Joe Kavanagh's Music News

Stephen Gately remained atop the music news headlines in Europe, thanks in large part to a particularly noxious piece of journalism written last week (Oct 16) by Daily Mail columnist, Jan Moir. Starting with the heading, "Why there was nothing 'natural' about Stephen Gately's death", Moir proceeded to pour scorn on the singer's life, legacy and homosexuality in a hatchet-job that seemed particularly spiteful given that the man - who was known as one of music's genuine nice guys - had not even been buried at the time of it's publication. The following are just a selection of her more outrageous comments: "Something is terribly wrong with the way this incident has been shaped and spun into nothing more than an unfortunate mishap on a holiday weekend, like a broken teacup in the rented cottage..." "And I think if we are going to be honest, we would have to admit that the circumstances surrounding his death are more than a little sleazy..." "Another real sadness about Gately's death is that it strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships..." "For once again, under the carapace of glittering, hedonistic celebrity, the ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see..." The article provoked widespread outrage, with over 25,000 people making official complaints to the UK's Press Complaints Commission. Gately's record label, Polydor were amongst those that voiced their displeasure over the article, while a large-scale campaign is underway, urging companies to pull their advertising from the Daily Mail. After an initially unapolagetic response that saw her take on all comers, a contrite Moir published her weekly column on Friday whereupon she claimed that she has been the subject of death threats and issued an apology to Gately's family. The under-fire writer insisted that she is in no way homophobic, writing: "I have never thought, or suggested, that what happened that night represented a so-called gay lifestyle; this is not how most gay people live. Rather, I thought it a louche lifestyle; one that raised questions about health and personal safety. There have been complaints about my use of the word 'sleazy' to describe this incident, but I still maintain that to die on a sofa while your partner is sleeping with someone else in the next room is, indeed, sleazy, no matter who you are or what your sexual orientation might be." She still couldn't leave it alone there all the same, eh? To be perfectly honest, why people expect anything different from a newspaper that was a proud supporter of both Hitler and Mussolini, right up until they turned their guns on Britain, is quite beyond me. The Daily Mail frequently makes Fox News look like the voice of moderacy...

It is perhaps a sign of the strapped times we live in (and I mean strapped as in cash, not as in rapper), that a revolutionary new idea has been proposed, aimed at putting the clamps on certain hedonistic tendencies which have typified the rock star experience down the years. Former Island Records boss, Marc Marot has suggested that the contracts of artists should contain a clause whereby some of their wages can be withheld if their performance is affected by their dependence on substances or other forms of self-harm, even going so far as suspending artists who refuse to mend their ways. The proposal has already stirred up stiff resistance, but Marot insists that it has been devised with the artists' welfare in mind. Pardon me if I'm a little skeptical about that being their true motivation because record companies are about making money, not artist welfare. If that was the case they'd get out of the music business and open up a set of free rehab centers. The suggestion has found support in some unlikely sources with front man for electronic act Metronomy, Joseph Mount, declaring: "Your Pete Dohertys and Amy Winehouses - people would love the opportunities that those people get. When Amy Winehouse went off the rails she should have been dropped. It would have been a pretty big gesture if the label had said, 'We do not condone drug use or bad performances'." As far as Amy Winehouse goes, after a certain amount of time, EMI are like a card player that has bet so big on a hand that they have to stay in it no matter how much the other player raises the stakes. Only her next album will tell whether that bet was worth it. Also, in Pete Doherty's case, I would imagine that a lot of people in the industry have made a lot of money from him and his notoriety down through the years. Personally I tend to agree with the late-great comedian Bill Hicks, when he said of the subject of music and drugs: "If you don't believe drugs have done good things for us, then go home and burn all your records, all your tapes, and all your CDs because every one of those artists who have made brilliant music and enhanced your lives? RrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrEAL f***ing high on drugs. The Beatles were so f***ing high they let Ringo sing a few songs." ...

He may be gray of beard and wrinkled of face but one character who undoubtedly won't tolerate a 'stay clean' clause in his contract any time soon, is undoubtedly Motorhead singer, Lemmy, who revealed in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine that he continues to live the rock and roll lifestyle in all its decadence, despite being a 63-year-old man who was diagnosed with diabetes over a decade ago. Speaking of his intent to keep on rocking, the legendary hell-raiser declared: "I'd rather die than live the life that would mean completely giving up everything that makes life worth living... (and) I don't want to hang around with tubes up my nose." They all say that though don't they? Right the way up until the moment they are hanging around with the tubes up their nose. Lemmy also maintained that he has no regrets about not being present more during his son's early years as children aren't really much more than a glorified pet rock until they reach a certain age, telling the interviewer: "They're not real people before that (six), anyway. I mean, you can form a weird bond with them, but they're babies. They all look the same. You could swap them in the night, and no one would know." No danger of Lemmy being one of those helicopter parents who has 15,000 photos of his child by the time they're four months old then ("Oh look, he/she moved their eye slightly differently than they way they did 14 times yesterday!"). Lemmy is more the style of an old character who used to live on the road that I grew up on as a kid. The man had in the region of 14 children and enjoyed a few pints, so occasionally when he came home from the pub of an evening he would just herd up every child on the road that remotely looked like one of his kids, and send them to bed despite their protestations that they were in no way related to him. You might not believe me but that's an absolutely true story... But I digress...

Boy George (real name, George O'Dowd) put his time to good use during a recent stint in prison, with the former Culture Club front man announcing last week that he will be releasing a new album in the New Year, having written virtually all of the tracks during his time in pokey. O'Dowd hit such a purple patch during his time inside that he even got in trouble with prison authorities for writing lyrics on his wall. The colorful singer/deejay revealed that a track titled, Your Pain Makes a Beautiful Sound, was written about Amy Winehouse, though I can see how that title might have caught the attention of authorities given that he was incarcerated for kidnapping and assaulting a male escort that he accused of stealing from him. The lyrics appear to back up his contention that it is about Winehouse however, with one verse reading: "It was easy to make them love you / All you had to do was sing / Now it's not enough to listen / They want to know everything." All very well in sentiment but if you want to know anything about Amy Winehouse, all you have to do is offer a fiver to her dad Mitch, because that man shares practically every fact about her if the money's right. Last week he was asked his opinion regarding his daughter's widely reported boob job, to which he replied - and I swear I am not making this up: "Her boobs are great!" He was on the UK's This Morning TV show when he shared that little gem. A wee bit creepy, no? In fairness to poor old Mitch he did somewhat redeem himself by standing in front of the UK parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee, investigating the battle against drugs, and if nothing else Mitch Winehouse knows a thing or two about drugs as a result of his daughter's well-chronicled foibles. Winehouse suggested that the government adopt an approach like Swiss authorities who have instituted a program handing out free heroin to addicts, and subsequently seen crime rates drop significantly. I don't believe I'm alone when I say that authorities will have to try something new with regard to drugs because as Einstein famously said: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." ...

Brian May has revealed yet another talent, with news that he is about to release a book of Victorian photographs, in conjunction with photography historian, Elena Vidal. In addition to playing guitar with legendary band Queen, May also holds a PhD in Astrophysics, which he earned in 2007, before going on to write the book, Bang! The Complete History of the Universe, with the assistance of esteemed astronomer, Sir Patrick Moore. Is there anything that this man can't do? Well, other than tell that Freddie Mercury was gay, because May denies to this day that he had any idea. His telescope might be powerful but his gaydar is about as effective as an ashtray on a motorcycle...

Speaking of the heavens, British boy band McFly saw their track Star Girl beamed up to the crew of the space station last Wednesday (Oct 21), after a sustained Twitter campaign by their remaining fans. NASA offered 35 people the chance to talk to those orbiting the earth, but eventually relented to the 2006 song being played to the presumably bemused crew, due to the huge number of requests they received. Talking about the incident to the BBC, space scientist, Dr. David Whitehouse, claimed: "I thought this was a way, not only to get in touch between astronauts and ordinary people, but to get down with the kids. Considering the average age on the space station is 46, I wouldn't have thought many of them have heard of McFly before. They do play a lot of music in general in the space station, they wake people up with music but it tends to be more 70s rock and country music." He also asserted that the move would provide great publicity for both NASA and the band. Bearing in mind the downward turn that McFly's career has taken in recent times, I would suggest that you could dress them in pink Lycra, and then shoot them out of a cannon directly at the space station and they still won't sell a single record in three years time. Gotta go now, as I'm off to open my own Twitter account while that thought is still fresh in my head. Has anyone got an email address for NASA?