Down to the last five in The X Factor 2008, and no real surprises about who went. Ruth Lorenzo was booted off the show for having the least amount of votes to save her, and if we’re honest, it was well overdue. Yes, she has an impressive set of lungs but Leona, she’s not.

Each of the contestants sang two songs, one by Ms Britney Spears, who performed in the results show, and one other. The judges final vote has also gone, meaning it’s now a straight fight between the contestants to secure the public’s votes. Cue lots of sob stories, crying, and faces pleading for votes.

So, how did they do?

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Noel Gallagher has never been short of a thing or two to say, some of which are intelligent, well-meaning things, and others which aren’t quite as sensible. On this occasion, what he’s said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine has to be filed in the latter section.

As part of an interview discussing topics as diverse as Ryan Adams, the Toronto attack, and drugs, Gallagher claimed that Oasis are now as big as The Rolling Stones, a British band known and respected the world over, and who can still sell out massive stadiums, despite all being over the age of 60.

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Rickrolling is the Internet phenomenon that just refuses to die. Unlike Chris Crocker and the Chocolate Rain guy, Rickrolling keeps rearing its ugly head when least expected - which is the whole idea in the first place I suppose. But this time, Rick Astley himself was involved.

The latest and possibly greatest ever Rickroll came during Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, an annual parade through the streets of New York. As can be seen below, Rick Astley turned up unexpectedly on the Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends float.

After singing (or at least miming) Never Gonna Give You Up, one of the puppets on the float declares “I like Rickrolling.” It was a brilliant moment that has itself gone viral, but as good as it is to watch, especially the people in the crowd who have no idea what is going on, can Rickrolling now die a long overdue death?

Over forty years ago, at the height of The Beatles’ powers, John Lennon claimed the band were “more popular than Jesus” and all hell (excuse the pun) broke loose. Christians everywhere decided this was the ultimate blasphemy and burned The Beatles records.

It was an overreaction by religious zealots who could see the way the world was going, with The Beatles summing up the new cult of celebrity that was about to arrive. And it did harm the way The Beatles were perceived, especially in the United States.

Lennon made the controversial remarks in an interview with the London Evening Standard. Not only did he compare The Beatles to Jesus, he also ranted about religion. But his comments were very tongue in cheek, and really should have been taken with a pinch of salt.

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The road to Blur reforming has been a long one, with many bumps on the way. But it looks as if it’s finally set to happen, although the reunion is only initially going to take the form of rehearsals.

As far back as October 2007, there was talk of a Blur reunion, but that ended up being just a lunch meeting, with all four former members once again going their separate ways straight afterwards. Fast forward a year, and the old arguments resurfaced, with Damon Albarn claiming “Blur is over.”

But November has brought good news, with Damon Albarn starting the month by stating that he could rejoin Blur at some stage in the future. Now he’s added detail to that in a pre-show chat with DJ Janice Long on BBC Radio 2.

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I’ve resisted writing about The X Factor 2008 in any great depth up to now, mainly because the auditions don’t really fit in to the Brit Music Scene remit, being more a joke than anything. And even the start of the live finals was unlikely to yield a superstar. But now there are only six acts remaining, one of whom will win the damn thing, it’s time to climb on board.

I’ve watched the show from the start, and to be honest haven’t really been impressed with this year’s talent. The auditions were as fun as ever, but with the directors once again focusing on the bad acts rather than the good, this part of the show was a bit of joke.

And then the live finals began and we immediately saw the difference in those acts who had a serious chance of winning, and those who were going to be voted out quickly. And I agree with the majority of the voting so far, with Austin Drage maybe deserving to stay in a little longer.

Unlike some, I wasn’t upset to see Laura White go in week five as she annoyed the hell out of me. She had a half decent voice but she was trying too hard to make each word last for three notes. You’re not Whitney love, so stop trying to be.

So we came to week 7 where Take That were the guests of honor, and each contestant had to sing their choice of Take That classic. Unfortunately, the judges once again made the show about themselves more than their contestants, with constant bickering over who would get to sing Rule The World turning the show into a pantomime.

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Now I know most of you reading this are probably now screaming at the monitor that I know nothing, and that Dido is back with a new single. But I already know all this, so my question was more about what has happened to her since she’s been away because her new song is rubbish.

I’ve had the video for Don’t Believe In Love saved in my favorites for about a month now, and have been meaning to review it. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it because it’s just not very good. So instead I find myself going on a bit of a rant about how a once great artist who released catchy song after catchy song chose this as her comeback single.

I can’t say I was ever Dido’s biggest fan on the face of the planet but I do own copies of No Angel and Life For Rent. And when they first came out, I used to listen to them quite often. They were chilled out albums to relax to but the songs had enough about them to stop them from being instantly forgettable.

And then Dido seemed to disappear for a few years. Life For Rent was released in September, 2003, five long years ago. Dido set out on a world tour and then played the London and Paris legs of the Live 8 concerts in 2005. And then that was it, nothing for years.

Dido has apparently been away working on the new album, Safe Trip Home, ever since then. The release date was put back several times before Safe Trip Home was finally released on Monday Nov. 17, 2008. And it was preceded by the first single, Don’t Believe In Love, which is embedded after the cut.

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Chris Martin has either just announced that Coldplay will split in 2009 or has a zany sense of humor.

I’m personally hoping it’s the latter and that the Coldplay singer is having us all on. Maybe he got his dates mixed up and thought it was April. 1.

Coldplay are one of my favorite bands in the world, not just of now but of all time. Each album they have produced is different than the others, but all are almost perfect in their execution.

So the idea of a split leaves me with mouth agape and hands up in the air.

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Top Of The Pops was a show broadcast weekly on the BBC for 42 years between 1964 and 2006.

Unfortunately, due to falling viewer figures and the emergence of the Web, YouTube, 24 hour music television, and mp3 players, the Beeb decided to cancel the show, and nothing has yet filled the void it left behind when it departed.

That’s because despite all the things I mentioned in the last paragraph, none of them constitute a mainstream programme catering to the masses. Listening to music on the Internet, or watching videos on YouTube is a solitary affair, as are mp3 players. And while 24 hour music television stations are a definite boon, they’re all cable channels not available to the majority of us.

So maybe the BBC should bring Top Of The Pops back. The Ting Tings certainly think so, and pleaded for its return in October. Then The Sun newspaper started a campaign to bring the show back, and it was backed by the government’s culture secretary, Andy Burnham.

Simon Cowell then added his considerable weight (okay, old man paunch) to proceedings, and offered to buy the format from the BBC to do a one-off Christmas special on ITV. The BBC clearly didn’t accept his offer and it looks like there won’t be a TOTP Christmas Day Special this year.

However, thanks to the campaigning and celebrity backing of the show, with even Noel Gallagher of Oasis stating it should come back, the BBC seems to be in the process of doing a u-turn, and The Times claims Top Of The Pops is on its way back to our screens, possibly as early as 2009.

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There was I thinking Keane were one of the most loved British bands of the moment, but it seems, at least according to the readers of Brit Music Scene, that is far from the case. In fact, most people who answered the recent poll about the band though the band sucked.

To celebrate the release of Keane’s third studio album, Perfect Symmetry, I asked my readers “What is your favorite Keane album so far? The results are as follows:-

None, Keane suck - 30 votes
Hopes and Fears - 22 votes
Under The Iron Sea - 11 votes
Perfect Symmetry - 9 votes

So, it seems as though the majority of Brit Music Scene readers (all 72 of them obviously) think Keane suck big time. Of the people who like them, most unsurprisingly picked Hopes and Fears as their favorite album. Perfect Symmetry ended up coming in last place.

By the looks of it, Keane are getting worse as time goes by, with each subsequent album rated worse than the last. That’s got to be a bit of a worry for Tom Chaplin and the boys.

[Photo Source: Amazon.co.uk]