Skummy

I second the support for What A Waster, it's pretty much their best song IMO. I also suggest Radio America, Music For When The Lights Go Out and Time For Heroes.

I don't agree with the Doherty hate, he's just a human being with a problem, there are people out there much more deserving of hatred than he is.

If he does die in the next two years or so, it'll be interesting to see how many of the "Make Doherty History" brigade will suddenly become oh-so-respectful of him.

They like to have an iconic figure to latch on to. Ever since The Libertines starting making waves, Pete was viewed almost as a potential "gone too soon star", to the point where some interviews with him would consist primarily of discussion of his legacy and "the rock and roll year of death". Basically the media have found who they consider to be the first true rock star of recent years, but the obsession is pathetic. You get stuff in the 'papers like "Doherty spotted in pub!" and it's frankly upsetting, not least because of the insane invasion of privacy, and on a more personal note to myself, because it's turning so many people away from his music, which isn't all that bad.

The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog. Fantastic song, pretty easy to play.

The Best Of Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music - Utter bloody wonderfulness. Sleek, stylish and so very good. The Halloweenies - Cheeky Demo. A band that only do gigs at Halloween? Sounds good. Especially when one of the tracks is called "Zomb-Emo".

Finally! This is the first "must-see movie" for me in a hell of a long time...now I just need to find anyone I can drag to go and see it with me when it finally comes out.

ROLLLLLLERBALLLLLLLLL~!!!

Yeah, but if you're brought up on classical music, and put in an environment with other people that have just been brought up on classical music, you're going to have very little incentive to listen to other genres.

Good lyrics? They're some of the most dire I've heard in years. "Look at this photograph Every time I do it makes me laugh How did our eyes get so red And what the hell is on Joey’s head " That's fucking appalling, there's no two ways about it, it's just dreadful. And as for being a nice concept, it is a nice concept, and one that's been done many times before, much much better (The Cure - "Pictures Of You" comes to mind), and has been so mishandled here that it's close to becoming self-parody. Soppiness isn't an issue, nor is poppiness, I listen to The Boy Least Likely To, who are perhaps the poppiest band in the world, and there are countless "soppy" love songs I listen to, most of them just aren't as shite as this. I didn't used to be on the "Nickelback suck" bandwagon, seeing as I didn't mind a few tracks off their old albums, but I can't stand "Photograph" at all.

They did a Dimebag tribute? Christ almighty... I don't want to hear it, because I can imagine it being even worse than Stain'd's Layne Staley tribute. Seriously, Nickelback didn't use to be appalingly bad, just mediocre, but I heard "Photograph" in the car on the way to college yesterday, and about halfway through my father asked if it was Weird Al or something. He's got the first two Nickelback albums, and he couldn't believe that it was actually them, because it was so shockingly awful. EDIT: I didn't write "Chris almighty"...that would be ridiculous.

That's not saying much. Fine. Megadeth is the best band ever. Good enough? I think his point was that it's not hard to be better than Metallica, not that you hadn't bigged up Megadeth enough.

Yeah, they're hugely under-rated in America, mostly because of their image, which the likes of Clear Channel have issues with. Scissor Sisters, and to a lesser extent The Darkness, are an example of how quirky the British music buying public can be. On one hand, you get crap like Amarillo and The Crazy Frog getting to number one, essentially shite novelty acts, but on the other you get bands like the Scissor Sisters who, in both their music and their image, feel like a band destined to be a culty underground New York act, that somehow make it huge over here. That's always intrigued me. And just to add slightly more to this discussion, Public Image Limited spring to mind. Most people haven't heard of them, and to a lot of those who have they're just "Johnny Rotten's other band", but they're so amazing, so original and unorthodox and, ultimately, so much better than the Pistols, that it amazes me how they can go unrecognised by so many people. They're goth before goth was goth, with reggae, punk, pop, dance and even snippets of what would become industrial rock in there. They take the pure youth snarl of Johnny Rotten and transpose it into a more mature John Lydon, with an entirely different musical landscape. Hearing him scream on "This Is Not A Love Song" and "Death Disco", especially live versions, sends a shiver down my spine. In a good way.

To everyone saying Fozzy, do you honestly think they'd be anywhere near as big as they are now if they didn't have Chris Jericho in the band? Because if you do, you're just deluded. Rich Ward is pretty washed up now, he's a shadow of his former Stuck Mojo self, and no one really cares about him anyway, and as a band they're about as generic as metal can get.

I wouldn't say Nightwish are under-rated AT ALL. At least not over here, as they get constant coverage in all the mainstream metal magazines, and pretty much any metal fan will have heard of them. If you want under-rated, try Within Temptation, who pretty much created that genre, and were the precursor to Nightwish. Mother Earth was Nightwish-lite, The Silent Force is only a bit better, but track down Enter, it's one of the best metal albums of recent years.

Sonic Youth They basically created "alternative rock" as it is today. Them signing to Geffen lead to the Pixies, Nirvana et al getting major label deals...and the rest is history.

That's Last Christmas by Wham, I'd stick it on a cheesy Christmas album more than a cheesy lovesong album. James Dean Bradfield's version was far superior.

What major events are you referring to, exactly? Sephiroth's in the Crater the entire time, he has very little actual impact on the story, other than the Nibelheim flashback. The only reason you see him as Sephiroth is that Jenova realised it was a form that would evoke strong emotional responses in Cloud.

Except that, for the most part, the villain is Jenova. Not really. It starts with Shinra and then moves on to Sephiroth because of his Jenova discovery. Most of the game is spent chasing Sephiroth, not Jenova. That's how it would appear, but it's not actually true. As Cloud states when you make your first journey to the Northern Crater, you are not pursuing Sephiroth, you are in fact being summoned by him. What he doesn't realise at this point is that he's not being summoned by Sephiroth, but by JENOVA. In fact, Cloud spends the entire game being drawn towards Jenova on a purely biological level, because the Jenova cells within him wish to complete the Reunion. The only point in which you actually see the "real" Sephiroth is his body inside the Northern Crater, and in the Nibelheim flashback.

Except that, for the most part, the villain is Jenova.

1. The Smiths 2. The Tiger Lillies 3. Jeff Buckley 4. Art Brut 5. The Boy Least Likely To 6. Antony & The Jonsons 7. Rufus Wainwright 8. The New York Dolls 9. The Cramps 10. Sonic Youth

I have a strong disdain for FF8, I just don't think it felt like a Final Fantasy, and the storyline was piss-poor, with too much happening just for the sake of it. FF7 had a fantastic storyline, with the most impressive backstory I've seen in any game, and more impressive than most films or books, and a fantastic array of characters, all whilst remaining very playable at the same time, whilst FF8 often felt tedious. FF9's storyline was fairly weak, and often felt like a parody of earlier Final Fantasy games, but the gameplay more than made up for any shortcomings, as I think it was the most inherently playable game in the series so far, having the best selection of side-quests and mini-games to date. FFX I wasn't keen on at all. It has it's good points, but I couldn't get into it at all. Tidus was far too emo a main character, even by Final Fantasy standards, none of the characters really appealed to me at all, and I felt no real compulsion to continue playing or to follow the story. FF11 didn't feel like a Final Fantasy game to me, but it was a decent enough RPG. Of the "old school" Final Fantasies, FF2 was great, with a fantastic "feel-bad" ending, but FF1 and FF3 were missable, and only worth playing for historic purposes. FF4 is fantastic, and still playable today if you can accept the poor (by today's standards) graphics. FF5 had a fairly steep learning curve, but other than that, is wonderful. The job system was brilliantly implemented, and it didn't shy away from getting quite dark at times, which is always good. FF6 was absolutely incredible. It really laid the foundations for FF7, with it's psuedo-futuristic setting, and much of the storyline, as well as basic storyline elements. There's so much to do, and some wonderful characters, so the positives outweigh a lot of forgettable silliness. All in all, I rank Final Fantasy 7 above the rest of the series, and most other games, though.

Best sub 3 minute song: An Albatross - The Revolutionary Politics Of Dance Best plus 7 minute song: Jeff Buckley - Lover You Should've Come Over Best use of guitars in a band: Derrin Nauendorf Best use of drums in a band: Tool Best Lyricist: Tom Waits Best Vocalist: Jeff Buckley Best Dark Band: Will Oldham, The Smiths or Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Best Light Ban: The Moldy Peaches Best use of emotion: The Cure, Damien Rice or Will Oldham

SunnO))) - you can't get more sludge. You'll be lucky to hear more than two notes in a twenty-minute song. Fucking great stuff. Sounds like two monoliths being ground together, distorted, and fed through a tiny amplifier. And listen to The Locust, Neon Blonde and An Albatross, just because everyone should.

I can never understand people who view Fightstar as a legitimate band but don't like Busted, to me they just sound the same, only Fightstar are a bit angry: "Arghhh, it's the Year 3000, and I'm right fucked off about it!"