The shocking answer revealed below, as well as other details about the Sheffield boys' second disc. Plus: Marilyn Manson's chilling UK press junket, and a Klaxons video contest

This article is more than 13 years old

This article is more than 13 years old

It's the question on everybody's lips: just what kind of trousers were the Arctic Monkeys wearing when they recorded their breathily anticipated second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare? Well that secret can now be revealed...

But not just yet...

Or even now...

Wait for it...

Yes! They were MC Hammer trousers! Exclusively revealing his preferred leg covering during recording sessions at XFM, new Monkeys bassist Nick O'Malley confessed: "If you're gonna try and create a good atmosphere, why not wear some MC Hammer parachute trousers?"

Huh? Has the man/boy never heard of a cheese and wine party?

"Comfort first of course, with a bonus aesthetic... it's a guilty pleasure of ours"

He didn't explain quite what the bonus aesthetic was, and whether said bonus aesthetic can come into play if you get five numbers in the lottery.

The band also wibbled on about the music that inspired the album - like Ricky Martin and the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film soundtrack (but which one?) - and how producer James Ford (of SMD fame) made them listen to the ESG back catalogue in order for drummer Matt Helders to try and imitate the beats.

Feeling rather left out by all this XFM exclusivity, In the News pledges to have a Monkeys exclusive of its own before (or on) the album's release next Monday.

Some people may be inclined to deride Marilyn Manson, the former G*d of F*ck and richest Goth in history. But let's just see how those mockers feel after they've spent an hour in a hotel room with him and their eyes have turned into ice cubes.

Lifting the lid on the crazy world of heavily managed hotel room interviews, the Sun's Vicky Newton - the best-connected Goth in showbiz - explains that Manson's recent trip to the UK to promote his new album Eat Me, Drink Me was not short on chilling demands.

"He ordered staff at Mayfair's posh Metropolitan Hotel to draw the curtains and switch off the lights so the room was pitch black.

"And he told them to turn the air conditioning on full blast so it was icy cold. Anyone in summery clothes shivered their backside off - and struggled to see him in the darkness."

Seeing him as a member of the Darkness, however, now that's a far more conceivable proposition.

It's all the rage. Asking your fans to direct your videos. Yeah, it's like well 2009, yeah? And so it isn't surprising to find the ambassadors of tmrrw, Klaxons, advocating a bit of User Generated Pop Promo material.

According to Joe Mott's double-award-winning Hot, fans are encouraged to submit videos for the Klaxons' next single, Totem on the Timeline, to Qoob.com. And the winning entry may even become the single's official video. Or something. We can't really be sure, because Klaxons have yet to put the details of the competition up.

Still, if the promotional blurb on Qoob.com is anything to go by, this competition is going to be nearly as hot as Joe Mott. "QOOB is television turned inside out. The stiff walls of TV as we know it are being torn down to make way for the open trails of webodome."

See you there gang!