DISQUS

You know,Dave, if we Crowded House fans weren't such a meek and tolerant bunch, you'd be in deep doo-doo today. I mean, a real Darren Robbins/Nine Inch Nails fans shitstorm!

Instead, I'll just relate the story of the evening on the Woodface tour in '91 when the band launched into "Sister Madly," got huge applause at the end, and then Neil said kinda pathetically, "See, Temple of Low Men wasn't such a bad little album, now was it?"

Eric, gay marriage is just a waiting game at this point--waiting for the polling numbers to move far enough (mostly through attrition, if you know what I'm sayng) for politicians to grow a pair and do what's right.

I would guess the moment will not happen during the next eight years; it likely will have to wait until early in Mark Warner's second term, in 2021.

When the moment comes, evangelicals will simply move on to the next fight, whichever one they can conjure in order to gin up more outrage (and more cash in the collection plate).

I used to find all these old anti-rock tracts from the '50s and '60s in the local library (in southwestern Virginia), and I'd take them out and howl with laughter.

My favorite such story, though, is about my college friends Jason Cohen and Casey Seiler, who had a 2-to-4-a.m. radio show on the campus station. Casey (I believe) had arrived on campus with a copy of a book that dated from the '30s (I think) called "Catholic Girls' Problems." It was a book of do's and don'ts, and they would read hilarious passages from it on the air (in between playing one track after another from the Cure's "Head on the Door" LP).

You're so quick to walk away from the unattractive folks who operate at just a slightly greater extreme. Tell me "we aren't as gullible as that" after you re-watch some video of the post-"The Beatles are Bigger than Jesus" record-burnings, or after I describe (in some future column) the mid-'80s record burning I witnessed in Michigan after a Michael Mills appearance.

The epic battle against rock'n'roll is merely a battle (among many) that the Christian right has lost. Your "share of rubes" (how quaint! It makes intolerance sound like an episode of "Petticoat Junction"!) have simply absorbed the loss and moved on to other in-the-long-run pointless battles (gay marriage). I wish them no luck with that one, either.

This is a great interview, Will. Now you'll have to join Martin and Tony Hadley on their next trek, in Belize, where the three of you can reminisce about New Romantic girls. (Does Belize still exist?)

A technicality. I gave Elvis your address. He and Patrick Swayze (if he's healthy) will be over soon to open up a can of whoop-ass.

I just read that article--it's like an emotional roller coaster. Now I know why I've only heard "Buffalo Stance" on the radio once in 20 years...

You're right, Dave is the original culprit behind the Jack Wagner reference, so my apologies for that. (Though your reference was a bit meaner than Dave's, as I can't imagine Elvis ever saw himself as "competing" for chart positions with the Jack Wagners of the world. I would guess (hope?) he saw "Every Day I Write the Book" and "The Only Flame in Town" as genre exercises, not blatant single attempts.)

Responding to both your "tradeoff" comment and jerm's comment about the press regarding H&O as "goofy white guys doing 'black' music": I will certainly grant that H&O were hardly considered "cool" by the music press, and I do think Hall always has carried something of a chip on his shoulder over not being hailed as a "major rock artist" so much as a "pop craftsman." But he wanted that recognition not only for "Sacred Songs" and his side projects but for his H&O work as well. I certainly don't think he believed himself to be writing songs for "housewives and their kids" (ouch!).

All of that said, as I remember it there was a decent amount of rock-crit respect for H&O's (Hall's especially) ability to make a record like "I Can't Go for That" or "One on One" that could climb high up the R&B charts in a post-disco era when crossover in either direction was difficult. And while there was less of a tendency back then (as compared to now) for critics to hail an artist/album/song's quality as "pop," H&O usually got a decent amount of credit in the press for their success in honing the sound they'd been crafting since the '70s into the hitmaking machine it became in the early '80s.

So, to the extent that Hall was disappointed by his press treatment, he really should have sucked it up and resumed counting his money. Hopefully he's doing that now while waiting for the RnR Hall of Fame to call.

Well, I'm selective on the iPod at the gym--most of Faith, a few tracks off LWP, a few newer ones....and I hit the FF button if "Jesus to a Child" comes on.

Pardon me, Scrumble? "[A cynical attempt] for duet partner Daryl Hall to desperately regain some credibility which he's since regained"?!?!?!?

I can't believe my fellow Popdosers have let this comment stand unremarked-upon for 11 hours (this site is a den of H&O fandom), so I'll bite: What the hell are you talking about? In 1984 Daryl Hall was on top of the world! He and the mustachioed wonder were in the middle of becoming the single biggest act of the first half of the '80s--and most of their music was well-liked by critics as well. (Except for, perhaps, "Adult Education," which I will grant you was the last H&O single released before "The Only Flame in Town" was released.) "The Only Flame" shared the charts for awhile with "Out of Touch," which was H&O's 5th Number One single of the decade.

Beyond that, Elvis (who was pretty much always "cynical," but no more on that song than others) would gladly get into a bar fight with you for even mentioning him and Jack Wagner in the same sentence. No, "Punch the Clock" and "Goodbye Cruel World" didn't represent Elvis at his peak, but he rebounded nicely with his next three albums starting with the excellent "Blood and Chocolate."

Sigh...what the heck is going on with these comments? There's so much more to talk about here than whether "fabe" can't take a joke.

Such as..."Cowboys and Angels" is one of the songs I skip whenever I listen to "Listen Without Prejudice"--which is actually pretty frequently. I recognize it's a well-written and -performed song, but it just ain't what I'm listening for when I listen to George (like I did just this morning at the gym).

I skip "C&A" because it's so slow, I skip "They Won't Go When I Go" because I can't take all that moaning, I skip "Mother's Pride" because it became a Gulf War anthem (and it's not a very good song), and I skip "Soul Free" because I don't like the heavy bass effect in the sample.

Other than that, the half of "Listen Without Prejudice" that I DO listen to is one of my favorite albums of all time...

Of course (who'd have thought otherwise), I don't buy Eric's equations on taxing corporations and high earners. For one thing, the equation of high earners with "high achievers" is a crock; how many upper-management/CEO types "achieve" their positions through connections, nepotism, etc. rather than through actual accomplishments--and how many CEOs get ridiculous salaries despite sucking at their jobs? Why can the CEO of a bank earn 100 times the salary of a high school principal? If it's all about how our economy values certain professions over others, then let the high earners pay higher taxes. It's not about having "committed a crime" by making a lot of money--it's about simple fairness.

As for corporate tax rates, many companies get away with paying far less in taxes than they could bear, or should bear--particularly in industries that aren't doing any favors for the environment or for the nation's infrastructure, and in the cases of companies that aren't investing properly in American employees and the benefits they deserve.

Big business is probably the next sector of our society that is due for a complete breakdown. Capitalism is probably going to have to deal with a major self-correction, as our government isn't likely to have the cojones to regulate as it should anytime soon. When that self-correction happens, it's going to be very ugly for a lot of people at all points on the economic spectrum.

It is my duty once again, as I believe I've done this before, to encourage everyone to go read the 1958 Colin MacInnes novel "Absolute Beginners" if you haven't done so already. Better than the film to an exponential degree, it depicts the creation of the "teenager" as a sociological (and marketing) concept as well as anything ever written on the subject. It is a UK equivalent to "Rebel Without a Cause," except infinitely more hoppin'.

I still have my copy of "Super Bad"!

Hasn't Bush done worse than that already?

We live in a particularly disturbing political era, in which everything boils down to partisanship, even war crimes. The peculiar characters (or lack of character) of our two most recent presidents have certainly acted as catalysts; meanwhile, the Republicans have served first as judge and jury and then as enabler and accomplice, while the Democrats most recently have just looked the other way in blind pursuit of power.

Wouldn't it be refreshing to discover that the next president might get through four or eight years without actually doing something criminal (in the current case) or even reprehensible (in the previous case)? Is that too much to wish for?

"Pop music critics are a Dionysian lot, snorting coke off groupies’ breasts" ... oh, Bob. You know I always offered to share a little blow when we went backstage. If you hadn't always insisted on bringing your mom...

You're just jealous because we music critics have our own groupies.

I believe the thing with "Yesterday Once More" is the "Shoo-be-doo-lang-lang"s. Forget Karen's contributions; it was Richard's zombie-choir-from-hell backing vocals that always made Carpenters songs so frightening. I'm pretty sure they're what drove Karen to bulimia; I know they've always made me want to stick my finger down my throat.

I'm gonna disagree on the "Morning After"="piece of crap" analysis. I think this is one of those songs in which one little section was so riveting that it drove the whole single up the charts (see also the bridge of "More More More"); that last call-and-response bit is just irresistible. Add in the facts that 1) Maureen also is responsible for the wonderful "Different Worlds" (from the TV show "Angie"), and 2) any song that makes one think wistfully of fat Shelley Winters swimming in a ballgown must be somehow worthwhile. (Actually, whenever I think of "The Poseidon Adventure" I think of the classic Mad magazine parody.)

BTW, I couldn't get the "Touch Me in the Morning" link to work. Yes, I tried. Sue me. (I seem to remember that the middle section is a redeeming factor.)

Now. now, let's be respectful...(said the man who seems to have developed a Tourette's-like need to repeatedly call McCain a coward)...

I hadn't considered Gitmo detainees as future presidents ... nice one.

Agreed, that McCain's hiring of Steve Schmidt has steered him to the low road. But McCain is the candidate, and he's responsible for every last bit of the drivel that comes out of his campaign. He gets no points for honor or dignity when he hires scumbags and then lets them run amok.

It looks like I should have waited to watch today's news before writing the comment above. Today in Detroit, Barack Obama said: "Increased domestic oil exploration certainly has its place as we make our economy more fuel-efficient and transition to other, renewable, American-made sources of energy. But it is not the solution...We simply cannot pretend, as Senator McCain does, that we can drill our way out of this problem. We need a much bolder and much bigger set of solutions. We have to make a serious, nationwide commitment to developing new sources of energy and we have to do it right away...

"Breaking our oil addiction is one of the greatest challenges our generation will ever face. It will take nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy. This transformation will be costly, and given the fiscal disaster we will inherit from the last Administration, it will likely require us to defer some other priorities. It is also a transformation that will require more than just a few government programs. Energy independence will require an all-hands-on-deck effort from America - effort from our scientists and entrepreneurs; from businesses and from every American citizen. Factories will have to re-tool and re-design. Businesses will need to find ways to emit less carbon dioxide. All of us will need to buy more of the fuel-efficient cars built by this state, and find new ways to improve efficiency and save energy in our own homes and businesses...

"We must end the age of oil in our time."

The other day in Missouri, as an aside, Obama mentioned that Americans keeping their tires fully inflated can save more gasoline annually than could be provided by increased offshore drilling. (A true fact, actually, according to no more impartial source than the Bush administration's energy department.) McCain's response? To harp for three days on tire pressure being Obama's entire energy policy, and to hand out gimmicky tire-pressure gauges printed with the words, "Obama energy policy."

John McCain is a coward.

I like to sit in front of it, actually. It lessens the arm strain, and I can see the keys better for hunt-and-peck purposes. Good old' Smith-Corona...

I wrote in this column six weeks ago that a temporary increase in offshore drilling might be acceptable as a stopgap on the way to phasing out petroleum as a major source of our energy--only if it's accompanied by huge investments by the oil companies in developing alternative sources. So I'm not utterly against the concept of offshore drilling--but I am dead-set against using it as a substitute for developing alternatives, or as a method of fooling people into thinking we can drill our way out of high prices. The latter is what McCain's doing.

I'm still waiting for Obama (most likely) to throw himself behind a space-race-level effort to wean us off fossil fuels--the type of commitment Bill Richardson made last year, and Al Gore recently promoted--and I remain disappointed in Obama every day he doesn't do it.

All that said, Obama's agreement to consider a bipartisan compromise on the drilling bill currently before the Senate only seems like "flip-flopping" because the Republican Party has criminalized compromise over the last 20 years. This used to be the way things got done in Washington--the two sides would argue with each other, then they'd hammer out an agreement that didn't make anybody completely happy, but represented a good-faith effort to come together and get something done.

The vast majority of today's Republicans are so ideologically rabid that they can't imagine doing such a thing. They'd rather do nothing, because they've decided that a government that does nothing (or does everything badly) suits their purposes as well as it would if they got their way all the time.

Obama's Berlin speech was full of empty, nonpartisan platitudes--which are the only kind he has any right to offer in a foreign setting at this point, and he clearly knows it. It's so cute how the Republicans have turned such blather into some sort of leftist, utopian, "naive" manifesto--because they've got nothing at all to run on themselves.

This is quite simple. McCain--had he a decent speechwriter and/or a shred of Obama's eloquence--might have given exactly the same speech in Berlin, and you'd be falling all over yourself proclaiming him a great statesman. Of course, he would have been giving that speech to 20 diners in a spaetzle house, but nevertheless...

Damn straight, somebody needs to apologize to the world for the criminal behavior of the American government the last eight years. How many international laws have been broken straight up to the Oval Office? Dozens, no doubt--enough to put away a large cadre of our current "leaders," were the US a nation civilized enough to submit to accountability for their actions when we sign on to international laws. In the absence of any such accountability, apologies will have to do.

McCain was the victim of torture himself and supposedly is a major supporter of the Geneva Convention and other national & international laws against torture. If he doesn't find it appropriate to apologize for the Bush administration's behavior--if for no other reason than because it will help future American soldiers avoid what he himself went through--then he's a coward.

As for offshore drilling, sure it resonates--but only among the ignorant or delusional. Never mind that man behind the curtain, the one with the PhD in economics who keeps telling us that neither offshore drilling nor a gas-tax holiday will make a scintilla of difference in gas prices in the short term. No experts, please -- we're Republicans.

If McCain pitches such ideas despite his own knowledge that they won't work--which is exactly what's happening--then we must discount everything else he says about alternative energy (which he swears he supports, but never seems to vote for when a bill is presented). And if he can't get real on oil, and expects to fool the electorate into voting for a delusion, then he's a coward.

Mom, I told you not to be so obvious in your compliments! Now the guys are gonna know it's a setup...sheesh...

Dammit, Malchus! Here you go again, showing us all up again with something real and sincere. Where do you get off?

Next time we meet up, we'll have to bring the wives/significant others. I have to meet this "Julie" person. She has a lot to live up to.

Great, great column. (sniff) Tito, get me some tissues...