El Pibe

"stepping on pins and needles" get it right strafer

the new spin is underrated at the time, overrated now I add Neutral Milk Hotel

double negatives throw me sometimes ;)

"At 18 I didn't vote Labour because I wanted to knock that smug grin off of Tony Blair's face. Not the best reason to decide who you want running the country. " Sounds like a very wise position to me!!!!!

Fantastic article on historical revisionism in China. http://www.thechinastory.org/2014/10/the-mass-line-on-a-massive-famine/ What's really interesting is that it's not some Minsitry of Truth rewriting of history but the creation of vaguely plausible doubts through offering alternative narratives and attempting to give them equal weighting. A tactic beloved of cliamte change/holocaust deniers, conspiracy theorists and creationists, but also something we've seen very effectively used by the Kremlin's information warriors, sowing the internet with dozens of alternative narratives about anything they're vaguely criticised about in the hope, not that anything sticks but that the very concept of truth or reality is killed by it. An excellent article at the atlantic here: http://m.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/09/russia-putin-revolutionizing-information-warfare/379880/ And I'm inclined to agree with quids that 'it's about the internet stupid' or perhaps more accurately 'stupid is about the internet'

"I don't think there's a Utd fan who doesn't think he's being hypocritical on this point. " Just to clarify, you *do* all think he's being a hypocrite, yes?

Blimey, quietly scathing. Also rather undermine's Keane's point about AF criticising players in his book!!

"The LRB has a storming article on UKIP." Pshaw, what's all this well informed nonsense, deflecting from the real issues of straight bananas, and errr Europe innit, Polish undercutting our wages, good workers mind you but that's hardly the point, ignoring the fact that we want our country back, but then what do you expect from people who can read!!!

jesus he's only a bit older than me? the crazy hermit look makes him look a lot older!

"Mott the Hoople" oooh, Honaloochie Bait!!

I'm with you no them, I'm quite partial to it in the right place, you know, dressed in a white suit with MASSIVE collars!!!!

alot of people hate on fleetwood mac though. They have proved surprisingly enduring and have influenced awhole swathe of the music industry a generation later, so hats off in my book.

Bee Gees wrote some really great songs and they certainly understood the zeitgeist. Those voices are pretty marmite I reckon though.

Yep, a shite musical of your canon is probably the best way to turn people off....except for the millions of people who like that sort fo thing of course, I think I'd prefer room 101...in fact that might BE my room 101

Bob Marley?

It probably does help to keep below the radar a little bit, huge success or critical acclaim often turn people off. But not so far below that you don't achieve the slightly miasmic concept of 'rated'.

Abba? They may not be everyone's thing, but surely you can't deny they understood pop and were the absolute pass masters at it?

Mozart? all those bloody notes.....

every time quids, every time :D

I thought it was excellent. Exposing the tragic absurdity by stripping away the hyperbole. Superb, poignant, funny and a little bit scary when you realise it's practically a documentary.

Ok, who do we agree upon that definitely aren't overrated. As in deserve plaudits and sycophancy rather than no one rates them. The Who? One Direction?

Again, I'm a bit hit and miss with Nick Cave, No More Shall We Part is a truly beautiful album, i challenge anyone not to be moved by it. Although i guess some might have bowel movements, but that's why the world is interesting i guess.

Sonic Youth's more recent stuff is actually worth a listen especially as its not particularly hyped. Try Sonic Nurse for starters showing they've kind of mellowed, or Eternal, which is as close to an actual rock album as they're ever likely to manage. I recommended them to a colleague a few years back, who wanted to watch some live music and they were playiing their london dates. He didn't talk to me for about 3 days. "why would you do that to me?" he kept asking :D

That said, she follows her own path, she is always original, her music is usually interesting and challenging (if not always engaging and occasionally terrifying). I won't willingly listen to all her albums, but god damn i'll always give them a chance.

I'm with you there. I was totally smitten with her back in the sugarcubes days. First couple of albums were really special (though haven't stood the test of time so well). But some of her more recent stuff, well, it scares me frankly. This video from a couple of years ago is pretty awesome in the truest sense of the word.