Lord

Well, maybe I need to put on the duvet because it's cold with just two blankets. And the rolls? And the pork roast? And the venison violin? And the cow's shoulder? And the rabbit liver? And the oss de cion? And the goose pâté? And the boiled chicken?...

No, I'm someone who disconnects from the computer because I have a material life beyond the virtual one on Debaser. But don't you all have a job? You're always on the computer...

The Queen only talked like that to be glam: they would have never made songs like The Prophet's Song or Liar or The March of the Black Queen, etc. Secondly, let's not instrumentalize everything Freddie Mercury said to make a little irony. If that's the case, Freddie also said he was a musical prostitute: his ramblings in interviews can't be taken and passed off as truth. Otherwise, what would "I am a musical prostitute" mean?

Sorry, I messed up the chronological order of Pere Ubu's discography. How will I be able to go out tomorrow with this face?

I have an ADSL line: there are bands I preferred to download and listen to before buying their CDs; for the Pere Ubu, I downloaded the first two albums, repudiated them, and listened to what I deemed appropriate for my ears. My archive of downloaded music from the internet is so vast that bands like the Pere Ubu are naturally included; besides, I'm not the only one doing this, and especially I'm not bragging about having huge musical knowledge (I leave that task to Piero Scaruffi). All this to tell you that I have listened to the Pere Ubu and how, even if I don't remember every single note of their music (I just don't like them, I don't see the problem). Secondly, I'm not the only one to say that the Queen (up to 1979) are colossal compared to the Pere Ubu, Television, etc. I believe Mr. Scaruffi, from his position of disdain, would recognize that too. Do you like the alternative scene of the '80s and '90s? Listen to it, but don’t come saying it changed the course of music. Since the '80s, the way music is made has changed: before it was done for art or just for fun, then it started to be made for money and to end up on MTV. In an interview, Aldo Tagliapietra from Le Orme said: "When in '71 with our album 'Collage' we shot to the top of the charts, we were still at home with our parents eating soup, and the people listening to our music didn't even know how many we were, because they had never broadcast one of our concerts on television." Got it? Listen to the new wave but don't proclaim its superiority over certain institutions (people who had to tighten their belts quite a bit to become what they are).

I was almost about to cling...

I wrote "pseudo-alterativa" instead of "Pseudo-alternativa"

It's a no. We're not talking about charts; we're talking about a mass of human bodies, folks: Genesis in '73 were scooping up fans all over the world even though they never reached number 1 on the charts. There are no fairy tales here: they are the giants, and no one will ever climb the summit of rock again (and you have no idea how much it pains me to tell you this). I really don't know what to do if there's an alternative scene that continues at sufficiently high levels; the only thing I can tell you is to listen to them, but you can't compare them to those who invented rock and pop music. How many bands from the '70s and '60s have never emerged from anonymity? There are a few that I really appreciate (an example? Arcadium with their "Breathe Awhile" from 1969), but I can't say they're better than the giants of prog or hard rock and so on. It follows that Jazz is a great album, absolutely light-hearted, where various existential-political ramblings are at zero. This is the rock that goes down in history. Pere Ubu are unknown; they've never managed to entertain (entertainment, not commerce) the masses like Freddie Mercury. They were simply less original, more eccentric, but absolutely less original. They've never had that little something extra that other bands had. That's how it is; if you don't like Queen, you don't have to lash out at them—just say you don't like them. I wasn't on the "Modern Dance" review saying Queen are better. If one day I find myself reading that review, I'll just say I don't like them and give it a 2 (I reserve 1 only for modern music).

It’s full of pseudo-alternative scum trying to assert themselves with their little bullshit groups, not realizing that the rock Olympus has run out of space; it’s full.

But you fucking ugly priest, the names you mentioned (Pop Group, Birthday Party, Contortions, Sonic Youth, Minutemen, Butthole Surfers, Pixies, Fugazi, Jesus Lizard, Girls Against Boys, Cop Shoot Cop, Nation of Ulysses) are all niche bands. The great engagement of the masses combined with intelligent, non-commercial music happened between the '60s and '70s: that's why the artists from that period deserve to be on the rock Olympus, while the various groups you mentioned are left starving. My great-grandmother can tell me who Pink Floyd are without ever having listened to them because they've made music history. If I ask my grandmother who Jesus Lizard are (a generational leap), she won't know: she doesn't know that they're American guys who proposed a very respectable underground musical form, but absolutely incomparable to the bands a few years earlier (Genesis, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Yes,...). Now do you understand? The giants are them because they've borne fruit (fruits that could also be identified in the bands you mentioned), but the bands that came after turned out to be sterile, producing the rarest fruit that won't save us from MTV-ization.