ThisFilmIsOn

Forget being on the front cover of Time magazine, getting invited to The White House or being inducted into the Hall Of Fame, the real sign that you’ve made it into the biggest of big leagues is being immortalised in yellow.

With Coldplay the latest band to sit next to Homer and co, here is a rundown of the greatest musician cameos in ‘The Simpsons’.

Red Hot Chili Peppers
Included for the near genius conversation between Krusty The Clown and Flea debating the content of the lyrics. “Can we change it from ‘What I’ve got, You gotta get it, Put it in ya’ to ‘What I’d like, is I’d like to hug, and kiss ya’?” Flea’s response: “Wow. That’s much better.” Perhaps Krusty’s influence is why, in my humble opinion, RHCP never topped ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik’. (more…)

There is no way I can write about Bill Hicks without gushing like a 13-year old girl at a Zac Efron convention. Since my introduction to him around 5 years ago not a day goes by when I don’t think about his words of wisdom, his philosophy, his ‘jokes’. I’ve even got a case against him that he’ll be the cause of my death by lung cancer. Every time I get close to giving the bastards up I remember his joke about Jim Fix and spark another.

Bill Hicks

It was 15 years ago to the day that he passed away with his parents at his bedside. He was 33. In the intervening years no stand up (or for that matter any cultural commentator) has come close to having the impact he had on me. Such is the hole that hasn’t been filled I often find me and my friends asking questions like ‘How would he have dealt with 8 years of Bush?’ and ‘Would he love Barack as much as his beloved JFK?’ This searching for something more from Bill even inspired a book entitled ‘What Would Bill Hicks Say?’

But nobody can really answer that. Fifteen years is a long time. Who knows, he may have been hocking Diet Coke to the masses inbetween guest slots on Jay Leno. Somehow I doubt it. Below is a dose of his most famous Just A Ride speech, for any newcomers (although please find a full length set like DVD ‘Sane Man’ or Audio CD ‘Rant in E-Minor’ as snippets don’t do the man justice). Further reading can be found with the brilliant Cynthia True biography ‘American Scream’ and almost all his written work is compiled in ‘Love All The People: Letters, Lyrics and Routines’.

Before I move on to some gumph about stand up comics in film (that’s just filler really, this is my only real outlet for talking about Bill and I am taking full advantage), I’ll leave you with my favourite Bill Hicks quote. Something that, I think, defines the man.

“I left in love, laughter and truth and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit” Bill Hicks R.I.P. (more…)

Due in cinemas this week is the bloody-lovely-actually ‘Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist’. A modern romantic comedy from the ‘Garden State’/'Juno’ stable, it’s one of those films that always seem to star obscenely cute and kooky lead actresses and feature soundtracks that any emotionally extroverted fool such as myself would cry themselves to sleep listening to.

The premise is pretty much boy meets girl, boy and girl bond over music, boy and girl try to find secret gig, boy and girl fall in love. But it’s the search for the secret gig, headlined by fictional band Where’s Fluffy?, that brings these two together. Inspired by Where’s Fluffy?, then, here’s a rundown of nine more bands that aren’t… or weren’t… but still kinda are… or were… but surrounded by cameramen and directors and stuff.

Stillwater (‘Almost Famous’)
If you want a music film to be done right you could do a lot worse than have an ex-’Rolling Stone’ music writer helming it. That Stillwater, the 70′s Deep-Purple/Zeppelin-a-like band, don’t slip into Spinal Tap territory is an accomplishment in itself, but the fact that every Stillwater track fits so comfortably into the period itself you’d have a hard time picking them out of a beardy crowd is nothing short of miraculous. And the guitar playing on ‘Fever Dog’, as Cameron Crowe’s character would mispronounce it, is “incindiary”. (more…)

Everyone knows of the hysterical end-product when an actor decides that they want to be a singer, or in the case of Joaquin Pheonix a hip-hop star. But what about the other way round? For every Bjork there is a Madonna, for every Marky Mark a Jon Bon Jovi.

TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe (right) stars in ‘Rachel Getting Married’

New in cinemas this week is romantic drama ‘Rachel Getting Married’, which sees another music man put down the mic and pick up the script in the form of TV On The Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe.

He gives a performance as good as anyone else in the film, and considering the impossibly lovely Anne Hathaway has just been nominated for an Academy Award, that’s pretty good praise. Some make it. Others don’t. Below is a list of the good, the bad and the ugly. (more…)