It was entertaining enough to read all the way through. But there were definitely a few WAY off the mark. Like equating all jazz with masturbation and throwing out Giant Steps. Gimme a break. Coltrane can be an acquired taste, but I found that was mainly because of his tone. As a melodic improviser (it's improvising, not masturbating, by the way) he was a genius. He made some not-so-good albums, but Giant Steps isn't one of them.

Other masterpieces that really are masterpieces and worth keeping: Hunky Dory and Sgt. Pepper. Let it Be is worth keeping, if only for "I've Got a Feeling" and "I Me Mine". And, yeah, Dark Side of the moon is stale, but I can't get rid of it. I was listening to that shit in the 6th grade and it still sounds good to me.

But thanks for letting me feel OK for not liking Tori Amos. I'll be taking Under the Pink back to the CD store now, cuz I never listen to it and I never will.

"Cute," pretty much. And once in a while, spot-on. Often funny even when it's patently personal opinion dressed up as hipper-than-thou categorical censure, which the author claims to repudiate. Much of the time, doesn't even make it as far as "funny."

I had a remarkably low correspondence with his point of view--the Joshua Tree, vs, Synchronicity, Legend? These are seminal albums; if you're going to dis them, you ought to take the time to explain why. But in any event that's not what this guy was about. He leans way too hard on the effort to make you believe that he belongs to some In Crowd that's so hip you don't even know about it. Stranger than the sacred-cow tipping is the aggressive eclecticism he ascribes to the audience: he's posing as the voice of conscience scolding me for owning all these albums out of vanity, and yet he's naming some albums I've never freaking heard of.

My first reaction was just according to his plan: gosh, who let me in here? I must not even be qualified to discuss pop music with this person! I must immediately buy all of these albums, just to catch up, and then throw them away in arch disdain!

And then slowly, my conscious mind arrived on the scene. Hope you had fun, kid. Sorry, not buying.