Joe Kavanagh's Music News

John Lydon may be over a quarter of a century removed from the full fury of his true punk past, but his vitriol exploded in its full glory last week, when he received news that his father had died of a heart attack, that appears to have been brought on by an argument. John Lydon senior was apparently having a blazing row with the son of his longtime partner, Mary Irwin, when he fell to the ground clutching his chest and was declared dead only hours later. The 74-year-old Lydon senior, born and raised in Tuam, County Galway, was allegedly enraged by the behavior of Irwin's son, Bob, and attempting to get him to leave the family home and Johnny is now on the warpath, holding Irwin and her son directly responsible for his father's death. Irwin is adamant that her partner was already in poor health, telling one UK tabloid: "John didn't want Gary to live with us. He called the police to say he wanted them to help him get rid of Gary. He then went outside and collapsed next to our fence. We tried to resuscitate him but it was too late. Doctors later told us he has a bad heart. He had been on blood pressure tablets for 25 years and had high cholesterol. John said to me, 'How can a fit man die of a heart attack?' He was really aggressive and implied it was my fault. I ended up putting the phone down on him. My John was not a fit man, he was ill. His mind was going too. I think John is trying to cut me out now. It's just too awful for words." 52-year-old Lydon had grown extremely close with his father in recent times, after years of estrangement and there are those who claim that much of his legendary rage grew directly from the fact that he watched his beloved, Cork-born mother, Eileen, die in front of him when he was only 22-years-old. We wish him well in his moment of need...

Moby's albums may generate millions of dollars and he may also be one of the few truly global stars capable of packing out venues with tens of thousands of punters but a recent busking stint by the amiable singer in London netted a grand total of $10, give or take a dollar. Last week Londoners in Sloan Square were unwittingly treated to a 40-minute set by Moby, which was filmed surreptitiously for the BBC's television programme, The Culture Show, where the undercover star treated those on hand to a host of his hits and even threw in riffs from Guns n' Roses Sweet Child O' Mine and Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love, which was about the only love on hand. Hey, it could have been worse, if he played the same set at about midnight on Dublin's Grafton Street, he'd be lucky to get out of there with his health intact, not to mind a tenner...

Kooks bassist, Matt Rafferty has quit the band for the second time in six months, but claims that there is absolutely no chance of him returning to the fold this time. Rafferty dropped out of the Brighton act in the summer after suffering health problems, only to be convinced to return when lead singer, Luke Pritchard, went public saying that the band would not be able to continue without him. Given the fact that the Kooks announced that they had found a stand-in within hours of the latest announcement, I gather that's not the case any more. Much as I like their music, every time I hear Luke Pritchard being interviewed, I actually feel like quitting the band despite the fact that I'm not even a member...

I find it a little curious that Glastonbury Festival founder and main man, Michael Eavis, spent so time after last year's event talking about how he was going to make a concerted effort to attract more youths to the festival, due to the falling attendance rates in the 16 to 18-year-old age bracket, only to announce last week that Neil Diamond would be headlining the music extravaganza this summer. I can't imagine too many in that age group getting overly excited about that, other than the ones that think that he's probably an American Wrestler with a name like that...

I also read last week where Nathan Hudson, of Australian band, Faker, came out of the closet and was spouting off about how he wanted to be an inspiration to his fans. What, all six of them? I have several problems with Hudson's assertion, not least of which is the fact that his band has been on the go for over 12 years but now he suddenly decides to come out, when their parochial popularity is on the wane. So following his hypothesis, he's basically telling gay kids to stay deep in the closet until they are middle-aged or until they are no longer are ashamed of who they are. Is that it? Or is it the fact that he thought it might boost his public profile? I guess it worked because I, along with many others in the world's media, have just wasted ink on him. Faker indeed.