As you no doubt realize by now, print publications are now an endangered species. Vanity Fair, always quick to provide a semi-obnoxious spin on recent trends, has taken this opportunity to “merge” some mainstream print publications into some rather ridiculous (yet not altogether unforseen) hybrids. Hence the above illustration: “Town & Country & Guns & Ammo.” A couple of even more ridiculous examples can be viewed here, but let’s quickly shift gears to the music industry, which has also watched the internet quickly destroy much of its (already shaky) infrastructure in recent years. Our very own antihero, Pete Doherty, along with the the rest of Babyshambles fears that indie music is either in hibernation mode or full-out dead:

With electro pop riding high after the emergence of acts like La Roux, 21, and Lady GaGa, 23, [Babyshambles] has been forced to scrap plans for a 2009 release.

Drummer Adam Ficek explained: “The ‘Shambles won’t release until late next year, when the scene is more fruitful. At the moment there are many guitar bands struggling. People have got bored because there’s a generic sound. There was a lot of money going into indie music so more mediocre bands have managed to sustain a career out of it.”

Yes, nearly every indie band sounds the same right now! However, all is not lost, for Adam predicts an indie resurrection:

He said: “A band similar to The Stone Roses or Oasis will emerge in the next three or four years. Someone young with something to say, as no bands have anything to say right now. We haven’t had a good working-class band for ages. The kids don’t want to be like Arctic Monkeys because they’re not characters like Liam Gallagher or Damon Albarn.”

Until that time, various members of Babyshambles will focus on their solo projects for the time being. Hopefully, Pete Doherty can also keep his ass out of jail too, but that may just be too much to ask for, mates.