Print this page

Pick at the pops: 26 February 2007

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

The will they/won’t they (of course they will – everyone’s known since the dawn of time) saga of the Spice Girls reunion seems to be drawing to a close. Former manager Simon Fuller has broken cover to say they’ll definitely be back with a “big bang”, but no new album because they don’t have a Gary Barlow. That’ll be how they get into those Union Jack minidresses, then. Fuller goes on to say that Mel C is the one remaining abstainer, still labouring under the bewildering misapprehension that she has a solo career. A hastily knocked-up balance sheet from her record company should sort that out.

No such promise from Spandau Ballet. Heavyweight foghorn Tony Hadley remarked: “Bands in the past have said hell would freeze over before they got back together, but in our case I think hell is frozen and we still won’t do it.” Lucky for everyone, really. They were rubbish.

Class, honour, sophistication, pride and decorum: all qualities you would associate with the British. That’s why it’s no surprise to see that eBay vendors in Fareham, Cheltenham, Walsall, Rotherham, Beckenham, Weymouth, Caerphilly – we could go on – are selling locks of Britney Spears’ shaven hair. Is that Jerusalem we can hear?

Faith in this good nation is restored by the mouth, the legend, Lily Allen. Hitting back at barbed comments from grime urchin Lady Sovereign that she’s only famous because of her dad, our Lil has cooed: “I’ve spoken to my dad and he says he’d be happy to adopt you if you think it’ll give you a leg up.” What would we do without her? It’d be all reunion stories around here.

And here’s one now. Well, the reverse of one. Looks like the All Saints comeback is a goneagain. A trusty “source” has said that new single Chick Fit would need to perform “a miracle” to save the band now. Luckily, the source mentioned the name of the single, the release date, recommended retail outlets, price…

Matthew Horton

• 19/02/2007: Joss Stone's big love >>
• 12/02/2007: Lily conquers America >>
• 05/02/2007: Oasis to meet Ringo at last >>
• 29/01/2007: Amy Winehouse wows the Savoy >>
• 22/01/2007: Chris Martin: the B-Boy >>
• 15/01/2007: Whitney auctions her belongings >>
• 08/01/2007: The Police to reform? >>
• 02/01/2007: James Brown RIP >>
• 18/12/2006: Girls Aloud v Lily Allen >>
• 04/12/2006: Potty Pete pays the penalty >>
• 27/11/2006: Nelly says no to Playboy >>
• 20/11/2006: Queen's greatest-selling hits >>
• 13/11/2006: Ms Dynamite's high speed crash >>
• 06/11/2006: Glastonbury to go "gay"? >>
• 30/10/2006: McFly hit top spot yet again >>
• 16/10/2006: Girls Aloud v All Saints in war of words >>
• 09/10/2006: Razorlight ready for world domination >>
• 02/10/2006: Madonna's record breaking millions >>
• 25/09/2006: When pop stars reunite >>
• 18/09/2006: Robbie's new footballing chum >>
• 11/09/2006: Monkeys' Mercury delight >>
• 04/09/2006: Foo Fighters save miners >>
• 28/08/2006: Britney gets banned in Asia >>
• 21/08/2006: Radiohead's grumpy greatest hits >>
• 14/08/2006: Natasha Bedingfield's Rocky return >>
• 07/08/2006: The heavyweight return of Meat Loaf >>