April Fool's Music Roundup

04/02/09 5:25pm

by Jason MacNeil (CHARTattack)

Although Nine Inch Nails and Sigur Ros got most of the attention for their April Fool’s Day pranks, there were several other music-related gags of note on Wednesday:

Cork, Ireland radio station RED FM announced that U2 were staging an "impromptu concert" on the roof of a local shopping centre. Hundreds of people rushed to the location to wait for the performance to begin, according to the Irish Independent newspaper. A crane was even brought in to lend credence to the group's rumoured appearance. A U2 tribute band called U2opia performed instead.

Bjork announced she was replacing Robert Plant as Led Zeppelin’s singer and would tour with the group in June following her other engagements. "Bjork has though put forward her wish that they only cover with her songs from album I and IV," her website stated.

Kid Rock claimed he'd purchased the naming rights to the Detroit Tigers' baseball stadium, changing the name from Comerica Park to Kid Rock Field, in an announcement on his website. The singer also announced he'd joined with the Michigan Brewing Company to create the official beer of the Tigers.

Eighties electro-pop band Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark claimed on their website that they'd release a new album titled The Fire Of The Mind (Agitates The Atmosphere) that included a cover of Joss Stone’s "You Had Me" and songs culled from "ordinary household objects such as an electric whisk, toaster and broom handle." Other songs included "Automatic Kitten" and "Big Fanta Morning," the latter "inspired by the gesture that a major company made in a bid for sponsorship."

Kolade Kuti Wombia, the alleged cousin of the late Fela Kuti, announced he'd won a court battle that allowed him to uphold his trademark on the term "Afrobeat" that was coined by Kuti.