The Daily Star deliberately misreports the Viola Beach crash

Friday morning, and an unequivocal front page from the Daily Star about the accident which killed the band Viola Beach:

It was, says the Star, deliberate. All over the front page.

Except... on the Star's website today, a very different story:

Swedish police now say they did not brake because they did not spot the barrier.

Crash footage has shown the car move to the left hand lane to overtake stationary traffic, before braking, then accelerating through a barrier.

Inspector Lars Berglund told the Mirror: "Maybe he had not discovered the barriers in front of those cars standing still.

"I have not suggested that [the driver] was doing this in order to kill himself or the band.

"I said he was making a move from the right lane to the left lane and that was not accidental."

In other words, the Swedish police said that the driver hadn't accidentally swerved, and the Daily Star chose to dress this up to make it sound like he'd chosen to drive off the bridge.

What a scummy thing to do.

The Star's website describes this new story in this way:

COPS have revealed why they believe tragic indie band Viola Beach's driver did not stop – clarifying reports the crash was deliberately caused.

Now, it's true that the policeman involved did use the word "deliberate", but if you're going to splash this on the front page, you might want to double-check your story. Especially since The Guardian's print edition - reporting on exactly the same press conference - managed to record the more lurid claim - "with some intent" - but still reported the story under a heading "Police blame 'inattention' for accident that killed Viola Beach members". Which is a fairer representation of what seems to have been said.

And does the Daily Star splash the correction over the front page this morning?

It does not.

Progobit: Keith Emerson

Keith Emerson, the one who wasn't Lake or Palmer, has died.

Oddly, Mark Ronson was also out the blocks to pay tribute (this time with a Tweeted performance).

That link with the death George Martin, though, is appropriate - although Emerson went further, and brought jazz and classical sounds into the heart of their music, rather than spraying it on as an influence.

Not all the world was ready - if you think Punk was a movement which fell apart, how much worse to be part of a scene known as "progressive" and yet having created a sound which now feels very much part of the past?

Here's Emerson as part of his pre-ELP outfit, The Nice, covering Leonard Bernstein:


Early reports say that Keith died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Producerobit: George Martin

There's been a great deal written about George Martin over the last couple of days - I can't recall an occasion previously when a record producer's death has led the BBC News, for example.

If you're looking for a good place to start, or frankly are only prepared to read one thing about Martin, I'd suggest the Guardian's collection of other producers talking about his work, although it's a pity they start with Mark Ronson's bit:

I was in a studio last night with a bass in my hand, thinking, ‘What would George do?’

Were you really, Mark? Really?

It might make me a bad person that when I heard the news, my mind went straight not to The White Album or Love Me Do, but... well, to this:

To be fair, Big Train did capture something quite essential about Martin there - yes, he was brilliant musically, but like many musicians that didn't make him any less of a bore when he talked about it.

On a side note, how many Game Of Thrones fans do you think had a horrible two minutes on Wednesday morning?

Who wrote on Bryan Adam's guitar?

Bryan Adams is cross, because when he picked up his guitar after arriving in Egypt, it has been defaced:

Airport customs graffiti on my 1957 Martin D-18 from Egypt. Back to the luthier... #bryanadamsgetup

A photo posted by @bryanadams on Mar 10, 2016 at 2:59pm PST

Customs say it wasn't them:

A customs official said instruments were marked with serial numbers, although usually with stickers. Regarding the ink, he suggested: “Maybe it wasn’t us?”

It was also unlikely to be music lovers, who would have smashed the guitar to pieces.

We've had lots of letters

An email pings into our inbox with this unlikely claim

Let's just leave aside the question of how something can be a resurgence if it's new, and ask... Cornwall?

The "popular music" section of Wikipedia's List of Cornish musicians stretches to include Tori Amos's holiday home in Bude, a claim for the lead singer of Paper Lace (albeit with citation needed) and, splendidly, Kevin Downing, "drummer for 1990s indie band The Family Cat".

Now, there's a load of interesting things going on in Cornwall - Hollie Rogers and Rose Kimberley, for example - but there's a bit of work to be done before it becomes "the new home of rock n roll".

Twittergem: Zayn Malik

He's right, you know:

Zayn Malik's album track list looks like the 'Who's Online' section of MSN Messenger in 2003. pic.twitter.com/5jxjZ7tH0S

— Rhys James (@rhysjamesy) March 7, 2016

This week just gone

Mother's day special: Most popular mother searches:

1. "I'm a bitch, I'm a mother" lyrics
2. Bloody Motherfucking arsehole lyrics
3. Mothers day compilation CD
4. I love my mother I love my father smog
5. dmx mother dies
6. mothercare by akon
7. "alan mcgee" "mothercare"
8. this+one+goes+out+to+queens+of+the+trust+fund,+you+slept+on+my+floor,+now+i'm+sleepin'+through+your+motherfucking+records
9. robbie williams mother's house
10. usher fired mother

These were last week's interesting releases:


Christine And The Queens - Chaleur Humaine

Download Chaleur Humaine



School Of Seven Bells - SVIIB

Download SVIIB



Yuck - Stranger Things

Download Stranger Things



Santigold - 99 Cents

Download 99 Cents



Pinkshinyultrablast - Grandfeathered



Lily And Madeleine - Keep It Together

Download Keep It Together