And Finally Artist News Beef Of The Week

CMU Beef Of The Week #182: Huey Morgan v Never Mind The Buzzcocks

By | Published on Friday 8 November 2013

Huey Morgan

No list of “things people don’t talk about so much anymore” would be complete without the Fun Lovin Criminals and ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’. Unless you were compiling that list this week, because a great deal of talking has been done about both. Well, some talking. And more about Huey Morgan than his band.

These days Huey is best known as a presenter on BBC Radio 2 and 6music (despite the occasional drunken Twitter rant about colleagues), but FLC still tour. And if you don’t believe me, why don’t you just buy tickets to one of their January tour dates and go and see for yourself?

Anyway, it was his capacity as an artist that Huey appeared on ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’ this week, placed in the chair next to Phill Jupitus usually saved for those panellists considered most worthy of derision (the Dappy chair, as it’s sometimes known). A reasonably regular guest over the 9000 years the panel show has been on British TV screens, this may be a slight that didn’t pass him by unnoticed.

Certainly by the end of the show Huey didn’t seem in the best of moods, and took exception to the ‘Next Lines’ round. Having already made a few bored-sounding comments and shown contempt for having to complete some of his own lyrics for the second time, Morgan was asked by hosts Rizzle Kicks what the problem was.

“I’m totally alright with that”, he insisted. “I just thought you guys would do something different for a change, not give me my own lyrics over and over … I’ve been on this show, like, nine times”.

Despite that, he then seemed to misunderstand how the round worked anyway, as it continued. Though he does make a reasonable point I suppose – the ‘Next Lines’ round has been part of ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’ since it started, and it’s always been a bit shit. Shit enough to make you smash a mug, though? If you’re Huey Morgan and are asked to complete a Kavana lyric, then yes.

“Kavana, man. That’s some dangerous music”, commented Rizzle Kicker Jordan Stephens, as the fragments of the Buzzcocks mug settled, a quote I think we should all get printed on t-shirts now.

After Huey complained that he was being asked to “roll like a punk”, Stephens added: “Huey, it’s the game, bro! I say a line, you sing the other line, ha ha ha ha. It was just there on the show, you don’t have to smash a mug in my hair!”

Still unimpressed, Huey neverthless managed to stick it out to the end of the round, though with 20 seconds of the show to go, got up and left. It’s hardly Preston storming out, nor is it as entertaining as Donnie Tourette’s attempts at edginess. But both of those things happened long in the past in the much missed Simon Amstell era of ‘NMTB’, so we’ll just have to make do.

Hey, at least Huey wasn’t asked to be in the ‘Line Up’, to be mocked by panellists as a long forgotten has-been. He should be thankful he’s still considered famous enough to join in with the big kids.

Speaking of which, in a week of musicians being angry at TV shows, here’s how Carter USM frontman Jim Bob’s manager responded to his client being asked to take part in the ‘Line Up’ round on ‘Buzzcocks’, ie to be mocked by today’s pop stars, even though half of them are candidates for future ‘Line Up’ rounds (assuming this show lasts forever, which it seems to be doing).

And now, watch Huey Morgan getting tetchy for yourself:



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