Stuck On Repeat 2009: June

The Grammys axed Polka from the awards. Kevin Bacon played a gig on the top of Pikes Peak. Still a little too close to other people for our liking.

After what seemed like forever, Conor McNicholas announced he was releasing NME from his editorial embrace. Vibe closed down altogether. There were rumours that The Face might come back, but luckily nothing so far; Hole was coming back, though, announced Courtney Love. No it's bloody not, said the rest of Hole.

In a comeback video, Iggy Pop lambasted all those who sold a watered-down version of The Stooges. Including, by implication, himself. Beth Ditto was cross with Katy Perry for insulting gay culture, while Katy Perry declared war on people who had the same name as her. American radio was accused of not playing Bono after he'd demanded they pay royalties. Any excuse, eh?

Malawi gave in and let Madonna take another child and, reverting to type, Pete Doherty was arrested after doing drucks on a plane. Nobody was surprised to discover that the rehearsed appearance of Sacha Baron-Cohen's amusing Bruno character (Danny LaRue) during Eminem's MTV movie awards was rehearsed. Lupe Fiasco was very upset with file sharing but Fleet Foxes took a more grown-up attitude.

Paul McCartney has lost his faith in politics - luckily, not yet in Rupert Bear or tofu. Noel Gallagher got all grumpy with the NME because it was trying to stir up animosity between Oasis and The Enemy - although, luckily, nobody read the offending piece to The Enemy. More trouble for Noel when he offered fans a refund after a powercut - and they took him at his word. Perez Hilton and Will I Am got into some sort of squawking fight.

The people who make the charts up decided to mess about with what constitutes 'indie'. After complaints she was in a diet coke ad, on a bicycle, with no safety gear, the Advertising Standard Authority were laid back with Duffy. Almost as if they didn't care if she hurted herself. Having thought about it a bit, the BPI admitted they might have messed up their response to Napster.

Marilyn Manson went onstage wearing a big hat. You know what upsets Larry Mullen, a rich man from Ireland? It's people in Ireland attacking rich men. It upsets him almost as much as The Kooks get upset by people who dislike pisspoor retreads of Toploader.

Oh, and Michael Jackson died.

[Part of the month-by-month review from Stuck On Repeat 2009]