Eneathedevil

Gee, still with this nonsense, I told you it doesn't stick. Rather, Kosmo's consideration is interesting, and no one here had thought of it. However, I partially allow myself to refute it, because I don't believe it's a hallmark of the eighties, and thus an innovative factor that gives women a space not previously acquired: Nico was certainly more of a legendary phenomenon than a concrete one, but certainly Janis Joplin wasn’t, nor Debbie Harry or Patti Smith, for that matter, names that sparked a sort of female revolution already in the '70s. However, it is undeniable that in the '80s there was a much more significant spread, with a green light even for all-female bands and controversial icons like Lydia Lunch or Diamanda Galas.

Yes, but I repeat, if this weakness is shown against Nadal, that's one thing, but if he throws matches against Gilles Simon and Karlovic, that's another, and I don't know how much the Wimbledon shock can play a part. In my opinion, these are just simple mechanisms that come into play for many reasons, which make a champion vulnerable, but not finished. And I believe that as long as he is assured of not facing Nadal (let's remember that the latter, until recently, lost to Gonzalez, Blake, Tsonga, Ferrer), he will have all the cards in hand to win again. Then who knows: it may happen that this possibility is denied to him or that Djoko will show some guts, but in itself he still has enough class to finish major tournaments.

Damn, if you go to the Virgin Shop and ask for the latest from Lycia, at the very least they'll give you the latest from Mirko and Beehive with Marrabbio as a special guest.

I haven’t seen Djoko, but I think he’s really complicated his life as he usually does. However, you never know; he might still make it to the semifinals against Federer and have a great day of tennis. Nonetheless, I don’t think Federer’s problem comes from the psychological blow of Wimbledon. Our guy, aided by mononucleosis, has been going through a mediocre spell since the beginning of the year. Forget the losses to Nadal and Djoko at the Masters, Australian Open, and Roland Garros, but certain performances before Wimbledon, like the sound defeat by Fish, those against Murray, Stepanek on clay, and Roddick, who hadn’t beaten him in ages, were significant warning signs that suggest the issue isn't just Nadal. Moreover, it’s not excluded that if Nadal faces some old hard-hitters at Flushing Meadows (let's remember some of his old tough customers like Youzhny and Blake), he might not make it to the finals, which would allow Federer to win again, so I would hold off declaring him finished.

Undoubtedly about the '80s, I admit, I have a shorter one. But when it comes to the '90s, I pull out a long snake so big that I can use it as a scarecrow in the plum garden at home.

Steve Roach produced those albums in the '90s, I was saying. Federer? Well, I see him doing well, against Stepanek he was impeccable. My consideration is one: everything is in Djokovic's hands; if the Serbian is really fit, he has a good chance even against the best Federer, as he clearly demonstrated at the beginning of 2008 and also previously. Therefore, if Djoko reaches the potential semi-final with Federer playing the high-quality tennis he has shown, he could either mark the revival or the end of the Swiss player's career, as on hard court, at least in the current state of things, he is on par, if not better, than Nadal (still counting on the latter's fatigue).

Nah, you’re not fooling me, Gee. I didn’t deliberately stumble into sterile listings, a game you got yourself caught up in, ending up quoting, I repeat, the implied phenomena in the review, niche acts, and hucksters. If I were to, say, quote like you did people who started their careers in the previous decade like Springsteen, Aerosmith, Eno, at this point I could also mention besides the aforementioned the REM (Out of Time, Automatic for the People, Monster are from the '90s and I wouldn't dismiss them), the Flaming Lips (who made more albums in the '90s than before), Sinead (you cheated here to the point of pity: she made only one album, the first, at the end of the '80s), Madonna, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys… and let me stop here, because you know well you've cheated too many times just because you saw that any of the artists you mentioned had released an album in the '80s, which was already a phenomenon of the era for you, and in doing so you created a hotchpotch where you generated unqualifiable associations like Oldfield and Madonna, The Clash and Sinead O'Connor. So, aside from the little games that pile up, I tell you that I really don’t care about stacking names; for me, the '90s techno scene was superb (and I forgot about Aphex Twin, Moby, Underworld… an entire world dances to the beat of "Born Slippy"), and it’s a marvelous example of quality stuff that the aforementioned "mass" likes. That's enough for my assessment of electronic music, but I know you’re greedy for "real emotions" (not electronic ones), so to make you happy, I’ll mention a couple of names that worked hard in '90s England like Blur, Radiohead, Stone Roses, or some hard-glam-rock bands like the Smashing Pumpkins, or how about Sigur Ros in Norway, or a certain Trent Reznor who in 1994 wrote The Downward Spiral, or Kyuss, why not, not forgetting Lanegan, Stereolab, Morphine, some Portishead who continue to make albums now… is that sufficient? It seems I’ve named a few famous names of certain quality, unless you want to tell me that Radiohead is a phenomenon equal to U2 or that only 2-3 people know the Smashing Pumpkins. Then, just to even the field, I’ll also mention the lesser-known bands capable of producing at least one absolute masterpiece: besides Mercury Rev, Slint, Fugazi, Julian Cope, I would remember Dadamah from Montgomery, Swans, Lycia (whom I adore), Low, Royal Trux, Lisa Germano, the ambient Lightwave, Three Mile Pilot first, then Black Heart Procession, Don Caballero (now indirectly in the spotlight due to the Battles affair), Electric Wizard, Autechre with Incunabula and Amber, and Jesus Lizard. And let’s not forget that "Remnants of a Deeper Purity" by Black Tape, the sum of the group, is from 1994. And My Bloody Valentine, as mentioned, wrote "Loveless" in '91. And Steve Roach, who undoubtedly made great albums in the '80s, composed "Dream Circle," "Well of Souls," "Magnificent Void." And once and for all, I hope I’ve been convincing.

However, it’s worth noting one thing: it had been years since we reached 100 comments around here. Damn, you need to say something uncomfortable to stir up the dust... but heaven help you if you don’t all come back next time to ruffle some feathers, because there were only a handful of people into Throbbing Gristle! ;)

And here we go to you, Geenaccio. You drive me crazy. Okay, following my speech, I’m going to take down the Tortoise and post-rock, certainly not very popular outside the Web; let’s also concede that Mercury Rev, Fugazi, Slint, Mogwai, and almost all of Cope are phenomena not entirely popular (but still, in my view, of remarkable importance, capable of giving birth to undisputed masterpieces like "TNT" or "Repeater" or the for me unattainable "Yerself is Steam" by Mercury Rev). I mean, what about the electronic names I mentioned? In the second half of the '90s we had: "Dig Your Own Hole" and "Exit Planet Dust" by the Chemical Brothers, "Experience," "Music for the Jilted Generation," and "The Fat of The Land" by the Prodigy, "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" by Fatboy Slim, "In Sides" by Orbital, "Mezzanine" by Massive Attack... in that famous second half of the '90s when you say every creative stimulus waned, rave techno exploded and we had for at least half a decade music with real substance at the service of the youth, a delirious mantra like the 9 minutes of "Narayan" was on everyone’s ears, everyone knew "Setting Sun" by the Chemical Brothers, the legendary "The Box" by Orbital was everywhere, tracks like "The Poison," "Praise You," "Elektrobank" were essentials. Go find in the '80s showmen like those I listed who were capable, at the same time, of making music that was praised by both the public and critics.

Eh, come no, Icnarf, you shouldn’t take it as an extremist speech that I told Fidia not to trust Alessio's reconstruction: his consideration makes sense, I was reprimanding him about the subsequent rebuttal, where Alessio had shifted the discussion to the reviewer, outlining their supposed incompetence; in this regard, I told him to revisit the discussion as I did, without wanting to conceive that I’m the type who tunes in to the Bananarama without knowing the Cocteau, the Dead Can Dance, and the Black Tape (all bands that I actually nurture and love). As for the rest, of course, everyone is free to say whatever they want: just think that we give freedom of speech to someone like Geenoo, and you’ve got the whole picture.