Scene + Heard

MUSIC NEWS: Reginald D Hunter’s series, Songs of the South, is essential viewing for music fans tomorrow night (BBC Two, 9pm), and this second episode is all the more attractive because it is followed by a new documentary on James Brown. 

This week, the well-known comedian is in his home state of Georgia, talking about a diverse range of music that takes in the B52s and REM, as well as Ludacris and the soul centre of Muscle Shoals. U2’s new single is ‘Songs of Innocence’, the title track of their album, and the video features a dramatisation of violence in the North in 1980s, taken from a short film by Belfast filmmaker, Aoife McArdle. Finally, a Swedish medical team has confirmed what many of us have long-suspected. Listening to hard rock can be addictive. NME reports that Roger Tullgren has been officially declared addicted to heavy metal music. He attends 300 gigs a year. The medical intervention means the 42-year-old is now entitled to disability benefits.