Music

POP UNCULTURED: A roundup of weird happenings in music for the week ending April 15, 2011

by Anne T. Donahue

Since it’s impossible to address the total madness of the music industry in only five days, Pop Uncultured saves some of the week’s strangest stories for Friday afternoon. Enjoy?

“Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” is Liam Gallagher’s pre-show pump-up jam [FULL STORY]
First of all, of course it is. Second of all, the Beady Eye frontman got a whole lot cooler after he revealed to BBC Radio 1 that the Rod Stewart jam is his track of choice to “get pumped up to” before hitting the stage, and that the naysayers in his posse need to “get a sense of humour” if they’ve got a problem.

Justin Bieber incurs political wrath in Israel [FULL STORY]
Shit got real for Justin Bieber this week when he allegedly snubbed children in Israel and incurred the wrath of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Then, following a canceled meeting with the nation’s leader, the teen dream was on the receiving end of major paparazzi attention, leaving him to seek refuge in his hotel room and Tweet the following commentary:

(I’ll keep that in mind when I crash Thanksgiving this year.)

Tom Hanks is producing Green Day’s American Idiot film [FULL STORY]
Assuming his Oscar wins have proved his legitimacy, Tom Hanks has now signed on to produce Green Day‘s American Idiot in feature-film form, thus ending months of (our own) speculation that the actor is starved for work. Universal has apparently given the project the green light ahead, and word on the street is that Dustin Lance Black (Milk, Big Love) is being courted to screen write. No word on whether Sean Penn will star.

Survey says: Coldplay fans don’t put out on the first date [FULL STORY]
Because there just aren’t enough topical studies in the world, the dating site Tastebuds (you know – the one that makes matches through musical tastes …?), conducted a survey to see just how far their clients were willing to go on date number one. So, using three simple questions to compare against top music picks, they came out with this graph, thus making Coldplay fans the least likely candidates for first-date consummation:

And in other news, Nirvana fans, Courtney Love’s clothes are up for sale …

Jay-Z and Gwyneth Paltrow interview each other and bask in their celebrity [FULL STORY]
We’re not sure whether Jay-Z did this to be ironic or whether he was retaliating for our Life + Times praise last week, but he and Gwyneth Paltrow joined forces to interview each other on Monday where they basked in the warming glow of celebrity culture and their lives in “the blogosphere.” Taking a stance on Biggie vs. Tupac, “how the f” S.C. became the “coolest man on earth” and whether the Goop queen would make a solo album, G-Pal and the rapper got all sorts of real, reminding all of us what happens when you go from having 99 problems to having absolutely zero.

Dolly Parton wants to collaborate with Lady Gaga
Backstage at Monday’s GLAAD Awards, the wonderful Dolly Parton told E! that she’d love to collaborate with Lady Gaga, branding the project “Goo-Goo and Gaga,” in which the country star would take her name from the Nashville candy bars. She also talked about teaming up with Queen Latifah, but considering Mama Monster just released “Born This Way”s follow-up single (and her website got spammed with porn), we only really care about the former.

Lily Allen has “completely blown” her wedding budget
We’re not sure what’s bigger news: that rich people have budgets, or that Lily Allen’s decking her bridesmaids out in Chanel. (Just kidding: rich people don’t have budgets.) [via Yahoo!]

Gucci Mane was arrested for pushing a woman out of his moving car
We probably should’ve figured that Gucci Mane isn’t exactly on his A-game following the infamous ice cream tattoo, but with yet another arrest to accompany his charges from earlier this year, it’s safe to say the guy needs help. Arrested on Friday for allegedly pushing a woman out of his moving car in late January, the Atlantic rapper was taken in while visiting his probation officer at the Georgia Department of Corrections Probation Office. MTV also reports that while the victim wasn’t familiar with Mane’s music, it was his – you guessed it – face tattoo that clued her into his identity.

William Shatner is releasing a guest-heavy super-album [FULL STORY]
Because he can, William Shatner is gearing up to release a record boasting a who’s who of everyone who has ever made music in the history of time. And because we can, we’re paying homage to James Tiberius Kirk through this:

You’re welcome.

Liam Gallagher switches hotel rooms to avoid his brother Noel [FULL STORY]
Considering the Gallagher brothers seemingly inundated every aspect of pop culture news this week, we deemed it only fitting to end this edition of Pop Uncultured with more Liam antics, but with less Rod Stewart. Like Noel when he couldn’t face staring at Russell Brand (all puns intended), the Beady Eye frontman abandoned his hotel upon hearing his former bandmate was at the same one, leaving staff at the nearby Beatles’ Hard Days Night hotel to ready the penthouse and watch him eat biscuits. Rock ‘n’ roll.