Underground, Overground

Is this what we went through the Sixties for? It's difficult to decide whether the sleeve of Atom Heart Mother being adorned with the Queen's head and stuck on a stamp is a win or a lose.

This is the conundrum posed by a new set of official UK postage stamps dedicated to Pink Floyd.

The Floyd once appeared to be the epitome of the counterculture. Have they now been fully subsumed by the establishment? Or have they simply made a mockery of it?

On balance, maybe we should just smile and move on.

A set of Sex Pistols stamps next? With Johnny Rotten alongside the Queen's head...

A Medal For Morrissey

He may be a little crazy, but Morrissey provided a highlight of the Olympics with his declaration that "the spirit of 1939 Germany now pervades throughout media-brand Britain".

Isn't Morrissey's attack on mindless jingoism what you expect from rock stars? Well, it used to be. From Jim Morrison through to Johnny Rotten, it used to be part of the job description to attack and upset the establishment.

John Lennon did a pretty good stint in the job... only to be resurrected without his knowledge and appropriated for the Olympics (courtesy of Yoko Ono).

Paul McCartney... er, we know how that worked out. And even Pete Townshend, one-time angry young mod and subverter of the Union Jack, agreed to take part in the Olympics finale...

There was speculation about why Kate Bush didn't appear live (leaving one of her songs to be used completely out of context). Is it possible that she has too much artistic integrity?

Lennon alive (rather than Lennon dead) would surely not have allowed himself to be subsumed by the establishment. He might even have said something to leave Morrissey in the shade.