Sonic Youth swing by Gossip Girl

So, it turns out this isn't some idea which turned out to be a joke. Sonic Youth really are doing Gossip Girl:



Coming next week: Mudhoney play The Dollhouse, while Tad knock out an impromptu set in the background of Mad Men.

[Thanks to Chris S]

Singing is like acting, right?

When we suggested that Hayden Pantypants from Heroes might not be worth a recording contract simply because she was in a television programme, some commenters angrily pointed out that she'd sung a theme tune or something in the past and as such was like, totally able to make an album.

So, perhaps the reaction to Gossip Girl's gossiping girl Leighton Meester being signed up for a record shouldn't be instant eye-rolling and suggestions that the label involved, Universal imprintTime-Act Music, are so devoid of ideas they've replaced their A&R department with a twelve year-old girl flicking through back issues of Seventeen and stopping at random to decide who'll they'll piss away money on next.

Perhaps.

No Doubt return, sort of

The long-awaited return of No Doubt (anything that stops Gwen Stefani from launching ranges of products) is nearly upon us. Sort-of.

They're doing a Gossip Girl cameo appearance. Sort-of:

"As you know, they're reuniting, they're going on tour, and they wanted to do a TV appearance and reached out to us on 'Gossip Girl,' " Schwartz said. "And then we came back and asked them, 'What about being an '80s band?' So they came on as 'Snow Doubt' and they did a cover of Adam & the Ants' 'Stand and Deliver.' It was amazing."

Why would No Doubt have been in the 1980s? And why would they be named after themselves mixed with a weak pun? Given that Gossip Girl is meant to be set in the real world, doesn't a band apparently having traveled back in time undermine its credibility somewhat?

Because, OMG, it was, like, a mystery or whatever, Leona

Go on... admit it, you'd been wondering before MTV asked the question:

Leona Lewis Explains Why 'Gossip Girl' Hunk Chace Crawford Stars In Her Video

Yes. Why has someone whose label is desperate to prove is more than a one-song Wanda in the US market had someone popular parachuted into appearing in her promotional video? Why, Leona, why?

"I'm a big 'Gossip Girl' fan," she told The Associated Press. "I love that show. I just love it. We get it back home [in England], but it's like one season back, so it's kind of hard to catch up, but I love it."

She just loves it. That's why. She was always talking about Gossip Girl, wasn't she? Couldn't shut up about it when she was on The X Factor. Chance Crawford's presence in the video isn't, in any way, an attempt to try and spark some interest in her new record. No no no.