Joseph asked about some song Looper covered:

<something> Johnston," perhaps?  Help me out, fans...

Daniel Johnston? ****'That' single**** Not sure if I approve of this latest development in B&S titling. I mean now they're smuttifying their own songs there's nothing left for us to do. 'Slap Your Cock Around' seems strangely prescient (it wasn't me who made that up, by the way, whoever put © my name a while ago). Mind you, they started it, what with 'Cock Fun' and all. Maybe we can call it 'Judy Has A Cat Nap' instead. I certainly don't approve of having to pay about 7 quid for four tracks and an extended dick slap. As I understand it, 'Legal Man' is a group collaboration mainly written by Stevie. The lunatics have taken over the asylum. Someone asked what they thought the best song on the album would be. I reckon 'The Chalet Lines' might take it. 'I Fought in a War' is bound to be a wistful affair, starting the album with Stuart's wispy unaccompanied tones, if previous form is any guide. It will be OK, but no 'The State I Am In'. 'Beyond the Sunrise' is sure to be epic in sound and scope. I can't wait. I kind of understand what Joe means when he calls 'Late Night, Maudlin Street' epic. A contributor to 'Smiths Indeed' (the Sinister of its day? Not really) once lamented what he saw as Morrissey's dwindling politicism and quoted that song as an example. He said it was a sign of Morrissey switching to an uncommitted, documentary style of lyric, as if he was now on the outside looking in. I didn't really agree with this, but it is tempting to see the song as the centerpiece of the album, Morrissey closing a chapter on his own involvement in the world he describes. I am moving house, a half-life disappears today. What does 'epic' mean nowadays? How can we have an epic in our times? A broad, sweeping work that defines our civilisation; where we're from and where we are? Come off it. When people talk of 'Loveless' as epic, I think they really just mean monumental. There are very few examples of this kind of work that impress me. Somehow you have to have the authority to carry it off, and maybe Kevin Shields just about has. The rest of the shoegazing pack didn't. They just seemed like silly middle class boys and girls who thought it was terribly modern to drown whatever tunes they had in effects pedals. 'Tomorrow Never Knows' seems to be the template for all this, and much as you might resent him as a pampered wife-beating swine, when John Lennon did it it really mattered. I think I'm just embarrassed by the whole indie scene, and believe that it is at it's best when it's concentrating on the small, the detail. Maybe that's what some call anorexic, or unambitious. But it fits somehow. There's a defiant thrill to be had in the small making the big look overblown and stupid. God, next I'll be supporting Man City. Look, I don't know. I just don't think pop music is an appropriate vehicle for the BIG. I'd sooner read a book or watch a film.

Goth? Maybe. Sounds was a bit more gothic, wasn't it?

Nah, Sounds was more metal. MM definitely put the Cure on the front cover an awful lot, and was preferred by the Mission fans in my school. MM liked shoegazing more too. Anything a bit 'arty'. The NME was always more P!O!P!, cynical and posture-puncturing, which I appreciated at the time. That was the way I saw it in the late 80s and early 90s, anyway. I was impressed with MM's 2-part interview with Morrissey in 1988 though. (Can't remember the writer's name. Something very ordinary like Dave or Alan). At that age (14) it struck me as the most intelligent piece of music journalism I'd ever read. I must have another look at it. I just came across this personal account of why the weeklies used to matter. I've only skimmed it, but it looks interesting: http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~tewing/maker1.html Nick xx +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+