Music: Sleeve Notes

Jennifer Rodger
Thursday 20 August 1998 23:02 BST
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Headlines about Courtney Love generally read something like: tampon- tossing Hole singer, wife of the more famous Kurt Cobain, former drug user, the subject of Nick Broomfield's film, Kurt And Courtney. However, you won't find these subjects discussed in next month's interviews to promote Hole's new album, Celebrity Skin due to her ban on questions relating to the above topics.

The fame game, according to George Michael, is to put things straight rather than let "them" make it up. Rumours abound that George's latest single, "Outside", deals with the star's recent arrest for lewd conduct. The New York Daily News asserts that it is about outdoor sex. The paper also states that Michael requested that his community service be served within the gay and lesbian community.

Following a bout of bankruptcy and the dismal failure of his 1994 record, Funky Headhunter, Eighties rapper MC Hammer, he of the sadly unforgettable "Can't Touch This" and those peculiar llama pants, has turned his attention to preaching the word of the gospel on the Black Entertainment Network. Speaking about his spiritual journey to becoming an ordained Baptist minister, Hammer said: "I allowed my business to take me away from God, of my own volition. It is what I call wilful sin. Old MC Hammer is dead."

Meanwhile the rekindling of another genre of eighties music will be fuelled by Sony's announcement that new deals have been signed with glam metal bands, Great White, Ratt, Whitesnake and Heart, and they are also negotiating with Poison. Those other Eighties make-up lovers, The Cure, are also due to reappear, courtesy of front-man Robert Smith's debut on the Orgazmo soundtrack. The name of Smith's new band, which includes his Cure colleague, Jason Cooper, and Reeves Gabrels of Tin Machines, is an amalgamation of their surnames, COGASM. The Orgazmo soundtrack, which also includes Crystal Method, the Dust Brothers and the Wu-Tang Clan, will be released on 6 October on the Dust Brothers' Nickelbag Records. The film, written, directed by and starring South Park creator Trey Parker, is out on 23 October.

Jennifer Rodger

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