Hello all. This is my first post, as I've just been released from the nursery. I was all shades of miffed at not being able to partake in the discussions of s***ing out, but, such is the price of infancy. To beat a dead horse, I personally prefer the term "jumped the shark" to "s***ing out". It's based on the premise that "Happy Days" was a good show until Fonzie jumped his motorcycle over a shark tank. After that, it went downhill. In my humble opinon, as long as a band continues to put out music that makes you _feel_ something, then they haven't jumped the shark. That out of the way, I suppose I should introduce myself. Name: Grant Bennett Age: 23 Where I am: Maryville, Missouri, USA Bands I dig: B&S, They Might Be Giants, Rancid, Rollins Band, Velvet Underground, Propellerheads... a bunch of stuff, really. Back to content: Regarding Napster: I use it, quite often. If I hear of a new band, I see if I can find some of their songs that way. This is how I was first exposed to Billy Bragg. If I like the stuff, I'll purchase some albums. If I don't, well, I delete it. The sound quality is... ok, I guess. I don't really have much of a hi-fi system. I generally won't download mp3s of artists that I really dig. If they have a new album coming out, I'll buy it, knowing that I'll probably like it. (If you're looking for a laugh, visit http://www.theonion.com and read the Kid Rock article.) On politics in songs: To paraphrase John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful -- artists haven't been that astute in making political statements in the past, so why should they start now? I don't listen to a lot of overtly political bands (Atari Teenage Riot being an exception), and I'm not a very political person. Except when it comes to free-speech issues. Apart from that, eh. Not really concerned that much. I tend to be more left-leaning than conservative. Don't get me wrong -- I dig songs that get you all riled up about issues, and I'm fully aware that my punk rock tastes are firmly rooted in socio-economic-political situations, but to me the music, the emotion expressed in the song, the song's ability to make you _feel_ emotions is more important than the message. "Sloop John B" is about a bad time on a ship and nothing more, but it's one of my favorite songs. "I Don't Like Mondays" is about a school shooting and the reaction to it, and it's my favorite song in the whole world. But it's the emotion that matters. With Kid Rock, for example, I get a sense of love for the music he's sampling. With Limp Bizkit, I don't get any sense of emotion whatsoever. Similar artists, yet there are subtle differences. Enough on this missive, however. Back to B&S. I got into B&S not entirely by accident. I thought that TBWTAS was an interesting title, so I bought it. And loooooooved it! It's the only B&S I have, but, it got me here, didn't it? I've not heard "Legal Man" yet, but I simply must hear "Judy is a dick slap". I love that title. Don't know why. (Question: What is an "arab strap"? I know that there's a band in GB called Arab Strap, and with the B&S album, I'm sure that it's a real thing. Is it a wacky British thing that I'm not hip to yet? Is it something that would make my grandma cringe?) Anyhow, my 15 minutes are up. And I need to go back to work. I may post a lot, I may not. Who knows? Oh, thanks to the people who were patient with a baby on IRC. -- Johnny ICQ: 8172344 +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "peculiarly deranged fanbase" "frighteningly named +-+ +-+ Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+