Playing For England

New Order won an Ivor Novello award for "outstanding song collection" for their recent singles collection last week and since it's that time of the year a reporter for The Sun got their feelings on Embrace's new World Cup song:

Hooky told me: "I just reviewed all the World Cup songs for a magazine and they are all **** apart from SHAM 69's Hurry Up England.

"The production on the Embrace track is very weak. It starts badly. It has no atmosphere."

Bernard chipped in:"It's rubbish. You need the team singing on it and a rapper. Why didn't they have WAYNE ROONEY doing scouse rap?

: Apparently the band's acceptance speech found them slagging off everyone in the room so the band are continuing their trend of being truly rock 'n' roll when given "lifetime achievement" awards. Bernard's anti-Slash rant during the band's induction to the UK Music Hall Of Fame last year was a great moment that really sums up their attitude about being "legends".
Another note about the Ivors. Am I the only one who finds it weird that the "Songwriters Of The Year" went to Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett when Hewlett (to the best of my knowledge) is only behind the visual side of Gorillaz? Curious.