ASK XHUXK

um..."Bambi"???

what is your favorite Dylan song?

um...."Positively Fourth Street"???

what is your favorite Angel City song?

um..."Take a Long Line"???

Do you own any albums by Riot?

Yes! Maybe even two!!

What was your favorite rap album from the 90's?

Great question! Um...Lordz of Brooklyn, *All in the Family* maybe? Though there are probably better ones I'm not thinking of right now.

do you think Cyrus is a good name for a boy?

yes! he would be an achy breaky baby!

baby on monday if all goes well. wish us luck!)

good luck, scott and maria (and rufus)!!!

what was the last work of fiction you read?

um...jonathan lethem, *fortress of solitude*? but if i think of one i read after that, i will let you know.

what is your definition of a good music critic in 5 words?

Scott Seward, Cyrus's future dad

isn't Decibel the coolest magazine in forever!!??

it is certainly way up there!

----------------

And now: NO MORE QUESTIONS!!!! (Or okay, people can ask them if they really really want, but I may or may not answer them this year.)

Fosters, at least this month. I will have to think for a couple years about the albums, though.

>why are so many people who love music so caustic when discussing it? <

hmmmmm....inability to properly schedule lunch breaks?

1. Why do you like Tina Marie so much? Why her and not, say, Taylor Dane? Same shit.
2. Who is "The Long & Winding Road" about?
3. Why must you continually deny the greatness of the early Misifts?
4. Is it fashionably acceptable to wear a brown shoes with black pants?
5. When was the last time you actually listned to a Kix record?
6. Glossy or Matte? What's your preference?
7. Who was your favorite Bond girl?
8. Throbbing Gristle or Iron Maiden. Pick one. Cite reasons.
9. In your estimation, when did Hardcore die?
10. What was the first record you ever bought in your life, and where did you get it?

Typed as if sung by Mark E. Smith

I DO like Taylor Dayne! Just not as much. Teena (at her best) uses louder guitars, has more Caribbean rhythms, and has way funnier words. Among other things. Why do you always spell her name wrong?

>4. Is it fashionably acceptable to wear a brown shoes with black pants?<

Maybe? I am wearing brown shoes with faded blue jeans now. I have one pair of black pants at home, but rarely wear them. My brown (earth!) shoes are new, so I have not yet worn them with those black pants.

>8. Throbbing Gristle or Iron Maiden. Pick one. Cite reasons.<

Throbbing Gristle, at least until Iron Maiden do a song about hamburgers. (So Throbbing Gristle vs. Focus or Jimmy Buffet or Michael Hurley would have been a tougher choice.)

>9. In your estimation, when did Hardcore die?<

When Henry Rollins joined Black Flag? Okay maybe not. But maybe when they grew their hair. Or when the first Flipper album came out, and made hardcore bands seem really dumb in comparison.

>10. What was the first record you ever bought in your life, and where did you get it?<

"In the Year 2525" by Zager and Evans. Cincinnatti, which I probably just spelled wrong.

What do you think of the Ying Yang Twins song "Wait (The Whisper Song)" and what do you think of this review of said song?

xp

I like "Wait" okay, but way less than most of the songs on the Ying Yang Twins first two albums, and other ones on a couple DVDs and EPs by them I've heard. I have never been very much of a whispering fan, in general. I probably won't read that review for a while.

I played "Get Your Monkeys Out" during a DJ set in the past couple months. Last summer I played a live bootleg CD by them in a rentacar. I wish I had more time to play old albums I love, but I really don't, since I spend almost all my time keeping up with new stuff I just got.

>Have any of the artists ever responded directly to a review that you wrote? Do you think it is fair play for a musician to respond to criticism, or is it obnoxious behaviour? Have you ever hoped to provoke such a resonse?<

I wrote about this on this board sometime last month -- There's a thread about it, starting with a link to John Darnielle's website I think. I write about responses I've received from Henry Rollins, Lydia Lunch, and John Waite. But nope, I've never provoked such a response on purpose, honest!

Worst: That the Tragically Hip's publicists actually believe they're important enough here that U.S. critics will come to a pre-release listening session of their new album in a record company office. (Honorable mention: That people think Moxy Fruvous were ever funny.)

Should Emilio Estefan change his name to Emilio Estefonz?

I'll take my answer off the air.

The one on the right, I think:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:60q6g4kptvoz

>why did they get rid of jockbeat?<

no idea! i used to think the voice music section should be way more like the voice sports section. (though since I got here, I think it's a lot more like the voice sports section than it used to be.)

>have you ever thought about running more, er, thinkpiece (hear me out!) type things a la john leland's old singles column or the occasional xgau 'rock & roll &...', something outside of 'record reviews' (not counting the sounds of the city/industry sections obv)?<

have i ever thought about it? sure!

> why is there a bright eyes tourblog on the voice site?<

because the web editor assigned it, i would assume. (i keep meaning to read it, but i haven't yet. i hope some people like it, though.)

>jets or giants?<

who cares?

THANK YOU. TELL IT LIKE IT IS.

see also: Barenaked Ladies

who would be the American equivalent of Boney M?

which may mean: who is gigantically popular in the states (in that they are played in stadiums or at sporting venues), and yet completely unknown outside of the US? since no-one in the US seems to know about Boney M, yet every European is familiar with them.

I'm not Xhuuxxkxkuhxk but Milli Vanilli was the closest, if we're talking being popular in the U.S.

(ok, I should shut up and let xhuxk answer.)

xp

And yeah, I think there are TONS of American Boney M's (or American Slades etc.), as this board makes clear pretty much every day.

One last note on record reviews as think pieces:

(The trick, if you really wanna know, is to assign the piece, and then when the page is designed, quasi-arbitrarily stick the names of a couple records mentioned in it up at the top. For a recent example, see Tom Hull's excellent and fairly unprecedeted smooth jazz essay.)

In one piece, I believe you wrote an article on songs that used fake live audiences in singles. You notably left off probably one key track.. Sweet's "Teenage Rampage". Was this simply an innocent overlooking? Or is there something you have against that song? If the latter, why don't you like the song?

(Which came first, though, "Blockbuster" or "Teenage Rampage"? The Sweet were very skilled at ripping off themselves, either way.)

I agree this totally stinks. I've pestered the web people about it REPEATEDLY, and they tell me techno mumbo jumbo about, um, Pavement being obsessed with surfaces or something. You can now always link to the most recent Consumer Guide from the ticker at the top of the music webpage, though, and his last several from the bottom of the Consumer Guide itself. But regardless, I am crossing my fingers that Xgau's columns (Rock&Roll& too, right?) will be scrolldownable soon.

xp

You've totally fucked my chances of ever using "xopher" as my screen name.

"christ-hu-christ-k"

But okay, now people are asking questions I already answered! (And I need to get out of here.)

What's your take on songs about rough sex, in general?

(blount, i already asked about ying yang)

see *Accidental Evolution,* p. 299

Also: "Hollaback Girl." Okay I really gotta now.

How did you come up with such fantastic names for your children?

Your pal,
Je4nne

chuck, why do people say interpol sounds like the chameleons uk?

I'll volunteer and answer "LISTEN TO ONE 'UP THE DOWN ESCALATOR' AND HEAR TEH PREINTERPOL" :)

(and despite the nay-sayers, I listened to the first half of it, including the Chameleons song, and the mix works VERY well! Then again, it was mostly the stuff I don't already have, granted.)

2) Do you know of any reverse-backlash disco songs that talk about how dumb rock'n'roll is? If so, which is your favorite?

3) Do you still think Radio Birdman is lame? That bit about 'em in StH made me sad.

4) You have 2/3 of one of history's greatest double-play combinations in Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, who both earned consecutive Gold Gloves in 1983 and 1984. If you could pick any first baseman in Detroit Tigers history for them to complete the 6-4-2, who would it be?

5) The Suburbs or the Suicide Commandos?

Did you know that Fosters is not a very nice Australian beer? Might I recommend instead trying Coopers, available in Pale Ale, Sparkling Ale & Stout. Far more pleasing to the palate. Fosters is kinda nasty. Plus, Australia imports it overseas because no-one there drinks it anymore...

have you ever had to physically fend off a musician or musicians you dissed in a review using only a writing utensil as defense

Anyway.

Tigers first baseman: Hank Greenberg? Norm Cash? They were no slouches defensively, right? And Cash had that really great fluke year in 1961. (I have not really paid obsessive-compulsive attention to baseball since the free agent rule went into effect three decades ago, though, so what the hell do I know. Curt Flood is either a saint or a devil, I have never figured out which. Probably both, in a way.)

My favorite hip-hop album of the '80s: ALT and the Lost Civilization's *Another Latin Time Bomb* might also be in the running. And the first Cypress Hill album. And LL Cool J's *Mama Said Knock You Out,* though strangely I do know own a copy, just 12-inches of its two best singles (which do not include the title track, by the way, though I like that one fine, too.) Or L'Trimm's *Groovy.* Or *Devil Without a Cause* by Kid Rock. Or MC Solar's *Paradisiaque* or however it's spelled. Or something by New Kingdom. Or....do Los Umbrellous, Mo-Do, Midi Maxi & Efti, and/or De'de' Trake' count. They all rapped, right? Or maybe something else.

Last work of fiction I read: Actually, I'm pretty sure I read *Middlesex* by Jeffrey Eugenides after the Lethem novel, come to think of it. (Bonus answer, to a question nobody asked: Last writer I read three nonfiction books in a row by was David Gates. Before that, Mary Gaitskill.)

Reverse-backlash anti-rock'roll disco song: "There But For the Grace of God," maybe? Not sure whether the Machine version or the Kid Creole version, though.

Suburbs or Suicide Commandos: Wow, I am so not from Minnesota. (Am I allowed to pick the Sports?)

Best-dressed band: Somebody really should have called me on my rockism for thoughtlessly selecting Slade and Mott over the Shangri-Las, but tragically, nobody did!

Radio Birdman: Were pretty good, actually; I did like that SST comp a few years ago. Could've used a better singer, though. And as Aussie punks go, I'd still take Angel City or Rose Tattoo anyday.

Moby shirt: Nah, that's long gone, not because of Moby (who I really have nothing against, though I don't think I have any music by him in my house anymore, either), but because after a few months I decided that three-quarter length pullover shirts make no fucking sense at all. I got rid of my Tsar one, too. They're just really uncomfortable!

M.I.A.: Should not let the green grass fool her.

Dj-ing: Probably the 12-inch Bar, sometime sooner or later, unless Piano's gets me styluses for next Saturday night (since I am too cheap to buy my own). If they do, I may be DJ-ing in between sets by a few local Latin rock bands, who asked me to do so.

And oh yeah, kids names!: They're from TV cartoons. And *King Lear.*

HEENEY MAJESKI
JOHNNY GEE
EDDIE JOOST
JOHNNY PESKY
THORNTON LEE
DANNY GARDELLA
VAN LINGLE MUNGO

WHITEY KUROWSKI
MAX LANIER
EDDIE WAITKUS
JOHNNY VANDER MEER
BOB ESTALELLA
VAN LINGLE MUNGO

AUGIE BERGAMO
SIGMUND JAKUCKI
BIG JOHNNY MIZE
and
BARNEY MCCOSKY
HAL TROSKY
AUGIE GALAN
and
PINKY MAY
STAN HACK
and
FRENCHY BORDAGARAY
PHIL CAVARRETTA
GEORGE MCQUINN
HOWARD POLLET
and
EARLY WYNN
ROY CAMPANELLA
VAN LINGLE MUNGO

AUGIE BERGAMO
SIGMUND JAKUCKI
BIG JOHNNY MIZE
and
BARNEY MCCOSKY
HAL TROSKY
JOHN ANTONELLI
FERRIS FAIN
FRANKIE CROSETTI
JOHNNY SAIN
HARRY BRECHEEN
and
LOU BOUDREAU
FRANKIE GUSTINE
and
CLAUDE PASSEAU
EDDIE BASINSKI
ERNIE LOMBARDI
HUEY MULCAHY
VAN LINGLE

VAN LINGLE MUNGO

----

Jams: They can rent the Wire DVDs from Mondo Kim's, just like I did!!

I read that you are into The Horslips, what are your other favorite irish bands?

Taylor Dayne is probably a little bit more of a powerhouse singer, though.

-- i do not now and never have had a favorite go-betweens album. as a matter of fact, i don't really have any go-betweens opinions at all!

-- i am quite fond of thin lizzy and the early boomtown rats.

-- never saw debbie deb live; frank did, though, and wrote about it. sadly, i don't believe his review is available on line anywhere.

-- taylor is a mere powerhouse. teena is a power sears tower.

Done, and thanks. :-)

This is so its own thread, man.

-What are the greatest and shittiest Led Zeppelin cover songs? And which side of Physical Graffitti rules hardest?

-What is the best "lookit us, we are using a kooky unconventional instrument practically unheard of in pop music" song? (inspired by listening to the wicked electric jug on 13th Floor Elevators' "You're Gonna Miss Me")

all right, fine.

Sorry, no Stella (what is it, Belgie?) on tap or even in bottles in PA ca. "Old Man Bar" and "Junior's Bar." Most "foreign" beer was Heinekin or the infrequent St. Pauli Girl, and only in bottles. Schmidt's of Philadelphia, Yuengling, Bavarian, Rolling Rock and Schaefer was what you got in the east. What, Straub's and Iron City in the west? Stroh's if it was after '78. Blatz or Pabst were also options.

I've been here 3 years and still, I come to this cool thread & all I can talk about is beer. 'You can take the girl out of Australia...etc'

Anyway, here's a question:

What is *dumb* music anyway? I generally use the term in a positive light, in the sense that listening to an AC/DC tune just gets me in the mood for just plain damn dumb fun. Which is probably pretty smart on their parts, actually.

So what would you consider *dumb* music?

1. What is the greatest single music writing piece that you have ever read? (Mine excepted, of course.)

2. Which popular and critically-acclaimed musical act do you think is correctly highly-rated? (My band, Dolores Delvecchio, excepted, of course.) (Also better DQ my other band, Nightwurm and the Golden Gofers, which never actually played a gig and is therefore perfect.)

3. Who is the biggest music-related jerk (musician, publicist, label head, writer) you have ever interviewed and/or interacted with? (Me excepted, of course.)

Breathless,

Matt C.

2. dumb music = anything i don't like (since i figure it takes some degree of intelligence to create music i like).

3. zep questions - gotta think about these for a couple months (well, maybe at least a week or so for the physical graffiti side one) (not sure if the other one meant covers OF zep or cover BY zep though).

4. old car question - gotta think about this for a couple years

5. george smith on pennsy early '80s beers: very informative

6. aussies on hating fosters: considerably less helpful, yet entertaining. again, apparently my anosmia does come into play. then again, many aussies i've met also prefer Powderfinger to Angel City.

7. go-betweens: oops, actually i DO have a favorite album by them -- *Bellavista Terrace: The Best of the Go-Betweens*, sitting right there on my CD shelf between Goatsnake and the Goddam Gentlemen. I also have an opinion about them, actually! I.e.: More bands should do at least one song about a librarian, sometime in their life.

8. junior's bar vs. old man bar: come to think of it, i'd hear better stories in old man bar. and in the songs, only the old man bar has a jukebox ("full of memories," which given that these are ww II vets i might have no use for--I mean, sinatra's great, but not what i like to drink to usually); junior's bar has a live band (playing a "poor boys' symphony"), who might suck. then again, maybe the band in that bar is the iron city houserockers? and junior's bar apparently contains several pretty people, whom one can look at. so: a tossup?

I answer this on Scott Woods's Popped website somewhere -- a top five. Just looked for it, but couldn't find the page. If somebody does, they can link if they want.

2. Which popular and critically-acclaimed musical act do you think is correctly highly-rated?

Well, this year the Hold Steady and M.I.A. are two of my favorite albums, so I guess I'll start with them. All time: Bob Dylan! And lots and lots of other people.

3. Who is the biggest music-related jerk (musician, publicist, label head, writer) you have ever interviewed and/or interacted with?

I'm gonna take the fifth on this one. Buy me several beers sometime, and maybe I'll talk.

On Joe Diffie: stick with the hits, or dig deeper?

Wondering,

Okie Manque

Not even sure how much I like Joe Diffie's hit, so I have never attempted to dig! (Didn't he do that one song about chaos theory, though, about how if a butterfly crashes into a tree in Iowa it eventually leads to earthquakes in China, or something like that? "Welcome to earth, thrid stone from the sun"? I kind of liked that one, however it went. The lyrics are recommended to Voivod.)

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement.

I admit to falling off the PSB wagon circa their U2 cover, which was really great, as it came out at the same time as Negativland's "cover", heh heh. (which is around the same time I'm guessing Xhuxkckck fell off.. 1991).. but I still have fond memories of PSB's "Absolutely Fabulous" song from 1994 or so, especially the video where Jennifer Saunders starts making even Chris Lowe crack up (THAT's a task!).. even though the song is just a cheap rip-off of Company B's "Fascinated".

More than that, he edited Smash Hits, the mag what reinvented the world in the early eighties.

Um, yeah. This wasn't well known? (I'm talking about the original UK magazine in the early eighties specifically, through about 84 I think?)

Listening to the new Go-Betweens album (which Xgau just gave an "A" to this week) now. It is, um....pleasant. I suppose.

did you ever get my email(s) then?

also, how do you like my new pants?

love,
jess

And yup, I did get the emails. It'll be a couple weeks before I can fit that review into the section, though, I think. Will be in touch.

-- favorite track on angel rat is panorama; favorite track on the outer limits is wrong way street; way prefer both of those albums to nothingface, which i only own on cassette and haven't played in years. so, i dunno...into my hypercube? the pink floyd cover? hmmm...

-- i just play whatever happens to be in the five-CD changer in the living room when I'm cleaning. Random mode. Don't have to get up and change it that way, and it's entertaining: life is random, y'know.

This statement is so over the top that it could have been a quote from Smash Hits itself.

[I had to Google 'Angel City' because I had no idea who you were referring to. Who the heck came up with ANGEL CITY? Is there another band here called The Angels? Yeeuch. No wonder no-one's heard of them over here, I'd stay away too just based on the name.]

So Chuck, I've got a question: Am I ever gonna see your face again? [I'll even shut up about beer if you know the answer]

Hooray!

FWIW Neil Tennant was a writer/editor (not THE editor) for the UK Smash Hits in the early 80s. Then he came to the states where he was editor of the US version (Star Hits)in late 83/ early 84, until the Pet Shop Boys starting happening in a serious way.

Clarity!

Teena Marie and Taylor Dayne are very much not the same shit, unless by "same shit" you mean something like "sound more like each other than they sound like Julie Andrews." Teena is Rick James type r&b bouncing twisting rubberband funk and she sings with 100 times the flexibility and variety (not always to her benefit, when she goes off into lengthy jazz noodling). Taylor Dayne is Ric Wake high-octane disco-stomp bar blare and nothing but bar blare, and come to think of it may indeed be closer to Julie Andrews than to Teena Marie, in that the vibe is show-must-go-on thump thump thump (which I like well enough, though I think Wake does it better with Celine Dion, actually, "Reveal" and "When the Wrong One Loves You Right," for instance). Each to his own and all that, but Teena's flexibility makes her warmer and sexier; the burrs and moans in "Lips to Find You" are inviting whereas the shout'n'bellow of "Tell It to My Heart" is merely pulverizing, and "Lips" when it revs up and knocks you loopy is actually just as pulverizing but is more sensual (and humorous) in grinding the listener to dust.

(as for what *bugs* me about house, i wrote a couple thousand words about that once.)

On ILM or in an article (or book)?

I guess. Is there? Sometimes it seems like there is so much house. I guess it depends on definitions.

(also house music IS a kind of disco, to my ears.)

I hear the connection, certainly, which is why it made sense to compare them and why I find it interesting that they hit me so differently (and I was assuming you felt more like I do than maybe you do). But then if you hear house as a sub-genre of disco, no, it wouldn't make sense to compare it to the overall genre.

(also lots of disco music does not have live bands on it, so to generalize that way seems very odd to me.)

Hmmm. I'm guessing my favorite stuff does, but maybe not.

(also neither house music nor non-house disco has only one rhythm, so that seems an odd way to generalize as well. and i really do like the house rhythms that remind me of boogie-woogie piano stuff, not to mention some of the ones that sound more latin and/or teutonic.)

I have to admit I've never really thought very much about the varieties of disco rhythms. I don't know, it seems like there is one underlying disco rhythm and house rhythm, as elaborated as that base might be, but maybe that's just wrong. I'm willing to drop it before I sound less informed than I already am sounding.

how's every little thing? what are you writing about?

love, skrot

Why haven't you gotten into the spirit of display name mania?

Just lazy, I guess!

XHUXK didn't you interview the Pet Shop Boys at their peak? that must've been some summit meeting. any memories worth sharing?

Yes. For Request. And it was. Hope to reprint it somewhere someday.

was manowar's 'kings of metal' on your heavy metal book? i cant remember. and if it wasnt, why the hell not?

Nope, just Fighting The World. Kings Of Metal apparently either not metal enough or not manly enough. (Actually, I've never even heard the thing. Martin Popoff only gave it a 6 out of 10, fwiw; he gave the one I did include a 9.)

Btw, kinda shocked by how much I overrated Foster's upthread, just four years ago; haven't drank one of those by choice for ages. Now sticking to mostly IPAs (Harpoon, Avery, Bear Republic Racer 5, maybe Shipyard or Michigan Brewing Company) at home. Still do order Stella's when it's on draught, though.

Dear Xhukx,

I'm listening to Blue Oyster Cult and wondering why boogie rock seems to have died out as a sub-genre. I still hear a fair amount of boogie blues… Also, why did bikers get into boogie to begin with? Alliteration?

Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2009

So what is this BUTT ROCK, anyway?

the term 'boogie' as referring to early 80s post-disco R&B, C or D

Strangely, though (especially despite "Buck's Boogie," and "Stairway To The Stars" opening with a very ZZ Top-like riff), BOC have never really struck me as a boogie band. I'm not sure why. Too New York Jewish wisecracky, maybe? Which souldn't matter.

>>why did bikers get into boogie to begin with

Possibly because things like "Roadhouse Blues" are conducive to drinking, brawling and chain fights.

is that what you did as a young man, george?

A certain amount of drinking and less brawling, yes. Part of the overhead of conducting business in biker bars.

I remember not long after I 1st moved to Hamilton 18 years ago, Dumpy's Rusty Nuts played the local heavy metal pub(long gone btw). Never seen so many bikers. Hundreds of bikes going all down the road. I wonder if any locals got in at all.

Some bar owners in my old neck of the woods -- southeast Pennsy -- liked bikers as patrons. And that was because they always spent much much more than the average shlub on beer and whiskey.

I think it was Chuck who once suggested that had the PSB been around in the '70s, Neil Tennant would have been strumming an acoustic guitar and singing folk songs (which is how their last album sounds, and why it sucks).

Tennant was in a folk rock band in the early 70s called Dust, apparently he's a massive Incredible String Band fan.

Xhuxk, are you familiar with The Blackout Crew and their hit 'Put a Donk On It'?

See #10 single

http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/critics/2008/684436

Tennant was in a folk rock band in the early 70s called Dust

Ha ha, just like Marky Ramone! Sort of.

xhuxk - do you know of a 70s hard rock band called New England? i have one album of theirs on cassette, it's produced by paul stanley i think and there's a song called "P.u.n.k. (Puny Undernourished Kid)"

See #10 single

http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/critics/2008/684436

Should've known that you'd heard of it and like it.

Matt, I comment on New England and "P.U.N.K." at these two permalinks:

Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2009

Rolling Metal Thread 2007, Part II

ah yeah cool figured it would be up your alley i bought it at a truck stop on cassette years ago...good stuff...real high energy

Tennant was in a folk rock band in the early 70s called Dust

Ha ha, just like Marky Ramone! Sort of.

xhuxk, any country picks this year for people who don't like country (along the lines of Miranda Lambert, say)? Or are you sick of that question?

Sorry if this is too OT, but where are you living these days? I'm just curious, as I've seen you make references to moving. (Also, one of these days I'd like to send you some of my famed salsa mixes.)

xhuxk, do you believe in life after love?

I belive both sides were against me since the day I was born.

And Rockist, I'm in Austin, the alt-country capital of America. (Been here since late February or so.)

And nah, not sick of the question, though I can never tell which country country-haters will like.

I'd probably shuffle these lists a little now (Charlie Robison album would move up a few notches, Toby Keith's "American Ride" single would land somewhere near the top despite being despicable), but these links list my half-year-gone favorites:

Rolling Country 2009 Thread

Rolling Country 2009 Thread

Rolling Country 2009 Thread

I did like some of Taylor's Swift's Fearless from last year, but the songs I like are most clustered in the first half. ("White Horse" gets me all choked up--WTF?!)

And Rockist, I'm in Austin, the alt-country capital of America.

EVERYBODY is moving west. Well, that makes two anyway.

I am all excited about this new release by a Philadelphia salsa band (so is stuff going to start heating up there now that I've left?). You should check it out before I actually hear it and decide it sucks like every other new salsa release. (Not that I think that is going to happen.)

dear chuck, what are your top 5 irish rock bands? i might have asked u this before.......

I'm in Austin

Welcome -- you've chosen a fine city, xhuxk!

your top 5 irish rock bands?

1. Thin Lizzy
2. Boomtown Rats
3. The Pogues (if they count as Irish -- they formed in London, right?*)
4. Them
5. Virgin Prunes

Honorable mentions: Phil Lynott solo, Van Morrison solo, Horslips, Starjets, U2 (through Under A Blood Red Sky only) Gilbert O'Sullivan, Stiff Little Fingers, Rory Gallagher, Therapy?, Undertones, probably lots of others I'm not thinking of right this second.

* I assume Dropkick Murphys and House Of Pain definitely don't count.

Oh yeah, left off Cruachan -- They're good too. Guess they're my Irish faves of the '00s. (Not sure off hand if any other jig-metal bands I like come from Ireland; hard to keep their nationalities straight.)

like that list. yeah id count pogues as irish, mcgowan was born and raised in tipperary. boomtown rats suck though sorry. i just despise bob geldof, but 'banana republic' is a great tune nevertheless. Starjets! never even heard of em. ever heard Stars Of Heaven? maybe a bit alt country for you though but it love em.

tonic for the troops is klassik.

boomtown rats suck though sorry

No way, first two albums are new wave the way it was meant to be made before synthesizers messed it all up. Thin Lizzy/Bruce/Sparks ripoffs pretending to be punk rock; how anybody could not love that is beyond me. Starjets were poppy fake punks, too -- teens who couldn't decide whether they wanted to be the Beach Boys or a metal band; you really owe it to yourself to check out "War Stories" and "School Days" off their debut (and only) album from 1979. Never heard Stars Of Heaven; I dunno what sounds less promising, Irish alt-country or Philly cheesesteak salsa (Hi there Rockist), but I promise to give both them and Bannakumbi a listen if I ever have the chance.

Protex were a awesome punk band from Belfast. actually there was a savage punk scene in Belfast.Radiators from Space, a very chuck friendly band too.

Philly cheesesteak salsa

Like there aren't plenty of Puerto Ricans in Philly. (Okay, my dance teacher came from South Philly, but that's just me.)

Yeah but I'd probably get my hopes about their r&b-inclusive "Philly-Rican hybrid" and hope they were channeling Gamble & Huff into salsa (which might actually sound really cool) (even cooler: "Double Dutch Bus"!), and then I'd just be disappointed...

That's true. I'm one their myspace and I don't hear anything that sounds like that.

What do you think of the new Hakim album?

hi xhuxk

i was watching the new "behind the music remastered" (whatever remastered means) on metallica on VH1 classic and during the part around when master of puppets came out and they went platinum, they showed a magazine cover - BAM Magazine i think it was - where the cover story was "Metallica: Top 40 The Radio Won't Touch" written by you...

anyway i was wondering if that's online anywhere and i was also curious as to why you wrote it cuz i never got the impression that you loved metallica all that much (though i know they do make stairway to hell's list iirc)

what is your favorite '00s hip-hop album?

man i would read the hell out of old BAM Magazines. Loved it when I was a kid. Pre-internet, I think it was my main source of music journalism. It was free, you see.

Ha ha, I did love Metallica then! Thought they were saving the world from hair-metal; no kidding. That was an interview with Ulrich that came out when Master Of Puppets was climbing the charts, and yeah, it was a cover story for BAM. Not readable online anywhere, as far as I know. May well be included in a book that should hit the stores sometime in the next couple years. (Cross your fingers.)

Favorite '00s hip-hop album: Probably The Marshall Mathers LP, unless Bring It On: Music From The Motion Picture counts.

thanks xhuxk....your name gets a pretty big closeup in the shot actually

xpost

i used to read Request a lot, which you got free at Musiclands, it was pretty good

in the 80s, BAM had the most amazing hair metal band want ads of all time (LA edition) -- someone should compile a book of them.

xp Also included David Banner's Mississippi: The Screwed And Chopped Album, Field Mob's From Tha Roota To Tha Toota, K'Naan's Troubador, Trick Daddy's Thug Matrimony: Married To The Streets, and Ying Yang Twins' Me And My Brother in a best-of-decade Top 50 list I put together for Rhapsody, fwiw.

But Tyler, you'll never be as cool as:

http://media.photobucket.com/image/hair%20metal/Ami4203/randyrhodesspelledwrongtattoo.jpg

hey how did a picture of my back get on the internet!

Oh NOW you claim it's you.

I DON'T SEE ANY HISSY POISON DEMOS ON DOOM AND GLOOM FROM THE TOMB, MISTER.

actually i saw a vinyl comp of some LA Guns 86 demos at the store the other day, wouldn't mind hearing them...

friend of mine actually had a bootleg of really early Crue recordings. Was pretty awful iirc.

xhuxk, which of the "Big 5" prog bands from the 70s is, in your opinion, the most musically worthwhile?

(for reference, the "Big 5" are Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, ELP and Jethro Tull)

xhuxk:

How does freelancing from Austin compare to doing so from NYC?

no King Crimson?

xp

Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, ELP and Jethro Tull

Don't know about "musically worthwhile," but Tull are probably my favorites, though I probably own more Yes albums. Should probably listen to more ELP. Have never loved Floyd. (Crimson might beat all of them, but I've never listened to '80s Crimson much at all.)

How does freelancing from Austin compare to doing so from NYC?

Less stressful, somehow. (And I'm writing for pretty much the exact same outlets.)

Are you hanging out with Jeff S while you are down there?

Is this not xhuxk-bait? Do you already know this band?

https://soundcloud.com/themdsrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/TheMDsOfficial

80s Puerto Rican punk/post-punk/(maybe even pub rock?) band. Okay I'll stop spamming the board, not that I knew anything about this band before fifteen or so minutes ago.

(All lyrics in English so far.)

First I've heard of them, Rudi -- Thanks. I'll try to check them out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhhkPugC58Q

You better put your sunglasses on
this is 1981