h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How does the 2012 Olympic theme tune-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FJkGTV-fzY

Compare to the 2012 Olympic theme song-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bam2Npj7rKw&feature=related

Or the other one-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt__jKWoYH8

Or the 2010 one-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v0o27BPIIk

Or the classics (Williams and Foster)-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWdOFgDQIn0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdzJhFyN0MY

?

Well, without even clicking on any of the links, I'd bet that they are *all* less irritating than 'Chariots of Fire' has become over the past fortnight ...

Mol

True, with the possible exception of Foster's 80's style epic.

I picked up the Muse song and Elbow's theme for the BBC coverage at the end of last week (both purchased on MP3) in a fit of Olympic fever, but then I am a big fan of both bands. The odd thing is that, when I first heard the Muse one ('Survival'), the DJ authoritatively informed his listeners that it would be all over everything to do with the Olympics, and there was no way we'd be able to escape it. I saw the Opening Ceremony (but admittedly not the Closing Ceremony yet) but have heard it less than half-a-dozen times since that first listen, including once just now on my own computer. I know Bellamy has climbed so far up his own musical backside that he is now a geometrical impossibility, but did the song really test so badly that they buried it and just went with Vangelis instead?

I thought Vangelis was a bit of a corny choice. And after the opening ceremony I assumed everyone else would forever associate it with Mr Bean anyway.

I wouldn't lose much sleep over not seeing the closing ceremony. It was a mouldy pair of pants.

Muse did play it live during the closing ceremony.

There were *some* nice bits in the closing ceremony - Muse for one, brining out John Lennon and Freddie Mercury the way they did. But yeah, the majority was as I have seen it described somewhere - The Decline and Fall of the British Music industry over the last 50 years.

If a semi-out of tune version of Spice Up Your Life, is one of the highlights of the show then it is a sad testament.

Less George Michael, Spice Girls, One Direction and Take That would have been my preference.


I have seen criticism of George Michael for singing his new single though.
It wasn't Live Aid!

>I know Bellamy has climbed so far up his own musical backside that he is now a geometrical impossibility<

Nice turn of phrase - this particularly amuses me as 'A Geometric Impossibility' presumably isn't out of the question as a future Muse album title

It is more likely to be along the lines of 'Hyper-explosive Quasar Burst in Space' I suspect but we can live in hope

They are actually bringing out a new album in a couple of months! It's going to be called "The 2nd Law" [sic] and, even though it's likely to be mostly massively pretentious bombast, mainly featuring a rock symphony about an invasion of Earth by an alien force which somehow comprises the Illuminati, the Bush family, Lockheed Martin and Halliburton... but I'll still probably buy it.

I did say a future album, not necessarily the next one.

And ditto

I *liked* the closing ceremony .

Well, except for the boring bits. I wonder what the national grid stats for switching on kettles will be for that night?

Mol

"I have seen criticism of George Michael for singing his new single though"

Rightly, I think. By all means go on Jonathan Ross or Graham Norton's show and hawk your latest product, that's what chat shows are for, for meeja hors to whore out their wares so the dumb masses will go out and buy them.

But the point of the closing ceremony was to present a cavalcade of songs that would cause people of ALL generations to go "oh yeah! I love this!".

To play a piece of new material at such a thing, and worse, to do so right at the very beginning of the evening, was an incredibly crass choice, and I don't understand why he was permitted to do it.

The artists I most respect out of the closing ceremony are the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Kate Bush and John Deacon, because they all took one look at it and said "ah, no thanks, I'll give it a miss, good luck and all that".

*shrug* Well I disagree. Plugging your material at a charitable event is crass I can't see why showcasing it at that was a problem at all.
Not that I'm that bothered - if Wham had never existed the world would be a better place for me
I didn't even realise it was a new song until I saw that he had been criticised.

John Deacon hasn't been seen in public since 1997 - he doesn't do *anything* any more so I rather suspect he was even consulted.