Kinetic

I'd actually argue that the inclusion of Elvis Costello in the top ten (ahead of Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Chuck Berry, Mick Jagger, etc.) is a bit of a joke. While I'm a big fan of Costello's early work (and scattered portions of everything since), he really never innovated much of anything and his actual importance to music as anything other than a good songwriter who owes a tremendous debt to his influences is debatable. I don't think it'd be all that difficult to think of at least 25 musicians to emerge since the dawn of the rock and roll era who are more important than he is.

As it turns out, my whole restaurants-are-the-ideal-spot-for-picking-up-girls theory was way off. Unless they serve beer.

Well, that's wrong, but he definitely deserves to be in the top ten. I think the problem we're running into here is with the word "important."

Why can't I ever engage in a makeout session of gargantuan proportions? Why doesn't a vortex-eyed Ukranian cutie ever pounce on me with unbridled ferocity and vigor? Some guys have all the luck.

Well, then it's not an enormous stretch to say that Elvis should be included in the top ten. I'm no huge Elvis fan, but as far as influence is concerned, his importance to the development of popular music in the latter half of the 20th century and beyond is inestimable.

I look at this as some sort of bizarre Incandenza science experiment: Create a thread with a somewhat intriguing but ambiguous title, give no sort of prompting whatsoever as to what should be discussed, and then leave it to see what develops.

It's just that somewhere along the line I really fell in love with them as a couple. The lengthy, needlessly protracted courting process; the tearful confessions of attraction; the spirited make-out session in his conveniently broken-down car; the fact that she's Ukranian; the ridiculous confrontation with the football player in Barnes & Noble...it just really hit me where it counts, y'know?

Absolutely. Although I'd replace the word "dabble" with the phrase "fully immerse herself in" and the word "phase" with the phrase "sub-plot of every story." I'm sort of leaning towards Mary Kate for that part currently. She looks like the type.

This is, like, post-modern.

I'm really disappointed to have just discovered this thread today.

You read me like a book. While the first of my 75+ Olsen Twins stories for the new year is still in the embryonic phase, I suspect that bit of randy sorority hazing is in the works. Maybe the twins, frightened and homesick in their new world of flexible scheduling and individualized study, attempt to take solace in the arms of a well-endowed sociology professor. It's a brand new game out there.

As a leading writer of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen fan fiction, I find this news encouraging and feel that 2004 will be a banner year for me.

While technically correct, I think you're overlooking the big picture: The BBC is an enemy of democracy. And with the alertness level at Orange, you'd be well served to watch it with all that pinko talk, Mr. Smartypants.

Paris Hilton is obviously a reprehensible person for no other reason than the vindictiveness that typically goes hand-in-hand with never having to have worked for anything in your life. You can transcend that, but she's obviously chosen not to. Now, that said, she didn't choose to be born rich, nor does she seem to go out of her way to court this sort of undeserved celebrity status any moreso than anyone else with a prime time television series. That her private life is under such scrutiny is not her fault. She shouldn't be forced to stay in and abstain from things like drinking, drugs, and sex just because she's an impossibly wealthy heiress. And all of this slut business is just nonsense coming from people (men) who are intimidated by the notion that females enjoy sex.

This is completely and utterly irrelevant and was posted solely for the opportunity to kick a hippie when he's down.

This is a pretty unlikely turn of events. And yet it also seems like a perfect opportunity to unload some of my Tiffany cassingles, if you're interested, AoO.

Personally, I can't wait until Kim Possible comes of age. Yowza.

The Pet Shop Boys are a completely unrelated act. Nick Cave was formerly of the Birthday Party, but upon going solo formed a group called Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

I'm not opposed to any of your average American yellow-type beers. My depleted sense of taste and smell doesn't allow me to recognize any sort of difference, really, which is probably for the best given my affinity for 40s of malt liquor and PBR. I do take issue with oatmeal stout and that goddamn pumpkin-flavored yuppie beer, however. I had some embarrassing troubles getting mescal down, so I'm not too fond of that. And Old Crow, while not too objectionable in taste, does invariably cause me to vomit and have a day long hangover any time I drink it.

Did you ever hear Nick Cave's early version of "West End Girls"? His portrayal of the East end boys is a little darker than in the single version.

That's either an unintentionally hilarious typo or an unintentionally hilarious misinterpretation of facts.

All replies in this thread should be made in the form of a highly contentious list. Certain people will argue that "100 Greatest One Hit Wonders" is totally overrated and is easily owned by "100 Greatest Love Songs of the Past 25 Years," which featured a run between 34 and 17 that rivals anything ever aired on VH1. This will be met with considerable backlash. People will begin starting threads about which "Best VH1 100 Greatest List" list is their favorite. This cycle will continue unimpeded. And there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it.

I'm eager for one of these news agencies to point out to me the irony of Saddam, once so proud in his palaces of opulent build, being discovered in a dingy hole with not so much as an ivory placemat to call his own. I suspect that this would help put Saddam's downfall into perspective for me and potentially curtail my own plans of someday becoming dictator of a volatile Middle Eastern country.

Christ, is Wire still releasing albums? I haven't liked anything they've done since Chairs Missing. Some critically acclaimed post-punk bands don't know when to quit.

That they're fuck-ups is debatable. All Paris Hilton did was have a video of herself having sex leaked onto the Internet, which could conceivably happen to any one of us were it not for the fact that a) no one would care, and b) many of the people here do not frequently engage in sexual relations. And I don't consider getting caught with drugs to be fucking up, so much as really bad luck. That they're idiots is most likely beyond dispute, however.