With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

“And when you wake up it’s a new mornin’ the sun is shinin’ it’s a new morning” January 8, 2012

Filed under: News,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 4:27 pm
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Those of you in the UK will certainly heard of the death of Bob Holness this week aged 83. Bob was the host of the iconic Blockbusters TV show for from 1983 to 1994. Anyone for “Can I have a P please Bob?” He began working in radio in 1955 and starred as James Bond in a radio adaptation of Ian Fleming‘s ‘Moonraker’ in 1956. he was possibly the first person to portray the famous secret agent.

He was also the subject of a wonderful and long lasting urban myth. It has long been believed by many that he was the saxophonist on Gerry Rafferty‘s “Baker Street“. However this is definitely a myth, Raphael Ravenscroft played the sax on that song. the myth arose following a regular Stuart Maconie article in the NME back in the 80s for the “Believe It Or Not” section. It was a piece, like many of those included, that Maconie had made up. Bob did play along with the story on some occasions and embellished it a few times too. He has said that he also played lead guitar on Derek and the Dominoes “Layla”. Those gullible people reading this please note; Bob Holness clearly had a great sense of humour.

Bob kept his street cred account well stocked, here he is with Frank Sidebottom and Little Frank

There is a real music link for the South African born TV and Radio presenter though. His daughter Ros was a member of the band Toto Coelo. They were 80s one hit wonders with “I Eat Canibals” in 1982 a song which was produced by 70s hitmaker Barry Blue.

I would like to pass on my condolences to Bob Holness’ family, friends and legions of fans. RIP Bob Holness

 

“Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know he’s in the best selling show”

Filed under: News,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:01 am
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It’s January 8th 2012 which means that David Robert Jones is now a pensioner; yes, Mr Bowie is officially an old bloke aged 65. I have made many posts about David Bowie since I started this blog and indeed I have posted on his birthday before as well. So what can I say that I haven’t said before about the Dame? Well how about some trivia about him that you may or may not have heard?

He left school with just one GCE O Level, which means that I left school with twice as many O Levels as he did. The lack of even minor academic qualifications hasn’t held him back though has it?

It is widely known that he shares a birthday with Elvis Presley who was born 12 years before Bowie in 1935. But did you know that he shares that birthday with a number of other music stars as well?

On top of that it is also the same date that the new North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un was born in either 1983 or 1984 and Stephen Hawking in 1942.

I am in the middle of reading Peter Doggett’s book ‘The Man Who Sold The World – David Bowie And The 1970s’ which is a journey through the 70s song by song of everything Mr Bowie recorded. Parts of it are a little too muso for me, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an excellent book. I have learnt some new things about Bowie, which is really something for a moderately obsessive fan! Did you know that Bowie had wanted Phil Spector to produce the ‘Aladdin Sane‘ album? I certainly didn’t, but it would have been a fascinating mix of styles. That album sold less than half of the nearly 11 million sales achieved by the ‘Lets Dance’ album in 1983.

It would be fair to say that “Rebel Rebel” from the ‘Diamond Dogs’ album is a brilliant pastiche of the Rolling Stones. Did you know that Bowie also provided backing vocals and hand-claps on the Stones hit “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll” from 1974? Live Aid in 1985 prompted Bowie and Mick Jagger to record together again with a cover of Martha and the Vandellas “Dancing In The Street”. Not the best cover version in the world in my opinion. In a survey by the PRS last year it was voted as the song that most people would play at street parties to celebrate last years Will and Kate Royal nuptials.

As well as being a musician David has always been a music fan as well and has often championed some of his favourite acts. Back in the early 70s he heard that Mott The Hoople were about to break up so he got in touch and offered them a song to persuade them to stay together. The band went on to have a massive hit with Bowie’s “All The Young Dudes” but did you know that the first song he offered them was “Suffragette City”? They turned it down saying that it didn’t really suit them. Bowie went on to produce Mott’s ‘All The Young Dudes’ album with Mick Ronson. In 1975 Ronson became a member of the band for a short while and recorded what became their farewell single “Saturday Gigs” with them.

So that’s enough of my drivel and it just remains for me to wish David Bowie a fantastic 65th birthday and to share with you the most played Bowie tracks on Spotify in descending order;

 

“Throw your soul through every open door” January 5, 2012

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 11:32 pm
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Adele continues to make chart history. She had the top-selling  track and album in the US for 2011. Her album ‘21’ sold 5.8m as did her song “Rolling In The Deep”. I hope that her throat problems are resolved soon and I wonder if her next album will be called ‘23’.

The top five albums in the US for 2011 and their sales are;

  1. Adele – 21 – 5.8m
  2. Michael Buble – Christmas – 2.4m
  3. Lady Gaga – Born This Way – 2.1m
  4. Lil Wayne – The Carter IV – 1.9m
  5. Jason Aldean – My Kinda Party – 1.6m

The top-selling tracks for 2011 in the US of A are;

  1. Adele – Rolling In The Deep – 5.8m
  2. LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem – 5.5m
  3. Katy Perry – E.T. – 4.8m
  4. Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger – 4.1m
  5. Pitbull – Give You Everything – 3.9m

The last time British Artists topped both year-end charts in the US was in 1997. Then it was the Spice Girls who had the best-selling album and the top single was Elton Johns rewritten “Candle In The Wind” tribute to Princess Diana who died in that year.

Adele’s US success in 2011 matches her achievement in the UK where ‘21’ was 2011’s top selling album and her song “Someone Like You” was the best-selling track for the year. She has also become Billboard’s Artist Of The Year for 2011. No female artist has ever achieved the double number one success and the best artist award in the same year. The top ten Billboard Artists Of The Year are;

  1. Adele
  2. Rihanna
  3. Katy Perry
  4. Lady Gaga
  5. Nicki Minaj
  6. Taylor Swift
  7. Justin Bieber
  8. Chris Brown
  9. Lil Wayne
  10. Bruno Mars

 

“They say a secret is something you tell one other person”

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 9:34 pm
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Despite all its false starts, technical problems and the death of Producer Tony Adams it seems that the Spiderman Musical may actually achieve big success on Broadway and beyond. The full title of the show is ‘Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark’ and it was written by Bono and The Edge off of U2.

It grossed $2.9m from 9 shows in its first week which beats the previous record of $2.2m taken by ‘Wicked’ from 8 shows in it’s first week in January 2011. Takings for ‘Wicked’ during Spiderman’s first week were $2.7m. Whilst this is a great start for Spiderman it should be balanced against the fact that it is the most expensive show ever put together for Broadway at $75m.

If it remains successful I wonder if it will lead to a whole stack of other superhero related musicals. Perhaps Meatloaf as the Hulk could be an option. What ideas do you have for superhero shows?

I thought I’d finish this post with a classic and appropriate U2 song which you can watch below on the web! (geddit?)

 

“Two-toned shoes, favourite dress, need no diamonds to impress”

Filed under: News,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 9:13 pm
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Back in 1986 Billboard started it’s Latin American chart. Whilst a number of male artists, notably Ricky Martin, have had their singles enter at number one, no female artist has ever achieved such a feat. Well until now anyway as this week Gloria Estefan hit the top spot with her song “Hotel Nacional” in it’s first week of release. The song comes from her current album ‘Miss Little Havana’. It becomes only the 11th song in the history of the Latin chart to enter at the top.

Gloria’s full maiden name was Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo. She became Estefan when she married Emilio Estefan the leader of the Miami Sound Machine in 1978. While still at university she work as a translator for the US Customs Department at Miami Airport. She is fluent in Spanish, English and French. She was seen to be such a good linguist that it is alleged that the CIA once approached her to offer a job with the agency.

 

“Hindsight done me no good standing naked in the back of the woods” January 4, 2012

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 11:32 pm
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I'm not sure what Steve Jones is doing behind Glen Matlock, but Glen doesn't seem to mind does he?

There has been a few snippets of Sex Pistols and PiL related news on-line recently, particularly in the NME. Firstly Steve Jones has said that Glen Matlock a ‘middle-class mommy’s boy” in a recent interview with Hustler magazine. Jones appears to have a bee in his punk bonnet about original Pistols bass player Matlock’s attitude. Jones said that he preferred Sid Vicious because he ‘looked the part’. Which is all very well but he couldn’t play bass could he? Click here to read the NME article.

Matlock may be a Mummys Boy but what the fuck is Jones in a top like that?

The new series of Grumpy Old Men had got off to a great start

John Lydon has famously claimed that ‘If you want to know why PiL don’t have a record label, look at the X Factor’. he goes on to say that artists who want to be cutting edge and challenging wouldn’t get past the first round of reality talent shows such as American Idol and X Factor. He adds ‘Unfortunately there’s some fantastic singers that come out of that, but they’re karaoke’. I couldn’t agree more. Not so much has pop eaten itself, more like it has just bored itself into soporific oblivion. Hopefully Lydon and his PiL cohorts can shake things up with their new album ‘This Is PiL’ which is due out later this year. They will also be reissuing all of their previous albums during 2012. Read the article on the NME website by clicking here.

Lydon takes a dump on the world

 

“It’s been a long time since I came around, been a long time but I’m back in town”

Filed under: News,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 12:17 am
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You'd think that Satan might adopt a better disguise wouldn't you?

Someone has accused Lady Gaga of taking part in a Satanic ritual in London last summer. A worker at the Intercontinental was reportedly quoted as saying that Gaga was ‘bathing in blood as part of a Satanic ritual’ Although there appears to be no mention of any other Satanic or ritualistic paraphernalia. The hotel employee allegedly added that Lady G left ‘large amounts of blood in the suite during her stay’

So that proves what exactly?

Mysteriously this was supposedly reported to the Concierge who told the worker to put it out of their mind. Very strange indeed, what explanations could there be;

  • It was ketchup after a room service spillage
  • A leak from a sanitary bag
  • The decorators spilled red paint
  • Gaga likes her steak blue
  • Lady Gaga dyed her hair red and didn’t tidy up
  • Her new album will include Norwegian death/ black metal cover versions
  • Ms Germanotta was auditioning for a new vampire movie
  • The Lady is a Satanist
  • Or finally perhaps it’s all a load of PR bollocks (This is what I believe anyway)

What do you folks think?

I have found out what one person on-line thinks; they think that Gaga is one of the Illuminati with Masonic connections. Which for me suggests this story is complete bollocks (But I wonder what David Icke thinks of it). Anyway here is the Gaga is an Illuminati video.

She may or may not be a Satanist but she definitely has at least one skeleton in the closet

And finally see what Satanic imagery in the video for “You And I”, oh such fun. It beats Farmville at least!

 

“And there’s a million voices to tell you what she should be thinking” January 3, 2012

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 8:24 pm
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Is Youssou N’Dour just seven seconds away from becoming Senegal’s new president? Well the elections aren’t happening until February, so it will be slightly more than seven seconds if he is successful. He is standing against his former friend Abdoulaye Wade who has been president of the country since 2000.

Despite having little education N’Dour has become a very successful musician fusing African music with Jazz and other western influences. He is also owns a number of broadcast companies in Senegal. Which may help his campaign.

Wade communicated plans last year to change the country’s constitution. This was not well received by the Senegalese people who took to the streets in violent protest. Tensions are still running high with one prominent politician having been accused of murder. This is quite significant for Senegal as it is now the only country in West Africa never to have suffered a military coup.

Wyclef Jean failed in his attempt to stand for the Haitian presidency last year, more for technical reasons than popularity and actors have made it to the top in US politics (Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan). So why can’t Yousso N’Dour become senegal’s new president? Clearly he will have to make sure that convinces all the fans of his music to vote for him along with millions of others among the country’s population of 12.5 million.

Click here to read the BBC report of the upcoming elections in Senegal and enjoy Youssou’s biggest UK hit in which he was joined by Neneh Cherry;

 

“Boy, its more than I dare to think about” December 31, 2011

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 11:14 pm
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I thought that you might wish to know that the list of the UK’s most played songs of the noughties has been published. I assume that it covers 2001 to 2010 which makes me wonder why it took so long to compile, probably because the PRS had to chase many places for royalties. Anyway the top 5 is;

1. Kylie Minogue – Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (2001)

2. Britney Spears – Toxic (2004)

3. Robbie Williams – Angels (1997)

4. Jamelia – Superstar (2003)

5. Liberty X – Just A Little (2002)

Between them the five songs were played 875 million times. I like all the songs apart from “Angels” which is one of my least favourite songs of all time. But whatever happened to Jamelia and Liberty X? Apparently “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” was initially offered to S Club 7 and Sophie Ellis-Bextor who both turned it down. I reckon they’re kicking themselves now, what do you think?

Is that a microphone or is the bear very happy to see Kylie?