Skummy

I don't think the reason people don't like Muse has anything to do with "image and coolness". It tends to be because they just don't like Matt Bellamy's voice, or they over-complicate songs that could work a lot better if they were simpler, from my experience. And I don't mind them, but claiming that they're "unique and weird" is almost laughable. And I'm still amazed that people think Fozzy would be more popular if it wasn't for the WWE. The only reason Fozzy have got anywhere is off the name value of Chris Jericho. I love them, but it's painfully obvious. As for the Sex Pistols, I used to despise them, but (via Public Image Limited) I've got into them fairly recently, and I think the main problem that people have with them, knowingly or not, is because of Malcolm McLaren, not the band themselves. Although a lot of people resent them because of Sid Vicious, which is understandable.

How the hell did I forget Cemetery Gates? I'm fairly indifferent towards Pantera, on the whole, but I adore that song.

I think the justification there is "The only possible reason not to like this band is ignorance" rather than, "Blink 182 are a bit shit, but I've yet to come to terms with this"

The Beautiful South. I adore them, but it's hardly cool to admit to that.

It depends on the song. If it's just repeating the same thing over and over again, or if it's 20 minutes of guitar solo, chances are I'll get bored of it. If it's well-structured and necessary for the song to be that length, then I'll probably enjoy it. Teenage Riot by Sonic Youth is 7 minutes long, and while not exactly an "epic", it's a good example of a long song that works well. Shine On You Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd is about 15 minutes long, and absolutely sublime. One of the best post-Syd Barrett Floyd songs there is.

Probably because it wasn't all that good.

I fucking love Pingu. I remember the old PC game, I played it non-stop when I was like 13, and all my friends thought I was mental. I've been meaning to buy the DVD for ages, it's easily the best kid's TV program in history, closely followed by Fun House, Trapdoor and Fairly Odd Parents.

The Pacifier was a comedy? I know, I was attempting to joke about how bad it was. Just to clarify, I didn't laugh at any of the intentional humour.

I laughed at The Pacifier.

A while back I downloaded a song, apparently by Atreyu, called "Don't Laugh". I've seen it listed on a few websites, but this has been bugging me for a while. It doesn't sound anything like Atreyu, it's cheery and with female-vocals, but I love it, so if anyone can tell me anything about the song in question, and whether it's even by Atreyu, and if not, who it is by, that'd be a great help. Thanks! Oh, and some of the lyrics go like this: "He just looked at me, Said to get a life, It's pretty stupid, And I'll tell you why, But don't laugh..."

Shit. I don't even know what to say to this, just....shit. I might try and formulate something moving once I sober up, but for now...shit. R.I.P. Link Wray, I'll miss you, even if the mainstream couldn't give a fuck.

Lying*

Botch did an excellent cover of "Rock Lobster", other than that, they aren't really worth checking out. Praxis are excellent, but in no way similar to Dillinger Escape Plan, same goes for The Mars Volta and Circle Of Dead Children.

The only really good parts of Freddy Got Fingered are Zebras in America and "do you have a problem with my legs?"

I need to see this film.

Ready To Rumble Hawk The Slayer Braindead Pretty much ANYTHING with Sylvester Stallone in it

It's still a decent album, just shite in comparison to the rest of Mr. Bungle's discography. Nothing tops Fantomas' version of The Godfather Theme, though.

Mr. Bungle are fantastic, apart from Disco Volante, which was shite.

Cheers Liam, I'm gonna have to check that out. Everything's better with Mike Patton.

Did they do anything else with Mike Patton, or was it only Come To Daddy?

Anyone who likes Dillinger Escape Plan is a faggot. Seth Putnam said so, it must be true. I'm not overly fond, but I can certainly see the appeal. Their cover of "Come To Daddy" is phenonemal, though.

I know someone who's been an avid gamer for about 15 years and swears blind that this is the greatest game he's ever played, and stayed up until 6.30am this morning playing it, so it must have some appeal.

Considering at least nine of the bands/artists I mentioned are American, your points are fairly invalid. Not to mention that there are plenty of ways for people to access all kinds of music, be it television, radio, the internet, recommendations, magazines, anything. And I didn't tell him to listen The Hives' first albums because The Hives are shit, and I didn't list more European rock bands because that wasn't the question, the question was to name good songs from 2002-2003, and that's what I did. Funny how that works.

Back in '97, me and my brother were joking around, and he said sarcastically "Yeah, I hear the ship sinks". This girl just turns around, shocked at the news, cries out "WHY'D YOU TELL ME?!" Still, movies with surprise endings, it wasn't too great of a film, but as far as a surprise, Escape From LA, when Snake shuts down the world. Too bad it cancelled any sequels when he did it... Haha, I've used that joke every time I've been in a discussion about Titanic, as I'm sure have 80% of the world's population, but I've never had it elicit that response. Kudos to you. I love Escape From New York and Escape From LA, but I don't think I'd ever want to see any sequels, so I'm glad it ended that way.

Crikey, how did I forget Thomas Newman's score for American Beauty? Utterly wonderful. The Donnie Darko score is fairly impressive as well, especially when doubled with the rest of the soundtrack (Echo and The Bunnymen et al)