Rock band Van Halen’s reunion tour fell into disarray on Monday when it announced it would postpone all shows through April 19 while guitarist Eddie Van Halen undergoes tests for an unspecified medical condition.

The news came a week after the group postponed four shows for the same reason.

Seventeen shows are now affected, beginning Tuesday in Charlottesville, Va., and running through April 15 in Baltimore, which was one of the four postponed last week. The next scheduled show is set for April 19 in Las Vegas.

According to organizers, Van Halen, 53, who has battled cancer and substance abuse, “is currently under doctors’ care” and will “continue medical tests to define a course of treatment.” No further details were made available.

Fans are being asked to keep their tickets, which will be honored at makeup dates to be announced.

Van Halen returned to the road last fall with original lead singer David Lee Roth for the first time in 20-plus years. The tour, which features Eddie Van Halen’s teenage son Wolfgang on bass in place of co-founder Michael Anthony, has routinely sold out North American arenas.

Nine Inch Nails is utilizing the Internet to disseminate its new instrumental album, ‘‘Ghosts I-IV,’’ which went live at 8 p.m. Sunday via the Trent Reznor-led group’s Web site. ‘‘Ghosts’’ also will see physical release via RED Distribution on April 8.

Fans can receive the first nine songs from the 36-track project, which was recorded during ‘‘an intense 10-week period last fall,’’ for free, or the entire album can be obtained digitally for $5.

‘‘I’ve been considering and wanting to make this kind of record for years, but by its very nature it wouldn’t have made sense until this point,’’ says Reznor, who collaborated on the music with Alan Moulder, Atticus Ross, Alessandro Cortini, Adrian Belew and Brian Viglione. ‘‘This collection of music is the result of working from a very visual perspective — dressing imagined locations and scenarios with sound and texture; a soundtrack for daydreams. I’m very pleased with the result and the ability to present it directly to you without interference.’’

There are several other ordering options available for ‘‘Ghosts I-IV,’’ each of which come with immediate access to the album in digital form. The standard double-CD set is retailing on Reznor’s site for $10, while a $70 deluxe edition in a hardcover fabric slipcase includes the audio CDs, a DVD with multi-track files for the music and a Blu-Ray disc with high-definition stereo mixes.

For $300, devotees can opt for the ‘‘ultra-deluxe limited edition’’ package, which features all the elements in the deluxe edition plus a four-LP vinyl set and two Giclee prints amid ‘‘luxurious packaging.’’ This edition is limited to 2,500 copies and is autographed by Reznor.

Both deluxe editions will ship on May 1; a stand-alone four-LP set will be available April 8 at traditional retail. Interested parties can sample a host of the tracks from NIN’s site. The full download is also available from Amazon.com, to which it was delivered by TuneCore, while the first 9 tracks were uploaded to BitTorrent sites like the Pirate Bay.

Demand for the new music appeared to be immediate and heavy. Just after 8:30 p.m., the site was down temporarily due to traffic.

Nine Inch Nails’ contract with longtime label Interscope expired last October. Interscope then released a remix album, ‘‘Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D,’’ and holds the rights to release a greatest hits collection at some point in the future.

As a precursor to the online release of ‘‘Ghosts,’’ Reznor collaborated with Saul Williams on an album dubbed ‘‘The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust,’’ which was offered as a free download in 192kbps MP3 form, or as a higher fidelity 320kbps MP3 or FLAC version for $5. Initial statistics revealed only 18 percent of fans chose to pay for the album.

Reznor’s move also follows Radiohead’s ‘‘name your own price’’ download scheme for its ‘‘In Rainbows’’ album last fall. And while both acts have jumped ship from major labels to release music completely independently, one source close to NIN believes the differentiation between the approaches of artists in this position will actually be what changes the game.

‘‘Most of the time with a label, they try to squeeze that differentiation out,’’ the source told Billboard last fall. ‘‘Now, there’s nothing that stops Reznor or Radiohead from doing it uniquely their way. They can do it how it best works for them, without pressure.’’

Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger only survived an assassination attempt by Hells Angels members nearly 40 years ago because a boat carrying his would-be killers was swamped in a storm, according to a new BBC documentary.

The details of a plot to kill the British rocker were revealed by an FBI agent as part of a series, “The FBI at 100,” which is to be aired on BBC Radio 4 on Monday.

Tom Mangold, who presents the series, told Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper that Jagger fell out with the Hells Angels after a member of the notorious gang killed a fan during the band’s infamous free concert at Altamont in 1969.

The Stones had hired the local chapter to provide security for the poorly planned concert near San Francisco. The bikers terrorized the crowd, and were offended by Jagger’s effeminate dancing. One of them stabbed 18-year-old Meredith Hunter to death in front of the stage. The chaos was immortalized in the documentary “Gimme Shelter.”

The Hells Angels felt they had been duped by Jagger as fingers were pointed in the aftermath of the concert. Former special agent Mark Young, who was interviewed for the BBC series, said a boatload of Hells Angels set out to take revenge on Jagger at his holiday home in the Hamptons, near New York City.

“The Hells Angels were so angered by Jagger’s treatment of them that they decided to kill him,” Mangold told the newspaper.

“They planned the attack from the sea so they could enter his property from the garden and avoid security at the front. The boat was hit by a storm and all of the men were thrown overboard. All survived and there was not said to have been any further attempt on Jagger’s life.”

Alan Passaro was arrested and tried for Hunter’s murder in 1972 but was acquitted after a jury concluded that he had acted in self-defense because Hunter was carrying a handgun. Passaro later drowned in an accident.

This week’s episode of Rock of Love begs the question: why watch the Oscars when you can watch Megan and her low-rise jeans wrestle a greased pig?

It’s morning in the House of Ill Repute, and Bret personally wakes up the girls, which judging by their unschelacked faces, they’re not thrilled about. Ambre’s knees are still all scabby from playing football in the mud and who knows what else. Big John appears downstairs once they’ve gathered and tells the girls to “saddle up.” The braintrust figures out that their next challenge will involve horses. Catherine, a/k/a Grandma, a/k/a Elvira, tells us that she’s “barrel raced her whole life,” so she is very excited at the prospect of actually winning a challenge for once.

At what must be a rodeo ring, Bret introduces his special guest judge. It’s Rodeo from Rock of Love I. She is described as being “a lady of stature and insanity.” And she has a super annoying laugh. Luckily she really doesn’t appear again. As per usual, the MVP of the relay that will ensue gets a solo date with Bret, while the other winning team members get a group date. The relay involves lassos, barrels and bandana-wearing greased pigs. Why must we humiliate these poor pigs by forcing them to dress like King D-bag himself?

One thing you can say for the organizers of the Brit awards, Britain’s version of the Grammys: they sure know how to throw a party. In putting together Wednesday night’s ceremony, they followed all the rules:

1) Mix up the guest list. Invite some of the popular people that everyone else can’t help but like (Paul McCartney, Kylie Minogue); Add some folks who are quirky enough to amuse but not so bizarre they creep people out (Amy Winehouse, Gossip’s Beth Ditto); and then toss in a few of the too-cool-to-care crowd to sit in a corner, get drunk and mock the whole affair (Arctic Monkeys).

2) If the music’s no good, give them plenty else to look at: every performance should come with lasers, fireworks, odd costumes and moving sets. It’s all about distraction, distraction, distraction. Except when it comes to Amy. Don’t mess with Amy.

3) Don’t let anyone outshine the host.

To be fair, with the Osbourne family doing the MC’ing, the Brit committee hardly needed to worry about that last point. We would have happily watched Ozzy, Sharon, Kelly and Jack for the whole two hours — presenting the awards, accepting the awards, performing all the musical numbers — just to see what rock’s wackiest family was going to do next. Would Sharon swear? (Naturally.) Would Ozzy mess up his lines? (Yep, both of them.) Would Kelly and Jack fight? (Alas, no.) Would Kelly and Sharon? (Almost�)

Getting four family members, all born-and-bred attention seekers, together on stage was a stroke of evil genius. Ozzy spent the whole evening grinning and waving into the audience, Sharon hyper-enthused like a game show host on speed and Jack looked mortified at having to hang out with his parents. In a family of black sheep, it was Kelly who stood out. Casual, cheerful and poised, she was the glue that held the show together, however precariously.

The Brit awards, the biggest night in the British music industry, differ from the Grammys in one big way: they are unashamedly patriotic. There are two sets of awards, one for British artists and one for international artists, i.e. everyone else. Which means that while a British singer like Winehouse can sweep the boards at the Grammys, you’ll never see an American artist taking home more Brit awards than the British nominees: there are twice as many British-only prizes as international ones. But this isn’t about Britain protecting its own; it’s about celebrating the specific strengths of the British music industry. After all, the world already has the Grammys, with more money, publicity and recognition than any other music awards can hope to muster. You can try to compete in the world arena — and lose — or you can stay home and try to have some fun.

And so it was that the Arctic Monkeys took home Best British Group and best British Album for Favorite Worst Nightmare. The Sheffield quartet is known for boycotting the Brits in previous years — maybe, just maybe, because it used to be a dry ceremony. Their first award came early in the night, but by the time it came for them to collect for best album, the organizers may have regretted lifting the no alcohol rule. Watching Sharon and Kelly trying to corral four drunk 20-somethings towards the podium was, in the words of sponsor Mastercard, priceless.

It was a twofer for the Foo Fighters, also, who picked up gongs for Best International Group and Best International Album for Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, beating out bands like Arcade Fire and Eagles. The award for British Female Solo Artist went to witty singer-songwriter Kate Nash, while Kylie was crowned best International Female Solo Artist, reminding a nation that has so fully embraced her as one of its own that she is, in fact, Australian. International Male Solo artist went to Kanye West, who’s riff on humility — “it doesn’t feel natural, but I hear it works for a lot of celebrities” — made for one of the funniest speeches of the night. And super-producer Mark Ronson won British Male Solo Artist, ignoring the fact that he only ever does collaborations — Winehouse, Lily Allen and Robbie Williams have all worked with the preternaturally youthful producer. (And before you ask, Winehouse didn’t win anything because she wasn’t up for anything: her Back to Black album that so wowed Grammy voters earlier this month came out in Britain in 2006, so she felt the love at last year’s Brits.)

It all fell apart, though, during the awards for best British Live Act and British Single. In a misguided attempt at inclusiveness, the public votes for these, so instead of being a barometer of quality, the awards are all about the size of a band’s fanbase. Which is how Take That — the ’90s boy band that came back from oblivion a few years ago minus their most famous member, Robbie Williams — beat the likes of Muse and The Kaiser Chiefs for British Live Act and triumphed in the best British Single category. They may as well have called them “The Band Most Likely to Scare Your Parents” award and the “Most Fans Who Can Be Bothered to Vote For This Award” award. Sometimes, democracy is no good thing.

Thankfully, Take That didn’t take to the stage to try to justify their best live act win. The artists who did were many things — thrilling, confusing, off-key — but never boring. With help from Klaxons (whose wardrobe could only be described as futuristic Navajo) Rihanna performed a dark, brooding emo-dance version of her hit Umbrella. On the opposite end of the pop spectrum, Kylie’s rendition of her latest single Wow was all bright and shiny, totally making up for the unfortunate Joan Rivers-esque hairstyle and a dress so slinky the only dancing she could manage was a side-to-side shoulder shrug. British Breakthrough Act winner Mika — as always, channeling Freddie Mercury — opened the show with a greatest-hits medley that took in three different set changes and a guest appearance by Beth Ditto. And the evening ended with another medley, this one by Paul McCartney, who was there to pick up the Outstanding Contribution to Music award. Looking chipper despite having spent the last week in court wrestling with Heather Mills for his millions, McCartney did what he does best: he entertained. What started with Paul and his ukulele doing Dance Tonight ended with Paul, a piano and the population of London’s Earl’s Court Arena doing Hey Jude in what was essentially a giant pub sing-along.

But the night belonged to Winehouse, who sang two songs, even though she wasn’t up for any awards. Her snippet of Valerie with Mark Ronson was technically brilliant, but the fresh-out-of-rehab singer just couldn’t engage, not with Ronson, not with the audience and not with the song. Staring out into the middle-distance most of time, she was just phoning it in. But back on stage half an hour later was a whole other Winehouse. On a set stripped bare — just her, her band and a red velvet backdrop — she belted out Love is a Losing Game in that raw, smoky way she does, making eyes at the TV cameras and sucking the audience into her fragile, tortured world. She may not have picked up a Brit, but she was rewarded with the loudest applause of the night. Winning, it seems, isn’t everything.