Seems things were too good to be true for the often clever but always whiney boys over in the land of Coldplay. It has been reported, by Satchy himself, as something that has bugged him since its release, that Coldplay have gone and done what all musicians fear most; no not full disclosure of on-tour shenanigans, but blatant and outright copying of their music. The offenders in this case are Coldplay, the million album selling, woman moistening and at times moderately enjoyable set of Brits who had a song chosen for the Beijing ‘08 Orympics. That song was called Viva La Vida and it is Satchy’s firm opinion that these dorks stole pretty much the heart of a song he released way back in ‘04 called If I could Fly .

If you Google this story you will no doubt find a video of both songs being played. The similarities are striking, so much so that I don’t see this ending in Coldplay’s favour. My obvious bias towards Satchy in this case means that I would always approach this from his side, however it seems to those impartial to both bands, that there is something too close. Satch has said he contacted them upon the song’s release, and was ignored. While they may not have directly and consciously decided to steal his music, they have released a song remarkably similar to one released some 4 years earlier. I hope for both artists’ sake it doesn’t go on forever, and hope Satchy gets a huge payday so he can come tour Australia for free.

If you are viewing this website from within Australia, your time may very well be limited, as the wonderful mind of the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, has taken it upon himself to fly the flag of the new Rudd government’s ‘no opt-out internet filter’. To sum up this filter is hard, so I will do my best. Basically, the big internet cord that connects Australia to the outside world is to be filtered from incoming internet communication. To do this, the Government has setup a blacklist of 10,000 or so websites that will be filtered. Sounds all well and good doesn’t it? Blocks out child pornography, violent content, terrorism stuff and hopefully anything to do with Tyra Banks, so surely its a good thing yes?

This is the tricky part, because the list has gone from filtering illegal content as mentioned to also ‘unwanted’ or ‘not good’ content. Enter AFACT, the Australian copyright protectors, with their lawyers in shining armour putting pressure on iiNet, and by extension the whole ISP industry, to block all internet traffic deemed to be violating their copyright partners. This means that the filter will have to sift through even more information before you are allowed to continue browsing. This is going to slow the internet down by, from what I have read, up to 80%, and for those on piss-poor Telstra based connections, the internet is about to get a whole lot more tedious.

To add insult to injury, it seems the Senator is not flinching on this, and we gotta hope the Liberals and Greens shoot this down. Stupid Rudd and his Mr Garrison-like looks.

Thirteen years ago I was in year eight, and now in the year of 08, something brewing has finally made an impression on this Earth. I talk of the long-awaited (13 odd, tumultuous years) and much anticipated, already massively derided (hate you too haters) and soon to be very public release of Guns ‘n’ Roses’* latest album, Chinese Democracy.

*Using the name that made him an icon in the music industry when all but he have left, is something that brings Axl Rose much negative publicity, but I am not here to debate his rights and wrongs. The fact that he is great mates with another of my musical gods, Sebastian Bach, is enough for me. Love or hate Axl, this IS a Gunnas record.

Firstly, its just got to be said that theres something about Axl’s voice. It reminds me of different places, brings me back to other times. Makes me yearn for the times when I first got to explore my life with the band as my guide, free of care and wants and needs. Oh, to be a teenager again. Honestly, there is just something so right about hearing this album, hearing him wail, hearing strings, pianos and orchestras.

The searching, probing and adventurous guitar work compliments Axl as much as the great Slash ever did – it is a testament to the numerous axe-wielders on the record. I would guess that in some way, there was a desire to continually improve and push further with this record as each year that went passed, so too did the expectations soar. It even got to a point where noone cared, and I really hope that people don’t ignore this.

For all of his wrong-ness, Axl still knows how to write great medleys, sing his heart out and construct epic rock songs. It may not have the Deep Impact ‘everything-is-fucked-now’ kind of effect on me as Death Magnetic, but it is most certainly up there with the Armageddon ‘everything-is-fucked-and-cool-too-now’ sort of vibe. For what it is, it is exceptional. It is the Guns ‘n’ Roses album we needed ten years ago, not thirteen.

// Dr Pepper is giving EVERY US resident a free can now that the album is released!