Many claims to Robyn's greatness are made in "Curriculum Vitae," the spoken-word intro to her new album: "World-record holder with a high score of two gazillion in Tetris…she split the atom, invented the X-ray… choreographed the fights for Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon…" But the most improbable boast of all?

When the Cooper Temple Clause tried to storm America last spring at the South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas, U.S. immigration refused them entry. But it wasn’t because the agents decided Americans had been subjected to enough post-Oasis rock made by Brits with outrageous shag haircuts and a Herculean fondness for boozing.

 

By: Craig McLean

Whether it's the Beatles, the Stones, Monty Python, or mad-cow disease, it seems like the U.K. gets its unfair share of culture before the U.S. does. Now, at least, the hit BBC sitcom The Office will get the American audience it deserves when the first season is released on DVD this month.

By: Craig McLean

The Loud Records A&R guy in New York City had been brutally direct. Yes, he'd received Mike Skinner's demo CD. No, he wasn't interested. "Why would I want this music from halfway across the world," the guy asked Skinner, "when I can get it here, on a street corner?"