Just found out that a friend of mine will be talking to Lauren Laverne about a compilation I made for her and then playing four of five songs from it today on 6Music at 10.30 ish, so if you've got nothing better to do, give it a listen.

I promise there are no Gallagher brothers involved...

I think we might have done this one before, but I need some Massive help for a presentation I'm writing!

What are the most iconic images in the world of popular music?

Have you lot ever seen someone reading The Word in public and wondered whether they belonged to this forum?

It happened to me this morning on the 0832 from St Albans to St Pancras. There was a chap I have seen about, occasionally lugging a guitar. This morning he was tucking into The Word and I felt an urge to say hello, but then realised that this would be unseemly.

Is blogging about it even weirder?

Liam Gallagher's new band, with Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Chris Sharrock have called themselves 'Beady Eye'. Not the first thing that would have sprung to mind but there we go...

In text speak is that BDI?

I know there's a lot of haters here, but I'm excited, mainly due to Andy Bell being back on guitar and Chris Sharrock's involvement - I thought he really distinguished himself on 'The Shock of the Lightning'. I'm hoping for something like the Ride song 'Birdman' but with Liam singing..

I'd previously written off the Black Keys as a band doing something that the White Stripes were doing infinitely better. However, I may have been wrong - after hearing this single on 6Music, I went and bought the album and its a surprisingly diverse record with a nice thick sound and one which is destined to get lots of play throughout the summer....

Check it out

OOOOO ARRRRR WE ARE EXETER
CIDER CIDER CIDER CIDER

Ahem

Sorry

All the recent talk of live albums got me thinking - has a live track ever made it to Number One in the Hit Parade?

Probably the wrong place to do this but I bought a ticket for Primal Scream playing Screamadelica at the Olympia in November. I bought two tickets for the Saturday - all of my mates got Friday tickets. Does anyone want a swap?!

This is a few days before my 33rd (RPM) birthday.

This night out is going to be visible from space...there's going to be a lot of refugees

http://www.nme.com/news/primal-scream/49796

Is anyone else planning to go to see 'Black Grape' (well, Shaun, Kermit and Danny Saber) on April Fool's Day?

Memories of average to poor Happy Mondays reunions are fresh in my mind...but there's some great material there

Last time, when we did the 'Worst Band of All Time' poll, there was bemusement and disagreement with our short-list - particularly the inclusion of Crowded House.

As such, we thought we'd share the long list. Ideally we'd like to whittle it down rather than making it bigger, so we can get the survey set up, but if there are glaring omissions or violent disagreements then we'd love to hear them. Remember, this isn't based on science, sense or rational thought.

You can vote on the artists you think should be included in our short list here: Click here to take survey

Vote for as many as you think deserve to be included and we'll put forward the Top 20 to find out the final decision.

Warning: does feature Canadians.

Killer chat up line from other R Kelly

Sorry - it looks like worst band in the world is now credited to readers of Word Magazine...

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=123&title=are_nickelback_really_t...

http://www.chartattack.com/news/77460/nickelback-voted-worst-band-in-the...

Furthermore, if you go to google and type in Nickelback, then click on news - you'll find something interesting

Thanks for Andrew Harrison's help in getting this to 'go viral'.
Funnily enough, as soon as it went on the Word Twitter, there was a marked increased in people (or rock snobs!) nominating big established bands as the worst bands of all time - U2, Oasis, Coldplay and Queen really shot up in the rankings. When the sample was of the general public rather than a 'muso audience', Scouting For Girls and Westlife were dominant, although Queen were still a very popular choice.

Unprompted results -

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/1406274/Worst_bands_of_all_time_-_unprom...

Westlife still walk the 'unprompted' category, with a massive 7% of all mentions. Queen were second with 4.5%, closely followed by Nickelback with 3.8%. Fourth were Scouting For Girls with 2.9%. Tied in fifth were U2 and Oasis with 2.7% and equal sixth were Coldplay and the Stereophonics with 2%.

One mention wonders: Bellowhead, Babyshambles, Blur, Guns N Roses, Happy Mondays, Metallica, Arctic Monkeys and REM.

The Beatles got two votes.

To me this looks like a list of personal bugbears rather than an attempt to name the worst band of all time. I can't stand U2, for example, but are they really the worst band of all time?! In a world where the Cranberries exist?! Is there not one single Queen song that you like a tiny bit? Really?!

As for the prompted results -

A walkover for Nickelback with a whopping 19.8% of the vote.

2) Lighthouse Family - 14.3%
3) Toploader - 11.8%
4) Razorlight - 9.8%
5) Savage Garden - 8.4%
6) M People - 7.5%
7) Maroon 5 - 6.6%
8) 4 Non Blondes - 5.5%
9) Snow Patrol - 5.2%
10) Spin Doctors - 3.6%
11=) Beautiful South - 2.0%
11=) Sleeper - 2.0%
13) New Radicals - 1.1%
14=) Lighting Seeds - 0.9%
14=) The Troggs - 0.9%
16)Crowded House - 0.5%

The inclusion of Crowded House seems to have been the most contentious issue on this blog, so their fans will be pleased (and vindicated) that they only scored two votes.

For what it's worth, we are disappointed to have left Chumbawumba, Scouting For Girls and the Cranberries from the shortlist.

1. Lighthouse Family (17.4%)
2. Nickelback (15.6%)
3. Toploader (11.0%)
4. Razorlight (9.6%)
5. Savage Garden (8.3%)

Fewest votes: The Troggs (0%), Crowded House (0.5%), New Radicals (0.5%), Sleeper (1.8%)

Most frequently mentioned but not on our list: Westlife (13), Queen (11), Stereophonics (7), Scouting for Girls (7)

There's still time to change the outcome - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/S22GB7B