News

The Who officially brought the London Olympics to a close with "My Generation". Ray Davies, Madness and Pink Floyd's Nick Mason were among the other artists who performed at the Olympics closing ceremony. Beady Eye played Oasis' 'Wonderall' during the 'A Symphony of British Music' segment. Backed by a string orchestra, Liam Gallagher was joined by the athletes and the thousands in attendance in singing the 90's Britpop hit. It is the first time Liam has sang the track live since Oasis split up in 2009.

Neil Young And Crazy Horse, the Foo Fighters and the Black Keys are due to headline a a one-day concert, The Global Festival, on September 29 at the Great Lawn at New York's Central Park. Billed as "A free ticketed music festival to help end extreme poverty", the event will coincide with the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York to discuss reducing poverty.

The will of former Beastie Boy Adam Yauch prohibits the use of his music and "artistic property" for advertising purposes after his death. According to a report on Rolling Stone, who claim to have seen a copy of Yauch's will, the document says, "Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, in no event may my image or name or any music or any artistic property created by me be used for advertising purposes." Rolling Stone notes that the phrase "or any music or any artistic property created by me" was added in handwriting.

In a new interview, which sees Jack White being asked questions by Duff McKagan – formerly of Guns N’ Roses - the former White Stripes man reveals that he finds it 'boring' to write songs about himself. In Seattle Weekly, White was asked by McKagan about his debut solo album Blunderbuss: "A lot of people use different things to help them write lyrics," said McKagan. "Sometimes it's politics, and sometimes it's pain. It's hurt love, relationship pain. Was there a theme here with this record that struck a common chord?"

Metallica, Iron Maiden and The Flaming Lips have all signed up to contribute tracks to a new Deep Purple tribute album. The record, which is titled Re-Machined: A Tribute to Machine Head, will see a selection of acts covering each of the tracks on Deep Purple's classic 1972 album Machine Head. Also confirmed to appear are Black Label Society, guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana and rock supergroup Chickenfoot.

The three detailed members of feminist punk band Pussy Riot told a court yesterday that is was the Russian government on trial, and not them. Their case, which has been seen as a watermark of the Vladimir Putin's desire to crack down on dissent in Russia, has attracted global attention, with Madonna throwing her weight behind the three women at her concert in Moscow this week, and a host of artists including Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos, Jarvis Cocker, St Vincent, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers backing their plight.

The surviving members of The Monkees have announced that they will be reuniting for a new tour. The tour, which begins in November, will mark the band's first live dates since their frontman Davy Jones passed away in February and is their first full run of shows for over 15 years. The band's surviving members Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork will join with Michael Nesmith for the tour, who hasn't performed with the band since 1997.

The family of Radiohead drum technician Scott Johnson, who died after a stage collapse in Toronto, have set up a charity in his memory. The Scott Johnson Bursary will fund musical equipment in Johnson's hometown of Rotherham.

Beck is set to release his brand new album in the form of individual pieces of sheet music. Song Reader will be put out by publishers Faber and Faber in December and will consist of the notation for 20 unrecorded and unreleased songs.

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has layed into the way the music industry works, saying it "operates on a dumbing down principle". The singer, whose band released their new studio album Oceania in June, has said that he believes few bands get to keep their intelligence if they want to be successful, but did name Radiohead as a notable exception.