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Led Zep and Metallica aren’t just for classic rockers anymore. Coldplay and Radiohead aren’t just for the musical cool. US record label Baby Rock Records is taking the music to the kids.   And by kids we don’t mean teenagers. The Rockabye Baby albums cover all of the above as well as Bjork, No Doubt, Queens of the Stone Age, Pink Floyd, Smashing Pumpkins, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Cure, The Eagles, The Pixies and Tool.   At the Baby Rock website, the label is described as “transforming t

Anyone who thinks Gwyneth Paltrow is perfect, should think again.   "They should see the cellulite on my thighs right now," the actress says in the new issue of Harper's Bazaar.   The mother of two and wife of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, Paltrow says she's been on hiatus from acting for more than two years and has enjoyed every minute of it. She spends many a day in her garden, in sweatpants, with her children. Motherhood, she says, "it's so incredible and rewarding, a total joy." "With App

Movie star GWYNETH PALTROW has revealed her biggest style secret to aid bloated and pregnant girls - stick with female designers.   The fashionable actress has discovered a trick that allows her to look good in designer gear - even when she isn't in tip-top shape.   She says, "If you're 20 pounds heavier than you normally are, go for women designers because they cut clothes that are forgiving."

EMI MusicUK has signed a deal with Ukash to accept cash as an online payment option when buying merchandise on its artist websites.   Ukash, the UK-based company that introduced cash payments to global online transactions, can now be used to buy a wide range of merchandise from CDs and books to posters and T-shirts, featuring EMI artists such as Coldplay, Gorillaz, Queen, Paul McCartney, Kylie and The Chemical Brothers.   Ukash is building up strong partnerships online with several lifestyle,

Researchers say many teenagers are emulating celebrity idols like Mischa Barton, Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff and Chris Martin (the lead singer of Coldplay), some scarcely out of their teens themselves, to cultivate an impression of maturity. “Kids are going more covered up and more sophisticated, and the girls are more traditionally feminine,’’ said Rob Callender, the trends director at Teen Research Unlimited. “It’s a question of trying to look more adult. Teenagers today are 12 going on 25.’’  

Gwyneth Paltrow is getting worried about what all these babies are doing to her figure and is considering going under the surgeon's knife.   The wife of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin recently gave birth to the couple's second child and is beginning to notice the effect. She has reportedly complained that her breasts are sore and her stomach is showing the bulge and has been advised by a close pal to undergo post-pregnancy plastic surgery.   Gwyneth, who had baby Moses by caesarian section four

Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis has said he knows some of the big names who will play at next year's festival - but is keeping them to himself for now.   "We do have acts confirmed but I can't tell you," he said, adding that reports of Bruce Springsteen headlining the event in June were "absolute rubbish".   Mr Eavis remained "really hopeful" that Kylie Minogue, who pulled out last year after her cancer diagnosis, would play. Organisers have said they hope to let up to 20,000 more fans atte

Warner Music has drawn up a shortlist of agencies to pitch for its £18m media planning and buying account, inviting MindShare, PHD, ZenithOptimedia and the incumbent Media Campaign.   ZenithOptimedia will pitch for the account along with specialist entertainment agency Media Mix. Contrary to reports, Interpublic Group's Universal McCann has not made the shortlist. Warner Music controls record labels Atlantic Records and Warner Bros Records. Artists on Atlantic include James Blunt, Hard-Fi and Mi

He is the powerhouse producer behind some of the biggest acts around. Will Timbaland's new collaborations with Björk and Chris Martin push him higher? By Angus Batey   Tim "Timbaland" Mosley, the most in-demand music producer in the world, is tired. But the task of staying awake is made easier because, right now, Mosley is doing something he really enjoys: talking about how great he is.   "I don't think about other people," he says, with supreme diffidence when asked which other producers he mig

This rock band, Mew: They might not be “cool.” I mean, they’re Danish, and they’re pretty, and they wear natty blazers and scarves, and they play great music, all of which is pretty cool. But if you see them perform, there will come a point when Bo Madsen is playing metal-style power chords, while the long-haired 1970s-prog keyboard player unleashes his “epic” wash settings, and singer Jonas Bjerre soars up into his sappiest, most atmospheric register, and you’ll notice that they’re good with ha

You get the impression that not too many people want to ask Blythe Danner about the episode of M*A*S*H she made back in 1976.   Everyone wants to talk about her daughter Gwyneth Paltrow, her son-in-law Chris Martin from Coldplay, her grandchildren Apple and Moses and even her life after the death of her producer husband Bruce Paltrow back in 2002.   But when the subject of her role in The More I See You is raised, which was made during the fourth season of M*A*S*H and saw Danner playing Hawkeye’

Dealing with personal tragedy is something we all must do at some point in our lives. The reflective nature of pop culture inevitably forces us to relive whatever pain we've endured. If your father died of a heart attack, it's going to hurt anytime you see a movie character clutch his chest and fall to the ground. It's not only impractical, it's politically correct to the extreme to expect that any film should take the feelings of every potential patron into consideration.   But with a collectiv

Our view: Buy Share price: 250.5p (+2p)   At the end of last month, EMI and Warner Music abandoned their merger plans after a European court ruling annulled the 2004 regulatory clearance of the Sony BMG music merger. The court move cast serious doubt on whether competition regulators would allow more consolidation in the music industry so EMI/Warner Music's decision to call off their marriage is understandable.   Nevertheless, the effect it has had on EMI's stock market valuation looks to be ex

Mark Seliger, Rolling Stone's former chief photographer, found a spot that gave him a different view of the famous, writes Sunanda Creagh.   After 10 years as Rolling Stone's chief photographer, Texas-born Mark Seliger is used to getting the right shot by giving explicit instructions to his famous subjects. But some are harder to direct than others.   His new book and exhibition, In My Stairwell, offers a rare peek into his celebrity-studded career and underlines his ability to get famous people

AUSTRALIAN indie band Youth Group's career so far can be easily divided into two distinct eras -- before and after Forever Young.   Before its hit cover version of the '80s Alphaville song went through the roof, the Sydney quartet had two albums under their belt, a support slot lined up with mega-band Coldplay and a solid, if not spectacular, live following.   But when the band was commissioned to record the song for use in Channel 10's teen drama The O.C., doors started to open.   Read the fu

On Friday afternoon, under the blistering Illinois sun, responsible for a heatwave that has killed 24 Chicagoans this summer, 3,000 people paid $25 apiece (plus $5 parking) to watch Chelsea train and listen to the announcer’s words of love. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was less ecstatic: “This is a training session where not much will happen.”   And so, to the ear-splitting backdrop of Coldplay being blasted through the stadium’s clearly perfectly functioning PA, the lovestruck 3,000 watched Ch

Police are warning music fans to watch out for forged Glastonbury tickets after touts were arrested for allegedly selling them near the site of the music festival. Avon and Somerset Police said two people were arrested in Pilton village on Wednesday, the day camping opened at the site.   Many of the 100,000-strong crowd of music fans are pitching their tents for the UK's biggest music festival - which has sold out - with the main event starting on Friday.   Coldplay, The Charlatans and Rod Stew

The original version of Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" (the latest single from their new album, Eyes Open), is plenty beautiful, but there isn't really anything to distinguish it from heaps of other pretty, soaring love songs.   This remix, courtesy of a mysterious entity called the Hey Team, turns the track into something else. It's even more beautiful, but it's also kinda fucked up. It begins with fluttery beats and a wisp of ambient background noise, swells on a pulsing undercurrent, and then,

LONDON - When Hollywood's golden couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, had their first child, it was a girl. When Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes had a baby, and Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin had a baby, they also were girls.   Coincidence? Perhaps not.   Research from the London School of Economics indicates that physically attractive couples are 36 percent more likely than unattractive couples to produce a girl as their first child.   Read the full article here

While its creator cites recent inspiration for its inception, "The Eraser," the new solo album by Thom Yorke of Radiohead, has been long in its genesis.   Yorke made it clear that the album was an individually conceived and entirely computerized venture. The piano, the guitar, even his own angelic vocals were all run through a computer before they reached wax. Statements like this tempted skepticism. As powerful a front man as Yorke is, he shares a creative burden with multi-instrumentalist and

Bertelsmann AG is getting closer to sealing a deal to sell its music publishing business, saying Thursday (Aug. 3) it expects to have a short list of potential suitors by month's end.   Last month, the German media giant narrowed the bidders for its BMG Music Publishing division for its BMG Music Publishing division to 15. By month's end, the company said it plans to have whittled that number down to a mere handful.   In addition to private equity groups, the bidders are expected to include such

Pod living is coming to Liverpool at the new-look Parr Street Studios hotel.   The new owners, who rescued the studio complex from being sold off to property developers last month, have ambitious plans for the city centre site, starting with an upgrade of the hotel including a 21st century version of Japanese-style pods, which new boss Gary Millar says will "make a bit of a splash internationally".   Pod hotel rooms were invented by the Japanese in the 1990s due to lack of development space in t

Muse was born with a bad rap.   In all fairness, the British power trio’s 1999 debut, Showbiz, bore more than a few stylistic similarities to the shambolic, arena-ready moments of guitar-era Radiohead. But despite reasonable charges of copycatdom, the album was a strong collection of anxious rock songs, drawing influence not just from The Bends, but from black metal, baroque classical music and straight pop.   Nowadays—situated next to the fallout of post-Y2K ‘head-rippers—the band’s early Yorki

Summertime is here, but the living is far from easy. It’s sticky. And sweaty.   Usually a little Sly Stone can fix anything, but not this week. Right now “Hot Fun in the Summertime” is probably the last thing you want to hear.   With temperatures climbing close to 100 over the next few days, it’s time to erase all those hot tunes from your iPod and download something more chill. Put your Red Hot Chili Peppers and Hot Hot Heat on the backburner in favor of something a little more calm, cool and

I give Gwyneth Paltrow a lot of crap because she refuses to walk the red carpet with hubby Chris Martin. But she's actually smart. Now, any little nugget she does share about her marriage makes headlines.   And if they split, she really hasn't revealed anything and there aren't a billion pictures of them sucking face on the press line. She learned from bitter bust-ups with Brad and Ben. And you'd think that Lance would know better. After all, he's the one who gushed about his first wife, Kristin