A week or so ago, British media whore Lily Allen got in a tiff with Radiohead, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason and Annie Lennox, claiming such “rich” artists don’t care about stopping digital piracy because, well, they’re rich! So what’d she do? She started a blog! She even named it It’s Not Alright, a clever play on her first album. (Note the URL: IDontWanttoChangetheWorld.Blogspot.com!) This all seemed a bit, um, trite, especially considering how Allen rose to stardom via buzz on file sharing networks, a string of digitally released mixtapes (which used choice samples from artists, presumably without clearing them) and the cult of MySpace. It’s even funnier because Allen claims only the “rich” artists don’t care about file sharing because they are already rich. Sorry Lily, but we’re pretty sure Billy Bragg is always looking out for the little guy, and you, well, you were born to a famous British comedian and a movie producer, so we’re guessing times weren’t too tough at the Allen household. Nevertheless, Allen seems to have recanted her mission, as It’s Not Alright has been deleted from the pages of Blogger. (See here). Guess you really didn’t want to change the world, did ya Lily.

The evolution of the female solo artist over the past fifteen years has been a curious one. My generation grew up on solid, strong voices with apparent themes and lyrical twists. Tori Amos, Beth Orton, and Bjork were wildly different, but carried about them an obvious gravity; even Liz Phair’s sexual irreverence was rooted in the serious problem of sexual inequality.
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Since we have a tendency to look below the radar for our music, we decided to take a weekly look at The Populist View. We’ll stop short of calling our tastes underground, let’s just say we’re pop-culturally inept. So we’ve devised a way to keep up to date.
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We’ve been scrambling to keep you up-to-date as Glastonbury’s slowly leaked megaconfirmation after megaconfirmation in the past few months. But today’s full lineup announcement is something to behold, the headlining package of Neil Young, the Boss and a reunited Blur now propped up by a roster so behemoth and iron-clad, it’s equal parts intimidating and enticing. Also playing: Bloc Party, Lady Gaga, Jarvis Cocker, Regina Spektor, Maximo Park, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Lily Allen, Tom Jones, Pete Doherty, Q-Tip, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Streets, Ray Davies and and and and…
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You might want to refer to him as Professor Coyne from now on, because the Flaming Lips frontman is getting back to the classroom basics this August. The now veteran musician will be teaching music to students at the University of Central Oklahoma, as part of a new music program set up for the college. At least he has the hair to fit the part of the nutty professor.
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