Issue 1, 15th April 1996: Singing For England
By Neil Wood
[Computing, Law, Science and Technology, SciFi, Sport, The Unexplained, UP, icons]
Black Grape gets the supreme musical honour of writing the music for the England team as they get ready to play the European Cup. Forget your Brit awards, forget the Eurovision Song contest---this is far more important an accolade for any band---to write the song that will inspire their national team to win football's European Cup! Rumour has it they have recruted ex-punk-rocker and Clash front-man Joe Strummer for the noble effort. But who is going to do the rap this time? Odds on favourite has to be Paul Ince, with rank outsider Dave Seaman practising his chords.
I've found an excellent Black Grape Page, complete with samples of the latest album. I'll let the owner of the page handle any copyright disputes.
I don't know how far the offical page has got, but here it is under construction.
But Never Mind the Official Home Page---Here's the Dog's Bollocks.
At the time of going to press there are no bands as yet displayed on the Web page, just a press release and sign-up form [and even that disappeared a few days later; let's hope they sort themselves out soon].
From the bands' point of view they have to pay GBP20 for the privilege, and there is no mention in the advertising of how much Web space or sample length they will get for their money. But it could be cheaper than a band going to the expense of setting up their own Web pages. So it is hard to judge if this is exploitation of penniless fame-hungry musicians or a genuine attempt to help up-and-coming new bands.
There is a Battle of the Bands at New Jersey Online actually up and working.