(Bedingfield-as-pop-geek-postscript: The sleevenotes for his album kick off with a pastiche of Bilbo’s leavetaking speech from Lord Of The Rings!)[…]

A few years ago a friend of mine had an idea. He had a studio in his bedroom and wanted to make pop music with it, music that would sound as much as possible like the stuff topping the charts but with more personal and idiosyncratic lyrics. I was dou[…]

Tom’s Top Ten
GUNS N ROSES – “November Rain”
SUPERTRAMP – “Give A Little Bit”
VAN HALEN – “Jump”
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE – “Let’s Take A Ride”
JUDAS PRIEST – “B[…]

Surely Travis Morrison Isn’t Really Saying That Nobody He Knows Likes Metal Machine Music? – but anyway, good list. One good joke (I won’t quote it), one good idea (the “haunted house” thing), bouncily informal writing. […]

The Real Music Martyrs: our continued look at the records Pop Idol and related projects are keeping out of the Top 40. This week there’s three Pop Idol singles in the charts so three unfortunate records are denied another week’s exposure […]

GUNS AND ROSES – “November Rain”
We had a “rock party” last night. I was going to go as Fred Durst but I couldn’t find a baseball cap, so instead I sat around downloading hard rock hits, almost all of which sounded[…]

What’s A Girl Like Me Doing At A Rink Like This? asks new FT writer Stripey in a look at the everyday life of the roller-rink. Meanwhile Ned suffers a crisis of faith in pop, and Playgroup are an inspiration to me.[…]

And you thought ILX was having problems…[…]

With Spizzazz on half-term break here’s Pop-Eye, back with its slippered-feet up in the Dad Chair and a mug of hot cocoa by its side as we grumble over the top forty. Is it a boy or a girl? Well at No.1 it’s both of course – Nelly &[…]

Wish I’d Thought Of This: The UK’s Top 10 albums reviewed by sleeve art![…]