Music

Last week Alexandra Burke’s video for upcoming single Start Without You premiered. Man, what a disappointment. Ok, the song is just (another) pop song, far from what I expected from her. But it could have been one of the songs of the summer. It’s catchy as hell, fun and it’s got that Caribbean coconut rythm (whatever that means) that makes it the perfect soundtrack to a beach holiday.

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I hope you're sitting down for this one, Shout readers. Vile chavvy singer Olly Murs has beaten Katy Perry to the top spot in the UK singles chart this week.

You may remember Murs for being disgustingly smug on last year's X Factor before he was beaten by dweeby Joe McElderry. I have been feverishly reading the book of Revelations searching for the part where a twat in a hat unleashes the four horsemen of the apocalypse and heralds the end of all music.

I mean, this week's Top 10 is loaded with awesomeness. Perry is only the tip of the iceberg. The return of Taio Cruz, Flo Rida's first legitimate club anthem and the shining urban brilliance of Roll Deep's latest single. And the UK's music consumers choose a pithy bland love song by a guy who by all accounts is a second-rate Lee Ryan?

Disappointing.

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Roy Harper's not one of those names that people associate with the classic rock of the 60's and 70's, but the guy has hung out with the best of rock royalty and inspired more than a few legends of rock. His place in popular culture will be secured because he's namechecked in the title of a song on Led Zeppelin's third album - Hats off to (Roy) Harper.

Back when I was going through the period I call "My Led Zeppelin Obsession", I decided to check out an album of Harper's material. Luckily, I picked up a compilation called An Introduction To... and remain blown away by his music to this day.

But I wanted to talk about a particular Harper track today, She's The One. It's got a great narrative, with Harper taking the part of a man who's (presumably) just listened to his friend complain about his terrible relationship with his wife. In the song, Harper sells the woman's good points - she's clearly vibrant, fun and sexy. It's a dead giveaway in lines like "she's the one who throws the skins at you and says let's all turn on". At one point he fires a brilliant rebuke "ah, but how can any man talk like you with a wonderful wife like yours?"

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Uh-oh. Ke$ha haters - myself included - may well have to eat their words after listening to her latest single, Take It Off.

The song's as electronica-heavy as her previous efforts, but this is something different. Could this be the first Ke$ha song with actual, proper verses? I don't know, but there's just something in this song that simply trumps everything she's released to date.

Yes, it's drowning in autotune, but that's par for the course at the moment. But Take It Off is dripping with hooks. If she doesn't snare you with the verses, the pre-chorus might catch you. Faling that, you'll be muttering the actual chorus for weeks. And if that doesn't work, the shouty bit at the end might be your downfall. Everything about this tune is designed to lodge itself in your head and be repeated until you go nuts.

I have to confess that Ke$ha has been slowly growing on me. My preconception about her was that she was trying to be the Lady Gaga of the party scene. Once you get used to the fact that she isn't trying to make being sleazy an art form, it's easier to like Ke$ha. I know that sounds weird, but a big barrier to liking her music was her image.

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Katy Perry's début pop album 'One Of The Boys' was easily one of the most-anticipated since Take That's reunion album 'Beautiful World'. Unfortunately it was a very inconsistent affair, with some of the most irritating songs I've ever heard, so bluntly sexual it was almost unfair, but hidden underneath the sugar-coated campness, you could tell there was a decent song-writer, who Katy has said to have let out on her follow-up LP 'Teenage Dream'. I agree, to a short extent.

Bursting out onto the music scene with her controversial protest boards, child-like lyrics, and songs that no other artists in that industry could get away with, it quickly played to her strengths; we in the UK as well as her homeland, the US, lapped up her début 'I Kissed A Girl', which topped the UK Singles Chart for five consecutive weeks. Declaring boisterously, "music should have more innuendos", she made sure it did with her wacky bubblegum pop, an unstoppable sense of humour, and quite frankly, the most gorgeous face since Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

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Ready for an infusion of blues rock for your Friday night? Then check out LA rockers Night Horse's latest single, Rollin' On.

It's the lead from the band's second album Perdition Hymns, and it's a blast of authentic Southern-fried rock n' roll. A slow-burn guitar riff kicks things off, backed up with some sexy slide work. This kind of rock is always a treat to listen to, no exceptions.

This stuff reminds me of that Black Stone Cherry album I bought a year or so ago - great, unabashed, good-time rock. Get a free EP from the band's official website or check out more of their tunes on MySpace.

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Is this really Beyoncé's ninth release from her third album 'I Am… Sasha Fierce'? Talk about doing it to death. She may have released three editions of the album, but that takes the biscuit, and all other bake-goods which just so happen to be on display at the time.

I remember the last artist to do this: Michael Jackson, with the album 'Bad', his ninth single was called 'Liberian Girl' and failed to chart anywhere except the Top 20 in Spain, Holland and Germany. Somehow I fail to see the same thing happening for Beyoncé. Not that this is a bad song, and neither was 'Liberian Girl' (just a tad lifeless), for 'Why Don't You Love Me?' is an uber-sassy, upbeat, surprisingly funny R&B number with energetic tribal beats and a funky bassline to boot… and the fact it’s a UK Only release may also have something to do with matters. It's possible.

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In a world where a simple individual can get lost in a sea of stereotypes, all marching to the same tune, it's very easy for a person to get swept away in it all, rather than do something of their own accord; something that they want to do, and something that came from their own imagination. There’s no question that it is most definitely easier to do what others do, but what if everyone did that?

What if Christopher Columbus believed the Earth was indeed flat? What if Alexander Graham-Bell thought pen and paper would suffice as the best form of communication? And if Alexander Fleming actually was a clean, tidy scientist? If all these people decided to live normal lives, not follow their own decisions and let all their detractors who thought they were completely mad knock them down, where would we be today?

My point is, in today's music, everything has become very 'by-the-book'. The typical song structure is as old as time itself but as for the whole package, you can almost hear a song, predict the music video, pinpoint exactly when the seemingly obligatory rap should be placed, and guess who would be a good option for the collaboration.

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Guns N' Roses are said to have stormed off the stage at their gig in Dublin last night, after fans repeatedly threw bottles at them.

The rock band kept concert goers waiting for an hour before they started to perform and after being booed, heckled and bottled, Axl Rose stopped the show 20 minutes into the set during 'Welcome To The Jungle'.

He told the crowd:

"Here's the deal - One more bottle and we go home... It's up to you. We would like to stay. We want to stay. We want to have some fun.

"If you don't want to have fun, all you've got to do is let us know. We've got no problem - we'll go on our way."

The band played three more songs then left the stage. A member of staff spoke to the audience, at first claiming that they were having technical difficulties, then later saying: "Sincere apologies about this. We're trying hard to get Axl to come back on stage. I will ask you please to refrain from throwing items at him. I promise you a great show, but you need to be calm please."

Guns N' Roses returned 35 minutes later, however many fans had left the building by this time and were refused re-entry for the rest of the show.

Check out Axl's warning in the video below, be warned there is some very strong language used. Were you in the audience? If so we'd love to hear from you!

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Okay, so imagine you're a bit down in the dumps, not than kind where your all emo-like with a knife to your wrist for no reason at all, but the kind where you accidentally twisted an ankle and fell into the person in front of you, starting a huge domino rally of people in somewhere like Poundland, and then you get kicked out of Tesco for eating something from ASDA, and then, someone complains you're being too noisy in your local library, which is only exaggerated by the fact being in a library on a Saturday night is like winning the lottery, but instead of collect your winnings, you spend the night in playing Boggle with your sister.

Not your day is it?

But then, something comes along three years later and you get a chance to become a better version of what you once were, laughing in the face of supermarket brands because now you can buy designer; you can make as much noise as you want in any library because you rule the pop world, and you get an uber-sexual make-over complete with fake spectacles, blazer, choppy fringe and a chance to rub up against another girl in front of a camera to show off your new-found SEXUALNESS.

And then you dance like this:

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