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Rock 'n' roll star: Noel Gallagher’s Union Jack guitar is set to be part of the exhibition — but you can see him perform live with Oasis

Best of British? A video interview with Cliff Richard will be among exhibits

New foil: Alicia Keys duets with Jack White

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Don't put pop in a museum
What's the best way to experience British music? Go to a gig, most would say, or buy some of the hundreds of classic albums to have emanated from these isles over the decades. Going to an exhibition about it sounds far less appealing, nevertheless top concert promoter Harvey Goldsmith announced more details this week about the British Music Experience, a new permanent collection of memorabilia and interactive displays due to open inside the O2 Arena in March next year.

He's promising a look at Humphrey Lyttleton's trumpet, David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust costume, Annie Lennox's Union Jack outfit from the 1999 Brit Awards and Noel Gallagher's guitar, as well as video interviews with acts including Cliff Richard and second division rapper Kano.

Excited? Me neither. This could be the launch that sees the O2 losing its golden touch. Unless you are 11 and get dragged there by a teacher (school parties will get in for £5 a head instead of the standard £15), why would you take time to gaze at rock's by-products when the real thing is happening in thrilling ways all around you? Hardly any musicians are museum pieces these days — they're all still out gigging in the busiest, most vibrant live scene in years. There'll be plenty of opportunities to see Gallagher playing his guitar for real in the coming months. And with the likes of Elton John, Kanye West and Coldplay all appearing in the flesh at the O2 in the near future, popping next door to look at some static instruments would seem like a very minor afterthought.

The British Music Experience is also offering the opportunity to try out a guitar, drums and keyboard in a studio but with the advent of simple home recording computer programmes such as Apple's GarageBand, it's never been easier to have a stab at songwriting without leaving the house.

Rock memorabilia is hardly in short supply either, which is why there are around 150 Hard Rock Cafés in the world. There you can see stuff like this for free — all you have to do is eat an expensive burger in the vicinity of Italian teenagers.

Those behind the exhibition might argue that they fill a gap, as there is nothing else like this in Britain, but history suggests that is because people aren't all that interested. A Madame Tussauds spin-off, the rather naff Rock Circus, closed in 2001. The year before that saw the closure of something very similar to the British Music Experience, the Lottery-funded Centre for Popular Music in Sheffield. Despite a much-hyped launch and a stunning stainless steel building, it had nowhere near as many visitors as it was expecting and shut down after just 16 months.

Perhaps one day, when the music industry is as dead as many worry it is going to be, people will want to go and look at guitars in glass cases in the same way as they can now look at steam engines and looms. But at a time when music has never been so accessible and plentiful right now, why bother treating it as history?    

Jack's not Bonded just yet
When it comes to Bond themes, it's still agreed that nobody does it better than Shirley Bassey, Carly Simon, John Barry and the great tunes of the Sixties and Seventies. But though the Bond franchise became cheesy and tired in Pierce Brosnan's later years, Daniel Craig's back-to-beginnings reinvention of the character has revived it. Surely the same should be said for the theme songs?

The last one I can hum off the top of my head is probably Duran Duran's A View to a Kill from 1985, which doesn't say much for the recent efforts. Chris Cornell's gruff dirge You Know My Name, which accompanied Craig's acclaimed first donning of the tuxedo, was poor. Now the theme to next month's Quantum of Solace has been revealed it's got drama but sadly is another forgettable tune.

Jack White, of The White Stripes, has written it, played guitar and drums and sung it as a duet with an unlikely foil, R&B diva Alicia Keys. Sensibly, he's called it Another Way to Die rather than trying to get the curious phrase Quantum of Solace into the chorus.

As we'd expect of White, the song is louder than most and less polished, with a Seventies rock feel that gives it most in common with Paul McCartney's Live and Let Die. It should sound better with tightly choreographed explosions. But White's union with Keys sounds forced and the excessive horns sound like he's tried too hard to stick to the over-the-top formula. it's released as a single on 6 October, though it might be best to wait to hear it in context when the film is released on 31 October.

NEW ON THE NET
*Barging in on an autumn of huge album releases that includes comebacks by Oasis, Dido, Snow Patrol, Keane and The Killers are Razorlight, who by the sound of things are now going all out to be bigger than them all. Their third album comes out in November, and Wire to Wire is the first single from it, a part-gospel, piano-led epic that has stadiums in mind — find it in download stores from today. Shirtless show-off Johnny Borrell will be inescapable by Christmas.

*No aspect of life is lacking an awards ceremony these days, and that includes pop on the net. This year's BT Digital Music Awards take place at the Roundhouse on Wednesday, where innovative websites deemed worthy of a nomination include recommendation site peoplesmusicstore.com, clubbing portal www.residentadvisor.net, music investment site www.sellaband.com
and online music mag www.drownedinsound.com.
 
*I've been lucky enough to hitch a ride in a taxi with My Morning Jacket for Black Cab Sessions, a gloriously simple idea that sees bands playing a stripped down song on a short cab ride, which is then filmed and put online at www.blackcabsessions.com. I wish I'd been there to see this week's passenger, Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson. Landing Wilson is a huge step up for the folks behind the site, who usually travel with indie favourites such as Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes. Expect Madonna to be squeezing into a cabbie's back seat soon, perhaps.

 

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