RAITT, ERYKAH BADU, SHERYL CROW, QUEEN LATIFAH, Me'SHELL NDEGEOCELLO, NATALIE MERCHANT, LUSCIOUS JACKSON, MONO and many, many more! You name it, there's someone for everyone.

It sounds like the BACKSTREET BOYS may have something for everyone - aroudn the world! Ever since BRIAN LITTRELL, 23, NICK CARTER, 18, AJ McLEAN, 20, KEVIN RICHARDSON, 26, and HOWIE DOROUGH, 24, recorded their sweet single "I'll Never Break Your Heart" in Spanish this year, the babes have been bombarded with requests. "We've been offered and asked to do things in Asian, Dutch, German and whatever language you can think of," AJ said while BOP was on the set of the English- and Spanish-language video shoot. "It's cool because it's kind of a challenge for us, it's something different. It allows the fans in that country to have a little something from us that's kind of a real personal thing." That's so sweet!

The fabulous FIVE - o, not the Spice Girls again, but rather SEAN CONLON, 17, SCOTT ROBINSON, 18, RICHARD NEVILLE, 18, "ABS" BREEN, 19, and "J" BROWN, 22 who were brought together by the same people who put the girls together - were more than sweet when they stopped by BOP HQ to chat about their just-out self-titled debut album. "It's different from a lot of other albums," confesses Abs, who together with his British bandmates busted out the super-catchy single "When The Lights Go Out." "Every track is literally different from the previous one. I mean, you and I have got albums where you put them in and you always skip a couple [songs] that you don't like. We want everything to be listened to and enjoyed." And enjoy we will. Just make sure, Boppers, you have lots of spare time before you pop it in the player, because once you start, you just can't stop!

A sumemr break, or even a teeny weeny bit of spare time, is something the mega-busy LeANN RIMES definitely woulnd't turn down these days. "There are so many things that come up that I'd love to do, the 15-year-old country crooner behind the recently release album Sittin' on Top of the World has confessed. "But I have to turn most of them down because there is only so much time and I have to have at least an hour of peace. And some days I only get that when I go to sleep." Well, we wish you sweet dreams, LeAnn.

Bet you don't have to worry about gettin' plenty of peace and lots of spare time to have fun and soak up the sun this summer. Has all this free time made you a slave to the soaps? If so, you might have caught brand-new suds star USHER on The Bold and the Beautiful lately. Thought he looked familiar, didn't you?! Although his character, Raymond (which is Usher's real-life last name!), croons two User tunes, "My Way" and "Slow Jam," the 19-year-old R&B babe isn't playing himself. The soulful songster is also set to join ELIJAH WOOD and SALMA HAYEK in a yet-to-be-titled sci-fi horror thriller written by Scream scribe KEVIN WILLIAMSON. So get set for Usher's big-screen debut!

Believe it or not, the BOYZ II MEN babes behind the just out single "I'm Doing Just Fine" are also starring in their big-screen debut. MICHAEL McCARY, 26, NATHAN MORRIS, 27, WANYA MORRIS (who turns 25 this month) and SHAWN STOCKMAN, 25, want their youngs fans to know that - no joke - it ain't cool to smoke. The mega-smart stars are showing an anti-smoking video starring themselves, on a big screen behind the stage before each show on their summer tour! "It's not like we hate smokers or anything like that. To each his own," Wanya has explained. "We just want the youth to know, it's not cool to smoke." Way to go, Wanya!

Material Girl-turned-mommy MADONNA, who's topping the charts with her single "Frozen" from her Ray of Light CD, can tell you that it's not cool to torture yourself with mega-hard methods to staying in chape - like grueling workouts that push your body beyond its limits. "I guess everybody associates me with this incredible sort of workout ethic, incredibly punishing exercise routine," she's sighed. "I am here to say it is a huge waste of time. I didn't have to push myself so hard, and I didn't know it." It doesn't look like the sensational sonstress' fabulous figure has suffered a speck from her toned-down workout!

Suffering was something SAVAGE GARDEN sweetie DARREN HAYES didn't expect from what he thought would be the pretty painless process of getting his ear pierced "I tried to be very cool when I got my ear pierced, but I didn't want to go through the process of having the stuf," Darren, who celebrates his 25th birthday this month, tells BOP. "They had to remove it and put this thing in and it closed. It was like a scene from the Exorcist." Nevertheless, Darren's equally babely bandmate, DANIEL JONES, 26, says the incident didn't really discourage the duo behind the beautiful ballad "Truly Madely Deeply." "We like earrings," Daniel grins.

Well, that's it for now. How's that for a summer full of special treats? See you next month.

- BOP

Setember 1998