A music exam given to high-school students in the UK is causing quite the row for suggesting that the kids listen to a song by Gary Glitter, who just returned to the country after spending 27 months in a Vietnamese jail on sex-with-minors charges, to prepare for writing a track of their own. “Leader Of The Gang” (above) was recommended to students as an example of a song that changed tempo and/or style alongside “Reviewing The Situation” from Oliver! and Meat Loaf’s “I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That).” The organization that administers the exam has since ordered that all references to the track be removed, although given that said exam is aimed at teenagers–the demographic that loves to figure out what’s behind the bleeps more than any other–and the news about this song being included is splashed all over the papers, the exact opposite of the ban’s desired result will probably happen.
Halloween is creeping up, so it’s time for Forbes to publish its list of the highest-earning dead celebrities of the past year. The winner, once again, is Elvis Presley, whose dulcet tones, handsome visage, and rotting carcass pulled in $52 million, nearly $20 million ahead of No. 2, Charles M. Schulz. The other musicians near the top are John Lennon (seventh, $9 million) and Marvin Gaye (13th, $2 million), with ancillaries such as Velvet Underground manager Andy Warhol (eighth, $9 million) and presidential serenader Marilyn Monroe (ninth, $6.5 million) figuring in as well. What’s most noteworthy, though, are two other pieces–one in Forbes, the other in Ad Age–that explains the nature of this list and call parts of it, indirectly, into question.
Disgraced glam star Gary Glitter has agreed to return to the UK after attempting to find shelter in Hong Kong during a stopover in Bangkok. But in case you thought the tales of him feigning a heart attack and being denied entry to Hong Kong weren’t nutty enough, the Times Of London has a ton of craaazy details on the past three days of what one other British paper called “an international game of ping-pong,” a few of which we’ve excerpted after the jump.
Gary Glitter’s post-prison-stint deportation to the UK from Vietnam has hit a snag: He’s refused to go back to Britain and has instead fled to Hong Kong. While changing planes in Bangkok, he claimed that he was having both a heart attack and an earache and demanded to go to a local hospital; a local doctor said he was fine for travel (although suffering from the rib inflammation costochondritis), and after he was diagnosed, Glitter stationed himself in an airport lounge and eventually negotiated passage to Hong Kong.
Fallen glam-rocker Gary Glitter was shipped back to the United Kingdom today–in coach!–nearly three years after he was convicted of sex offenses against children in Vietnam. His lawyer told reporters that Glitter is mainly worried about looking after his health when he returns to his homeland, although he’s also told reporters that he wants to get back to making music once again. Given that this nation’s ballparks have little problem keeping “Rock And Roll, Pt. 2” in their between-innings rotation, could this shift back to his original career actually be… good for him?
Glam-rock icon Gary Glitter has completed his 27-month sentence for abusing two girls in Vietnam, and Vietnamese authorities are returning him to his home country of England next week. More »
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