There’s a stereotype that all Scots are brash, vocal misanthropes who will call a spade a spade even if it’s a trowel. And Alan McGee is unfortunately doing nothing to change that stereotype.

OK, so I’m quite opinionated, something which has cost me many friends over the years, and on Brit Music Scene I’ve even criticized some artists for their musical output or life choices. U2, mainly, but still, I have nothing on Mr. McGee.

What is it about Coldplay that seems to have convinced so many people they’ve stolen their songs. Either Coldplay and Chris Martin are plagiarizing thieves or there are a lot of money-grabbing opportunists with delusions of grandeur out there.

December 2008 saw guitar god Joe Satriani accuse Coldplay of plagiarism over Viva La Vida, which allegedly bears an uncanny resemblance to If I Could Fly. The case was eventually dismissed from court, although an out-of-court settlement was probably involved.
Cat Stevens then also implied Viva La Vida ripped off one of his songs, this being Foreigner Suite.

They may not get played on the radio any more, and they may not have had a hit record for 20 years or so, but Status Quo have been named the hardest working band in the British music scene for 2009. Fellow oldie Cliff Richard came second. I thought stamina was meant to fade with age.

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 …read more

Rather than being known as Johnny Rotten, or a former Sex Pistol, or punk royalty, maybe John Lydon should come to be known as ‘Rent-a-quote’ from now on. It seems that the man is always ready with a barbed comment when asked a question by a journalist or reporter.
His latest saw him hating on Coldplay and Radiohead.

According to The Sun, Lydon recently commented:
“Coldplay and Radiohead bug the hell out of me because it’s so soulless. It just seems pointless. It’s nice, but it’s tosh. They don’t care about you. They care about lining their coffers. There’s nothing about heart and …read more

Coldplay are reportedly already working on their next album, and it could be released as early as next year. They may have only just finished their huge world tour in support of Viva La Vida in September but the band almost immediately went back to work. But it could be a different sound this time around.

According to The Sun, Coldplay have moved into a rundown church in North London to work on their new album. Brian Eno, who produced Viva La Vida, is back, and all four band members are said to have thrown themselves into the music.

U2 have been confirmed to be headlining Glastonbury 2010. It will be the Irish band’s first appearance at the long-running festival. Although they’ve been rumored to appear multiple times through the years they’ve never actually made the final bill. Muse, David Bowie, Coldplay, and The Rolling Stones are rumored to be joining them on the bill.

Speaking on the event’s official website, Glastonburyfestivals.co.uk, organizer Michael Eavis said:
“I promised the best possible line-up for the show next year and the confirmation that U2 will play their first ever Glastonbury – and their first major festival gig since the early 1980s – is …read more

If you haven’t yet experienced Muse live then you are missing out on a truly wondrous experience. It’s amazing to see three guys on stage making that much noise and the crowd making almost as much noise back in appreciation of their efforts.

You may be lucky enough to have secured tickets for Muse’s arena tour in November, in which case you will likely (unless you are one of those people who arrives late) see one of the support acts, The Big Pink. You may not yet have heard of them but they have big ambitions for the tour.

After the highly controversial MTV VMAs over in the States, which saw Russel Brand’s aggressive presenting style completely overshadowed by Kanye West’s show of douchebaggery, comes the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards.
Let’s hope Kanye doesn’t show up for this one, although seeing as no one in Europe had heard of Taylor Swift until she came face to face with him there’s unlikely to be a repeat of the incident.

Rather than focus on European acts, the MTV Europe Music Awards seems to be full of U.S. acts, which kind of makes me wonder why MTV bother having a separate awards …read more

The end of last year saw rock guitarist Joe Satriani suing Coldplay for plagiarism. He accused the British group of ripping off his song If I Could Fly with their song Viva La Vida. Satriani said at the time he was seeking all profits from the Coldplay track because they stole “substantial original portions” from his own original composition.

Now, according to NME, the case has been dismissed from California Central District Court “upon stipulation.” This implies that an out of court settlement was reached between the two parties although that has yet to be confirmed. The judge has ordered both …read more

Drugs go hand in hand with rock music – that’s an immutable fact of life only denied by those on the outside. Sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll fit together like a glove, and any rock musician who doesn’t understand this really has no place referring to him or herself as a rock musician in the first place. Those who do admit it’s the case may be condemned as bad influences but their only real crime is telling the truth.

Noel Gallagher isn’t one of these deniers. In fact, in his usual carefree attitude of saying what he wants and not caring about …read more