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Pick at the pops: 16 October 2006

Chery Tweedy & Shaznay Lewis

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

This week in the column that won’t be selling any children to pop royalty, it’s fingernails and combat trousers akimbo as Girls Aloud and All Saints dispense with the niceties. Chief mouth Cheryl Tweedy claims that All Saints’ comeback single Rocksteady is a rip-off of the Girls Aloud sound. In tones dripping with sarcasm, Mel Blatt has replied that her band could only “aspire and dream” to be like them. Fellow Saint Shaznay Lewis is more direct: “In all honesty they are stupid little girls”. It’s what the countdown to Christmas is all about.

All Saints cement their return to the public stage with the honour of turning on the Oxford Street Christmas lights. Sharing the platform will be G4 (who?) and Andy Abraham (WHO?). It seems the Saints just can’t get away from reality TV megastars.

And speaking of truly global reality TV gigantastars, the man, the mountain Gareth Gates is on the comeback trail. Gareth will be starring in a one-hour ITV1 documentary chronicling his career to date and exciting new direction. It will be a chance for him to ‘tell his own story’. Might last longer than an hour then.

Also gracing our screens soon is Dame David Bowie, who has clinched a pivotal role in a future episode of Spongebob Squarepants. Bowie will be playing ‘Lord Royal Highness’, clearly pop royalty, but we haven’t heard whether he’ll be sporting any Malawian orphans.

Doing it for the kids this week are Dirty Pretty Things, the subject of a 15-university grapple for a free gig. The educational establishment which gathers the most pies for Carl Barāt or something will see the band jetting in for a concert absolutely gratis. No news yet on what’s in it for the students.

Matthew Horton

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