Popular songs about contemporary fads can be hit-and-miss affairs. For every "Surfin' USA" that captures the zeitgeist and endures in its own right, there is a "Convoy", those novelty records that sound laughable as soon as the trend (in this case, CB radio) passes its sell-by date.

Davy Jones was the young actor who most enjoyed and best understood the phenomenon of the Monkees that shot him to fame in the Sixties. Blessed with a great sense of humour and charming personality, he was better able to cope with fame and adulation than many of his contemporaries.

Davy Jones, the lead singer of 1960s pop band The Monkees, has died in America.

Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48.

Madonna's Super Bowl show has drawn criticism for nothing other than the material girl's age. Fiona Sturges is indignant

Naming your band after one of the all-time great albums is quite a yoke to saddle yourself with, and The Big Pink are making heavy weather of it on Future This.

There's an inter-denominational inclusivity theme to Carole King's seasonal offering. The star turn is "Chanukah Prayer", a haunting, jazz-inflected Jewish hymn on which she's joined by her daughter Louise Goffin (who also produced the album) and grandson Hayden Wells.

Laura Marling has dropped the obligatory encore. Other acts should too, says Elisa Bray

The world swarms with dangerous beasts that, given the opportunity, will have you for lunch. Lions like to seize you by the throat and shake you as a dog shakes a rat. Leopards prefer to jump on you in the dark and dispatch you with a single bite to the back of the head. Hyenas use their powerful jaws to take chunks off you as you run away. Crocs, on the other hand, roll you in the water and shake you until bits fall off.

Today our prawn cocktail culture holds up Lady Gaga as the cutting edge

Pastoral English psychedelicism has a long and curly reach.

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War has always inspired great music, says Jessica Duchen, but since 9/11 classical has fallen behind pop in a world racked by conflict

I heard people close to Tinie Tempah talk passionately about how his appeal and personal qualities were part of a Britain that went beyond race, long before he had really broken through. The 22,000 around me at his first arena show are that universal audience, united in thrilling fervour as he's crowned a pop king.