[Ruth]

Originally posted by CharlotteSometimes
I think Weller has every right to criticise Preston. Let's put it in context - he didn't call a news conference, or issue a statement. He was asked what his opinion was, and he replied honestly. On the Ordinary Boys' own official forum, almost all of the regular, more mature members back Weller, rather than Preston. Only three posts out of 27 disagree with his comments, and most of them are in agreement that there wouldn't even be an Ordinary Boys at all, were it not for Weller's influence.

Weller clearly saw someone he thought had prospects selling his soul on live tv. People may like Preston's music - personally, I think it's pretty shoddy third-rate 2 Tone pastiche. And they may like him as a person - personally, I think he's a charlatan, pretending the silver spoon in his mouth is plastic. He's the Damon Albarn of the noughties, in fact. Overall, we saw a little man worried that his band was about to be dropped from their recording contract, acting out of desperation. He got up, showed that he's a very gullible, naive and not particularly bright person, flirted with a bimbo and thoroughly humiliated his long-term partner on live tv, and then went back to bed once again. A nonentity as far as entertainment is concerned, with a complete absence of anything that could even remotely be described as 'rock star credentials'.

With the amount of exposure he's had, record sales have been extremely poor in comparison. He's lost much of his band's fanbase (once the Ordinary Army, now the Prestines) in one fell swoop, with disillusioned former fans posting on the Ordinary Boys' forum calling him a 'media *****'. A third of the bands' dates at small venues around the country still haven't sold out - basically because many of his former fans have deserted him, and his new fans aren't allowed out after dark. But for the last word on the Ordinary Boys, look no further than their interview in the current edition of N.M.E. His comments in reference to CBB are clearly massive distortions of the truth - but he puts the final nail in the coffin all by himself with the quite pathetic comment; "We're a punk band at heart". If Ordinary Boys are a punk band, then Sugababes are death metal, and Il Divo are industrial techno.

Well said. I agree 100%.