Darth Drabek

The "Rocky" soundtrack is played at every kickboxing class I have: four times a week! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Then this might ring a bell.... Baby, baby we can shed this skin, we can know how we feel inside Instead of goin down an endless road, not knowin if we're dead or alive But some things are worth fightin for, some feelings never die I'm not askin for another chance, I just wanna know why There's no easy way out, there's no shortcut home There's no easy way out, givin in givin in can't be wrong or maybe... In the Burning Heart Just about to burst There's a quest for answers, an unquenchable thirst In the darkest night Rising like a spire In the Burning Heart, the unmistakable fire!

They say alcoholism is a disease. Well, it's the only disease you can get yelled at for having. "Dammit, Otto, you're an alcoholic." "Dammit, Otto, you've got lupus." See, one of those two doesn't sound right. - Mitch Hedberg, R.I.P.

I don't listen to them much, but my friend said the new album comes with some sort of 3D glasses, presumably to look at the weird stuff in the liner notes. What is up with that? My mind ties music to certain events, and for me Undertow will always bring back memories of ripping up carpet and painting my old college house before we moved in. I think that was the only CD we had with us, until I found a semi-scratched copy of Pinkerton in the basement. Faith No More (live) - This Guy's in Love With You

"Hearts on Fire" from the Rocky IV soundtrack. Training montage, baby!

Twilight Singers - Number Nine A duet that makes me wish the Dulli/Lanegan side project "The Gutter Twins" toured around more or put out an album. Devil Sweet talkin' fly on the wall Blackberry Belle of the ball Just like you told me I'm gonna crawl...

I'll be sitting on the hood of a Dodge with a looted Martin guitar, playing "Eve of Destruction" a la Larry Underwood in The Stand. Then I'll re-read Z for Zachariah, just to compare notes.

Non-beer drinkers should try a Flaming Dr. Pepper. Most fun you'll have with a drink. I might be forgetting something, but it involves lighting a shot of 151 on fire and dropping the shot glass into a small glass of beer. If you drink the whole thing right after you drop the shot in, it tastes absurdly similar to a Dr. Pepper. Of course, if you use tequila instead of 151 it just tastes like Hi-C.* * absolutely untested and probably false

Oh what a lucky man... he was! Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover

"Whatever".... actually doesn't ring a bell. Columbia does though, and that's a winner. The Clash - Tommy Gun

I hear that. They should have saved up all those B-sides that made up The Masterplan for later albums. "Acquiesce," "Talk Tonight," "Good to Be Free," those were all much better than their recent stuff, yet they weren't good enough to make Definitely Maybe or What's the Story? (Morning Glory). Go figure. Those parentheses might be misplaced. Wilco - I'm Always in Love

When it kicks in toward the end, that song rocks so hard it hurts. Lead guitar licks like needles in my ear, man. Oh and I'll see your "I've got a Fever" and raise you a "The Girl in the Dirty Shirt." One of the tolerable songs on Be Here Now, the album on which Oasis completely lost their way and started making crap (my opinion, of course). Anybody heard the recent Oasis CD? I heard the single, Lyla, and it sounded okay.

Do those things take two AAs like a CD player, one AAA like the little guys I favor, or something in between? Oh yeah, and I've got your letters, you've got my song! Oasis - Half the World Away

Mmmmm..... Baileys. I don't drink to get drunk that much anymore. I drink socially or just in appreciation of a fine wine or beer. That said, a little buzz can be a good thing. You know you're fighting a losing battle when my college's marketing team used the slogan "Stop at the Buzz" in an attempt to curb binge drinking. In my experience, drugs like marijuana are bad because they are the gateway to listening to Phish and the Grateful Dead and playing hackysack. Ecstasy-type of drugs are bad because they lead to people dancing to repetitive techno music in clubs for days on end.

Teenage Fanclub - Some People Try to **** with You An anthem to which we can all relate. Anybody see Dennis Leary on the Craig Ferguson show last night? Along with DVDs of his show "Rescue Me," he plugged the new Twilight Singers CD, calling it "the best rock and roll I've heard in 10 years." It's a little shady, because he shouldn't even be able to buy the thing for another week. Hmmmm.

wilco - nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (again)

My old roommate said he was a better driver when he was high. Of course, he was also usually drunk, so they pretty much canceled each other out.

Faces (or is it The Faces?) - Glad and Sorry Thank you kindly...

I have a pretty funny game called "Snowball Fight" on my phone, in which your character has to hit two other kids with snowballs, shooting gallery-style. I assume the "battles" get more difficult as you go, but that's just an assumption because I haven't beat the first level.

Is punk an ethos or a style of music? Sounds like a thesis paper to me. I can call Eddie Vedder's actions "punk rock" but I wouldn't call Pearl Jam's music punk rock. But musically, it depends how closely you want to dissect the genre. The Descendents are considered one of the progenitors of the "pop punk" genre, but many people would consider them to be "punk" because they never sold out, never compromised their sound. It was always poppy. In contrast, Bad Religion started out with none of the trappings of pop punk but as they progressed they cleaned up their sound, refined the vocals, and added harmonies. Still, no one would consider Bad Religion "pop punk." Why? Maybe it's the weighty subject material - they're not going to title an album "Take off your Pants and Jacket." edit: Oasis - Some Might Say Man I listened to so much Oasis this weekend.

I had heard the (very clever) term "screamo" used to describe MCR and their ilk. I really do like their album though, which I can't say for many of their contemporaries. Avril is pop rock - she has the punk attitude going though, with her boots, fatigues and drinking habits. An interesting idea is that bands like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard were considered hard rock in their heyday, their music would be considered pop rock in the same vein as Avril today. Blink 182 is pop punk. Sum 41 is pop punk with metal influences. At least the last time I listened to them they still did some ripping solos (approx. four years ago). They had this instrumental with dueling guitars that was definitely Maiden homage. They called it "Grab the Devil by the Horns and ..." .... well I'll just leave it at that. As far as pop punk goes, my favorite is Goldfinger - although their best stuff throws some ska into the mix. Their self titled album, and Hangups had plenty of catchy tunes with driving rhythms. And they're great live. Lately I've been listening to Wilco's Summerteeth album (which is definitely NOT alt-country, more like indie-pop). Okay, I'm done with the genres now, I swear. Wilco - A Shot in the Arm

The production values went up, but that only helped their "oohs" and "ahhhs" sound better. And they refuse to lose these guitarists, so they have three guitarists now in a punk rock band.... you're gonna need the refined production to differentiate 'em. Still, I hear your point. Their later stuff is so polished it makes Boston sound like A.C. (obvious exaggeration) It's a matter of taste, and I'll agree to disagree on this instance.

[rant] And another thing! I do not buy the popular sentiment that Bad Religion's later albums are not as good as the early stuff. It is a pretty sell-out move to leave your own label (widely regarded as the apex of punk rock) to get distributed by a major, but that doesn't mean the quality went down. I think Stranger than Fiction is *the best* Bad Religion album, better than Suffer - the groundbreaking one. I would think Greg Graffin's five-syllable-words-in-a-punk-rock-song strategy would appeal to you, Baley. It's inspired many punks to pick up a dictionary to just know what the hell he's talking about. And why the hell can't I find a Nomeansno CD anywhere? Isn't Jello paying the bills at Alternative Tentacles anymore? [/rant]

Murder Ballads is my favorite Nick Cave record. O'Malley's Bar is one of the best examples of rock and roll lyricism I've heard. It's an 18-minute story of a man who walks into the neighborhood pub he has frequented his whole life and kills everyone there.

Bad Religion FTW! Yes, I said FTW. Get over it. (was that off stranger than fiction or process of belief?)

I had heard the song before the game, but I did not have the CD. The music in those games just really set the mood. I mean, driving a T-Top down the strip with that song on made me feel like I was in the 80s. And I didn't even get my license until grunge was dead and buried. I never finished San Andreas... got sick of getting killed repeatedly near the end. Matthew Sweet - Sick of Myself edit: speaking of the 80s, I listened to Van Halen's 1984 in its entirety while doing stuff around the apartment last night. Classic.