Norwich Union
In the recent rebranding ads featuring, amongst others, Ringo Starr and 'Walter' Willis, celebrity golfer turned rock mediocrity Alice Cooper asks something along the lines of 'who could imagine a glam rock star called Vincent Furnier?'.

ME, that's who. Am I alone?
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 10:48, 22 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

I agree
also, being called Ringo Starr was hardly what made him famous and successful, and it certainly didn't make him a good drummer.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 10:49, Reply)

Do you think Ringo Star

Might be a reference to a propensity for bum love?
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 10:57, Reply)

Starkey's
recent 'no more fucking autographs, with peace and love' message is one of the most excruciating things I've ever seen. My God I'm cringing like a scalded dog just thinking about it.

Edit - in case you missed it:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAU0l7325w0
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 11:02, Reply)

What an ungrateful bell-end
"I'm too busy" - he's a retired popstar, for fuck's sake - how can he be "busy"?

Unless he's learning to play the drums...
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 11:11, Reply)

He's a total fucking spastic
...and all his records are shit. Except Thomas The Tank Engine.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 11:13, Reply)

Amen to that
Oddly enough, The Who recruited his son Zak to play drums on one of their tours a few years ago. Apparently Zak is quite competent, which makes me think staggeringly shit drumming must be like diabetes and occasionally skip a generation...
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 11:15, Reply)

Can you imagine a paedo called Paul Gadd?
Gary Glitter is so much better because it rhymes with shitter.
(oneinthepink is at your cervix m'lady, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 11:22, Reply)

@Crow
I fucking LOVE The Who.

They've always intrigued me - they're kind of a back to front band aren't they, with the vocalist being the least interesting member...

The 'Dear Boy' biography of Keith Moon is superb - but nothing beats the 70s paperback 'Moon the Loon' by Dougal Butler. Hilarious - includes a slang dictionary, containing 'Olivered' as in Oliver Twist = pissed, which I have adopted as my own.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 11:28, Reply)

Me too, Boycey
I heard their version of "Hall of the Mountain King" off the end of the reissued Sell Out and decided then and there that I absolutely had to learn how to play the bass guitar. Entwistle has been the closest thing to a god to me ever since.

Dear Boy was absolutely superb - I didn't know Dougal Butler had written a book about him as well. I may have to look out for that.

I take your point about them being "back-to-front," but then after Tommy made Daltrey the star of the show, Townshend and Moon always maintained they had to be completely mental on stage "just to draw attention away from Roger"
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 11:33, Reply)

'An Ox's Tale'
was on Sky Arts a couple of saturdays ago - excellent viewing.

Have you got the special edition of The Kids Are Alright? In the special features is that version of Won't Get Fooled Again with the laser show - but with 'Ox Cam' and 'Moon Cam' options - essential!
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 11:49, Reply)

Ooh...
I did once have Kids on VHS but I've no idea what happened to it. I think this may be a good excuse to invest in the updated edition.

I have found clips of the Ox on Youtube from the mid-70s where someone's managed to isolate the bass track...well, I enjoyed watching them, at any rate.

Edit: Just read the first bit back and realised how suspicious it sounds. Oh well...
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 11:58, Reply)

The irony
of that title was not lost on me (or my evil brother) when Pete had his *cough* research problems....

The Kids Are Alright are they? Until you get your hands on them, eh Mr Townshend?

Seriously though I think he was kind of innocent there - he never got charged or put on the register, did he?
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 12:15, Reply)

I think he was cleared
but had to sign on to the register for 3 years or something, because he had actually accessed the 'material,' even if his intentions weren't paedophilic (probably not even a word, but oh well).

If he was cleared by judge and jury then that's good enough for me - admittedly by that argument I've got to accept that Michael Jackson's innocent, but I think I'm going to trust the legal system more than speculations by The Daily Star
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 12:20, Reply)

I'm not so sure about Jackson, have you read the Bad lyrics?
Here are some excerpts

"Your Butt Is Mine
Gonna Take You Right" - Speaks for itself.

"I'm Giving You
On Count Of Three
To Show Your Stuff" - Even pre-schoolers can count to three.

"Gonna Lock You Up
Before Too Long"

"You're Not A Man" - Boy perhaps?

"Then Won't You Slap My
Face . . .

Because I'm Bad" - Ooh kinky!
(oneinthepink is at your cervix m'lady, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 13:27, Reply)

Oh dear, oh dear.
(not that I'm an insider or anything, honest), but you all fell for it.

Of course no-one in the world can trace their success back to their name change (with the possible exception of porn star Dick Tastic who may not have triumphed in the pron world with his given name: Pinky Smalls). But you are talking about it so we win.

Six million well spent then.

Especially half way down the slope to a real deep recession.

But hey.

We've got deep pockets.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 13:30, Reply)

Six million quid
for two guys to gob-on about The Who?

Bargain!
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 13:43, Reply)

Badum tisch!
Nice one, No3l.
_{At least, I presume the pun was intended...}
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 13:46, Reply)

I well and truely
have no idea what you're on about :)

Edit: after a quick google, I understand. Totally accidental tho.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 13:50, Reply)

That's impressive.
Even apeloverage doesn't deliver punnage purely by accident...
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 13:55, Reply)

This much I can state with certainty.
I know someone who knows someone who was a social worker in California and was involved in the Michael Jackson case- in fact, she was involved with the King of Weird himself. When my friend asked her if it was true that he was a paedo, she gave her a brittle smile and said that she could not comment.

Without saying it directly enough to get in trouble, she was indicating that yes, he is.

That's all I know about it.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 14 Jan 2009, 15:11, Reply)

When I first saw that
I thought it was a general advert for changing your name.

Im not stupid.
(i should have joined myspace, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 15:45, Reply)

you know what really fucks me off?
council and government agency rebranding

like the Environment Agency. They spunked a serious amount of cash into changing their logos and stuff.

Now they are a different font and slightly different colours.

What's the fucking point?

People are hardly going to say "I don't like your corporate image, I'm going to go elsewhere..."

waste of fucking time and money.

Local authorities doing the same is equally shit. Who gives a flying fuck what their council's logo looks like? and so what if they do!
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 14 Jan 2009, 16:38, Reply)