| CMU Daily - on the inside 5 Jul 2002 |
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Pete Townsend’s protégés, T-Rex (originally Tyrannosaurus Rex) had already enjoyed considerable chart success by the time Marc Bolan died in a tragic car accident. The question is what kind of car was Bolan driving, and what he collide with?
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CLEAR CHANNEL SET TO TAKE OVER UK RADIO
The man behind US radio giant Clear Channel is hoping to take advantage of the government’s communications bill and move into the UK radio market. Lowry Mays paid $125,000 for his first radio station in San Antonio, Texas and is now the world's biggest radio owner with 1,225 stations across America. The company has also become a massive media and entertainment company with marketing businesses, over 30 television stations, hundreds of key venues and tens of thousands of live shows and events around the world. With the government's communications bill proposing to lift the current ban on foreign companies owning domestic media assets Mays hopes he can add radio to Clear Channel’s media sales, venue and live entertainment concerns in the UK. "If the regulations and the economics allow,” he told the Radio Festival in Cambridge, “nothing would give me more pleasure than to be able to bring one of the leading UK radio groups into the Clear Channel family.” This probably means he has his eye on one of the UK’s radio players - Capital, Emap or GWR.
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ELVIS NUMBER ONE IN THE US
With a number one in England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and across Europe the Junkie XL remix of ‘A Little Less Conversation’ is now the best selling record in Amercia – selling seven times as many units as the song at number 2. President & CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises Jack Soden, who has never allowed an Elvis song to be remixed before, told reporters: "We're delighted with this overwhelming worldwide response to 'A Little Less Conversation. We know Elvis is still a vital force in music today and the way this song has been globally embraced has helped reinforce that message." The single, which was promoted heavily through the Nike World Cup advertising campaign, will be included on an upcoming Elvis compilation ‘Elvis 30 #1 Hits’. Following the success of the track a new website has been launched – www.elvisnumberones.com - which features content sourced from RCA Records and the Elvis Presley estate, much of it never been before available online.
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ONEMUSIC BAND GET SIGNED
One of the unsigned bands who were played on BBC Radio 1 as part of the launch of their website OneMusic has been signed by Virgin label Radiate. MASS’s single ‘Hey gravity’ will be released at the end of the month. Jo Whiley, who played the single on Radio 1, told reporters: "OneMusic day and the website gave me the chance to play tunes by unsigned acts and M.A.S.S really stood out. It's cool that they've got a record coming out and hopefully they'll carry on making great music. That's what the day and the site was all about, raising awareness about all the talent that's out there and opening up the music business." The bands lead singer Justine added: "OneMusic was a great way of getting our music out there to as many people as possible in one day. It's a credible site and so credible bands used it and it worked for us." OneMusic is an information site designed to help wannabe bands.
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BJORK GREATEST HITS ALBUM CONFIRMED
Bjork, who got her fans to vote on which tracks should appear on her as yet untitled greatest hits album, has announced the final tracklisting. It includes: ‘All Is Full of Love’, ‘Hyperballad’, ‘Human Behaviour’, ‘Joga’, ‘Bachelorette’, ‘Army of Me’, ‘Pagan Poetry’, ‘Big Time Sensuality’, ‘Venus as a Boy’, ‘Hunter’, ‘Isobel,’ ‘Possibly Maybe’, ‘Play Dead’ and ‘It’s in Our Hands’. The album is set for release on 2 Sep.
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CHILI PEPPERS TAKE PART IN MANHATTAN REVIVAL
The Red Hot Chili Peppers will celebrate the release of their latest album ‘By The Way’ with a concert on the historic Ellis Island in New York Harbor next Tuesday. The show is part of attempts to revitalise lower Manhattan following last year's terrorist. "The Red Hot Chili Peppers expressed their interest in helping New Yorkers recover from the devastating events of 9/11," Parks Superintendent Diane H. Dayson told reporters. "Ellis Island symbolises determination that is so important to the resurgence of downtown New York. We believe having the performance at this special place saved by the American people and cared for by the National Park Service will help highlight continued efforts to revitalise downtown." Tickets have been given to local businesses, the Twin Towers Fund for family members of Spe 11 victims, local radio station WXRK and are being sold by the Circle Line ferry company which has donated its services to transport attendees to the show.
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1XTRA LAUNCH DATE CONFIRMED
1Xtra, a new digital radio service dubbed as a ‘sister station’ for Radio 1, has been given the launch date of Fri 16 Aug. The station, available via DAB receivers, Sky Digital and the web, will play ‘black’ or ‘urban’ music including Hip-Hop, R'n'B, UK Garage, Drum'n'Bass and Ragga. The launch will be celebrated with a number of parties broadcasting live sets from clubs in Nottingham, Bristol, Sheffield, Glasgow and London. More details at www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra
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THE DOORS LIVE AGAIN
The remaining members of The Doors are planning a reunion tour over 30 years after the death of singer Jim Morrison. Through their official website www.thedoors.com Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger have announced a show will take place on 6 Sep at the California Motor Speedway just outside LA County. Original drummer John Densmore is also likely to play, health problems permitting. It is likely a number of singers will take part in the show, though The Cult vocalist Ian Astbury will take main vocals duties. More dates, including some in Europe, are likely to follow next year, with rumours of a new album to follow.
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PAUL VAN DYK RELEASES DVD
Paul Van Dyk will celebrate a legal victory against his former German record label MFS which secured him the rights to his back catalogue by releasing a DVD compilation of remixes of tracks from his first three albums. "I got all the rights to my back catalogue and wanted to do something special, rather than putting it out the way it is," he told reporters. "I remixed all the tracks - 'For an Angel,' 'Seven Ways' - the most important tracks of my career." The DVD will also include one new track – ‘Animation’ – taken from the soundtrack to Mexican film La Mano Del Zudro, which he recently finished scoring.
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NEW KYLIE COMPILATION SNEAKS ONTO THE MARKET
With Kylie having refound her position of ‘Princess of Pop’, BMG label Deconstruction have released ‘Confide In Me’, a collection of tracks Kylie recorded for the label in the mid-nineties. Post-Stock, Aiken and Waterman Kylie released two albums for the BMG label - 'Kylie Minogue' in 1994 and 'Impossible Princess' in 1998 – both much more experimental than her PWL and subsequent Parlophone work. Although the 1994 album faired OK (‘Confide in Me’ in particular) the 1998 album was released around the time of the death of Princess Diana and the resulting release delays and general fall in UK record sales meant that, outside Australia, the album was considered a failure. So much so Deconstruction dropped her. Now she’s topping charts again the BMG label may be able to cash in.
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GEORGE MICHAEL COURTS CONTROVERSEY AGAIN
George Michael is set to cause controversy, especially amongst US record buyers, but this time its through a move into musical satire with a track that criticises the UK government’s policy on the Middle East. The video for ‘Shoot The Dog’ includes cartoon images of Bush with Blair as his lapdog, while Michael himself sits on a nuclear missile. Talking to MTV US journalist Kurt Loder this week Michael defended the song and video: "People are looking at the song in context of an attack on America, as opposed to an attack on Tony Blair. My attack is that Tony Blair is not involving the British in this issue. He's perfectly happy staying up to watch the World Cup and enjoying the Jubilee, all things I'm perfectly guilty of, but there's a serious discussion about Iraq which hasn't taken place. We don't know what Saddam Hussein is capable of, the British public has no idea." Michael claims he wrote the song before September 11, and that as a result of the terrorist attacks he has decided not to release the song or video in the US. "The incident was so appalling, and the shock was so fresh," he said, "that I think it would have been totally disrespectful, because the song was really about the West and the fundamentalist world. It wasn't about any one event." Some US reporters argue that Michael’s tongue in cheek approach to dealing with these issues means the point of the song will be missed on most record buyers, and that his video might cause so much offence in America it will finish his career.
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Answer to Thursday's CMU pop quiz:
Morcheeba's new album, 'Charango' is out this July. Which seaside town did the trio admit the song 'By The Sea' from the 'Big Calm' LP was about? Brighton - of course.