The State Of UK Garage 2000

The State Of UK Garage 2000. If you read Tim Finney’s Skykicking then you’ll have read this already, the blog entry which mutated into a full article. Otherwise if you’ve got any interest in UK Garage you’re in for enlightenment and a treat.

Julie London

Julie London: Freaky Trigger remains crippled by the loss of its main server but it staggers on nonetheless, with the first of several new pieces today - an essay about Julie London and oldies, by me.

Bitchpork

Bitchpork: you may well have seen this link elsewhere - it’s the unofficial (oh really?) Pitchfork message board. So far it is talking about the Albums Of The Year, as all music message boards everywhere ever must by law do, or they get their indie rock license taken away. I’ve put up two messages, which won’t even be interesting because if you read this you almost certainly know what I think about everything.

Billie Piper explains JFK’s death

Billie Piper explains JFK’s death courtesy of Pop Skool. Very good animation, and for Josh, interactive pornographic bits too. From the people who brought us the tremendous TV Go Home, and the rubbish 11 O’Clock Show.

POP-EYE 29/10/00

POP-EYE 29/10/00

This week’s chart offers us an object lesson in fanbase loyalty. When a band have been going for a number of years, and have - to be frank - lost their bloom somewhat, and when the singles they release are sub-par outings, either ill-advised excursions into fresh genres or sickly reminders of former glories, then it is time for the ‘core fanbase’ to step in and save the day, commercially speaking.

Certainly I can offer no other explanation for Iron Maiden getting their 29th top 40 hit with “Out Of The Silent Planet”, which at a life-endangering stretch might be some sort of ecology parable, but is basically an excuse for riffing and Bruce Dickinson to bellow weedily about “demons of creation”. Complete rubbish but you have to admire the doggedness of the singles-buying fans, who must realise that Maiden these days are as heavy as a feather pillow and about as good at aiding sleep. I am very much in favour of the riff as a tool for rockin’ fun but Maiden have always seemed a joyless, blustery crew and this single does nothing to remedy that.

We grit our teeth and move higher up the charts (pausing only to note a satisfyingly enormous plunge for Blur). Gabrielle’s wafty “Should I Stay” (Ans: No) limps into the teens; Coldplay and their nasty balladic bombast cling to the 10; Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” lands surprisingly high for a man I had pegged as a definite one-shot; and the Wheel Of Limp Motown Pastiche has been spun once again and pointed to Martine McCutcheon, to the delight of far too many.

And that’s it. Oh? What’s that? A new number one? Yes, damn it. The Spice Girls have scalped the chart once again - if only one of the other companies had had the guts to send proper opposition up against the pitiable “Holler” this might have been prevented, but Martine it was, and so the inevitable happened. We spend a whole day last week raking over why this is their weakest ever single, no need to spend any more time on it.

THE FIVE BEST
ALL SAINTS - “Black Coffee” (9)
EMINEM - “The Way I Am” (18)
AZZIDO DE BASS - “Dooms Night” (23)
FATBOY SLIM - “Sunset (Bird Of Prey)” (24)
PINK - “Most Girls” (25)