| CMU Daily - on the inside 8 Jul 2002 |
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Which of the following is the odd one out? PeeWee Ellis, Fred Wesley, Donald Byrd, Maceo Parker, Bernard ‘Pretty’ Purdie, Bootsy Collins, James Brown, Bobby Bird.
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ELVIS DELETED
Remember the days when acts stayed at number one for more than a week? With Elvis at number for the fourth week running BMG are hoping to cut short his chart dominance by deleted the Junkie XL single today. The official line: "A Little Less Conversation has been used as the music behind Nike's World Cup television advertisement and without the World Cup or the TV campaign active at the moment, BMG have decided to delete the single”. The cynics claim that the release of BMG Pop Idol Gareth Gates’ second single today, and the need for young popstars to have the “every single went to number one” tag, might have come into play. Whether or not there’s any truth in the rumour we don’t know, but presumably when the remix of the true classic ‘Anyone of Us (Stupid Mistake)’ gets to number one in forty years time they’ll delete it as well so to make way for the runner up of Pop Idol 23’s fabulous new release.
And it seems the system is against Elvis in the US too. As reported in the CMU Daily on Friday the Nike tune has sold twice as many singles as its nearest competitor in America. Yet the single entered the Billboard chart at number 50 this weekend. The Billboard chart, like the Pepsi Chart in the UK, uses radio play as well as sales to compile its singles chart. In the UK the two main music charts – the UK Top 40 used by Radio 1 and the Pepsi Chart used by commercial radio – vary only slightly, with some singles appeared earlier in the Pepsi Chart (ie before retail release) due to high radio play on commercial stations around the UK. It seems, however, radio play has a bigger influence in the US so much so the record with by far the most sales doesn’t even feature in the crucial Top 40. With only 5 of the songs in the current Billboard Top 10 actually available in the shops some in the US are now questioning the way their main record chart is compiled, and, presumably, how in touch the radio stations are with the record buying public.
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THE MEDIA MOGUL CHART IS IN
The Media Guardian has released its Top 100 media movers and shakers chart for 2002. Apparently based on ‘cultural influence, economic clout and political power’ the advertising slump means non-commercial figures like the BBC’s Greg Dyke and even Tony Blair appear in the Top 5. But Murdoch remains at number one, mainly because the Sky supreme faired well in the recent Communications Bill and presumably because he will have something of a hold over the government while a referendum on the Euro looms (both the Sun and Times are likely to take the anti stand). Media Guardian’s Dan Milmo explains: “Economic clout was the biggest factor for the 2002 list, with the panel agreeing unanimously that an advertising downturn had given the government and the BBC a very strong position in the media landscape. Greg Dyke, the director general of the BBC, just failed to unseat Rupert Murdoch from the top spot. But the decision was swung in the newspaper tycoon's favour thanks to his influence over a Labour administration facing some difficult decisions on media ownership laws over the next year.” Carlton’s Michael Green and Gerry Murphy and Granada’s Charles Allan all appear in the Top 20, though presumably they didn’t score any points for their involvement in the ITV Digital affair. That said, the disastrous digital TV service did get one of its personnel into the Top 100 – Monkey appears at the last position in the chart. Meanwhile Pop Idol supremo Simon Fuller – who has added to his pop successes with a leading TV production company – comes in at number 54. Perhaps the Spice Girls were a bit quick to kiss him good bye five years ago after all.
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EVANS PRODUCING AT C5
Chris Evans is reported to have signed a £4m deal with Channel 5 to produce a new early-evening chat show to be presented by Chris Moyles. The appointment was made by Channel 5 chief Kevin Lygo, who oversaw TFI Friday while at Channel 4. He told the Sunday Telegraph that Evans would be "perfect" for the channel, which is targeting a more mainstream audience. "He is probably the best producer of entertainment programming in the country," he said. Evans still claims he was unfairly dismissed by Virgin Radio, who axed his breakfast show last year, one of many controversial Evans departures from over the years. But Lygo isn’t worried: "He took time out to assess what he wanted to do in life," he told The Telegraph, "The rambunctious persona was only part truth."
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JACKO STILL WACKO OVER SONY
Michael Jackson is continuing his campaign against his record label Sony. After driving through London on an open top bus bad mouthing the major, he spent this weekend outside the company’s New York HQ campaigning against the label and its boss Tommy Mottola. Jackson is bitter about the poor(ish) record sales of his last album ‘Invincible’ which he puts down to bad marketing rather than the quality of the music on the record. Holding a sign with the slogan ‘The Good, The Bad and the Ugly’ (bearing a picture of Michael as the Good, one of Mottola as the Ugly, and one of Mottola with devil horns added as the Bad) he told fans “Mottola is mean. He's a racist and he's very, very, very devilish.” Sony point out the album had a global marketing spend of $25 million and record sales of around 6 million. Jackson responded: "The record companies really, really do conspire against artists. They steal. They cheat. They do whatever they can, especially to the black artists." Ironically Jackson probably does have a case for saying some record labels treat their artists badly, though many industry insiders feel a “multi-millionaire past his artistic prime” isn’t the best person to lead an anti-majors mission. Neither Jackson or Sony have made any official announcement regarding the artists future with the label.
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THRILL JOCKEY ACTS CELEBRATE
Eclectic Chicago based label Thrill Jockey is planning a party in New York from 5 – 7 Sep to celebrate its tenth anniversary. A host of Thrill Jockey acts are set to perform including Tortoise, Trans Am, Fred Anderson, Bobby Conn, the National Trust, the Chicago Underground Duo, and Town And Country. Tortoise, perhaps the label’s best know act internationally, will play their own set and then act as backing band to singer/songwriter Sue Garner for two songs. There will be three shows over the weekend, all of which will feature a video display from Japanese electronica artist Nobukazu Takemura and DJ sets from Tone B. A movie featuring Thrill Jockey artists and high profile fans like Steve Albini, Bjork, and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore will also be shown.
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DAMP GOOD
Despite the damp weather in London this weekend, two of City’s parks hosted two of the big music events of the year. The first was Finsbury Park, host to three sell out Oasis gigs. Supported by The Charlatans and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club the Gallaghers proved they could still entertain performing a lot of new material plus classics 'Some Might Say', 'Live Forever' and 'Don't Look Back In Anger' in front of three 40,000 crowds. There was plenty of Glastonbury style mud by the end of the Friday gig, but fans did not seem too bothered – and the sun even came out (albeit intermittently) for the Sunday afternoon event. Meanwhile, across town, Capital Radio’s pop-fest Party in the Park had a successful fifth year with the current pop premier league turning out for the pricnes Trust fund raiser. 100,000 people filled a wet Hyde Park to see, amongst others, Bryan Adams, Natalie Imbruglia, Will Young, Atomic Kitten, Ja Rule, Ashanti, Michelle Branch, Darren Hayes, Westlife, Shakira, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Beverley Knight, Lighthouse Family, Wyclef Jean, Liberty X, Shaggy and Blue. The latter chose to abseil onto the stage to perform their hit ‘All Rise’ – doing so just as one of the heavier downpours began. For the first time Channel 5 screened the event, while Capital FM broadcast the show live.
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INXS ANNOUNCE UK DATES
With the Doors planning a come-back tour, INXS continue the theme of bands with dead frontmen making a come back. The Aussie rockers have announced UK dates, the first time they have played over here since the death of Michael Hutchence. They will gig alongside Blondie during the first two weeks in December. The UK dates follow a US tour where the band played 30 dates with former Noiseworks member Jon Stevens on vocals. The band told reporters: "It's no secret that we have always loved playing live. That's what we did for 23 years and have definitely missed it. The American shows were just a fantastic experience and we were incredibly pleased with the enthusiastic response and support that we received. We're keen to get back to the UK." The tour will follow the release of ‘Definite INXS’ in October – a best of album which will also include a handful of previously unreleased tracks.
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Answer to Friday's CMU pop quiz:
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?
Marc Bolan was killed in his Mini Cooper when he collided with a tree.
(Discussions about whether or not T-Rex were Pete Townshend’s protégés are best directed at [email protected] (he wrote the question!) or the CMU message board at www.cmuonline.co.uk. We’re opting to avoid any discussions on the spelling of Townshend’s name, thank you).