Turns out that here in the United States of America, the Super Bowl is kind of a big deal. Now, I’m all for tubby men pushing each other to the floor in the name of entertainment, but it can get old hat pretty quick. Hence the game saver that is the halftime show and its 12 minutes of musical majesty. At least that’s the idea. Here’s what we’ve learned from Madonna’s performance…
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On the surface Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke were a startlingly mismatched pop couple. But together they crafted a synth pop classic.
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“So there’s this man, right, and he’s on a ledge, yeah”. As far as titles as story summations go, audiences haven’t been treated to such a degree of idiot proofing since Sam Jackson was bothered by some legless reptiles boarding a jumbo jet. And where Snakes On A Plane failed in 2006 – hampered by a title ultimately more enjoyable than it’s finished product – Man On A Ledge fails in 2012. But fecal matter by any other name still smells like shite and regardless of whether the film was called Person On A Platform or Woman On A Windowsill, with a script this dumb Man On A Ledge only ever had one direction to travel.
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With less than four weeks to go and the shortlisted candidates just announced, it’s time to look at some of the NME Awards 2012 categories in more depth. Let’s start with one of the most contested of the year, the Best New Band (supported by Boxfresh), an award previously picked up by Hurts, Bombay Bicycle Club and MGMT.
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Fixers returned with Iron Deer Dream last month, the latest taster from their May-due debut album ‘We’ll Be The Moon’. And now they’ve unleashed the track’s b-side – ‘Swimmhaus San Diego’.
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On Sunday it’s the Super Bowl. Which, to us Brits and non-sporting types means: “lots of thick-necked types dressed in costumes running around trying to prevent that inevitable aneurysm by making human pyramid shapes.” The ‘game’ also seems to consist of: some shouting out of numbers in non-consecutive order and the general wearing of old astronaut helmets. You can tell we’ve got it licked, right?
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Here’s a musical gift from Nottingham quintet Dog Is Dead, another hot new band on NME’s radar lately.
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Less than a month ago, when the numerous lists of ‘What to Watch in 2012′ fell into the world, barely a sentence was given over to the relatively unknown Chronicle. A low-budget, faux-documentary, superhero flick could never compete for column inches as film lovers clambered for morsels of information on The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-man. More fool us. Because when the lists of ‘What you should have watched in 2012′ are compiled, one thing is guaranteed: Chronicle’s lack of coverage will be justifiably rectified.
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This one speaks for itself really. Or rather, he does. Noel Gallagher has recently been announced as this year’s recipient of the Godlike Genius award, and it’s an accolade well-deserved for a variety of reasons.
Of course there’s the small matter of 18 years of Oasis and seven classic albums, from ‘Definitely Maybe’ to ‘Dig Out Your Soul’, and also his more recent foray sans Liam with the High Flying Birds and the forthcoming collaboration with Amorphous Androgynous.
But perhaps he mostly richly deserves this award for his tireless services to rock mythology, his one-of-a-kind interviews and his steady stream of cutting, insightful, or just downright hilarious quotes. Here’s 20 of his more genius soundbites; share your own favourite below.
Photo: Dean Chalkley/NME
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