Dance Dance Revolution

Just a quickie: The video for Madonna's "Hung Up" can be downloaded here. (via justjared.com)

NB: Features queen of pop in unfltattering pink leotard

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Bits and pieces

It's not been a good week at Discopop towers. That trip to Delhi resulted in a massive fever, and 8 days off work (so far). It's not Malaria, though, so we'll be back to normal eventually. Or so the doctor says.

In the meantime, we've played a lot of Resident Evil 4, and slept 80% of the day. There are also a few things we've seen on the internets which might interest you:

The Times has the complete list of the 142 singles John Peel had inside his record box when he passed away last year. Personally, we'd prefer the contents of John Lennon's jukebox - but you have to give Peelie credit for having two copies of Sheena Easton's "9 to 5" in his collection.

We love Nintendo music - you can quite often hear us singing the theme tune to Super Mario Bros as we walk down the street (often while jumping on brick walls and sliding down flagpoles). So it pleases us no end when people update the music and format it for our ipod. Jason Cox is one such person - he's re-recorded the entire Super Mario World suite with real instruments. Now we can download it and pretend we really are the squat, bouncy plumber. If only we could find a Yoshi to ride into work.

Pitchfork media's review of Destiny's Child's greatest hits package argues the girls have 'reneged on everything they once stood for'. Their reviewer says it's because the band have traded female independence for being "kept wives" in their lyrics. We say it's because they traded cutting-edge r&b for sappy Diane Warren-penned bullshit love songs. But, hey, in the final analysis we both agree.

Finally, Games shops in the USA have been getting into trouble for selling second-hand memory sticks for the PSP. It seems that some memory cards still have data left on them - and in certain cases, retailers have sold little children some gut-wrenching porn formatted for their games machine. Ooops! (Insert Michael Jackson joke here).

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23 positions no more

It must have been all those splits: Prince needs a new hip. Or so says the National Enquirer, which means it must be true...

Other purple rumours: The man has been in Marrakech recording a new video with Salma Hayek. And his charity single for the victims of Hurricane Katrina will be will be available in stores as well as online from next week.

The first of the Jarvis Cocker / Radiohead songs from the new Harry Potter movie has leaked. It's bordering on creepy - possibly the least child-friendly song from a kid's movie since Siouxie and the Banshee's "Face to Face" from Batman Returns.

First review of the Madonna album over at Drownedmadonna.com. Sadly, they fail to mention this classic lyric from "I Love New York":

I don't like cities but I like New York
Other places make me feel like a dork

Rumours that Rocco wrote this line are currently unconfirmed.

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How to make a radiohead album

What you are seeing here is a blackboard full of song titles for Radiohead's seventh (!) studio album. We're a bit late to the party, but Thom & co. have been keeping a diary of the recording sessions on the official website - which is about as impenetrable as your average Radiohead lyric / maximum security detention centre.

Some of the mooted songs look very Radiohead: Skirting on the Surface; A Pig's Ear; House of Cards. A little more intriguing are Morning Mi Lord and Big Cheese. It's a little pointless to guess what the album will sound like from a few tentative song titles, but we'd say this will be Radiohead's jazz fusion gospel album, complete with brass section, welsh male close-harmony choir and bongos.

Unfortunately, it won't be finished til next year, so in the meantime why not download the band's fantastic headline set from Glastonbury 2003? If you can't download torrents, you can get some slightly ropey MP3s of last year's gigs in Portugal from this site.

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What we learnt from a morning watching (Indian) Music Television

Just got back from three days in New Delhi. It was a work trip, so there wasn't really any chance to experience India except through the medium of restaurants and TV studios - both of which were excellent. Although we were a bit shocked when the satellite truck we'd hired for outside broadcasts turned out to be a farm vehicle with a satellite dish on the back of it!

However, in the name of cultural sensitivity, we spent some time in the hotel room watching Indian Music Television. Here's what we discovered:

By law, a man called Amitabh Bachchan must appear in every other film and music video made in India.

As you can see, Amitabh is a shocking portrait of mid-life crisis made flesh. Aged 63, he sports a 'wet-look' leather jacket, aviator shades, and greying designer stubble. In his videos, he is surrounded by young ladies who gyrate near him, but not too near him.

Imagine Robbie Williams turning up for your 13-year-old daughter's birthday party. That's the kind of feeling Amitabh gives you.

Amitabh currently has a big hit with the title song to Bollywood musical "Bunty aur Babli". Hilariously, it is a rap. In English. By someone old enough to be your grandad.

Are u ready, sit down,
Let me da tell you a lil story,
'bout 2 cool cats,
yeah, bunty aur babli,
comin in' at an angle,
that they better than the rest,
when ya looking in their hearts,
them a da pass the test.

You can hear excerpts of this work of genius on MTV India. It appears to be embedded in the page so it will play as soon as you click on the link. Turn the speakers down in the office if you want to retain your dignity.

Actually, almost every song we heard in India tried to incorporate some English lyrics, even if the composer had no relevant experience of speaking the language. The safest bet in this instance seems to involve lifting phrases from Western hits wholesale, even if you're not really sure what the words mean in the first place.

For example, the best song we heard features the following couplet:

Wop bap a loo-bop a wop bam boo
Got a tutti frutti. It's so rooty. Aaaaah!

That comes from "Gori Gori Gori Gori" which originates from the wedding scene in another Bollywood musical, Main Hoon Na. It is possible that all Bollywood films consist of one long wedding scene, but we haven't been able to confirm that.

You can hear "Gori, Gori, Gori, Gori" on this page. But, frankly, its not as good without the video.

Indian Music television features no Dido or 50 Cent, and is therefore 500% better than any music TV station in the UK.

But we did like the new Girls Aloud video we saw on MTV Dance this morning.

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Left, Left, Up. Down, Down, Right.

Fuck choreography: In Madonna's new video, she goes to the Trocadero and plays "Dance, Dance, Revolution." (Although she's not going to get a very high score if she keeps turning her back to the screen like that).

"Brian, I'm a genius too". WFMU has a recording of the Beach Boy's dad Murry Wilson, drunk, ruining a Beach boys recording session in 1965. "You think because you've had a couple of hits, you've got it made."

Q: How many members of Westlife does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: All of them. No, really.

One for mrsdiscopop: Pictures of Nigel Barker back when he was a male model, plus lost of spoilers on America's Next Top Model, cycle 5.

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