Clapton is Imperialist Dog

It's true I tells ya. There had to be a reason the onetime Bluesbreakers and Yardbirds guitarist crossed over to the side of mainstream, middle-of-the-road boredom and became a snore. It couldn't just be the paychecks from tripe like "Tears In Heaven".

Slowhand is a shrill for Team America and the CIA. WikiLeaks has the lowdown here.

New Two York Dolls album

Are you excited about the prospect of a fifth album by the band going by the name of the New York Dolls? Lot's of people aren't after the underwhelming "Cause I Sez So". It had its moments but they were buried under dross.

Live, the Two York Dolls are a formidable unit - due in no small part to the magnetic presence of David Johansen - so let's hope "Dancing Backward In High Heels" isn't another letdown. It must be said that the cliched title isn't doing it any pre-release favours.   

No hairy Bundy moment for Harry

So current Australian tourist Debbie Harry of Blondie was nearly abducted by serial killer Ted Bundy back in '70s - or so the current round of social media chatter would have it. The story has been around a while. By the looks of this we can safely say that ol' Ted wasn't there - "In The Flesh". Debbie wasn't in the best of health back then so maybe she mixed him up with Son of Sam.

You too (U2) can be an annoying bunch of vacuous stadium twats

Down the years, my indifference to U2 has steadily grown into contempt. Once upon a time I didn't care. Now I loathe. 

It’s not that they’re musically regressive (lots of great music is), boring or safe (although they’re both usually hanging crimes). It’s the pomposity and dour self-importance that grates the most. 

You can always accuse stadium bands of duplicity on sustainability issues - this blow from Australian online news and opinion blog The Punch lands a right-cross square on the jaw – but in the end the biggest crime U2 commits can be expressed best in colourful vernacular: They’re up themselves. So far up themselves that a nurse adminstering a suppority might struggle to work out into which end to insert it.

So Bono's fought for social justice. So did Mahatma Gandhi but I bet he didn't spend most of his time telling people about it. And I agree that Bono wrote two shitty fund-raising songs, one of which will be dredged up ad infinitum this festive season. He shouldn't keep reminding us in every interview by claiming to hate them.  

What sort of a misnomer is The Edge for a guitarist who doesn't have one? The Blunt is more like it.