Brit award winner Dizzee Rascal signs a deal for his autobiography promising to "lift the lid" on his troubled background.
We are in danger of destroying rock-star mystique because the web is less in thrall to image than traditional media
"In the last three or four years the internet's taken a stranglehold and killed off the myth of the rock star," Tom Meighan of Kasabian told Bangshowbiz last week. "You know when you used to buy records and there was a myth behind them? There's too much on blogs now and I think it's killed it off. There are so many rock stars writing these self-pitying blogs and it's not in the spirit of rock'n'roll."
The irony of giving such a headline-grabbing opinion to an internet-only news service seems to have been lost on Meighan, but as a singer clearly in thrall to the mystique of Bowie, Bolan and Bjoerk, he makes a good point. For all the wrong reasons.
We are in danger of losing the enigma of the rock star: you only have to stand Grizzly Bear next to pop stars like Dizzee Rascal, Florence Welch, or Lady Gaga in her blowtorch bra to see that the mainstream has gazumped alt-rock in terms of retina-frying freakishness. Dolled up in Napoleon outfits for their last promo stint Kasabian seem like a throwback to a time when rock favoured the fantastical. A time before hair metal made dressing up seem corny, long before lad rock forced music to be "real", and long before Pitchfork made a star of the bearded troubadour.
But it's not Twitter...
Dizzee Rascal is named best British male at the 2010 Brit Awards in London.
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It's the biggest night in the British music calendar, and guardian.co.uk/music is there â€' covering every minute from, er, a cupboard at the back of Earls Court
Post your comments and questions below. You can also email paul.macinnes@guardian.co.uk or tweet us using #britawards
This year sees the 30th anniversary of the Brit awards at its honourable home of Earls Court in London. The show will feature performances from Lily Allen, Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, while organisers have promised a special version of You Got the Love from Florence and the Machine with Dizzee Rascal (otherwise known as the inevitable Brits mash-up.)
Winners will be announced from 8pm, with Peter Kay playing host and Robbie Williams closing the show by accepting the oustanding achievement award (and no doubt performing the inevitable Brits medley).
17.10 Good evening. The event proper starts at 20.00, I'm still in the office and so, bearing in mind the traffic, expect this sucker to start moving at 19.30. I will be using the 24hr clock all night.
18.57 Well, if it isn't Earl's Court. It's sloshing it down outside and Rufus Hound and a young woman whom I'm afraid I don't recognise are gladhanding celebs doing their best not to look cheesed off by the rain.
I had a...
Lady Gaga, Florence and the Machine, Dizzee Rascal, Robbie Williams and Jay-Z should all get a sales boost from the U.K.'s BRIT Awards.