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Pick at the pops: 26 May 2008

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

When this column was a nipper, the Eurovision Song Contest was a bastion of all that was right and proper – Cliff would appear on it, men in dinner jackets and women in ball dresses would take half the night to read out the results from the Luxembourg jury, and every now and then the United Kingdom would win. Now that we habitually finish in the bottom three, it’s obviously a brazen fit-up. Chief among the cynics is Sir (is he a Sir? If not, it’s a conspiracy) Terry Wogan, who claimed after Andy Abraham’s international disgrace, “It’s not about music anymore”. There are tempting answers to that, but it’s beneath us.

Sadly, the cynicism is catching. Once upon a time we would have lauded rap star Nas’s decision last week to drop the controversial title Nigger from his new album, but now we can’t help thinking that he’d bandied that name around for months just to drum up some rather tawdry publicity. Poor Nas. So misunderstood.

The pointy finger of suspicion has also been following Coldplay around after their decision to release new album Viva La Vida or Death and All Its Pretentious Hangers-On (or whatever it’s called) on a Thursday – four days ahead of schedule. This finger belongs to Oasis “insiders” who think they’re just copying the Manc innovators (ahem) who apparently pulled this trick with their bloated album-as-artistic-suicide Be Here Now in 1997. Ridiculous, of course. Why on earth would Coldplay want to be associated with a load of self-indulgent, lazy, witless old tripe? Hang on a minute…

We feel all dirty now. It’s down to pop’s elder statesmen (and women) to warm our cockles with news that the creaky old Pet Shop Boys and the positively brittle Tina Turner have both offered words of support to beleaguered, emotional Amy Winehouse this week. Well, maybe it’ll help. The Pet Shop Boys even fancy getting her into the studio to record a Bond theme with them. Let’s not delve into the realm of fantasy, lads.

Matthew Horton

• 19/05/2008: Fatboy Slim trims his name >>
• 12/05/2008: Doth Sugababes protesteth too much? >>
• 05/05/2008: Amy not ready to work on music >>
• 28/04/2008: Shakira collaborates with Gordon Brown >>
• 21/04/2008: The last word on the Jay-Z at Glasto debate >>
• 14/04/2008: Beyoncé and Mark E Smith fight the animals >>
• 07/04/2008: Lennon and Mills - separated at birth? >>
• 31/03/2008: Leona topples Wilde record >>
• 24/03/2008: Rihanna the "new Britney"? >>
• 17/03/2008: Madonna in B12 shocker >>
• 10/03/2008: Bjork gets political >>
• 03/03/2008: Keef disses Led Zep >>
• 25/02/2008: Mark Owen gives KT Tunstall his last quid >>
• 18/02/2008: Aretha or Tina - just who is the Queen of Soul? >>
• 11/02/2008: We mourn the Spice Girls - again >>
• 04/02/2008: Winehouse and Spears - will the madness end? >>
• 28/01/2008: Oh no! Simply Red and UB40 have split up! >>
• 21/01/2008: Annie Lennox and The Verve won't pave streets >>
• 14/01/2008: Robbie and Coldplay turn on EMI >>
• 07/01/2008: Out with the old, in with the new >>
• 2007 archive >>
• 2006 archive >>