Edwin MacPhisto

No one gives a crap about anything the Stones have done since the mid-80's, but they're the only big rock band that was active in the 60's and early 70's that's really still going with a lot of its original line-up. One of the reasons Aerosmith sells really well, too. But people go see the Stones because they're absolute icons, and they appeal to pretty much every music fan ever. That's what I think really sets them apart from: anyone'll go to a Stones show. They've written some of the most snarling rock songs ever and a lot of the prettiest too.

The best part about Mullah Omar's list is that it's rap, rap, DJ mixtape, rap, rap...and the Pet Shop Boys. I'm so pleased.

Pitchforkmedia.com has posted their revised top 100 albums of the 1990's. It's a pretty sound (ha!) list from where I sit: not too self-consciously indie, and with most choices well-justified. Metal fans beware, though: Pitchfork barely covers metal and I don't think there's a single album you could classify as such on the list. It's set up in a weird format, but I'll c&p the top 20 for discussion's sake. The top 20 isn't surprising - lotsa Nirvana, Pavement, Radiohead - but the whole list is solid reading. More to my tastes than the recent Rolling Stone list, for sure. 020: Björk - Post 019: Beck - Odelay 018: Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream 017: Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet 016: The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I 015: Radiohead - The Bends 014: Belle & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister 013: Nirvana - In Utero 012: Slint - Spiderland 011: Talk Talk - Laughing Stock 010: Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand 009: Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I See a Darkness 008: Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain 007: DJ Shadow - ...Endtroducing 006: Nirvana - Nevermind 005: Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted 004: Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea 003: The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin 002: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless 001: Radiohead - OK Computer

Pretty cool. Especially cool because now a bunch of those soldiers can say "George W. Bush handed me an ear of corn." Which has a certain ring to it, I think.

I'll be surprised if Pitchfork ever does pull off a 70's or 60's list. The usual "we know everything about music and here are some anecdotes reflecting this" pretension that often makes up half the content in their lesser reviews would be really hard to buy when these guys discuss stuff they weren't alive to see. I'd like to see them try, but I'm worried we'd get a lot of stuff like Ryan Schreiber's infamous Pet Sounds review.

Hey, what's the order of choice for the SEC bowl games? They're the one conference that never has #2 pick, #3 pick, etc. on the ESPN and SI bowl projections.

Assassins is really cool too. I think I like Sunday a bit more just because of all the metatextual stuff and the incredible set, but yeah, the guy's major works are pretty impeccable. And yes, West Side Story would count as a Sondheim, if not an all-Sondheim piece. I always forget that he was so involved in that. It really was a sort of musical-theater supergroup behind that one.

I was going to make a joke about the movie The Other Sister here, but I couldn't really come up with a good one. I encourage others to try in the stead of my failure.

I don't why you're going to waste your time voting. Nothing's going to beat South Park on this board. Outside, outside chance on Moulin Rouge and maaaybe West Side Story. And Deacon is absolutely right about Sweeney Todd. As far as I know there are no actual musical films of Sondheim works, only tapes of stage plays. Same thing with Into the Woods. Though anyone who likes either of these owes it to themselves to check out Sunday in the Park With George, which is probably his best show. But again, like I said, it's not like Sondheim is gonna get many votes anyway, so I should quit flappin' the gums. They're going to be out first-round in any case. Oh, one final thought: the film of the Producers is not a musical at all. It has a 5 or 6 minutes of "Springtime For Hitler" at the end, but that's it. The Broadway show is a musical, but the movie is just a straight-up comedy. It has no more musical context than any movie with a scene at a theater or opera. I think it's just as much of a stretch to include that in this as it is to include 8-Mile.

I think that as long as you can pretend you know what you're doing, you'll be fine. All people want is for you to tell them which camera is the best choice, and even if you know jack shit about cameras you can probably just read the info labels while chatting them up, and then look like a godhead when you talk about how this one has a macro setting for extreme close-ups. I wish I'd have been on commission when I worked in retail. The masses were my plaything.

One of my favorite lines ever. Still never really liked that ep much, though, but man, some golden moments.

It seems that way. I mean, someone gave the Darkness album an 8.4, and that's about as un-Pitchfork a record as you can find. I think that since this is four years later and actually out of the 90's - they made the first in 1999, after all - it's easier for them to get a realistic perspective. Flash-in-the-pan stuff that didn't seem so flash-in-the-pan at the time has been exposed, and the better works, mainstream or not, have aged really well.

That's not so much a love song as it is a fuck song. My top ones are probably Lamb's "Gorecki" and Elliott Smith's "Say Yes," both of which are a little more forlorn than you might want out of a love song, but pretty great nonetheless. Oh, and Sam Cooke's version of "Bring It On Home To Me," which is astonishingly gorgeous.

That's not so much a love song as it is a fuck song.

"Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman." I really identify.

I wouldn't call Massive Attack a supergroup, but they did form from the remains of The Wild Bunch, which was an 80's DJ-type group in England. It's more akin to Fugazi growing out of Minor Threat than a supergroup thing. Part two: no on Portishead, but yes to Tricky. He was involved with the first two albums and split with the collective when after their second album, Protection. Protection's first song, "Karmacoma," is ostensibly the same song as "Overcome" on Tricky's Maxinquaye, with the former's vocal being provided by Tricky and the latter's by Martina Topley-Bird. I like "Overcome" better myself.

Underworld, "Two Months Off." Oh anthology, how I could not resist you.

I've always kinda wanted to punch Robbie Williams in the face. Potentially in the kidney, if I had the angle.

Do you have any suggestions of other artist that sound like this? Right on this list is Portishead's Dummy, which is probably my personal favorite trip-hop album. You could also do well with Lamb's self-titled album. That's for your similarities in sounds, and general ambience. If you're after the rap that Tricky and Massive Attack dabble in...well, pretty much them. Tricky's second and third albums and pretty much everything Massive Attack did except for the newest album are all pretty solid. I own 30 of these and have heard a little over half. Checking it out, the only bands I'm really surprised to not see represented are U2 for Achtung Baby, anything from Underworld (which was on the original list), or anything from Tool. But whoever reviewed Lateralus gave it something like a 2.9, so I don't think Pitchfork very much likes Maynard and the boys anyway.

It's gonna be bad, but just be thankful you're not in electronics. That'd be even worse. Toys at least people can just grab off the shelf and go. Worst thing you'll have to do is clean up the warzone. Fancy shiny things have all those cumbersome glass cases in the way.

He didn't forget. It's just the best they can really do. The MAC is tied to the GMAC bowl - the conference champion gets an automatic bid there. If they got into the BCS top 12, they'd be eligible for an at-large bid, but no one's going to pick Miami of Ohio when they've got Ohio State and Texas available.

Dizzee Rascal, "Sittin' Here." Can't wait till this actually gets a stateside release so I can buy a real copy.

I caught a bit of it. Clark, Kucinich, and Sharpton sounded really dumb tonight. Mosely-Braun sounded her normal level of dumb. John Edwards was boring. No one else spoke before I went to dinner. As much I love Wesley Clark's Outkast ad, he ain't cuttin' the mustard.

Interesting about Maryland getting the Gator Bowl bid already. The ACC bowls had said they were going to wait till Saturday's games were over to make their decisions, but I guess Gator knew what they were doing in any case. There are quite a few rumors going around that the Tangerine Bowl may actually leapfrog NC State and take Virginia. The Tire Bowl wants a different ACC team in its second year, and they also think they're getting Virginia Tech, and they definitely don't want a rematch of a game that happened just 4 weeks before. So the Continental Tire Bowl might end up getting NC State vs. Virginia Tech. That's a frickin' coup right there, and will be one of the best bowl games of the season if it happens. Phillip Rivers in the air vs. Kevin Jones on the ground. I'm so there.

The Shins, "So Says I." I picked up their first album back in the beginning of 2002 and liked it - there were four or five great songs and a handful of good ones to go along with those. I'm really loving the new one. Perfect pop that builds off all the strengths of the first album. And that video with the penguins is just killer.