The Drugs Don't Work

This is a bit off my usual track but today's pink section had an entertaining interview with former The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft which derailed after asking about his Live8 cameo into a discussion about his complicated relationship with the best selling band in the world Coldplay:

A: In cynical record company terms, they would have been hammering home their new hit single in front of 3 billion people, and they gave me that time. But also, they were going on after Paul McCartney and U2. Yeah. I think, in Chris' head "Bitter Sweet Symphony" is one of the tunes that stands with that other generation of people.

Q: If that's how you feel, why have you agreed to open Coldplay's shows in America?

A: Why am I opening for them?

Q: Yeah.

A: Quite the simple fact that I'm going to be playing to 30,000 people straight away. That's it. There's no deep thought about it. As far as how many people know my name in America, that would take me all year.