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Pick at the pops: 8 January 2007

Our weekly round-up of the weird and wonderful world of pop music...

Hark! Is that the sound of wedding bells? No. After a frenzy of speculation earlier in the week, Kate Moss has denied that she and Pete Doherty were married in Thailand. It’s easy to see how people could have jumped to the conclusion. After all, she was wearing a designer outfit and he a hat. Like every other day.

The institution of matrimony has been dealt a further blow with the news that burlesque star Dita von Teese is divorcing cartoon freakshow husband Marilyn Manson. What on earth does she not see in him? It’s left to former Atomic Kitten Kerry Katona to fly the flag for the holy bond, as she’s free to wed her cabbie boyfriend now that her, um, divorce has come through.

Setting a different kind of example once more is Britney Spears, who denies that she collapsed at Pure nightclub in Las Vegas although she's now in detox. She and ex-husband-to-be Kevin Federline have agreed to share custody of their sons, so Britters should be able to arrange a few more nights out no bother.

And speaking of marriage fans, Sir Paul McCartney is cooking up another Beatles corpse-flogging with a plan to warble over one of those John Lennon demos. Now And Then is the song to be privileged with the Free As A Bird treatment, and Yoko Ono’s bank balance will shortly tell us how pleased John would have been.

Too much talk of divorce and strife. Pop needs a heartwarmer, and what better than the news that The Police are reforming? So their record company hopes, anyway. It’s 30 years since Roxanne, Stewart Copeland’s at a loose end after another fantastic series of Just The Two Of Us and Sting’s saved all the rainforests. No reason not to, then.

Matthew Horton

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