Martin, Photographer Tangle

Chris Martin will appear in Byron Bay Local Court in Australia this fall to answer charges of malicious damage after an alleged altercation with a photographer yesterday.

Coldplay performed in Melbourne on Friday night, and Martin and a small entourage visited Byron Bay's Seven Mile Beach in New South Wales on Sunday to surf before playing the Splendour in the Grass festival. Freelance photographer Jon Lister reportedly snapped some pictures of the Coldplay frontman, who left the water and demanded that the digital pics be erased. According to Lister, Martin smashed the winshield of his car and let the air out of his tires. Coldplay will play in Auckland, New Zealand, on Thursday, before leaving for the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan on July 26th, a show in Thailand next week and festival appearances in the U.K. next month. Martin is scheduled to appear in court on October 8th.

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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