Okay, I'm officially old now

[Ray de Galles]

Okay, I'm officially old now

Ah yes, I am beginning to remember now. I think the real "secret special guests" were someone else more popular (Top? Northern Uproar? The Barron Knights?) but there was a problem. I am going to do some research.

[JtS]

Okay, I'm officially old now

I can't see why people are surprised that the glastonbury crowd aren't interested in rap/hip-hop headliners.

Imagine if the Spice Girls played at Lovebox or Britney Spears played Donnington Monsters of Rock.

[Mitch]

Okay, I'm officially old now

Umm, It was originally meant to be The Stereophonics, I think? There was a free on-site daily newspaper (actually, it was probably a Melody Maker wasn't it?) with all these rumours in.

I'm just scared that it was nine years ago.

[Bored Of Education]

Okay, I'm officially old now

Oh, the Stereophonics or their entourage probably pulled some scam or something. Harry should come up with something in his research on that.

Seriously though, has the Glastonbury headliner become such an important pull in recent years or has it always been so. When I first went, the music seemed such a sideshow to the "experience" (maan) and that was only 15 years ago.

That Westwood hip-hop 25 is appalling. It is like "Now that is what I call Hip-hop for beginners (Actually is there an album called that, I must get it)

(Having said that, I've never heard of Ashton Kutcher, who Reed assures us is 'famous', so what do I know?)

I have heard of him but only as Demi Moore's toyboy. What else has he done?

[Er Liquidatore]

Okay, I'm officially old now

I can't believe their are people who aren't drawing their free bus pass who haven't heard of Jay-Z. He's one of the biggest selling artists of the last decade for God's sake and it's not as if he hasn't had hit records over here.

That said, having him on at Glastonbury now that he's quite a long way past his best seems a bit daft, particularly as he's not really very good live at all. I love hip hop, but it's not great for gigs in huge open expanses in the same way bands with actual live music are. If he's backed by a decent band I could see how it would work, mind you.

[Guest]

Okay, I'm officially old now

I keep hearing people say they don't go for the music, Bored. Something about enjoying lugging tents through swamps and ethnic crafts to keep the kiddies occupied.

[Bored Of Education]

Okay, I'm officially old now

I have got to admit when I went last, I spent the whole day in the Kids field with Marley listening to Chas & Dave in the adjoining tent.

[Ray de Galles]

Okay, I'm officially old now

JtS wrote:

I can't see why people are surprised that the glastonbury crowd aren't interested in rap/hip-hop headliners.

Imagine if the Spice Girls played at Lovebox or Britney Spears played Donnington Monsters of Rock.

Glastonbury has always had hip-hop acts playing it back to De La Soul and Boo-Yaa Tribe and is not a genre-based event like MoR/Download (Lovebox is a mixed-up bill as well).

[Ray de Galles]

Okay, I'm officially old now

Mitch wrote:

Umm, It was originally meant to be The Stereophonics, I think? .

No, it wasn't them.

[Bored Of Education]

Okay, I'm officially old now

I love hip hop, but it's not great for gigs in huge open expanses in the same way bands with actual live music are.

I know what you mean, Public Enemy at Phoenix and Cypress Hill at Reading both worked but, firstly, they would have been better indoors and secondly, they know how to do the whole "rock" show thing

The thing is that hip-hop should work at festivals. It is, in the main, the best music to listen to outdoorsin the summer and, certainly at Glastonbury, should be a great background to walking around the festival.

Mind you, maybe I am having a rose-tinted view of our shitty summers and death metal is what you need for walking knee-deepin the trenches surrounded by cider monsters

Of course, the problem is that people want to do the whole "gawping at the stage" thing which hip-hop is a bit hit-and-miss about satifying succesfully

[Mumpo]

Okay, I'm officially old now

Doesn't Ashton Kutcher do that Beadle's About thing on MTV?

Tim Westwood should do a 'Top 51 of Rap' - symbolically, one for every year since his birth.

[G-Man]

Okay, I'm officially old now

Kutcher is the chief prankster on MTV's Punk'd. He was in That 70s Show (of which I have seen 12 minutes before I switched off in disgust), and he's been in a few movies. Wasn't he in [i]Dude, Where's My Car?[i/]. So I'm sure the Rhino must feel extremely upset with himself now that this icon of contemporary popular culture has bypassed him completely.

[Reed John]

Okay, I'm officially old now

He's also married to Demi Moore, who is about 50 years older than him. Everyone seems to be waiting for them to admit that it's all an elaborate Punk'd prank on the tabloid media, but that hasn't happened yet.

That 70's Show was pretty good, I thought.

[Taylor]

Okay, I'm officially old now

Well it is Demi Moore. It's not like he married one of The Golden Girls.

That 70s Show was a piece of shit, and I only even know that because I watched it once to leer at Mila Kunis.

[adams house cat]

Okay, I'm officially old now

He is a perfect example of the maxim that mediocrity is now the acceptable face of rap.

[Bored Of Education]

Okay, I'm officially old now

Ashton Kutcher?

[WOM]

Okay, I'm officially old now

I quite liked the early seasons of That '70s Show. One bonus was getting to see all your childhood toys on shelves in the background.

As much as I rue saying this, I think Ashton Kutcher is far more....not smart...let's say 'wily' than most people give him credit for.

[Reed John]

Okay, I'm officially old now

Absolutely. I think he might be a good politician. It's clear from Punk'd (I like the one's where something blows up) and Pop Fiction that he's friendly with just about everyone in Hollywood.

He also does good voice-overs for Robot Chicken.

[Auntie Beryl]

Okay, I'm officially old now

.

One thing about this whole Glastonbury controversy that I haven't seen mentioned, at least on here, is that Jay-Z, of all the successful hip hop performers of the last ten years, has perhaps tried the hardest to cross over to different markets.

Not just with Hard Knock Life, a handy and appropriate stick to beat him with, but he has made collaborative albums with both Linkin Park and R.Kelly. I could see a few tunes from the former album going across to Main Stage audience just fine.

Peak-era Eminem would have worked, too.

I too was at the festival in 1999, but remember nothing of the Sunday night Cast/Anansie combination. Guess I must have been hanging out at the cider bus.

[Beatle Simon]

Okay, I'm officially old now

I tend to impress young rap/hip-hop/r'n'b fans by refering to Jay-Z, 50 Cent (incidentialy prounounced fiddyCent), Nas and Nelly as rap's "fab 4", although to be fair, I don't know any of their "songs".
Also. last week in work, when talking to a 20-year old female colleague, I noticed she had a Babyshambles scree-saver. When I said to her, "I see you're a fan", I got back "yeah, thats Pete Doherty and his band Babyshammbles. He used to be in The Libertines, etc". At 38,it's something I get a lot these days.
Of course, when I reply I saw Nirvana twice andgot chased off Kurt Cobain's property in Seattle, they go quiet.

Finally, can anyone tell me the difference between Rap, R'n'B and Hip-Hop? And wasn't R'n'B originally used to descibe the Beatles, Stones & Animals?

[WOM]

Okay, I'm officially old now

Welcome Cat.
I've wondered about the R'nB thing, too. I've come to my own conclusion that it used to mean rhythm and blues (when The Who did it maximum-ish), but is now its own sub-genre just lazily called R'nB.
Why rock and roll bands go so far out of their way to say that they're actually an R'nB band, etc, is beyond me.
In fact, why bands even bother with the "Well, we don't like to think of ourselves as an ________act, we're more of ____________" bullshit is beyond me, too.
Similar to your experience, when I was teaching a couple of years back, I got into a conversation with a student wearing a Pink Floyd patch. I asked "Have you seen them?" She sort of stared at me and said "Uh...no." I said "I saw them when they were here in '91. You didn't go?" And she said "Um...no...I'd have been 4."

[G-Man]

Okay, I'm officially old now

Ha ha. My nephew has a Ramones t-shirt, but has never heard a song by them. He just likes the logo. He was still mightily impressed when I told him that I had seen the Ramones live three times.

[WOM]

Okay, I'm officially old now

Hah. I played dumb-old-guy once and asked a kid what CBGB stood for on his t-shirt. He just shrugged. Dummy.

[Gangster Octopus]

Okay, I'm officially old now

Yeah, G, but not the original line-up...

[G-Man]

Okay, I'm officially old now

No, my Ramones had Richie on the drums. I presume yours had Tommy (who was not in the original line-up either. The original line-up was a trio of Joey, Dee Dee and Johnny).