I have mixed feelings on charity records. They raise money for good causes, which is great, yet a lot of them rely solely on that factor to sell, not actually being any good. And they always sell well, regardless of quality.

Then there is the fact that Simon Cowell seems to have cornered the market in charity records. He organizes the release of one by The X Factor contestants every year, and he’s now the brains behind the Helping Haiti effort. Which, rather coincidentally, features a plethora of acts from his stable.

Cheryl Cole, Alexandra Burke, Susan Boyle, Leona Lewis, and Joe McElderry all feature. It’s almost as though Cowell hand picked them to up their marketability or something.

That’s not to say I don’t support it; go out and buy it, and keep it at number one for another week. The money raised will be split between the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) and the Helping Haiti campaign.

As well as being the fastest-selling charity single since the turn of the century, Everybody Hurts is likely to end 2010 as the biggest-selling single of the year. Unless, of course, another disaster strikes, another charity single is produced, and even more people buy that one. God forbid.

[Photo Source: Amazon.co.uk]

Post from: Brit Music Scene

Just yesterday I reported how Radiohead had held a special, one-off gig to raise money and awareness for victims of the Haiti earthquake. While U2 and Sting were among those taking part in the Hope For Haiti Now concert event.

Simon Cowell has been busy organizing the release of a charity single to help too. REM’s Everybody Hurts has been chosen, with the band donating all royalties to the appeal and Gordon Brown waiving the VAT from sales of it.

Robbie Williams and Take That will be reunited for the first time on record since Robbie left the group in 1995. And, according to The Sun, Leona Lewis, JLS, James Blunt, Cheryl Cole, and Joe McElderry will also feature.

Meanwhile, according to NME, it has also been announced that Robbie Williams next single will be in support of Sport Relief. Morning Sun will be released on March 8, before the main event takes place between March 19 and 21. All profits will be donated to the charity.

[Photo Source: Newscom]

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The British Music Experience is a permanent exhibition at the O2 in London. It has made a home in the O2 Bubble, just one small part of the huge complex formerly known as the Millennium Dome, which now has the O2 Arena at its heart.

The British Music Experience opened in March 2009, and costs £15 per adult to visit. For that, you gain entry into the main exhibit, which comprises a hub, with several rooms dedicated to each important time in British music around the outside.

There are costumes and merchandise from the key artists of the periods, with descriptions of each available via headphones. There are also interactive elements, including the chance to try your hand at several instruments and the opportunity to mimic dances from the decades.

The ticket you receive for the exhibition can be swiped over any of the exhibits, with the information from that part of the BME saved for later viewing via the official Web site. So, the Smarticket creates a multimedia memento of your visit.

I spent a good few hours at The British Music Experience and enjoyed it. However, I think the £15 asking price is a little on the high side, and if it were priced more attractively would attract more visitors.

That’s not to take anything away from the exhibition, which is attempting to fill a void that definitely needs to be filled. British music is the best in the world, and needs to be celebrated in the U.K.

[Photo Source: Newscom]

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The Official Charts Company compiles the UK charts every week based on sales. And, according to NME, it recently released details of the Top 10 biggest selling albums of the noughties, which are as follows:-

The Top 10 Albums Of The Noughties

1. James Blunt – ‘Back To Bedlam’
2. Dido – ‘No Angel’
3. Amy Winehouse – ‘Back To Black’
4. Leona Lewis – ‘Spirit’
5. David Gray – ‘White Ladder’
6. The Beatles – ‘1′
7. Dido – ‘Life For Rent’
8. Coldplay – ‘A Rush Of Blood To The Head’
9. Scissor Sisters – ‘Scissor Sisters’
10. Take That – ‘Beautiful World’

James Blunt at number one? Ugh. Dido at number two? Ugh. Neither are surprising as they’re both mainstream and bland. It’s good to see Amy Winehouse at number three and The Beatles and Coldplay also making the top ten. Scissor Sisters deserve a mention for being the only non-British artist to make the list.

[Photo Source: Amazon.co.uk]

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There must have literally thousands of tracks released over the last decade, but there’s only a relatively small amount that make it past the first few listens and enter or collective consciousness.

Music licensing company, PPL, has compiled the top 50 most played songs of the noughties. The full list is available to view on its Web site, but below is the top 10.

1. Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars
2. Take That – Shine
3. Scissor Sisters – I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’
4. The Feeling – Love It When You Call
5. Sugababes – About You Now
6. Take That – Rule The World
7. James Blunt – You’re Beautiful
8. Kaiser Chiefs – I Predict A Riot
9. Kylie Minogue – Can’t Get You Out Of My Head
10. Gnarls Barkley – Crazy

There are no surprises here, as I can attest to the fact these songs have been played on a continuous loop on radio and TV over the last decade. It’s interesting that all of the top three were released in 2006, however.

PPL’s Head of Music Reporting, Tim Silver, said:

“The noughties has been a decade for great new music and which has been listened to by ever growing numbers of people. Just as they love listening to new music, there will also always be a place for golden oldies, evident in our top 50.”

He’s referring to the likes of Thin Lizzy at number 12 (1976), The Police at number 29 (1983), and Aretha Franklin at number 50 (1968).

The noughties were a great decade for music, and we can only hope the tens is equally as good.

[Photo Source: Amazon.co.uk]

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How do you judge how big and successful an artist is these days? Is it purely down to record sales, even though these can be manipulated by a number of factors (one of which has an X in front of it). Or is there more to it than that?

According to BBC News, the Performing Rights Society (PRS) recently named its list of the bands it has deemed to have worked hardest over the last 12 months. And there are a couple of big surprises.

Top 5 Hardest Working Bands Of 2009

Status Quo
Cliff Richard
Take That
Coldplay
Kings Of Leon

Maybe it’s just that the older artists such as Status Quo and Cliff Richard have more fans because they’ve been around that much longer. Or maybe it’s because these guys have to work harder to keep the money rolling in – no Simon Cowell-influenced guaranteed number one for them.

[Photo Source: Amazon.co.uk]

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This week’s singles chart is a little bit boring coming off the back of the battle for Christmas number one. But Joe McElderry finally managed to overcome the might of Rage Against The Machine to take the top spot. Rage dropped to 2. Joe’s mentor on The X Factor, Cheryl Cole, climbed from 7 to 4, while Ke$ha sneaked back into the top ten.

The albums chart also saw a role reversal from Christmas week, with Susan Boyle finally being knocked off her lofty perch by Canadian heartthrob crooner Michael Buble. The only other movers of note were Will Young entering the top ten with his The Hits album, and Cheryl Cole doing a Ke$ha and sneaking back into the top ten.

Top 10 UK Singles Chart

1. (2) Joe McElderry: ‘The Climb
2. (1) Rage Against The Machine: ‘Killing In The Name’
3. (3) Lady GaGa: ‘Bad Romance’
4. (7) Cheryl Cole: ‘3 Words’
5. (5) 3OH!3 ft. Katy Perry: ‘Starstrukk’
6. (10) Black Eyed Peas: ‘Meet Me Halfway’
7. (9) Journey: ‘Don’t Stop Believin’
8. (8) Rihanna: ‘Russian Roulette’
9. (6) Robbie Williams: ‘You Know Me’
10. (11) Ke$ha: ‘Tik Tok’

Top 10 UK Albums Chart

1. (2) Michael Bublé: ‘Crazy Love’
2. (1) Susan Boyle: ‘I Dreamed A Dream’
3. (3) Black Eyed Peas: ‘The E.N.D.’
4. (4) Lady GaGa: ‘The Fame Monster’
5. (5) JLS: ‘JLS’
6. (6) Robbie Williams: ‘Reality Killed The Video Star’
7. (10) Take That: ‘The Greatest Day – The Circus Live’
8. (7) Snow Patrol: ‘Up To Now’
9. (11) Will Young: ‘The Hits’
10. (14) Cheryl Cole: ‘3 Words’

[Photo Source: Amazon.co.uk]

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The singles chart hasn’t changed much this week from last, with Peter Kay’s Animated All Star Band retaining the number one spot with The Official BBC Children In Need Medley. Rihanna jumped from six to two with Russian Roulette, with Lady Gaga just behind her with Bad Romance. The only two new entries are Alicia Keys at number eight with Doesn’t Mean Anything and Timbaland featuring Nelly Furtado and SoShy at number nine with Morning After Dark.

The albums chart changed a little more, with new entries at number two and three for Westlife and Take That respectively. However, Susan Boyle unsurprisingly retains the number one spot with I Dreamed A Dream managing to outsell everything else for the second week in a row. And it isn’t just the U.K. that is loving Susan Boyle either, with her debut album also selling well in the United States and beyond.

Top 10 UK Singles Chart

1. (1) Peter Kay’s Animated All Star Band: ‘The Official BBC Children In Need Medley’
2. (6) Rihanna: ‘Russian Roulette’
3. (5) Lady GaGa: ‘Bad Romance’
4. (4) Black Eyed Peas: ‘Meet Me Halfway’
5. (2) ‘X Factor’ Finalists 2009: ‘You Are Not Alone’
6. (3) Jason Derulo: ‘Whatcha Say’
7. (7) Ke$ha: ‘Tik Tok’
8. (-) Alicia Keys: ‘Doesn’t Mean Anything’
9. (-) Timbaland ft. Nelly Furtado, SoShy: ‘Morning After Dark’
10. (8) Cheryl Cole: ‘Fight For This Love’

Top 10 UK Albums Chart

1. (1) Susan Boyle: ‘I Dreamed A Dream’
2. (-) Westlife: ‘Where We Are’
3. (-) Take That: ‘The Greatest Day – The Circus Live’
4. (2) JLS: ‘JLS’
5. (3) Black Eyed Peas: ‘The E.N.D.’
6. (6) Michael Bublé: ‘Crazy Love’
7. (4) Queen: ‘Absolute Greatest’
8. (8) Snow Patrol: ‘Up To Now’
9. (5) Leona Lewis: ‘Echo’
10. (9) Robbie Williams: ‘Reality Killed The Video Star’

[Photo Source: Amazon.co.uk]

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Speech Debelle seemed to come out of nowhere to win the 2009 Mercury Music Prize. I readily admit I’d never heard of her until she was nominated. She won the award and then seemed to set about trying to flaunt her new-found success like Charlie Big Potatoes.

Earlier this week, Debelle walked away from her record company, Big Dada Records, claiming it wasn’t big enough to handle her success. And now she’s annoyed an assembled throng of Take That fans to the point at which they booed her off stage.

Debelle was one of a number of guests at the London launch of Singstar: Take That, a new video game featuring the boy/man band’s back catalog. She rapped her way through Pray and the fans didn’t really take too kindly to her effort.

However, it wasn’t until Debelle claimed, “I did that better than Take That!” that the crowd really turned on her. Host James Corden then made a couple of comments to which Debelle responded with, “I don’t do that Take Sh*t stuff.” Which is not the best thing to say on stage in front of a crowd of Take That fans.

Debelle’s whole performance and her confrontation with James Corden can be seen on YouTube but is unfortunately not available to embed. However, Debelle did try to explain her actions in a video blog post as seen below.

The couple of idiots who booed Debelle’s performance of Pray were out of order but her response of dissing Take That and their fans was clearly a stupid thing to do. And to be honest, James Corden is probably a better rapper than Speech.

[Photo Source: Newscom]

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We know that Robbie Williams is going to be rejoining Take That at some point in the future, whether temporarily or permanently. It’s really just a matter of when. But it doesn’t look like it’ll be happening this week as rumored.

There was widespread speculation last week that Robbie would be duetting with Take That during the Children In Need concert tomorrow. But a BBC spokesman said this was “categorically not true”.

However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be some interesting duets happening. Snow Patrol have revealed that Cheryl Cole will be joining them on stage to sing Martha Wainwright’s lines from Set The Fire To The Third Bar.

Snow Patrol singer Gary Lightbody said:

“Everyone doing that gig has to duet with someone from the gig. Everyone gets a partner, it was like getting a partner at school. We got the prettiest girl in the class. People have raised an eyebrow now and again when we’ve mentioned we’re doing it with Cheryl Cole but I think it’s going to be a really interesting experience.”

I’m still hopeful that Robbie will make an unexpected appearance at the gig to cement his return to the Take That fold. But even if that doesn’t happen, the duets that have been arranged should make for an interesting night that will raise lots of money for a worthwhile charity.

[Photo Source: Newscom]

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