tmidgett wrote:brad
getting back to the first couple slates
i just want to know if we can still be friends, is all
CRAP
Beck: crap-hop, folkrap, rockrap, and rhythm'n'crap
Doors, The: on the whole, crap, though jim seemed to figure this out by _l.a. woman_, which made that a pretty good record. but still, basically unlistenable crap. i say crap. it doesn't scare me and it makes me laugh.
Guns 'n' Roses: crayeeayeeayeeap
Smiths, The: crap from a young male ass falling into a basket of petunias. tho 'how soon is now' is pretty good.
The Cure: crap fertilizer on a hair farm
Stereolab: burblecrap for girls
King Crimson: crappertronics
Tom Waits: the bee fart in beefheart--crap
Ministry: there can be no argument that ministry is crap throughout their long career
NOT CRAP
Aerosmith: a good bass player, a good drummer, a very good guitar player who (in terms of sheer quantity) has played more good guitar than jeff beck ever did, and a pretty funny singer. not crap.
Clash, The: poseurs, si. crap, no.
Public Enemy: not crap, tho i don't know when i will play these records again
Who, The: a surprising amount of crap in the catalog of this band that is not crap and has in fact written maybe three of the greatest fifty or so rock songs ever
ZZ Top: a friend of mine thinks they are really no better than, say, 38 special and that anyone who thinks they are superior to the rolling stones is wrong. i like the rolling stones better, but zz top is not crap.
AC/DC: oh come on now. so obviously not crap, having made the single greatest SOUNDING rock record in the history of rock music.
Siouxsie and the Banshees: you know what? not crap! you have to go back and really think about it.
I am puzzled as to why we would not be friends. Not only are our lists virtually identical, but, hell, you are Mr. Musical Correctness. Who am I to judge?
The only points of contention, and they're small ones, are The Clash and The Who. The Clash give me the creeps; their music sounds culturally exploitive to me, sort of like Paul Simon in the 1980s (but with even less charm, if that's possible). Plus, dumb rock reactionaries are always fighting an uphill battle with me. And where are the hooks outside of "Train in Vain", which I quite like? To sell that brand of 70/80s left-leaning pseudo-intellectual political stridency to me, you gotta catch me with a good pop hook (see, Midnight Oil (Not Crap), R.E.M. (Not Crap) or, on certain occasions, U2 (CRAP)). So, The Clash - crap.
With The Who, they're something far worse than crap; they're boring, deathly so, and that's saying something with that rhythm section. Just plain whetstone dull. So, The Who - crap. (As a sidenote, what are the three songs by The Who that you cite as being among the top 50 songs of all time?)
By the way, .38 Special had some really good moments, particularly when one performs a Jamesian era-adjustment.
So friends we will remain!