Posted on 04/15/2008 3:08:50 PM PDT by Drew68
LONDON - Organizers of one of Britain's best-known music festivals on Tuesday defended their decision to book Jay-Z as their headline act after Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher blamed the U.S. rapper for disappointing ticket sales.
The outdoor Glastonbury festival is a cornerstone of Britain's music calendar. But this year's festival has yet to sell out, in contrast to past years when tickets were snapped up within hours.
Gallagher, whose band headlined the festival in 1995 and 2004, said rap was to blame.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," Gallagher said in an interview, an audio of which was posted to the British Broadcasting Corp.'s Web site Monday. "If you break it, people ain't gonna go. I'm sorry, but Jay-Z? ... No chance." He explained that the inclusion of a hip-hop act went against the festival's tradition of guitar music, adding: "I'm not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. No way. No. It's wrong."
Glastonbury Festival co-organizer Emily Eavis said the 38-year-old festival had a long history of attracting rap acts, including Cypress Hill and The Roots. She said the media stir over Gallagher's comments revealed an "innate conservatism" in some sectors of British society.
"There is also an interesting undercurrent in the suggestion that a black, U.S. hip-hop artist shouldn't be playing in front of what many perceive to be a white, middle-class audience. I'm not sure what to call it, at least not in public, but this is something that causes me some disquiet," she said in an article published Tuesday in The Independent newspaper.
Eavis said she thought Jay-Z was "absolutely the right act" for the festival.
700 million? Holy smokes!
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Jay-Z more known as a behind-the-scenes mogul than a performer?
I might want to see Kings of Leon, Crowded House and the Verve but I would definitely be headed for the exit well before Neil Diamond took the stage. And Im 47 years old!
mnehrling wrote:
My bet is it is the state of British music. Jay Z outsells them all so it sounds like passing the buck to blame him. If memory serves me correctly, he isn’t even one of the gangsta rappers who degrade women and such, so it may not be a backlash either.”
Jay-Z was the Original 2 Live Crew,arrested on obscenity charges.
Both. He’s kind of become the Cher of the rap world. Everytime he tours, it supposedly the farewell tour, but then he goes out on tours again after. And the tickets to his show are always some of the most expensive. You would think the fans would catch on.........
And yes, he’s worth easily over 500 million. Unreal.
I sure hope so, it and it’s culture is destroying the youth!
The cacophony produced by some rock bands and grunge groups in the 90's was noise pollution - it sounded like you were sitting on the threshold of a runway at a major airport, it was like white noise.
The pollution element of Rap and Hiphop comes when you CAN hear the words..
Good. Maybe there's some hope for them after all.
Nope.
State of current British music, esp live, is pretty good and strong.
Radiohead, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys,Klaxons, Travis, KT Tunstall...
The Verve are one of THE iconic British indie bands of the 90’s.
Kings of Leon are very popular here, even more so than the US.
And several of the expected acts (Crowded House, Kate Nash, Massive Attack) are very popular in Britain.
Verve: iconic 90’s British indie band
K of Leon: popular American rock band(roots lie in CCR,Zep..)
Leonard Cohen: oh come on, everyone has heard of Leonard Cohen...
Really?.
Here’s me thinking Oasis are one of the biggest bands in the world and Gallagher probably the best songwriter of his generation.
Explain please how he is a has-been?.
Ted Nugent is a has-been.
That dude from Oasis is bitter because he thinks the festival should be restricted to musical acts, the way it has been traditionally. But that's apparently not what this festival is about, at least not anymore.
Personally, I sure wouldn't go to this thing.
Oasis’ creative talent peaked with “What’s the Story”. Since then, they’ve had a hard time getting radio play in the states for any of their new stuff, while the guy he’s whining about being in a music festival has topped the charts a couple of times. He may not be as “talented” according to some, but he’s not struggling to get radio time, either.
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