September 21st, 2012

Surviving Led Zeppelin members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones staged a reunion of sorts in London today (September 21st) as the classic band’s live DVD Celebration Day received its official premiere.

Mumford & Sons are coming out fighting as they unleash their second album ‘Babel‘, preempting any criticism they might receive with a simple ‘fuck off’ to their detractors.

The Jam will celebrate the 30th anniversary of their final studio album ‘The Gift‘ later this year with an expansive reissue.

Great Britain will no longer be home to a major music label after the European Commission approved EMI’s takeover by Universal Music.

Universal’s proposed purchase of EMI was first announced back in November when the company made an offer of £1.2bn ($1.9bn), but has since been subject to a review under the EU’s competition guidelines.

Years from now, some may call it ‘The 1975 Paradox’.

It will apply to those artists that embrace anonymity and cover themselves beneath a blanket of secrecy, only for the fervour, hype and clamour around them to grow. Give ‘em nothing, everyone comes-a-knockin’.

This carefully constructed aura of mystique may not be new in the music industry – remember The Cuban Boys? Or even the press-shunning early years of The Stone Roses? However, few – if any -  have executed this tactic so superbly as Mancunian 4-piece The 1975; a band clearly playing their own game, by their own rules. It’s a masterful marketing technique, refreshing in this Instagram-era of immediacy, fame-hungry desperation and disposability.

Alan McGee has paid a glowing to tribute to Liam Gallagher as the former Oasis legend turns 40 today (September 21st).

Writing in The Sun McGee, who signed Oasis to Creation in 1993, used the opportunity to tell a story which he hopes will highlight a different side to the familiar public persona of the current Beady Eye singer.

Iron Maiden have been confirmed as the first band to headline next year’s Download festival.

The rock heavyweights will make their fifth appearance and third headline bow at the event on June 15th 2013. “I’m incredibly excited about it,” frontman Bruce Dickinson has told NME.