A long and strange trip ... was it really the caffeine withdrawal that caused Julian Cope's hallucinations?
Last week, after posting my roundup of rockstar blogs, I was inundated by thousands of reader comments (ok, seven of them - curse you, internet transparency!). Anyway, thanks to your recommendations I spent the week surfing through the ramblings of grime star JME and legendary LSD freak Julian Cope. No prizes, then, for guessing where I found this...
"My situation was exacerbated around 20 hours into the trip when I started to suffer from caffeine and alcohol withdrawal, which pitched me into some truly demonic hallucinations. I crawled around the Underworld, stumbling and bumping into things, all the time being increasingly aware that while each of those 116 dead Aberfan children had been spirited away and stashed somewhere unknown, I'd been privileged to continue onwards."
Yes, in a world where 95% of rock blogs consist of shameless self-promotion, Julian Cope's ramblings open a revealing window on a strangely contorted psyche. The above post documents his recent birthday, on which he was bed-ridden and forced to contemplate the Aberfan Mining Disaster, which happened 40 years ago to the day. If you're partial to eavesdropping on someone's acid-fogged therapy session (and, let's face it, who isn't?) then this is clearly the blog for you.
"When I got to Copenhagen airport... I was struck with like... 8 déja vus but then I realised I had been at the airport twice before. But I didn't let it put me off, I had a show to do. And a mushroom/muffin to eat."
More hallucinogenic capers were to be found on JME's lengthy blog. He's currently touring Europe and it's a pretty good snapshot of life on the road, from the constant visits to Burger King to the endless flow of pictures of nights on the tiles.
What with all the cheeky photo-editing and streams of text, you wonder when JME has time to actually make music. Best of all, there's a photo of the crew hanging out with a pale-faced, wide-eyed lunatic who looks considerably worse for wear. The accompanying text?
"As we left the venue, Purple and Plastician met Pete Doherty (or DOKETY) whatever you call him."
Don't worry, it's just an unfortunate lookalike. Last week I raved about Lily Allen's blog - this week it's made national news. Lily launched a scathing attack on the NME, who she believes bottled it by not putting her, Beth Ditto and three other female musicians on the cover. It's certainly thrilling to hear a mainstream star, male or female, failing to keep check of their mouths.
As an NME writer myself, though, I should point out that she's not got all her facts straight. She complains that the last time she did an NME interview she was stitched up over a throwaway comment about cocaine. She wasn't at all. I conducted the interview and would have thought that anyone knows that, if you answer the question, "How are you going to celebrate your No1 hit?" with "Gak!" it's going to get printed.
And as for stating that the NME are too scared to put "not particularly attractive looking me" on the cover - well that same interview made the cover a few months back. But still, don't let these technicalities stop you from mouthing off in the future, Lily.
BY THE WAY WHY THE FUCK DOES ANYBODY TAKE FUCKING MUSE SERIOUSLY THEY ARE THE PITS.THEY WERE FOLLOWED [ON THE RADIO] BY HIVES AND DANDY WARHOLS BOTH FUCKING BRILLIANT BANDS.MUSIC DOEN'T NEED TO BE AWFUL PUT THE FILTER ON...
Another music type in need of anger management classes is Alan McGee, whose blog strikes the perfect balance between grumpy old man and passionate punk-rock campaigner. You can catch his tips for the top (The Sessions), watch videos of him rave dancing and marvel that this man's healthy desire to piss people off remains intact.
"MY GUARDIAN BLOG IS UP!" he froths on one post, "THIS WILL BE FUN THEY ARE GOING NUTS I AM GOING TO WIND THIS ONE UP!"
With 119 comments recorded at the time of going to blog, it looks like he's done exactly that.
