Just as quickly as The Sun created a frenzy on the Coachella rumor front with an article proclaiming that the Smiths were close to reuniting for this year's festival, NME comes along to dash those hopes with a post proclaiming that neither the band nor the festival were in negotiations.
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Jeff Beck, Chic, Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Metallica, Run-DMC, the Stooges, War, and Bobby Womack are this year's nominees for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame; five of them will be inducted next April after balloting concludes in January. This year's list of nominees is almost more notable for who isn't on it than who is; the list of eligible artists who were snubbed by the dudes who want to codify their definition of "rock and roll" includes inarguably influential artists like Slayer, the Cure, and—once again—Rush. Click through for our list of the six highest-profile acts who didn't make the ballot, and vote for who you think was the most robbed. Once the votes are tallied, we can march on the Rolling Stone offices and plead for justice!
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It's time for another Smiths best-of comp; this time, it's a double-disc set that will be put out by Rhino Records. Let's put aside the "Paint A Vulgar Picture" jokes for a second and focus on the name of the compilation: Hang The DJ: The Very Best Of The Smiths. Is there no one left at Rhino who remembers the label's own series of modern-rock stalwarts with the same name? Or who's at least on-the-ball enough to try and come up with a name that matches the band's lyrical wit? [Billboard]
You can take semi-literate gossip site TMZ's latest "'Memba Him?," which is about the former lead singer of popular "alternative/emo/indie" band the Smiths, in one of two ways: One, TMZ assumes that its readership is so Idiocratic that it's only able to identify members of the axis of celebrities who regularly appear on the site's radar, forgetting about anyone who may fall off it for more than a day; or two, indie kids really are cut off from the rest of society and living in their own universe. Not that I'm saying that being off the radar of AOL's cash cow/sign of the apocalypse is a bad thing, mind you. [TMZ]
Two of the Reno 911 guys are apparently concocting a musical based on the life and times of Stephen Patrick Morrissey. In response, the other ex-members of The State have sped up work on Everything's Coming Up Roddy!, their own musical based on the works of Aztec Camera. [NME]
Morrissey has turned down an inconcievable $75 million to engineer a Smiths reunion tour, citing the usual issues of pride, ongoing blood feud with Johnny Marr, act of God, blah blah. I will be more than happy to take his place in Morrissey drag for $30, $35 million tops. [Billboard]
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