SHUT UP, YOU'RE AN EMBARRASMENT: Thank god for that Christopher Walken video for the Fatboy Slim single. At least it means that that side of the single is getting the attention, rather than the dire *69... Talking of *69, which was also an REM, what on earth was that Peter Buck airrage incident all about? Clearly he must have got over-excited watching the Foo Fighters video or something. Are *69 the band still going? I liked them. My head hurts.

LISTENING POST: Our ears, our ears. Recently we've become fond of Dreampop Guitars and Girlsolider Radio over at Live365 - shoe and SHOO! respectively. When we're not burning the company cash, the newlook Music Choice alt rock channel is still as good as ever - although we could have done without 20 minutes of Semisonic last night. As we write, it's Madder Rose thats filling our cortex. Yum...

WE'RE #1, SO WHY TRY HARDER?: Sorry, Sleater-Kinney fans, XRRF is the number one return when you search No Rock And Roll Fun on Google. Which means, of course, yay for us.

AND MORE NAPSTER...: "Look, global sales of records have fallen" cries Music Week, "this proves how disatorous Napster has been..." Bollocks, if it proves anything its how shite music is now. The UK saw sales rise, helped mainly by another round of Beatles hawking, while although there was a huge decline in US singles sales, this could be because there was nothing of interest to the target singles market. Thats if there is a target singles market anymore. When I was a kid, I bought singles because I could just about stretch my pocket money to fit them. Albums were a rare treat, made possible by Christmas cash or allowing great aunties to kiss me without flinching or wiping. Kids born on the right sides of the tracks in the US these days have a greater weekly disposable income than many Independent sovereign states, and are just as able to go out and buy an album as a single. Providing there's something they want. They could just as easily buy a peregrine falcon or a discarded cattle-cull calf.
Anyway, US music sales were down just 1.5% year on year. In '98 and '99, they rose nine and four percent respectively. If a rising stock market trundled slightly backwards after ten years of continuous growth, it would be explained away as a "correction" rather than an indication of the end of the world, and so it would be here, were it not a handy stick to pass to the judge to beat Napster with. Set in the wider context of an American economy generally regarded as entering the "fucked" stage of the economic cycle, a small dip in sales should be praised as God smiling down on the industry. Not, of course, that it will.
Meanwhile:
Can copyright theft be constitutional? - FT article on Digital Millennium Copyright Act coming to court
FT reports ringtones seen as "new Napster" - yeah, because why would people buy a CD when they can have five seconds of something resembling the tune clanged out in tinny tones everytime someone rings for a chat?

MAYBE SHINK SHOULD HANDLE THE PRESS: Yes, forget the International Record Companies whining about Napster - they should just run off copies of Shinkansen's Why CDs cost money article and sit back...

CREATIVE THINKINGS: Nice to see Broadcast have been nominated in the Music Week creative awards, for their sleeve designs. Even if they probably will lose out to Robbie Williams and his lot of money but no idea teaser campaign type things...

AND WE'RE BACK: For those of you who care, you might have noticed xrrf has been quiet of late - I've been off doing things that are even more interesting than speculating on pop-related stuff. Sorry if you've felt abandoned. Things we've missed have included Robbie Williams claiming he'd lied about sex with Geri, Geri saying she was thinking of becoming a lesbian, and Scott Mills announcing he was gay. Yes you do, four am, on Radio One. Yes you do.