Girls Aloud will be reforming for a tour in 2013, to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Reforming? I wasn’t aware that they had broken up. I can’t say I am particularly excited by the prospect of the girls treading the boards again, are you? Well at least it is moderately better than those talentless morons Westlife. Clearly none of the girls off of Girls Aloud have set the world alight with their solo careers, so I think we can assume the ‘reunion’ is for money.
Nadine Coyle broke the news a couple of days ago. I suppose it will enable the nation’s sweetheart Cheryl to restart her career after the atrocious output from her solo albums and the X Factor US judging debacle. Hopefully Sarah Harding will be out of rehab too. Personally I reckon Nicola Roberts should stay away. Her first solo album was excellent, surely she doesn’t need the rest of them. So what do you think of the Girls Aloud reunion?
The girls as they might appear on their 40th anniversary tour.
Now that the wind had changed direction Matt's face would remain like that
It’s that time of year when we reflect as individuals on the highs and lows of our year and more importantly we decided what the best album and song of the year was. Many publications take part in this annual festivity and my newspaper of choice, the Guardian, is no exception. I expected to see the top 2o albums and songs of 2011 as voted by Guardian readers (including me) to show a similar profile to the lists of other publications and possibly of the critics employed by the newspaper.
Matt sold all his clothes to buy votes in the Guardian poll
However thanks to what I would call (rather begrudgingly) and excellently executed piece of guerilla voting by all of Matt Cardle‘s fans which must number in the high hundreds (ok that was wishful thinking on my part). They have managed to succeed in voting him into first place in both lists. Regular readers of this blog will know the general disdain I show the X factor and all it spawns and for me Matt Cardle is no exception. I find him insipid, limp, lacking charisma and at best an ok karaoke singer. Before the devout fans get on their high horses let me say that I have listened to his album before forming this opinion. I am not like the Christian Fundamentalists in the USA who burned Harry Potter books without having the good grace and common sense to read them first.
Being beaten by Matt Cardle had hurt Polly very deeply
Fair play to the Matt Cardle fans, but in my humblest of opinions his stuff shouldn’t even be close to the top twenty for the year or even the top 50 for the year, unless of course we are talking about the turkey awards. The number two slot in the albums list was taken by Polly Harvey‘s ‘Let England Shake’ and for the songs it was the sublime “Video Games” from Lana Del Ray. Click here to read the Guardian report on what I will refer to as Cardlegate.
The full lists are shown below. I have 11 of the albums and 12 of the songs if you’d like to begin to understand my own eclectic tastes. My own favourite song for the year is “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster The People, which is in the list and my favourite album is ’50 Words For Snow’ from Kate Bush. The latter sadly isn’t in the list;
How the hell do they keep slim with all those calories????
Hello once again dear readers and we’re passed the halfway mark to Chrimbo on my UK Christmas Number One Advent Calendar. It’s December 13th and todays treat is the first of the reality TV Pop Idol/ X Factor songs to take the Christmas number one spot. It was number one in Christmas 2002 and was begotten by ‘PopStars: The Rivals’ That show formed a boy band and a girl band and then put them into a Christmas chart battle. The winner by a long way was Girls Aloud with “Sound Of The Underground”. Can anyone remember the name of the losing boy band? it was One True Voice and their single was a double A side with “Sacred Trust/ After You’re Gone”. The girls were number one for four weeks that Christmas.
The girls would do anything to get a part in the next Pirates Of The Caribbean movie, even walk the plank!
Personally I kind of like that first Girls Aloud single, it’s still my favourite of theirs. Remember this was back in the days before Cheryl Cole was Cheryl Cole and before she became the Nation’s Sweetheart and launched her lip syncing solo career. Back then she was just plain (well some would say not so plain!) Cheryl Tweedy. It’s funny how the little altercation in a nightclub toilet from those days seems to have been airbrushed from Cheryl history isn’t it? Anyway check out Lily Allen’s “Cheryl Tweedy” here.
The judges for Popstars: The Rivals were Pete Waterman, Gerri Halliwell and Louis Walsh. Will someone please explain how such a dipstick as Louis has survived so long in the business? I really don’t get it. As for Girls Aloud, whether you love them or hate them you have to admit that they are one of the few reality TV acts with any degree of longevity. Cheryl has now released two solo albums whilst Nadine Coyle has just released her first. Kimberley Walsh, Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding have all tried their hands at acting as well.
This one will be a bit of a random post, kind of the post with absolutely no theme whatsoever. Now there’s an idea, how about a future post all about TV and movie themes? Me likes that!
First up is a great clip of Talcy Malcy’s funeral winding its way through London. Truly an entertainer to the very end. Cash from Chaos indeed (actually that sounds a bit banking industry related, only for them it was chaos from cash I suppose!) Click here to see my recent post on the death of Mr McLaren
One of the songs played at Malcolm McLaren’s funeral was Sid Vicious’ version of the Paul Anka penned Frank Sinatra classic “My Way” Check it out below
I would also like to remind you that you can still get an exclusive Steal The Smile track “Two Years On” from my recent post about this superb young band. Click here to go to that post and download the song. Trust me, you WILL NOT be disappointed! You can also click here to view some video footage of the STS boys (Henry, Johnny, Luke & Oli) hard at work and having plenty of fun in the studio. They also have another gig coming up in a couple of weeks at the FaceBar in Reading. I’ll be there, why don’t you get your arses down there too? Check out the boys playing the FaceBar from a couple of years back, with an excellent cover of Pendulum’s “Blood Sugar”
OK I said this would be random and indeed it is. Do you have any idea what John Squire off of the Stone Roses and the Seahorses has been up to lately? Well he has been doing new designs for the covers of classic Penguin books. How rock ‘n’ Roll is that? Click here to see his handiwork.
I think this looks just a teensy weensy bit like a stone rose, what do you think?
The Sunday Times has published a list of the richest young UK music stars, all under thirty. Joint top are Charlotte Church, Katherine Jenkins and Leona Lewis, all worth an alleged £11m each, followed by Katie Melua and Cheryl Cole, both worth a measly £10m each. Craig David is the highest placed man at a lowly 7th place with just a tiny £8m in the piggy bank, bo selecta indeed! I wonder if the other girls off of Girls Aloud are envious of Cheryl being worth twice as much as each of them? Click here to read more. The full list is;
1. Charlotte Church £11M
1. Katherine jenkins£11M
1. Leona Lewis £11M
4. Cheryl Cole £10M
4. Katie Melua £10M
6. Joss Stone £9M
7. Craig David £8M
8. Natasha Bedingfield £6M
9. Lily Allen £5M
9. Nadine Coyle £5M
9. Sarah Harding £5M
9. Nicola Roberts £5M
9. Kimberly Walsh £5M
9. Jamie Cullum £5M
9. Duffy £5M
9. James Morrison £5M
9. Paolo Nutini £5M
9. Amy Winehouse £5M
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 