No Rock And Roll Fun

WHAT THE POP PAPERS SAY: BURNING SHIT EDITION
the face continues to stumble. The whole concept of multiple covers wasn't killed off conclusively by the Loaded 99 cover fest ages ago; now it's the province of sad boy collectors who will buy all the Star Wars versions of Empire, and buy them thrice - one for best, one for ebay, one to wank over. But here comes the former King of fashion, hoping for a David Bowie revival but looking more and more like David Dickinson. And they've produced three covers this month, for their fashion edition. Not of anything fashionable, but of designers - McQueen, Phoebe, the McCartney daughter. Jesus fuck, why? Who will want to buy all three? And if it's a test to see what sort of cover sells best - THE ONE WITH THE NAKED WOMAN IN A RUBBER CAT MASK. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to bang my head repeatedly as we hail The Face as, once again, the Brookside busted flush of magazines...

music week reports that the urban music industry is fretting that 1Xtra might simply be a way of sidelining black music out of radio 1; while BBC TV is planning to throw a massive party for number one recording artists to mark the 50th anniversary of the charts hosted by that well known man of music, erm, Ian Wright; the Sugababes are going to Denmark to appear on the wonderfully titled Boogie TV. The magazine comes with an Independent labels supplement, which is fascinating - the number six indie label in the world is Readers' Digest; the biggest British indie is Ministry of Sound - which is basically owned by 3i, the investment people. Richard Branson(and Morgan Stanley)-backed V2 provided the biggest "indie" album in the UK last year, the Stereophonics Just enough...

the nme has the strokes and the white stripes - or julian and jack, anyway - on its front. Actually, two Julians. Last week Julian was on the cover. Julian and NME, sitting in a tree...

but the news pages are actually genuinely arresting - radio one axe evening session - hugely ominous in light of peel moving back beyond midnight some nights next month; and the possible split of pulp following the end of their deal with Vivendi-Universal's Island. Good work, news fellas. Then its back to adverts as news - Vines headline NME tour; assuming, of course, that the set-trashing they did on Letterman wasn't, as suggested, Craig having a breakdown. Talking of breakdowns, Feeder are back in action, but only one brief mention of the empty presence on the drumstool (well, actually, there was someone on drums, but you know what we mean); they've started a rock version of The Sunday Time's feuds corner; they've laid out some of the more interesting ideas for the 1 Love (number one cover versions charidee) album - PJ Havrey Boots Are Made For Walking? No Doubt Uptown Top Ranking?; since Steve Albini is claiming the rare Nirvana track leaked on the net is a tune he's never heard before (and he was meant to have produced it), the On A Friday (Radiohead + two girl saxophonists) demos floating around should have an Approach With Caution labelling; "Ashcroft speaks out against war with Iraq' turns out to be Richard, not John - he suggests we pary for peace anf pray that the Americans don't start a war - which reveals him to be religious, and with probably too much faith at that; Courtney Love to play Lady MacBeth - surely a role in the Tell Tale Heart would be more apt if rumours are to be believed?; Wim Wenders is going to direct the new Idlewild video, thereby closing the gap between Anne of Green Gables and Columbo; Burnley council - home, of course, to BNP councillors - have refused to allow the Anti-Nazi League to hold their festival in the town, so it's going to be in Manchester instead, September 1st...

Danny Goffey from Supergrass puts Liv Tyler down long enough to do the ten track CD mix tape thing - Nirvana, Blondie, Bowie, Kinks...

On bands - The Kills (man-woman-stripped-down-blues-rock) and TokTok vs Soffy-O - because not all electro has to be Fischerspooner, even if silly names are deriggeur...

It was ten years ago today (ish) that Kurt came onstage in a wheelchair at Reading. Bizarrely, this event is marked by a two-page interview with Everett True, headlined "The last truly great Nirvana show" (or, more honestly "Not even Krist would return our calls"), but it does mean that the nme winds up giving a plug to Careless Talk Costs Lives, a magazine dedicated to the host's own destruction. (And if you wonder why we reviewed one CTCL in pop papers and stopped, its because the fucking thing is impossible to get outside of London again)...

There really is no need for the paper to run a picture of Kevin Rowland in a dress (remember, the kids - *his* clothes, not *womens* clothes) on page 26. Or, indeed, of Courtney's knickers...

reviews? Already? albums? The Music - the Music ("like abba said - thank you for the music", 7); catatonia - greatest hits ("strange glue indeed", 7); sugababes - angels with dirty faces ("half lives up to the promise of the two singles", 7)...

here's a pull out 20 page special souvenier leeds/ reading review... hang about, the back pages are all burned... Strokes - superhero ... weezer - flamboyant... guided by voices - bedlam... von bondies - illicit... vines - mercurial... foo fighters - fighting... slipknot - mellowing... janes addiction - ecstatic... guns n roses - generous... streets - phenomenon... the music - expand... white stripes - fuzzed-up... the datsuns - rocked... the kills - death rattle... polyphonic spree - air-puncher... pretty girls make graves - fragile... the libertines - disappointing... brmc - commitment... cooper temple clause - ambition... peaches - supertrash... princess superstar - square... the hives - sweet-talk... trail of dead - down'n'dirty...

and back to the paper proper: sotw is white stripes - dead leaves and the dirty ground ("might and majesty") over breeders - son of three ("anti-Appleton"), Miss Black America's Miss Black America ("revolution and gubbins"), cinerama - careless ("should be writing romantic novels")...

live - supergrass in camden ("sugar coated pop treat"), donnas in highbury ("they want to do this")...

and then that's it. Inexplicably, a really strong edition despite being little more than a tossed together 'what we did on our bank holiday' edition. Funny the way things go, innit?