Bookmarks: Some other things to read on the web

The top ten most ridiculous music couples, as chosen by Stylus magazine:

07. Goldie and Bjork (mid-90s)
Maybe the bomber was trying to tell her something. In ’95 it might’ve seemed like Goldie would go down in the history books as the man that brought jungle to the masses, and not the ‘90s punchline he is today, but while the internet froths over the release of Bjork’s Volta, you could probably count the people on one hand who can even name an album Goldie’s released this decade. Assuming he’s even released one, anyway.

Ryan Gilbey remembers his first gig:

While I would love to continue claiming that I lost my live-music cherry seeing Prince on his Lovesexy tour, that was in fact my third gig. My first - oh, the shame - was Erasure at the Hammersmith Odeon. In case you're wondering why I didn't simply promote my second gig - Sinead O'Connor at the Dominion - to first place, I think there's something a bit drab about saying that Sinead O'Connor, wonderful though she is, was the first person you saw play live. It's like saying that your first car was a Mini Metro.

The Eagles are the best band in the world, reckons New York magazine. It does show its working:

The fact that in 1978, they attempted to cash in on the disco craze by writing “The Disco Strangler,” a song about a murderer who loves the nightlife.

An interesting, though fundamentally flawed piece on Indymedia casts Paris Hilton as a victim of celebrity, without stopping to wonder if maybe she sought that status in the first place:

There are many unhealthy aspects to this whole business. In the first place, the Paris Hilton celebrity phenomenon was a product of the foul media-entertainment apparatus in the US and a generally diseased social climate. Under healthier circumstances, Hilton’s “bad girl” antics would have been of concern only to her family and close friends.

Two Jaggers

Chris Jagger was playing a small gig at the Bull's Head Pub in South London when his brother joined him on stage. Not very impressive, perhaps, but his brother is called Mick and plays music on stage for a living. It's turned up now on YouTube.

Anthrax tighten Slipknot

It's a marriage made in Hades: Corey Taylor is seriously considering an offer to join Anthrax:

It's kind of a dream come true, Anthrax is one of my favorite bands.

"We're just kind of taking baby steps right now. I know that we worked on about eight or nine songs together that I've written lyrics for.

"But there's nothing definite right now. It's one of those things where it's like we're just gonna kind of play it by ear and just see what happens. I'm in two huge bands right now. So it's like I barely get enough time to sleep, let alone do another band."

You must make more time to sleep, Corey. Lots and lots of time to sleep.

Gareth Gates claims his dues

At first, you think that Gareth Gates is having a little joke...

"Paul owes me. It's not just Unchained Melody that made him money. Will [Young] and I recorded the Beatles' The Long And Winding Road, so I think I deserve my after-show party ticket"

... but the mention of the second song really does suggest that Gareth was actually being straight faced.

He presumably realises that, set against McCartney's annual earnings, the royalties from a Gareth Gates song would probably barely make a tinkle in a pewter mug, doesn't he? And, also, since he was paying McCartney for the rights to a song that McCartney owned, in what way would that put McCartney into Gates' debt? Does Gates think that when he buys a pasty from Greggs, somehow this means he has a moral right to go to the bakers' Christmas staff do?

"It was an amazing gig. Seeing the crowd respond to Hey Jude really made me want to cover it. All those voices singing along is something I'd love to experience."

Gareth, Gareth... it might take a little more than merely copying someone else's song for that to happen, you understand.

Please, not on our account

Fergie has - we're not sure "reassured" is the word, more threatened - that there will be another Black Eyed Peas album:

"We don't have an album yet, a Black Eyed Peas album," Fergie told WENN. "We haven't had time; everybody's been constantly working, as we always do. But we will have an album. We're not going away."

We know what she's been doing... but what about the other ones? Are they really all so busy?

Rage against the clock

There's been some sucking of teeth over behind the scenes at the Wikipedia Rage Against The Machine page; one contributor had suggested that, if you went to the RATM website and set your PCs internal clock to match the zero hour on the two countdown clocks, you would see details of some sort of secret gig:

Can anyone else verify this as well?

no i did this and cleared my cookies and cache and restarted the browser and it still counts down the same way (i.e. still says that theres XX days/hours/mins left). i'm removing the info from the article until someone can back up the claim (and even then it would be considered "Original Research" so... yeah).68.255.229.29 16:56, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

[...]

I can verify that it does indeed change the site. It says "August 24th, Alpine Valley" and that tickets will be on sale at 10am 6/16. I'd be happy to take a screenshot of it and upload it if you'd like. FireC 07:30, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

What's perhaps more interesting is the website at the heart of the excitement - ratm82407.com had its domain registered by LiveNation. Is it possible to Rage effectively against the Machine when a substantial part of that machine is handling your PR work for you?

Box set or buy Ryan

Ryan Adams is preparing a box set full of stuff that has previously been unleaked to the internet, including two albums which haven't had a release before, and a lot of rarities. Of course, by the time it emerges in the autumn, he'll have gone and recorded more stuff, so there's still going to be a load of unreleased stuff laying about.

Wasn't this supposed to be our year off?

According to listings on Amazon, there's going to be a new album from Coldplay on September 3rd.

It has no details beyond a "TBC", so we're guessing this is going to be some tatty live, repackaged, best of filler designed to help EMI pay the wages of the people working on the company's glittering strategy for the future rather than a proper album.

Beasties: There are no words

So, not only have The Beastie Boys dumped the rapping, and the sampling, from the forthcoming album, it's going to be all instrumental. All live instrumental. Mike D admits this might not be the most-chart friendly move:

"The more we kept working on these songs, the happier with them we became, and the more confused in terms of where there was room to put vocals on them.

"If we were trying to maximize our demographic or whatever, I'm not sure we'd come with an instrumental record right now, but I think we have to give people who've been listening to us some credit.

"They've gone to different places with us already, in terms of the influences we bring to the music we make, so hopefully they'll be able to hang with this curveball as well."

Well, their fanbase has managed to overlook the early sexism and faux-shockery, so a jazzy noodling album they should take in their stride.

Robbie Williams is not an old lady who only used it for going to church

Who knew that a Smart car briefly owned, and never driven, by Robbie Williams might have difficulty finding a market? Sam Judah bought the car off Williams last August, and has been trying to flog it ever since. It was left unloved on eBay; now it's turned up in AutoTrader:

“The first time bidding went mad but people just wanted to take pictures, no one wanted to buy it. I’m hoping now it’s coming into summer I’ll have a few serious buyers.”

Because, of course, you can't sell a car in Autumn. That's why car lots are closed in mid-September until Easter at the earliest. Oh, hang on, that's holiday camps, isn't it?