Chalkhills Digest Volume 5, Issue 248
Date: Monday, 16 August 1999
Chalkhills Digest, Volume 5, Number 248
Monday, 16 August 1999
Today's Topics:
Re: Chalkhills Digest
Here's to bow down to the ones called the blind men
I had a dream last night, oh boy!
You Know Sometimes Words Have Two Meanings
XTC
Nirvana post-mortem
AV1 against the rest
Tragedy makes the band?
Final Greenman Video News
Nirvana redux
Yank v. Limey (?) nobodies
Skin Deep
pure crap
Variety
MiNsTeR HiLL
A Slice of Humble Pie
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He died grinning on live TV.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <37B3F8E8.E5588F@ne.com.au> Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 20:52:24 +1000 From: chrisc <chrisc@ne.com.au> Subject: Re: Chalkhills Digest Delurking for the first time, and this is probably going to flame-out heaps of people. Iv'e been an XTC fanatic since 1979. Shows my age! But there seems to be far to many posts which have nothing at all to with what this sites all about. C'mon folks keep the content relevant to the greatest band that's ever been. I know we're all entitled to our own opinions on whatever, but some of this shits becoming overtly BORING! Now here's my boring bit! My wishlist, being a musician/singer/songwriter: Gregsy (The finest guitarist I have ever had the pleasure to hear) to play on my Album. Terry to drum for me:(Hope he's still in OZ) Andy to produce my Album (And sing) Colin, HIT me with that bass and laconic humour. Back to lurking, and waiting for the flames! LONG LIVE XTC Chris Chapman XLIT Australia
------------------------------ From: JEFFREY.THOMAS.JT@bayer-ag.de Subject: Here's to bow down to the ones called the blind men Message-Id: <0006800014128666000002L062*@MHS> Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 18:29:32 +0200 Howdy "Kreideberger", hi there Cooking Vinyl, I find it fascinating to read that everyone's favorite song with hit potential is stricken from the TVT/Cooking Vinyl catalogue and no one seems to really get upset. I for one am MAD AS HELL!!! What the f#@* do these people think they're doing?!!? Have they lost their minds?? I mean, Easter Theatre is nice, but it's not hit material. Okay, great for the fans and all. I Like That is really bouncy, catchy... but not exactly the hit song. GREENMAN IS. C'mon guys, what's going on here? You promote the album well, yes. But do you have something against there being a hit on it? I mean, let's face it, almost every XTC fan was telling you, "Put Greenman out as a single and promote it. It'll do well." This was back when you were talking about NOT putting it out, then came the rumors of the Greenman video (gotta do it, CV!) and suddenly the 'Hills were alive with the sound of music. Even people who don't really like Greenman were sure that *this was gonna be the one*. This was *the* song to put your efforts into. And now you go and ruin it all. You *have* lost your minds. Or you've already given up on our boys. Don't do that. They are worth it, any critic will tell you. There's only one way you can make it up. Use Greenman as part of the new single from AV2 -- and promote both songs. What's it gonna be? "You and the Clouds"? Whatever. Just don't forget the song with the biggest potential of all from AV1; you just can't let a song of this calibre sit around and not get heard. You have to do something with it. My god, it's catchy as hell and has incredibly good production values, ... EEEEAAAAAHHHH!!! I AM ANGRY!! Aaaah, just gimme that pitchfork... - Jeff
------------------------------ Message-Id: <s7b42599.077@OAG.STATE.TX.US> Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 14:02:44 -0600 From: "Steve Oleson" <Steve.Oleson@OAG.STATE.TX.US> Subject: I had a dream last night, oh boy! I had a dream last night, oh boy! Three friends and I were hanging in a bedroom talking about the Beatles, all enthusiastically. So I launched into an a capella version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) and the others joined in lustily. It sounded wonderful! We didn't just sing a line and break off with an embarrassed laugh, we sang it all the way through, singing the harmonies, while the guitars and drums played in our heads. At the last, screechy, out-of-tune guitar note (before "A Day in the Life" begins), I woke up; my heart beating strongly in my chest. An intense dream! When I was fully awake, I thought about the dream. I wondered "when" the dream took place. A contemporary friend was there, so it seemed to have taken place in the present. However, there was an unabashed enthusiasm in our personalities more like that found in kids than in 40-something adults. Then I thought about McCartney, comparing his personality seen in the 1960s, and that displayed currently. The difference is like that found comparing a glittering, sharp, silver, knife, and an old, tarnished, silver spoon. I wonder, am I more like the knife, or the spoon? More like the spoon, I imagine. Time is a strange thing. Sometimes, the distant past seems only separated from the present by a paper-thin membrane, that could be easily cut by a knife and stepped through. How do we polish our lives and nourish our spontaneity and brilliance? (A good night's sleep would help!) Andy seems to know the secret. What do you Chalkhillers think? Steve "I'd love to turn you (me) on" Oleson
------------------------------ Message-ID: <37B473D2.388F450A@averstar.com> Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 15:36:50 -0400 From: Harrison Sherwood <sherwood@averstar.com> Organization: Averstar, Inc. Subject: You Know Sometimes Words Have Two Meanings > From: Jon Rosenberger <wile1coyote@yahoo.com> > Subject: Zep-Cobain-and maybe XTC Too > >>"Can someone please point out a cohesive lyric that Robert Plant > actually wrote?" > > Sure--""And she's climbing a stairway to heaven"" it's meaning is > obscure and open to interpretaion but it is certainly cohesive. Perhaps > the word you were looking for was "comprehensible"? Possibly Harrison > would like to illuminate us with his intrepretation of the song, I am > sure a mind as developed as his has wrung some meaning from it that > mine has not. Thank you for your faith, Jon. We are touched. Alas, the past few days have been taken up with fevered preparations to pack the Woman Warrior and the Imps of Satan off to a sandy place, there to enjoy two weeks of Vaseline-lensed reveries brought on by the lugubrious cry of the lonely seagull--to my mind a far more effective nepenthe than Proust's madeleine. These reveries shall dwell as much as possible on improbable athletic sex, the heady lingering aroma of Coppertone and ocean salt on a wind-dried inner thigh, and festive, brightly-colored alcoholic beverages, to the careful exclusion of the poetics of Robert Planet. However, I am apparently doomed to spend at least some time pondering the following verse, which leaped out at me recently during a late-night radio scan, took a stranglehold on my synapses, and wouldn't let go: Sometimes you gotta get higher Sometimes you gotta stay low Some people say you're gonna die someday I got news for you, you never have to go You're welcome. Really, asking for an interpretation of "Stairway to Heaven" is one of those jokes where the act of asking is the joke itself, don't you think? Sort of like, "How many Canadians does it take to dismantle a nuclear reactor?" ------ > From: "Duncan Kimball" <dunks58@hotmail.com> > Subject: The Art of Business / The Business of Art > And is what is wrong with Sting doing a bit of spruiking for Compaq? Ah, screw it. I'm on vacation. You people deal with it. See you in September. Harrison "Think Different" Sherwood
------------------------------ From: "Mugsie Rimmer" <B_Mills@email.msn.com> Subject: XTC Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 01:43:25 +0100 Message-ID: <09cae4546000e89CPIMSSMTPU08@email.msn.com> I may be thick ! But does anyone know how to convert US type video to UK type! Answers from Brits only ,it's easier that way!
------------------------------ Message-Id: <199908140516.BAA11677@lima.epix.net> From: "Michael Davies" <miser17@epix.net> Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 01:09:29 -0500 Subject: Nirvana post-mortem > I don't profess at all to be an expert on this matter, but it occurs to > me that the great and influential bands are made up of great and > influential musicians. The whole band may be greater than the sum of its > parts (insert example here), but bands break up, sustain losses like > Nirvana, adapt and change with times and personallities. > > I think the mark of a great band is what happens after the tragedy -- the > death of a singer/song writer, drummer or other member, or the break-up > of a successful union. I guess what I am saying is, if Nirvana was the > most influential rock band of the 90's - where are they now? What's > happened to the rest of the band while Kurt rocks with the dearly > departed? Dave Grohl is the singer and guitarist for the Foo Fighters, an immensely popular alternative rock band who are not critically disdained. Krist Novoselic decided to use his ability to get a recording contract to record and release whatever random music he wanted to (the Sweet 75 album). That's the rest of the band. And...how many bands have been broken up while still successful and had their members achieve success afterwards? The Beatles, and...Led Zeppelin, with The Firm? Don Henley? What other bands have had postmortem individual success equal to that of the members? > One can't deny that the "N" band struck a chord with > America's suburban teenagers, but I would argue > that, given the nature of teenagers in the 1990's, > they were the equivalent of the Monkees in the 1960's > in terms of how they were embraced. Sure, both > bands had one or two good songs, but then after > a few years they were quickly dropped for more > substantial musical fare. I would say that Nirvana were dropped for other musical fare because of the suicide of the writer of all but one of their songs, not because of fickle teenaged music fans. Also, the bands that became popular after their flameout were along the lines of Bush, Live, and the Verve Pipe; bands whose music was influenced by or similar to Nirvana's; punk bands like Green Day and the Offspring, most of whose music couldn't be considered more "substantial" than Nirvana's; light-sounding rap-ish rock by people like Smash Mouth and Sugar Ray; and of course the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, 98 Degrees, Robyn, the Spice Girls, Destiny's Child, Take That, Savage Garden, Britney Spears, Boyzone, B*Witched, and Marilyn Manson. Artists like the ones who had been popular in the underground and suddenly had hits in 1993 and '94 - the Flaming Lips, Pavement, Liz Phair, Possum Dixon, Juliana Hatfield, Veruca Salt, the Meat Puppets, Sonic Youth - ceased to have hits once the major labels stopped trying to replicate the success of Nirvana in terms of originality and tried replicating it in terms of sound (viz. signing bands that sounded just like Nirvana). I think I said "viz." in that paragraph. I don't know what "viz." means, so if I actually meant "e.g." or "i.e.", read it as that. Anyway, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden were it in terms of substantialness (substantiality?) this decade. Before them, the hits were rap, increasingly lame heavy metal, New Kids on the Block, and Guns 'n' Roses. (I've just recently become aware that Guns 'n' Roses shouldn't be grouped with lame heavy metal...having been 9 in 1991, to me they blended in with Bon Jovi and Poison). After them, the hits are increasingly repetitive rap, increasingly lame punk, solo members of the New Kids on the Block, "R&B", and bouncy beach rock. >6. I can understand why Americans may value him (tho' I think it's bogus >and hollow...as in what I said about JFK), but I cannot for the life of me >see why any European would be taken in by this hype. I honestly have never heard anyone display this kind of anti-colonial prejudice, and I honestly didn't know it still existed among people of average age. NOW.......Time to talk about XTC. How's that "Greenman" single coming, boys? What do people think is the band's most overlooked song? I would say "Paper and Iron (Notes and Coins)" or "Leisure". Who was that that kept entreating people to listen to the Grays? I got their album for two dollars a couple months ago and it's great, although the booklet is all stuck together (both big boxes of $2 CD's at the flea market in question had apparently floated across the Atlantic, explaining the price). It's great, I tell you. > Two steps forward, six steps back. Ahhh...although it's a pessimistic sign-off, this reminds me of a good band (the Gang of Four) and is actually refreshing after that hostility-filled digest. If I seem mad, it's because I heard "Dancin' in the Moonlight" by Harvest King on the radio today. Wow, that is an awful song. Michael davies miser17@epix.net np: Pernice Brothers. This sounds like Smart Brown Handbag, but better.
------------------------------
Message-ID: <004201bee64d$6f8c79a0$36a1fad0@tim63>
From: "Tim Kendrick" <tim63@earthlink.net>
Subject: AV1 against the rest
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 08:06:21 -0400
Hi everyone!
steve wrote:
>Now that the smoke has cleared and most of our emotional attachments
>to AV1 have dissolved... Where do folks see it in relation to the rest
of
>the discography?
Although I've only been listening to it for six months
(compared to several years for all the others) I would still
put AV1 at the number 1 position as my all time favorite XTC
release.
Below is the order I would rank all the major XTC releases,
along with songs I would have replaced/added from that time
period.
Tim's Rankings:
#1 - APPLE VENUS VOLUME 1
songs I'd replace: "I Can't Own Her"
with: "Wonder Annual"
#2 - NONSUCH
songs I'd replace: "Holly up on Poppy"
"Then She Appeared"
with: "Where Did the Ordinary People Go?"
"Goodbye Humanosaurus"
#3 - THE BIG EXPRESS
songs I'd replace: "This World Over"
with: "Motorcycle Landscape"
#4 - MUMMER
songs I'd replace: "Wonderland"
with: "The World is Full of Angry Young Men"
#5 - ORANGES AND LEMONS
songs I'd replace: "Hold Me My Daddy"
"Minature Sun"
with: "Blue Beret"
"This Is the End"
#6 - SKYLARKING
songs I'd replace: "Ballet For A Rainy Day"
"Another Satellite"
"The Man Who Sailed ..."
"Big Day"
with: "Ra Ra For Red Rocking Horse"
"Find The Fox"
"Obscene Procession"
"The Troubles"
(the rest I'll list without my replacement songs)
#7 - ENGLISH SETTLEMENT
#8 - DRUMS AND WIRES
#9 - BLACK SEA
#10 - RAG AND BONE BUFFET
#11 - CHIPS FROM THE CHOCOLATE FIREBALL
#12 - WHITE MUSIC
#13 - GO-2
I'm sure many of you will have different views on this.
I gather that the majority on this list would rank ENGLISH SETTLEMENT
as #1, with SKYLARKING a close second.
Tim K.
------------------------------ From: WESnLES@aol.com Message-ID: <60f79c00.24e6c42f@aol.com> Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 09:07:59 EDT Subject: Tragedy makes the band? Steven Paul wrote: I think the mark of a great band is what happens after the tragedy -- the death of a singer/song writer, drummer or other member, or the break-up of a successful union. I guess what I am saying is, if Nirvana was the most influential rock band of the 90's - where are they now? What's happened to the rest of the band while Kurt rocks with the dearly departed? You may want to check out the Foo Fighters. 1997's The Colour And The Shape is as good, probably better, than anything Nirvana put out. Who would have guessed that Dave Grohl was as gifted, again...probably more so, than Kurt? Oh...and still...your line of thought is a bit convoluted. By your reasoning, Def Leppard must be one of the all time great bands. I don't think you can judge the impact a band has had on the world by how that band bounced back from tragedy. This notion would also imply that the Doors, or...better yet, Jimi Hendrix, was not that influential.....of course, neither of those bands had a one armed drummer. wesLONG Click here: http://members.tripod.com/~The_Last_Balloon/index.html
------------------------------ Message-ID: <37B596F5.686E@gte.net> Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 12:19:01 -0400 From: george toledo <guitarc@gte.net> Organization: home Subject: Final Greenman Video News Well, the official word (via tvt) is that the greenman video was so "horrible" that it will not be released. That's a dissapointment.
------------------------------ Message-ID: <37B59D45.633D6FB9@airmail.net> Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 11:45:57 -0500 From: Danielle Gaither <redips76@airmail.net> Subject: Nirvana redux > I love the All Music Guide, but this claim is greatly exaggerated. > The ones who deserve the credit for influencing rock history are the > early punk bands -- Clash, Sex Pistols, Jam, Ramones, Buzzcocks, and Who in turn were influenced by plenty of other artists as well. Did not The Clash say, "All that we are we owe to Jackie Wilson?" Wasn't punk in some ways a return to the three-chord structures of the fifties? I have a BA in Music History. One thing my studies have shown me is that musical development through history has behaved more like a pendulum than in any kind of linear fashion. > maybe even XTC. These are the bands who opened the floodgates of > originality and paved the way for the U2s, REMs, Smiths, Smashing Originality is the art of concealing your source. :) > Pumpkins and Nirvanas of the 80s and 90s. To give the credit to > Nirvana is getting the wagon before the horse. I don't really think that's true. Yes, Nirvana used some (I say *some*) sounds from other bands and combined them in their own way (which is probably as much originality as any band can aspire to). But don't discount that "suburban teen" appeal. As someone who *was* a suburban teen in 1991, I can say that we really didn't have much of anyone who spoke for *our* generation (unless you count New Kids on the Block, which I don't). Even my currently Korn-fed brother says, "Before there was Korn, there was Nirvana." Suburban teens buy records, too. ;) And who can deny the cathartic qualities of "Territorial Pissings"? ;) So, how about those lads from Swindon? I bet they're not Nirvana fans. Always happy to help, Danielle -- We're all Jesus, Buddha, and the Wizard of Oz. --XTC
------------------------------ Message-ID: <002801bee67c$629333e0$04708bd0@ginsim> From: "Simon Deane/Gina Chong" <ginsim@netvigator.com> Subject: Yank v. Limey (?) nobodies Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 01:42:28 +0800 Hey, Tyler! The only people who seem to be doing any elevating of the likes of Benny Hill and Prince Charles seem to be ....errr... Americans and other non-Brits. Most self-respecting Brits. are rather surprised at the "success" of the likes of Benny and Chaz outside those shores. As for the Sex Pistols, (whilst acknowledging that you were probably trying to be provocative) you're just plain wrong - I think that they were truly revolutionary in their effect upon popular music, not in the music itself but in the politics of music. The likes of Kurt (rip) are not fit to be mentioned in the same breath.... All the best Simon Deane
------------------------------
From: "Mark Strijbos" <mmello@mail.knoware.nl>
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 22:06:31 +0200
Subject: Skin Deep
Message-Id: <19990814200835.333B3A6CDD@mail.knoware.nl>
Dear Chalkers,
The amount of work involved in building the new Dave Gregory site
@ http://www.guitargonauts.com has kept me from working on the
Little Lighthouse these past months. Some of you may have noted
that i haven't been my usual loud-mouthed self here either...
i'll be back, i promise :)
Those of you who are using the popular WinAmp MP3 player and
want to add some XTC to their desktop may like to know that i've put
a collection of 12 downloadable XTC inspired "skins" on the Little
Lighthouse.
check 'm out @ http://www.knoware.nl/users/mmello/skins.html
yours in xtc,
Mark Strijbos at The Little Lighthouse
http://www.knoware.nl/users/mmello/
or http://come.to/xtc
------------------------------ Message-ID: <001001bee6d0$24415500$946dc2d1@joeblow> From: "otis career jr" <ribber@trail.com> Subject: pure crap Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 19:58:49 -0700 are you telling me that i have to fricking buy AV1 again to get the demos??? i know there hasnt been income for awhile, but what a scum buckety move!! re: Bears - eh.... ok stuff, but certainly nothing to write home to mom about! A couple decent tunes on each lp, n thats about it, kids. Crimson, on the other hand, is a different story, besides their last studio lp, (which is better performed/mixed on their Live in Argentina discs), not a bad release in their catalog. Besides Belew's involvement in both, mentioning these two bands in same paragraph, a travesty, kids! If you like the 'quirk' in XTC's stuff, I'd send ya shopping for Soul Coughing's newer, "EL Oso"... not sounds like XTC, but there's a similar attitude thing. I hope n pray AV2 has some testicles, Nonesuch, AV1, both pretty, (still, years later, just aint crazy about Nonesuch, a flat, uninvolving collection) but no Andy-Boy rhythm guitar! Know we're all getting older/mellower (been a fan since '79, myself), but, not ready for Vegas lounge show, yet. Cobain: A great poet, a very physically ill man. Should be classified with the likes of Ian Curtis/Darby Crash. THe guy had a lotta shit, (migranes, heroin addiction, white trash upbringing, Courtney, etc.) to deal with n still made a mark. Hey, he didnt want to be famous and wouldve quit fast if not for feeling obligated to his friends. Also, not on same page in any way with XTC, really. Thus sayeth I....... http://go.to/rib for my pages, mucho fiction, chaoslinks, n fun stuff!
------------------------------ Message-Id: <4.1.19990815032850.00ae2220@cyber1.servtech.com> Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 04:10:46 -0400 From: Joshua Hall-Bachner <harlequin@tmbg.org> Subject: Variety "David Seddon" <D.Seddon@btinternet.com> >4. I'm not saying (and we've had this debate before) that melody is the >only important thing in music, but it is one of three or four >prerequisites. I don't think Curt had a clue! I'd debate this point rather strongly. There is a lot of music which is not primarily about melody, and casting aspersions on it seems short-sighted to me. Anyone who's a fan of My Bloody Valentine, Pan Sonic, or Sonic Youth can appreciate that subtle texture can be just as fascinating in music as melody. And, on the other hand, I'd debate that Nirvana was completely lacking in melody. Sure, tunes like "Territorial Pissings" are screaming slash-fests. But what about "All Apologies"? "Dumb"? Even "About A Girl"? Kurt's voice may have disguised it pretty well, but I would consider all of these songs melodic, and they all worked well when stripped of their electric backing, as the Unplugged session proved. Hell, "In Bloom" is a horridly catchy tune (one that, ironically enough, I have trouble not singing along to when it comes on....) "Megan Heller" <hellerm@hotmail.com> wrote: >I'll mention in the midst of this that I barely even listen to any American >music. I was always impressed by the diversity I saw in the English >popular chart as compared to the American charts, and I still am. There is a reason for this, however. America is a large country -- 280 million people -- and with subcultures that range from inner Manhattan to the deep South and back. With this many people, popular music can only represent the broadest of trends -- acts which would probably do very well on many "regional" charts, if they existed, will often not be able to harness the power to succeed on a broad national level. Britain is much smaller, and much less culturally spread than America, due to its size -- small trends therefore have the potential to make a much larger impact on the charts. One should also note that though the American pop music charts may be cack, there are many (and diverse) artists who succeed to such a level that they become large-scale cult acts, whose names may be familiar to a large portion of American youth -- Bjork, Portishead, Stereolab, and Pavement, to name a few examples from my own collection. /---------------------------Joshua Hall-Bachner---------------------------\ | harlequin@tmbg.org http://www.servtech.com/public/particle/ | | "We all have our idiosyncracies -- maybe thinning hair, or gum disease."| \---- Kowanko, "Will You Come To?" ------ Thank You, And Goodnight. ------/
------------------------------ From: phoebeh@impop.bellatlantic.net Message-ID: <37B74A7F.6738A223@postoffice2.bellatlantic.net> Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 16:17:19 -0700 Subject: MiNsTeR HiLL Not sure if this has been mentioned here before but check this out.....It was posted to audities- Sounds like the second coming, yeh???? Not sure if they've been discussed much here, but has anyone else heard the fabulous Minster Hill album? If you were left cold by XTC's latest, then this is probably what you were expecting! Great songs, quirky changes and a fine blend of acoustic and electric instrumentation. Man, if Colin Moulding released a solo album today (produced by Andy Partridge) then this is exactly what it would sound like. Although I don't think that it would touch the majesty that this album possesses. Don't let the XTC comparison get in the way, though. They don't SOUND like them. They just have the same quirky musical stylings. Songwriter Howard Herrick has created a near-perfect album filled with everything that us pop fans want, need, desire and love. This is an album that is as enchanting as anything else you'll hear this year. Look for them at www.minsterhill.com. And later on, you'll find the whole story at www.allmusic.com.
------------------------------ Message-ID: <000101bee760$e9d0bb40$c4e7abc3@default> From: "David Seddon" <D.Seddon@btinternet.com> Subject: A Slice of Humble Pie Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 21:56:50 +0100 Is this the right room/list for an argument? Although I enjoy a really good musical discussion even argument I realise that sometimes I might go a little over the top. I have no real interest in Nirvana, but I enjoy debating whether they're any good or not. Actually I'd can think of many other artists I'd prefer prefer to debate. XTC especially, but I'm far from being the only one who's not said much about them recently. Sorry if I got on your nerves Megan!! It was not my intention to insult any Americans on the list, and I apologise if I did. I have liked most of the Americans I have met and had a very happy relationship with an American girl for about a year. American classical (serious) music is great and you do musicals a million times better than our pathetic Mr. Weber. "Junk" culture's ok, too: on a trivial note I also have a continual craving for root beer, which is a pain 'cos over here you can't get it or it's crap (made in England!). Having said that I'm not changing my view about the weak state of American Popular music!! Other points: I don't intend to defend Oasis either, but given the choice of being stranded on a desert island with only one CD, I'd have to go for one of their's above a Nirvana one! The noise might not be inspiring, but it would be more pleasant. Sharing that island with certain members of either group would just about drive me to distilling something potent, or to work night and day on a canoe ! I don't think that the examples of English heroes, who are thought naff elsewhere, but aren't here were very well chosen...you could have picked Lloyd Weber. Most English people over 40 seem to think he's God's gift to music and that's extremely embarrassing!!! Sex Pistols? I'm not a fan, but they are not a footnote to pop history like Nirvana! There was some merit there! Prince Charles? Oh dear. He is certainly not a hero here and is constantly mocked!! I don't think he's as bad as he's made out, but there you go! Benny Hill? Totally non PC over here. Pretty much forgotten, too. I was under the impression that he was huge in America, but I might be wrong about that. Princess Di? It's not the same thing at all. I don't want to get into the Di thing, but she was never valued for any talent, so mocking her for coming off a pedestal doesn't enter into it. People appreciated her for what they thought was her humanity. Whether they were right to do so I make no comment on. Meanwhile, I am very sad to hear that Greenman may not be a single after all. On AV1, I thought it had the best chance by far of being a hit.
------------------------------ End of Chalkhills Digest #5-248 *******************************
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