NME: "Rick Astley tells us about his Glastonbury secret set of Smiths covers with Blossoms" (June 24, 2023)

Astley on the reactions of Morrissey and Johnny Marr, and what it means to play Glasto: "I know it’s sacrilege and they should hang the lot of us on the line for doing it, but I also just don’t care"

Rick Astley tells us about his Glastonbury secret set of Smiths covers with Blossoms

Rick Astley on his secret Glastonbury 2023 set of Smiths covers with Blossoms, and the reactions of Morrissey and Johnny Marr.

www.nme.com

Rick Astley/Blossoms play Smiths set at Glastonbury

 

[BrummieBoy]

It says that in January of this year Rick Astley sued this guy for this song, because apparently it was infringing on Rick’s publicity

The irony of this!

Rick Astley suing this guy... because he got another singer to vocally impersonate Rick Astley... after Rick Astley refused him permission to sample the 'real' Rick Astley

This ties in with all I've been saying about AI-generated pseudo-vocals and visuals in this thread. I wonder if the legal minefield of recording impersonating vocals like this also applies to live performance impersonators? The rise of Artificial Intelligence technologies alongside Autotune will allow any old tone-deaf pub singer to impersonate any celebrity onstage, leaving the 'karaoke' imposter only needing to 'drag' up the visuals and 'throw shapes' / 'strike a pose'.

I wonder if all these A-list legacy megastars like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan foresaw all this and included 'anti-impersonation' clauses in the deals they've made with the likes of Mercuriadis?

Who currently owns the rights to The Smiths and Morrissey's image, audio and vocal signatures? Presumably the corporations they sold themselves to. Who will own all that stuff when Morrissey and Marr pop their clogs? Will their estate inheritors be able to stop their likenesses being debauched for karaoke profit or will they ignore the wishes of the dearly departed as the estate of Prince is doing? With no offspring, does Morrissey care what becomes of his legacy once he's dead and gone?

A lot of these stars have 'sold their souls' for a huge pension payoff, perhaps not realising that their lifetimes work may become part of a Virtual Karaoke Bedlam and they face having to endure seeing themselves and their 'art' repurposed for all kinds of debased advertising and hucksterism as their 'audio-visual signature' is used to generate a current or pothumous 'artificial personality', an 'avatar' that they don't/didn'tendorse, expect or even understand was possible.

The ABBA 'Voyage' show is the future. Technically, theres no hardware-software impediments preventing a 'virtual reunion' of The Smiths using AI-generated is 'unproblematic nostalgia' facsimiles of Morrissey and The Smiths. Or any other 'iconic legen' who surrenders control of their 'artisticsoul' for profit...

Fascinating, disturbing, almost unbelievable - but that's where the cultural heritage industry based around 'pop-rock genius' seems to be heading.

'For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?' [Mark 8-36]

Some folk here think I have a fixation on debunking Morrissey but that's not true. He's 'Exhibit A' in the prosecution case against the entire rotten edifice of contemporary music. I feel the same about Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks and almost everyone else who've contributed to this nonsense 'rebel counterculture' since the genesis of 'pop music' in the Mississippi Delta. Robert Johnson made a deal with the devil at that crossroads, a Faustian pact trading his soul for the 'riffs' that would generate wealth and fame. Nearly every 'star' since has done the very same thing.

In my old age I'm starting to see why some variants of Islam denounce music and moving images as 'haram', as demonic. I've used Morrissey and The Smiths as an example to ruminate on all this because this website (mostly) facilitates discussion based upon the 1st Amendment. But my concerns aren't really about Morrissey, it's been a much wider and deeper philosophical investigation than just examining the minutiae of a C-List Crank-Fraud.

I think I'll vanish again now for months, years, forever - but I just thought I'd explain my 'purpose' as a few people are deluded enough to think I have some kind of, 'vendetta' against their tin-pot 'Pop Idol'.

Time to walk the dogs through the woods...a summer morning soundtracked by the birds, bees and breeze: the only music a sane human ever needs.

Kind regards

BrummieBoy



'The partnership will see the companies investing in songs, recorded music, and related intellectual property and royalties. Mercuriadis co-founded Hipgnosis Songs Fund in 2018 and has spent upward of $2 billion to acquire music catalogs from songwriters and artists including Neil Young, Shakira, Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham, Rihanna, Taylor Swift songwriter Joel Little and Metallica producer Bob Rock.'

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyo...n-music-copyrights-via-hipgnosis-partnership/

Ice Cube, musician who became famous rapping over samples, says A.I. is ‘demonic’ for doing a very similar thing
Riffing off other artists' music is central to hip-hop's history, but A.I. is disrupting the disrupters.

https://fortune.com/2023/05/22/ice-...-demonic-sampling-artists-voices-hip-hop-rap/

Sheila E. Disapproves of Prince Hologram​

When he was asked, “With digital editing, it is now possible to create a situation where you could jam with any artist from the past. Would you ever consider doing something like that?,” Prince responded:​

Certainly not. That's the most demonic thing imaginable. Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington, we would have lived in the same age. That whole virtual reality thing... it really is demonic. And I am not a demon. Also, what they did with that Beatles song ["Free As a Bird"], manipulating John Lennon's voice to have him singing from across the grave... that'll never happen to me. To prevent that kind of thing from happening is another reason why I want artistic control.
​

https://pitchfork.com/news/longtime-prince-collaborator-sheila-e-disapproves-of-prince-hologram/

 

[TheSmiths_1985]

The irony of this!

Rick Astley suing this guy... because he got another singer to vocally impersonate Rick Astley... after Rick Astley refused him permission to sample the 'real' Rick Astley

This ties in with all I've been saying about AI-generated pseudo-vocals and visuals in this thread. I wonder if the legal minefield of recording impersonating vocals like this also applies to live performance impersonators? The rise of Artificial Intelligence technologies alongside Autotune will allow any old tone-deaf pub singer to impersonate any celebrity onstage, leaving the 'karaoke' imposter only needing to 'drag' up the visuals and 'throw shapes' / 'strike a pose'.

I wonder if all these A-list legacy megastars like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan foresaw all this and included 'anti-impersonation' clauses in the deals they've made with the likes of Mercuriadis?

Who currently owns the rights to The Smiths and Morrissey's image, audio and vocal signatures? Presumably the corporations they sold themselves to. Who will own all that stuff when Morrissey and Marr pop their clogs? Will their estate inheritors be able to stop their likenesses being debauched for karaoke profit or will they ignore the wishes of the dearly departed as the estate of Prince is doing? With no offspring, does Morrissey care what becomes of his legacy once he's dead and gone?

A lot of these stars have 'sold their souls' for a huge pension payoff, perhaps not realising that their lifetimes work may become part of a Virtual Karaoke Bedlam and they face having to endure seeing themselves and their 'art' repurposed for all kinds of debased advertising and hucksterism as their 'audio-visual signature' is used to generate a current or pothumous 'artificial personality', an 'avatar' that they don't/didn'tendorse, expect or even understand was possible.

The ABBA 'Voyage' show is the future. Technically, theres no hardware-software impediments preventing a 'virtual reunion' of The Smiths using AI-generated is 'unproblematic nostalgia' facsimiles of Morrissey and The Smiths. Or any other 'iconic legen' who surrenders control of their 'artisticsoul' for profit...

Fascinating, disturbing, almost unbelievable - but that's where the cultural heritage industry based around 'pop-rock genius' seems to be heading.

'For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?' [Mark 8-36]

Some folk here think I have a fixation on debunking Morrissey but that's not true. He's 'Exhibit A' in the prosecution case against the entire rotten edifice of contemporary music. I feel the same about Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks and almost everyone else who've contributed to this nonsense 'rebel counterculture' since the genesis of 'pop music' in the Mississippi Delta. Robert Johnson made a deal with the devil at that crossroads, a Faustian pact trading his soul for the 'riffs' that would generate wealth and fame. Nearly every 'star' since has done the very same thing.

In my old age I'm starting to see why some variants of Islam denounce music and moving images as 'haram', as demonic. I've used Morrissey and The Smiths as an example to ruminate on all this because this website (mostly) facilitates discussion based upon the 1st Amendment. But my concerns aren't really about Morrissey, it's been a much wider and deeper philosophical investigation than just examining the minutiae of a C-List Crank-Fraud.

I think I'll vanish again now for months, years, forever - but I just thought I'd explain my 'purpose' as a few people are deluded enough to think I have some kind of, 'vendetta' against their tin-pot 'Pop Idol'.

Time to walk the dogs through the woods...a summer morning soundtracked by the birds, bees and breeze: the only music a sane human ever needs.

Kind regards

BrummieBoy



'The partnership will see the companies investing in songs, recorded music, and related intellectual property and royalties. Mercuriadis co-founded Hipgnosis Songs Fund in 2018 and has spent upward of $2 billion to acquire music catalogs from songwriters and artists including Neil Young, Shakira, Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham, Rihanna, Taylor Swift songwriter Joel Little and Metallica producer Bob Rock.'

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyo...n-music-copyrights-via-hipgnosis-partnership/

Ice Cube, musician who became famous rapping over samples, says A.I. is ‘demonic’ for doing a very similar thing
Riffing off other artists' music is central to hip-hop's history, but A.I. is disrupting the disrupters.

https://fortune.com/2023/05/22/ice-...-demonic-sampling-artists-voices-hip-hop-rap/

Sheila E. Disapproves of Prince Hologram​

Prince in 1998: “That whole virtual reality thing... it really is demonic. And I am not a demon”​

​

When he was asked, “With digital editing, it is now possible to create a situation where you could jam with any artist from the past. Would you ever consider doing something like that?,” Prince responded:​

​

​

https://pitchfork.com/news/longtime-prince-collaborator-sheila-e-disapproves-of-prince-hologram/

I didn’t read a word of this. Don’t slip into your bad old ways, Brummie. You were doing well.

 

[BrummieBoy]

I didn’t read a word of this. Don’t slip into your bad old ways, Brummie. You were doing well.

I didn't ask you to read it. I didn't ask you for advice on my writing style. And I'm not interested in your grading of my posts.

You do realise it's possible to ignore stuff on the Internet without telling everyone you have ignored it?

Off topic.

 

[FactChecker]

Indie karaoke is entirely appropriate for Glastonbury which is simply a camping holiday for 90s indie dads. It hasn't been a centre of cutting-edge alternative culture (whatever that might mean) for a long long time, at the latest not since about 1997 and peak Britpop.

 

[DagenhamDan]

Morrissey wore flares? I must've missed that period

 

[TheSmiths_1985]

I didn't ask you to read it. I didn't ask you for advice on my writing style. And I'm not interested in your grading of my posts.

You do realise it's possible to ignore stuff on the Internet without telling everyone you have ignored it?

Off topic.

tl;dr

 

[William Fisher]

They’re not flares. I’m not sure what they are. Misguided trousers, certainly. But not flares.

 

[Famous when dead]

Any link for download the audio?

Regards,
FWD.

 

[NealCassidy]

I didn’t read a word of this. Don’t slip into your bad old ways, Brummie. You were doing well.

Lol!

 

[Spring Heeled Budd]

In fairness to Rick Astley is has always stated he was a fan of The Smiths/Morrissey and he hasn't jumped ship. When LOTFIP was reissued the cover that Morrissey apparently approved was him and Rick as we all know. The photo was taken back stage at TOTP of the aforementioned single been played. Blossoms music wise are point compared to some of the Have A Go Merchants. Yes some of the crowd are drunk, high or both but if it introduces newer ears to The Smiths well it's a thank you to Rick and Blossoms.

 

[marred]

View attachment 92256

Straight leg baggy trousers. It's a strange outfit regardless.

 

[Frank Jobsworth]

Looks like a great time to me and some of the joy and passion is there in the songs again.
Marr always knocks it out of the park musically when i've seen him live but his vocals don't have enough oomph for most Smiths songs.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Nailed it. Agree with him saying it tipped over into pastiche, because when i watched it i was thinking that Rick would do a great job on a cruise ship. And i’ve never even gone on a cruise ship.

this

I love that everyone loved it so much, and that they all had a great time. But they loved it and had a great time because Morrissey is magic, and because Smiths songs are magic

& definitely … this

 

[CHMozheart]

Regards,
FWD.

AS ALWAYS YOU´RE A LEGEND !!! THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!

 

[Girl Racer]

The Blossoms sounded great, Rick Astley sounded dreadful, like something you‘d hear at a working man’s club, and he f***ed up four songs. Forgetting words, coming in at the wrong time.

 

[Was I ever any good]

But Rick had a wonderful time. You could clearly see that in his face.
How many of us really wanted to be Rick yesterday…. Come on

 

[gordyboy9]

rick,do not tamper with arrangements.

 

[Rufusindigo]

Regards,
FWD.

What I'm finding interesting about this is how much worse it seems when the sound is isolated from the video. I did enjoy it on iplayer, although I agree that Rick Astley was hamming it up and did tip over into Stars in Your Eyes territory at times. I was much more aware of the lack of nuance in his voice from just listening to the audio and I realised that, for me, probably 60% of the entertainment value came from watching the sheer joy of Astley and the crowd. It's hard not to be won over by his bouncing labrador like enthusiasm and the infectious magic of the crowd singing along.

 

[BookishBoy]

I'm only watching bits and pieces of the Glastonbury coverage, but the entire thing seems to have become a gigantic exercise in collective/forced/corporate positivity.

Let's all be nice when Lewis Capaldi's obviously not well enough to finish his set. Let's all forgive Lana del Rey for showing up late.

Is this part of why the UK's such a mess? Is anyone up on stage ranting about how f***ed up the Tories are, and how the next Labour government is barely going to be any different? ("Oh hi, Keir, thanks so much for coming to my summer party" - Rupert Murdoch) And if they did, would the BBC even allow it to be aired?

 

[Frank Jobsworth]

I'm only watching bits and pieces of the Glastonbury coverage, but the entire thing seems to have become a gigantic exercise in collective/forced/corporate positivity.

Let's all be nice when Lewis Capaldi's obviously not well enough to finish his set. Let's all forgive Lana del Rey for showing up late.

Is this part of why the UK's such a mess? Is anyone up on stage ranting about how f***ed up the Tories are, and how the next Labour government is barely going to be any different? ("Oh hi, Keir, thanks so much for coming to my summer party" - Rupert Murdoch) And if they did, would the BBC even allow it to be aired?

I don't think there's much new about giving artists a bit of slack for not being punctual like the trains in fascist Italy. But it is a very expensive feel good weekend that lost its edge about 25 years ago, to be fair a lot of that was forced on them by government policy.