Tonight’s set by the pugilistic Britpop titans Oasis at the Rock En Seine Festival, which was supposed to commence about an hour ago, was canceled at the last minute due to an “altercation,” the crowd was told. Well, that “altercation” was actually Noel Gallagher up and quitting the band because of his brotherly love pretty much going pffft! Good thing he had enough sense to blog about it immediately afterward: More »
In today’s noontime headline roundup: Oasis nix hiatus, Clear Channel is pretty much dead broke, and Kanye West is REALLY EXCITED TO BE THOUGHT OF AS FASHIONABLE! More »
The three-disc Britpop-of-the-’90s compilation Common People–named after the Pulp song, of course–comes out in June, and it will come packaged with liner notes written by Pitchfork contributor / Saint Etienne member Bob Stanley. While the track listing does have more than its share of gems, the absence of feuding NME titans Blur and Oasis will no doubt cause lots of message-board handwringing, perhaps even more than the presence of Gay Dad. Get ready to argue over what songs were missed by checking out the full tracklisting after the jump! More »
In today’s noontime headline roundup: A Pixies box set with no new material, a Breeders EP with a few new songs, a possible Oasis hiatus, and Lauryn Hill returns to the stage! More »
Nominations for the NME‘s annual addition to the bonfire of British awards shows, the Shockwave Awards, were announced today, with longtime darlings Oasis scoring seven nods—including a Worst Band nomination—and Arctic Monkeys/Last Shadow Puppets frontman Alex Turner amassing six. Of course, the biggest belly-laughs come in the Hero and Villain of the Year categories. The lights of positivity in the NME‘s world are Turner, the Killers’ Brandon Flowers, Brit comedian Noel Fielding, Oasis’ Noel Gallagher… and Barack Obama, while the big bad guys (and gal) are Amy Winehouse, George W. Bush, Gordon Brown, John McCain, and Pete Doherty. (Obama, sadly, is the only Hero contender who didn’t also get a “Best Dressed” nod; he’s replaced in that category by some British “it girl” who isn’t Kate Moss or Sienna Miller.) Full slate of nominees after the jump.
Welcome to the inaugural version of The Idolator Dozen, our new weekly countdown of notable-slash-positive happenings in the music world as decided by me. To answer your questions: “Why?”; “Ranking things is fun, duh.” “Why 12?”; “Because I like the number, and always have.” “What’s on the list?”; “Whatever I say, plus maybe a few things that I neglected to get to during the week.” “Why now?”; “Why not now?” “When will then be now?”; “Soon.” The top 12 after the jump!
Blonde Bond Daniel Craig and cell phone pitchman Noel Gallagher got into the kind of fake celebrity spat that the British tabloids manufacture daily by using the patented system of drawing two celebrity names out of a hat, asking them about one another, and then creating a headline that seems salacious—“Daniel Craig baits Noel Gallagher over guitar skills jibe,” in this case–-until you read the story and realize that nothing all that interesting happened.
In this case, Craig was questioned at a movie premiere about Noel Gallagher’s assertion that Craig should play him in the (inevitable?) Oasis biopic. Craig said he was too old for the role (he’s one year younger in reality), and that, anyway, he was better at guitar. I did some digging to see if I could find 007 jamming out on the guitar, but I was met with crickets and tumbleweeds. (The British beefcake apparently does enjoy a game of Guitar Hero now and again, but that really ain’t the same thing.)