Music Blogs

Some ten years after first splitting, to little or no national grief, it would seem unlikely that Boyzone could make headlines in 2008 for anything other than if they returned as a girl band. Well, blow me if yesterday they didn't get into a bloody brawl with Rihanna's hard-nosed entourage, amid impossible claims that Shane Lynch "hadn't slept for two weeks". Amazing scenes and absolutely to be encouraged. Today, however, it looks as though they may have bettered it by taking an axe to one of pop music's few remaining taboos.

The band's new single, "Better", sees the reformed five-piece become one of the few acts to deal with homosexuality in a video. Stephen Gately is, of course, gay and explained why the band decided to address that fact with the promo. "I came out in 1999 and it was a big issue at the time and I don't think I could have done this video without having a guy in the video. I think it's important for me to be true to myself. The lads were saying, 'You've got to do this'. They were pushing saying, 'This would be fantastic'. It's the first of its kind. That's why I went for it."

Gately and Boyzone's commendably bold intentions come at a time when rather more radical opinons are still being expressed by high-profile stars. Eminem collaborator, rapper Trick Trick, has banned gays from buying his new album, "The Villain", explaining: "I don't want your faggot money any goddamn way. I don't like it. Carry that sh*t somewhere else", he ranted rather provocatively. "The world is changing for the worst when sh*t like that happens. And I address that issue. I address it hard as hell", explained Trick Trick, as if the last million years had never happened. Well, Famethrowa knows which side he's on, as it were.