HMV pulls Lostprophets from the shelves

I suppose, pragmatically, there's not a person in the country who would want to buy a Lostprophets record in public now, and in that sense HMV's decision to remove their records from stores makes sense.

On the other hand, it's an interesting precedent that HMV has set, now it's decided that conviction for some child abuse crimes makes an artist's work unacceptable. But only some - Roman Polanski's drugging and rape of a girl, for example, is not a a bar to the chain selling his work; and their Gary Glitter artist page even mentions his convictions while still offering a chance to buy his tracks.

I don't think it's a bad move to have a policy on this. It's just not clear what HMV's policy is.

Bad times for H

It's not just the Ian Watkins whose Twitter name is an underscore away from the Lostprophets' child-raping singer. Ian H Watkins out of pantomime, mostly, has also been targeted by people who can't tell the difference between Lostprophets and Steps.

Still, at least there are proper entertainment journalists who won't make that mistake, right?

Yes, that's the entertainment experts over at E!Online confusing the two Watkins.

The Mirror says that H is considering legal action over the error, although their actual quote:

When asked if the Steps singer was considering taking legal action, a spokesperson replied: "We're not sure at this point."

... doesn't quite say that so forcibly.

Ian Watkins changes his plea to guilty

I suspect this isn't the greatest day to be called @ianwatkins on Twitter - an underscore away from being the child-raping lead singer of Lostprophets, @ian_watkins.

This, though, is a pretty astute point:

Pop media demonises *former* child Miley for "sexualisation" of youth over Lostprophets' male heartthrob who raped *actual* children.

— Ms Slide (@sliderulesyou) November 26, 2013

...but I guarantee that he won't be brought up as an example of "sexualisation" of children in the same way Miley Cyrus is.

— Ms Slide (@sliderulesyou) November 26, 2013

It does look from the evidence reported in court that Watkins used the band as a way of persuading young women to do things that were criminal. The biggest risks aren't the ones on stage.

Lostprophets call it a day

It's surprising that they've managed to drag on for a year, what with their singer Ian Watkins being accused of raping a baby, but finally Lostprophets have accepted they're a lost cause:

After nearly a year of coming to terms with our heartache, we finally feel ready to announce publicly what we have thought privately for some time. We can no longer continue making or performing music as Lostprophets. Your love and support over the past 15 years has been tremendous, and we'll be forever grateful for all you've given us. As we look forward to the next phase of our lives, we can only hope to be surrounded by people as devoted and inspiring as you guys have been.

Jamie, Lee, Luke, Mike, and Stu

Ian Watkins has denied the charges against him; his trial is due to start on November 25th.