Skummy

I have hundreds, I'm influenced by every bit of music I ever hear, in some way. But I'll try and cut it down into a few. Tom Waits - A no-brainer. One of, if not my absolute, favourite musician. He's influenced my musical tastes, plus my own music. Everything about him; his voice, his music, his lyrics, and his image, has been a huge influence on me in some way, and he played a part in opening my eyes to a lot of music I wouldn't otherwise have got in to. Johnny Cash - My Grandad was a huge fan, but I didn't get in to him on my own until a few months before he died. One of the greatest there ever was and, again, he opened my eyes to music I wouldn't have listened to normally, via his cover versions on the American Recordings albums; artists like Neil Diamond and Hank Williams who I wouldn't have given a second look beforehand. The Lucksmiths - The most recent influence, and they're pretty darn obscure, but I love them. They're cheery, Summery indie-pop with some of the most intelligent and heartfelt lyrics I've ever heard. Every one of their songs seems to be so personal to me, it's amazing, and that's the kind of band I love. More than anything, though, they've been a tremendous influence on my own songwriting. Soundgarden - The sound of my childhood, essentially. My older half-brother was massively into them, and the whole grunge movement, when I was growing up, so it was just around me for so long, and when I got old enough to start buying CDs myself, I picked up a few of their albums. While I'll barely listen to anything of that nature any more, I'll always remember them as the band that pretty much got me listening to rock music. An Albatross - When I first heard them I was blown away. Simple as that. They combine grindcore, hardcore, electro, jazz, and probably a whole lot else into some of the most insane songs you could ever hear, almost all of them under a minute long. Along with similar bands like The Locust and Gay For Johnny Depp, they really got me into that style of music. Carnival In Coal - You could easily throw in John Zorn and any band featuring Mike Patton here as well, but C.I.C. were the first that came to mind. They transcend genres and defy definition or labelling. There is literally nothing like them and, as such, they really showed me that music can be whatever you want it to be, and gave me hope that there are still original ideas out there. Again, a huge influence on my own music. Mike Peters - A solid songwriter, nothing overly amazing, but an influence on me. He's the frontman of The Alarm, and I saw him live supporting Bob Geldof a few years back. He had an amazing charisma, and really interacted with the crowd, the majority of which probably didn't know who he was beforehand. It was watching him that really made me think "this is what I want to do". I'm sure there's loads more, but they're the prominent ones I can think of right now.

In Islam it's a sin to make pictures of Allah or Muhammad in any form. Yes, the context obviously angered them further, but it's a justifiable argument, as Christians use images of Jesus all the time, whereas Muslims are forbidden from doing so. But, yeah, Hayes is in the wrong for the double standards at work here. He can't claim to be leaving because of the way the show mocks religion as a whole, when he's stuck by through a lot worse. If he'd simply said he wasn't comfortable with the way they depicted his own religion, I doubt anyone would have been particularly upset with him, it's the double standards that make it a bad move on his part, in my opinion.

He's not a depressing kind of musician, though (except possibly "When I'm Down"), it's all really light-hearted and primarily ironic. He started out as an author/comic artist before moving into music, I think (although he still writes as well), and he was pretty much a post-modern goth, able to poke fun at himself and the old goth scene (check out his series "Oh My Goth!" or the song "Vampire Club", or to a lesser extent "Graveyard Picnic" and "Dead Girls"), before moving into more serious issues of love (most of his first album) and religion (most of the second). I recommend him to everyone and anyone.

I don't like P!ATD, but "generic" isn't the first word that comes to mind. They sound different, or at least distinguishable, from most of their ilk. The same can probably be said for Chevelle, who I still have the tiniest soft spot for thanks to their quite good cover of "Pictures Of You" by The Cure.

It definitely isn't No Doubt, I know that for a fact. There's a lot of Gwen soundalikes in obscure ska-punk bands, for some reason or another.

Thank FUCK that people have mentioned The Killers. Brandon Flowers is such an obnoxious little cunt, I can't stand him. He talks like he's making the most original and sensational music of the millenium, when his band's releasing second-rate derivative shite, and even had the gall to compare himself to, and claim to be better than, Brian Wilson? What a fucking wanker. James Blunt. Goes without fucking saying. Bono...I'm undecided. I've pretty much created a parody image of Bono in my head, so whenever I see him, regardless of what he's actually saying, it comes out how I want it to sound. That said, his acceptance speech when U2 were inducted into the UK Music Hall Of Fame was fucking hilarious. He was clearly steaming, barely able to stand up, by the looks of things, and rambled about how great he was for a good six or seven minutes before acknowledging the fact that there were other people in U2. Fucking marvellous. Billy Corgan seems a bit of a wanker as well, although I like the music. I'd probably want to punch Sebastian Bach in the kidneys if I met him in real life.

Creed - "I'm Eighteen" is one of the worst offenders, in my mind. Alice Cooper is fantastic, yeah, he's done some shite, but Eighteen is not amongst it. Creed's version, however, is.

Could have been one of the instrumental Tomayasu Hotei pieces, I'm not sure. I'll check the film later.

Yeah, I always found him fairly generic, in much the same "chilled acoustic" vein as Jack Johnson and his ilk, alright as background music, but nothing special. Although, that said, Jack Johnson's cover of "A Pirate Looks At Forty" is incredible.

I've got the film and the soundtrack, but I can't remember off the top of my head what song plays then...do you remember any of the lyrics or anything?

Just remembered another: Little Big Adventure 2. And chalk me up for Civilisation 2, actually.

Ugh. Sorry, I love Chumbawumba, but I can't stand that song at all. "Cemetery Gates" by Pantera takes me back a few years...me and a load of my friends, and people who at the time were only vague acquaintances but have since become very good friends too, all used to go to this drop-in centre that was positioned in the same place as a local recording studio/gig venue, so it attracted the more music-oriented crowd. Towards the end of the night, when it was getting dark, you'd mostly just have all the metalheads chilling out upstairs and everyone else gone and, after an hour or so of moshing, that song would come on and, lit only by a dodgy disco light, it was the most amazing thing in the world. Takes me right back.

It's not much, but "Teenage Riot" by Sonic Youth reminds me of quite good times, even if they were only a few months ago. Sitting in a fairly dingy pub pretty much every day for a couple of months late last year drinking far too much with that blaring out of the jukebox. Happy times, brought on by bad times, and made better by good music.

Yeah, Absolution got to number one, and they were repeatedly hailed as one of the best live acts around at the time. I'm not a big fan, but they deserve the main stage.

Explain! Detail! As for Brokeback...yeah, as I said, it wasn't that great. Good, but far from the best film of the year. But the same can be said for Crash. Good films, yes, not best of the year. Hence why the Oscars are a bit pants.

Yes, well seeing thay they're cowboys who meet and fuck women in bars (well, Gyllenhaal's character did) and kick other dude's asses...and there's as much female nudity as there is male...it does make sense. Going even further than that, it's a really ancient Greek view of homosexuality, as manly, aggressive, and more a rite of passage than anything else.

I never really thought about it, but my friend, upon leaving the cinema, said that Brokeback Mountain was the most heterosexual film he'd ever seen. More on-topic, I don't really rate the Oscars, or any awards ceremony, any more. It's just a "I'll scratch your back, you'll scratch mine" show at the best of times, and mutual masturbation of the rich and famous at worst. EDIT: I do, for the most part, agree about Brokeback at the Oscars, though. That said, it deserves something for the cinematography.

Final Fantasy 7. By far. I played it for so long so many times. I must have played up to at least the second disk upwards of thirty times, if not more, I was obsessed with that game, and still am to some degree. Other than that...Sonic 3 and Streets Of Rage 2 can certainly hold a high ranking in the "obsession" scoreboard from my youth.

Likewise, I like being able to look over and thumb through an extensive CD collection far more than I like being able to cycle through a Windows Media Player playlist, I was just bringing up a point.

The thing with the whole "downloading music is stealing" thing is that it's so instrinsically flawed. How many people who say they don't download music because no money goes to the band would gladly buy that same band's album second-hand, or get a copy off a friend? I'd argue most of them, and none of the money gets back to the band that way either.

Fuck, Spaceman...that reminds me of school discos, and Laserquest.

Anything by Soundgarden immediately reminds me of my childhood, I was pretty much raised with them. "Sweet 16" by Feeder reminds me of playing Gran Turismo with my brothers way back in the day, "Stay" by Shakespears Sister takes me back a few years, not necessarily anywhere I want to be taken back to, though.

As good as the Blood Brothers are, I actually prefer the Neon Blonde side-project. I challenge anyone to listen to the song "Chandeliers & Vines", and not be blown away.

I haven't seen that many, let's see... Bob Geldof supported by Mike Peters Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra supported by Chris Holland Paul Weller Neil Diamond Nine Inch Nails supported by Saul Williams The Black Velvets Art Brut (twice) The Ordinary Boys The Futureheads The Ivories Dead! Dead! Dead! Blackwire The Veras The Delays Vincent Vincent & The Villains Kid Carpet The Resarch The Others Coming Up (potentially): Download Festival (still undecided on this one) Route Du Rock Festival (ditto) Jersey Live Festival Bearsuit Robot Dinosaur Ninja Bastards

I think that's it. Also: Life Of Agony - Don't You Forget About Me (Simple Minds)