Joe Kavanagh's Music News

A new star will be born on the UK music scene this week with news that 21-year-old Lilly Allen's first single proper, Smile, will go in straight at #1 in this week's singles chart. Hailed as the 'female Mike Skinner' Allen has already proven herself as a breath of fresh air with her always honest and entertaining blogs on MySpace and her official website, in addition to her distinctive and immediately catchy songs. Want a few examples. Here was Allen last week when asked her opinion on the Pussycat Dolls by UK tabloid, The Star: "I've got a really big problem with the Pussycat Dolls, because I think they're a really bad role model for little girls. They're too skinny, take all their clothes off, don't say anything, promote womanizing and look like lapdancers as far as I'm concerned. It's a really bad message to be sending young women. And not just for young women - but for young men. For them to believe that that's what women are like in real life is such a hideous concept to sell to people. It's just terrible.' In the wake of England's lions going out like lambs in the World Cup, Allen also offered her astute opinions as to what ails the English camp. Writing on her MySpace blog, Allen claimed: 'Beckham's s**t. I hope he never plays for England again, the FA only play him for fear of losing shirt sales, and I'm ashamed of us for those reasons. Sven's walking away from today's match with five odd million quid, he doesn't give a s**t.' She went on to praise how well the Germans had run the competition before turning her ire to Portugal/Man United midfielder Ronaldo saying: 'Ronaldo is a dirty, dirty b*****d. Ronaldo is pure evil, did you see the winking and him winding up Rooney earlier on in the game? I bet the press are gonna use Rooney as the scapegoat, but I reckon we should go after Ronaldo.'...

Football fan extraordinaire, Elton John also offered his opinion on the England squad during a UK concert last week. Speaking to the crowd in Bournemouth, a livid John told the crowd: 'There has not been an outstanding player at this World Cup. I do not even want to talk about that f**king Sven Goran Abba-dabba. As always the England fans have been fantastic. They have been let down by the team and let down by people earning £125,000 a week. It's a disgrace.' ...

While we are on the subject of football and music, Preston Athletic will honor singer Robbie Williams, when the club announced that it will soon open a restaurant bearing his name, as part of their newly refurbished ground. Williams, who bought a 25% stake in the club several years back, has been an avid Preston fan since boyhood. Robbie also made the news in Denmark last week when he visited the bohemian city-within-a-city of Christiana, which is located within Copenhagen. Known for it's virtual independence, tolerance of drugs and contentious relationship with the Danish government, the area is a kind of commune with virtually no drug laws in effect. Apparently Williams was walking down the street with his burly bodyguards who were continually talking into radios, leading the residents of Christiana to believe that they were in fact undercover cops. Locals assumed that this was the beginnings of a much talked about government crackdown on the area and a virtual riot ensued until they realized that it was just a diminutive UK singer and his entourage...

The Lemonheads will make their return to the music world after almost a decade away when their latest, self-titled album hits shelves on September 26. The band have yet to announce details of their expected world tour...

Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher has teamed up with television host, Russell Brand, to put on a gig in London during November, with all proceeds going to recovering drug addicts. Brand has had his own personal battles with drugs, having been a crack and heroin addict even as he worked as a presenter for MTV. Any guesses as to who his new girlfriend is? That would be a certain supermodel named Kate Moss. No acts have been confirmed for the gig yet but it is certainly a worthy cause, if not an event I would send a recovering drug addict to...

Massive Attack are set to tour the US for the first time in almost a decade this fall and have already announced that they will play three concerts in NYC between October 3-5. Tickets will go on sale shortly and are expected to sell out rapidly so get 'em while you can because 3-D and company put on a heck of a live show and must be one of the most original, intelligent and influential bands of the last twenty years.