Speaking of Hooky

I don't want to fucking talk about it. Am in mourning. Bands that I love shouldn't be allowed to split until AFTER I've seen them in concert.

Shit.

New Order have split up, according to bassist Peter Hook.

As previously reported the band denied they were splitting earlier this year despite drummer Stephen Morris being quoted as saying: "We should stop for a while."

Hooky and Rowetta

Now this is interesting.....

MANCHESTER music stars Rowetta and Peter Hook are joining forces to raise money for Cancer Research.

The Former Happy Mondays singer and New Order's bassist Hooky are to perform reworkings of classic New Order and Joy Division tracks at the huge Impossible Dream Project gig at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff this December.

The pair came up with the idea after they played a few Joy Division classics together at a small private gig in Manchester and the reaction was very positive.

Rowetta, partying at trendy new Altrincham bar Opulence, told me: "I know that certain Joy Division fans are quite protective of the legacy of singer Ian Curtis.

"I can totally understand that.

"So I was really pleased when me and Hooky played a few tracks together that we got such a good reaction. It was lovely to see."

Random Ten

And away we go......

1. Beetlebum- Blur
2. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down- The Band
3. Sparky's Dream- Teenage Fanclub
4. Say You'll Be There- Spice Girls*
5. Always On My Mind- Pet Shop Boys
6. Atlantis To Interzone- Klaxons
7. Don't Stop Believing- Journey**
8. Liza Radley- The Jam
9. La belle et la bete- Babyshambles
10. Here It Comes- Doves

Bonus-
11. Every Day I Write the Book- Elvis Costello
12. Push It- Garbage
13. Neptune- Ian Brown
14. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is- Jet

*shit
**fucking hell

Pulp - Common People

SADIE! Hey, girl!

Indie Anthems- top ten

I'd like to point out that I correctly called quite a few of these. Yes, I'm actually that smug. (I'm not, actually)

But here we go (my thoughts in lavender, again)-

10 Arctic Monkeys - 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor'
(absolutely electric live)

9 The Strokes - 'Last Nite'
(what I said about #10)

8. The Stone Roses - 'I Am The Resurrection'
(oooo, should have been higher. The jam at the end? Transcendent)

7. The Smiths - 'How Soon Is Now?'
(My favorite bit of Marr)

6. The Libertines - 'Time For Heroes'
(love it. And the video is the slashiest thing I have EVER seen)

5. The Libertines - 'Don't Look Back Into The Sun'
(should have been 'Can't Stand Me Now' or 'Boys In the Band')

4. The Smiths - 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out'
(Smiths songs are so melancholy, but so fucking funny at the same time)

3. Pulp - 'Common People'
(Until my friend, the lovely Kazza, said something, I had no idea the patron saint of pervy older women (that I have mad respect for), Ms. Sadie Frost, was in this video)

2. Nirvana - 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
(Told you so)

1. Oasis - 'Live Forever'
(bullet-proof bit of pop magic there....)

Not a perfect list (I would have put 'Resurrection' in at #1, and 'Live Forever' at #2), but hell, it still isn't too bad......

BabyShambles- Fuck Forever

Oooo, this is great.

Indie anthems 30-11

Here's the next round. Again, my comments are in lavender (if you actually care;)

11. The Smiths - 'This Charming Man'
(love it, love it. My co-workers don't appreciate Moz yet, but give me time)

12. The Stone Roses - 'She Bangs The Drums'
(If I could have a song's babies, it would be this one)

13. The Libertines - 'Can't Stand Me Now'
(I love it that during Libs performances, Carlos and Peter always looked like they wanted to punch each other in the throat or make out. Possibly both)

14. Oasis - 'Don't Look Back In Anger'
(I have no words. I love this song so much)

15. Blur - 'Song 2'
("Woooo Hooooo")

16. Franz Ferdinand - 'Take Me Out'

17. The Stone Roses - 'I Wanna Be Adored'
(I KNEW IT!)

18. The Verve - 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'
(I adore this song, and would like to say, as a Rolling Stones fan, that Jagger is a complete dick for suing them over this song. ESPECIALLY SINCE KEEF WROTE THE FUCKING ORCHESTRAL VERSION OF 'THE LAST TIME')

19. Joy Division - 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'
(thought this would be top ten)

20. Joy Division - 'Transmission'

21. The Smiths - 'Panic'
("Hang the DJ, hang the DJ")

22. The Breeders - 'Cannonball'
(Played a million times when my bestest friend and I went to the Greek Getaway weekend, an attempt to recruit for sororities, at Iowa State in 1994. It took for her, not for me)

23. The Gossip - 'Standing In The Way Of Control'
(Beth Ditto is one cool bitch)

24. Babyshambles - 'Fuck Forever'
(You read the lyric and start to realize what all the fuss is about Mr. Doherty)

25. Oasis - 'Supersonic'
("Give me Gin and tonic")

26. Radiohead - 'Creep'
(the only Radiohead song I own)

27. Oasis -' Wonderwall'

28. Pavement - 'Cut Your Hair'

29. Arcade Fire - 'Rebellion (Lies)'

30. Manic Street Preachers - 'A Design For Life'

DIRTY PRETTY THINGS

DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, originally uploaded by James Looker.

I am completely incapable of speech. This is Teh Hot. Sweet, sweet Carlito. This is rock and roll wasted youth, my friends. The modern equivalent of Lord Byron. But not posh. God. GOD. Carlos is fine.

Update- This is why I shouldn't look for Flickr pictures of my favorite rock and rollers after a few festive glasses of Chardonnay. Excuse the hyperbole.

"Oh, the boy's a slag"

Well done, Messieurs Turner, Cook, O'Malley and Helders.

Arctic Monkeys have entered the US album chart at Number Seven with their second LP Billboard'Favourite Worst Nightmare'.

The album fared better than 2006 debut LP 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not', which entered at Number 24.

Seriously, Al's lyrics are incredible. He's freaking 21. A baby. I was still not applying myself in college at that point, not writing Top Ten albums.

At that age, I would have written something like:

He loved me,
I loved him.
He dumped me for the sorority whore with too much makeup on.

Slamming drinks, manipulating the dj,
Woooo, 'The Rain Song.'
Gaaawwwdd, I think he's hot.
The cycle starts again.

Where am I? How did I get here? Who is this guy?

Enter the walk of shame.....

Shit, we're out of beer,
To the Keg Shop!

Ooo, I think he's hot.
The cycle starts again.

Or something equally profound.

*rolls eyes*

Best. Graphic. Ever.

Just appear already!

I want my new issue of NME to appear in my inbox right fucking now.

I have no idea why it is so very important for me to know what a bunch of teenagers and rock snobs consider to be the top indie anthems of all time, but it is. It's really fucking important.*

And I care about what teenagers and rocks snobs think, because basically I'm a big teenager with no acne and credit card debt, and Jeebus knows I'm a rock snob.

*I have a sneaking suspicion that this is due to my continued indecision on potential grad school major areas of study. Also, where I'm attending grad school

Back to my obsessing.

They've released #'s 50-31 today, and tomorrow will have #'s 30-11. But that won't matter, because I'll have my hot little hands on my digital copy.

So, let's see what we have here (my comments in lavender)

31 Oasis - 'Cigarettes & Alcohol' (Yes. YES. HELL YES.)

32 The Stone Roses - 'Fool's Gold'
(Oooo, I thought this would be higher. Higher. Snicker)

33 The Killers - 'Mr Brightside'

34 Radiohead - 'Just'

35 Pixies - 'Monkey Gone To Heaven'

36 Kaiser Chiefs - 'I Predict A Riot'
(I actually like the Girls Aloud cover better, but let's pretend I didn't just say that)

37 Kasabian - 'LSF'
(Fantastic! And I've listened to this song, oh, 75 times in the past few weeks due to the Thomas Meighan-related psychotic break I've experienced)

38 Pixies - 'Gigantic'
(All my stoner friends in college LOVED Pixies)

39 Oasis - 'Champagne Supernova'
(How can one be faster than a cannonball? There's a really great Big Brother quote re: this song, but I can't bloody find it)

40 Klaxons - 'Golden Skans'
(I have this! I feel like I should go buy the rest of the album, since I think New Rave is really taking off here. Because it is my favorite thing to say, "Oh, I've been listening to them for months now...." in a bored manner)

41 Blur - 'Parklife'
(I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the sparrows too. It gives me a sense of enormous well-being. Parklife!)

42 The Cribs - 'Hey Scenesters'

43 Suede - 'Animal Nitrate'

44 The Stone Roses - 'Love Spreads'
(I don't care what anyone says, I liked 'Second Coming.')

45 The La's - 'There She Goes'
(My top ten is totally fucked now. 'Son Of a Gun' maybe?)

46 Dinosaur Jr - 'Freak Scene'

47 The Libertines - 'Up The Bracket'
(Hurrah! The Good Ship Albion!)

48 Sonic Youth - 'Bull In The Heather'
(Another band that I'm not smart enough to like. Or cool enough to pretend I like)

49 The Rapture - 'House Of Jealous Lovers'

50 My Bloody Valentine - 'You Made Me Realise'

So, the wily bastards at the NME have a scan from the issue up on their website, showing some of the top ten, which I can't make out, because I'm fucking blind.

It appears that 'Dancefloor' by Sheffield's finest (other than Sean Bean, that is) is in at 10.

The Libs are in there (#6)? The pic they have shows Carlos's tummy. Which is lovely. But Thomas's wee tummy is better. Seriously, y'all, PSYCHOTIC FUCKING BREAK.

And my boys, Ian, John, Mani and Reni seem to be in at #8! WOO WOO!

So I'm guessing, depending on the Roses song, that it will be them, The Smiths or The Brothers From Burnage in at #1.

But of course, I might be hallucinating. We will see tomorrow.

bluebells

bluebells, originally uploaded by Mance.

I'm so going to look for bluebells tomorrow. Yay spring!

Indie anthems

The NME has released names of artists that have songs on their list of the greatest indie anthems, with the songs to be named later this week:

Arcade Fire ,Arctic Monkeys, Babyshambles, Blur, The Breeders , The Cribs, Dinosaur Jr, Franz Ferdinand, The Gossip, Joy Division, Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, The Killers, Klaxons, The La's, Manic Street Preachers, My Bloody Valentine, Nirvana, Oasis, Pavement, Pixies, Pulp, Radiohead, The Rapture, The Smiths, Sonic Youth, The Stone Roses, The Strokes, Suede, The Verve

Thoughts? The top ten, in my opinion, will include, in no particular order:

Suede- kicked off early Britpop

Blur- for 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' alone

Nirvana- for the Americans, and their gloomy lyrics gave Big Brother something to react to

Oasis- the back catalog is bulletproof.

Joy Division- because of Ian. Because Hooky is one of the most influential bass players of the past 30 years. This will be part of the JD renaissance, I'm telling you

The Smiths- on this one, I'm going to venture a song title. 'There Is a Light That Never Goes Out' will be in the top ten

The Stone Roses- For the Roses, I'm thinking it's going to be 'I Wanna Be Adored,' but I've been wrong before. Maybe 'I Am the Resurrection.' They'll be in the top 5, for sure.

Radiohead- They're important. I don't "get" their music, but they'll be in the top 10. (I'm not smart enough to understand it, apparently. I love 'Creep,' though. Yep, I'm one of THOSE people)

The La's- Massively, massively influential for a band that only put out one album. In 1990.

Arctic Monkeys- 'Dancefloor' for sure. The lads have so much momentum behind them right now.

Possible others in the top ten? Pulp, Pixies and The Strokes.

Step On

Since Mr. Mark Berry wasn't allowed into the US for Coachella, the Mondays obviously needed a freaky dancer to perform onstage with the Rev. Shaun William Ryder and company.

I'm not sure how it came to pass, but Dan Martin from the NME is shaking the Mancunian maracas tonight.

The following is from the NME's Coachella blog-

So I'm sat behind the Sahara Stage where the Happy Mondays are currently getting it on, and where stunt Bez for the night Dan Martin is warming up his repertoire of moves. He couldn't be more excited if he was a Frenchman with a pair of self-removing trousers. Check back in a bit to see how he got on!

"Stunt Bez." BWAHAHAHAHA!

But can he offer anyone "like the best drug experience they ever had?"

I like the way that the NME is working with the whole instant gratification thing that blogs provide with their festival and awards show temporary sites.

Most of the content winds up in the print edition, but it's just nice to know what is happening, when it's happening, rather than waiting a week for the magazine to hit the stands.

Arctics-Coachella 2007-A Certain Romance

My, Alex was chatty! I love Helders's mugging for the boys in the band, but what is the child wearing? Hysterical.