Granted a lot of the bands in that list are/were/will always be crap, there is at least one (more depending on taste) great, will be remembered long after now bands in that list: Pulp. Definitely a top 10 band from the past 20 years - worthy of The Clash or The Jam.

That is why I need you, Isaac. I am pretty sure I have no Pulp CD. What one do you recommend. Someday, I will allow someone to explain to me the importance of Smaching Pumpkins.

Oh Alan Alan Alan, are we supposed to take a man seriously who is debating between a Ford Focus or a Taurus?
There was good music in the 90s-James, Oasis, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Big Audio Dynamite, Charlatans UK.
Where do you stand on more recent bands, Godsmack, Creed, Killers etc?
More important question--what did you think of the other Paul Weller bands, Style Council, English Beat (and whatever else he has done)?
(deja vu--havn't we talked about this before?)

Good timing for lunch-break linkfest of thoughts, Gary...and, yes, I am keenly aware of the picture I paint of myself hereabouts. <p>I think my position on Nirvana and Pearl Jam are, honestly, nice but did not change anything for me - is that wrong? I got to watch certain then-late-teen-early-20s clients deal with Columbine and 9/11...and yet I did honestly come away with the feeling that these were not n the same range compared to the nuclear fear thing. I still have that same sneeking suspicion in relation to the war on terror that allows me to have this difference with the good Flea. But last time I wrote something like that, something bad happened.<p> Maybe I am locked into my teen era to much? Maybe that is a music fan's lot - we are not all John Peel. These days I am as interested in finding antecedents to the sounds in <i>London Calling</i> in the Jamaican dub, dancehall and ska collections I buy. What I do not like about anything post, say, the latter 80s punk folkies of the Pogues or Billy Bragg was understanding the antecedent, the connection to the musical tradition. I have never understood how these 90s bands ands fit in - as I have never perhaps understood what the 90s were...those bubble economic good times, NHL crap-spansion days. Tracing historical link has important for my understanding of music and is what allows me to understand the Halifax scene, for example, and...'cause I was there, <i>man</i> [as I brace for portland's or (more authoritatively) Brother#2's retort.]<p>But you know what we buy that is new? Bluegrass or at least the Gillian Welsh or Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriquez sort of folky-bluegrass thing. I like the way it fits into something. And I want a mandolin.

My favorite band from my teens was the Talking Heads, and their music from the late 70's, early 80's is still my favorite, stuck there in my brain, when I could put it to better use. But, I must say, the 90s had Beck and Radiohead too, and as I read your excellent essay above, I see that you too are moved by all kinds of music!
Maybe we can all agree on this though: in the 1960s they said 'don't trust anyone over 30', but maybe now we can say these days that anyone under 30 has questionable taste?

As I know Isaac I just can't buy into that. I just think there are two solitudes.

BBC 4 (god bless them) had a Brit Pop Special on last night which was actually okay. It was interesting in the context that it was a very Swinging London Groovy thing with a hip new young government in power and Austin Powers movies surfing ona wave of funny nostalgia. Underneath it all Oasis are repetitive boring nonsense for the most part with a couple of decent songs, mostly beatlish copies though. Pulp on the other hand are "Different Class" as Isaac pointed out. I'd go for that album in particular. Blur can be interesting at times too. I certainly think the Nirvana's Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine were a lot more interesting. A lot of the Brit Pop stuff like Oasis and Ocean Colour Scene for instance were really trying to recapture a seventies feel hence the Dad Band label.

Also I have been drinking some Cornish Ale of recent and I just have to finger to keyboard.

Put! Put finger to keyboard.

I was wondering how recently you've been into the Cornish ale!

Al, depending on your mood, I'd suggest Different Class followed up with This is Hardcore (if you're in you like things in chronological order), or the otherway around if you want their best album first.

I still say you're off on your interpretation of Nirvana, but won't disagree with Pearl Jam, or most of the other lot of the 90's (doesn't mean i don't love the music still, like you said, stuck in my teenage years - but I've realized they mostly weren't earth shattering).

And gary, when your list of current bands is godsmack, creed, and the killers (two shit-tastic bands, all three just weak clones of other bands - and I like the killers a lot) - I'd worry - big bonus points for Talking Heads fandom though.

...errr...would your opinion change, Isaac, if you knew Gary lived up a tree in the wilds of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. There is only so much fading in and out of the AM radio after the sun goes down out there.<p>I think my biggest problem with Nirvana is that their reputation went into another zone with Kurt offing himself and I never knew why at 30 it was so big an event for those then in their teens. Probably my first conscious pop culture dislocate for me. That being said, I do have the MTV album on vinyl and love it in large part for the sound of the accounstic non-standup bass. "Come As You Are" is really good on that lp.

Now Isaac, would you believe that Rob Zombie and Korn have been on my recent playlist too? And Limp Bizkit and Cyprus Hill....and Billy Holiday and Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra and the Specials and the Stones and Beatles....

BUT, I have NEVER ever heard a song by Britney or Garth Brooks. So, although I feel like I listen to everything, I don't actually, nor do I drive a Ford of any type.

What are blogs for if not pointless discussion and a little ribbing here and there?

I knew you were an anti-Fordist.