Has anyone else noticed the nudie-emperor-ness of Richard Ashcroft's new single, "Check the Meaning?"

Maybe he was one of the kings of indie rock, maybe he wrote a brilliant album back in the day that broke new ground and inspired a generation of musicians and music lovers alike... but that's no reason to allow him to clog the airwave arteries with mindless pasty bollocks songs. "Check the Meaning" is utter, utter gash. It's a lazy pathetic attempt at "songwriting:" 5-minute 3-chord boringness while he blathers on and on in a monotone about tired old adages that are supposed to sound "deep." Such as the line: "blah blah Allah, Buddha, Jesus Christ, knocking down my door..." And "I got my mind meditating on love"; maybe you should check the meaning of what you're attempting to say with that one, Mr. A. Or can you not be bothered, because you're really not putting much effort into saying much at all, are you?

Watching him big himself up in his sunglasses on TOTP makes me shake my fist and yell, "Rubbish!!" at the television, like some backbench MP in the House of Commons. It's ridiculous how sycophantic the pop world has become these days, with everyone just gushing about how brilliant this or that artist is, and how amazing their "new hit single" is. Maybe it's a product of all the popstars/popidol shows, and all the encouragement the dumbass judges give to people who are, in all honesty, shit singers and lame performers. It's now stretching, creeping, seeping into the world of the already-popstars and their needs to keep themselves in mansions and Rolex watches... Oh wait: it's always been like that.

Bah!!!