@cptgaio: it's not that I don’t respect other people's tastes, quite the opposite. I also listen to some crap, but I certainly don’t claim to consider it "good music". Not everything that excites or pleases corresponds to good music: I always try to maintain an objective perspective on what I listen to. Just go check the reviews of HIM written by fjelltronen and you'll see that, while I really enjoy that band, I'm the first to criticize it and call it fake Gothic-vampire nu metal for dark kids. So I don't criticize those who like Europe, but those who say that Europe are "good artists" or that Europe make "hard rock".
@ Jim: I completely agree with what you said, Scaruffi talks as if he were God. Which is ridiculous because he gives a 4 to some albums by Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, a 4 to a Britney Spears album, and a 6.5 to the latest Green Day album. Not to mention the 6 and 6.5 he gives to Bon Jovi(!). While I don't agree with him on a lot of things, as I've said, when he speaks he is documented. "Whatever he says about anyone matters to me no more than what any debaserian says, including you." No, that's not true, because he is musically knowledgeable, he understands how to conceptualize music from the historical period and gives ratings that are definitely more coherent than ours because he relies on factors that we might ignore. He has a complete general picture, both historically and "technically" speaking. So your judgment, cptgaio, will be worth as much as Scaruffi's only when you have studied and prepared as much as he has.
@ Fidia: I've been pissing outside the pot since I was born, but when it comes to bands (or at least those I consider such, I don’t know, do you think Europe are good?). As for respect, the argument I made to cptgaio applies to you as well: maybe I lashed out a bit too violently on Europe, but I've noticed that there is a reevaluation of this band and of Bon Jovi and similar groups lately. Moreover, I didn’t insult anyone at first: longlivetohardrock insulted me first, saying that I was "talking big nonsense"; then Jackline joined in (who is pretty right-wing, by the way, read the discussion between him and good old logic probe about the review of the HEX album by Bark Psychosis), calling me a "poor idiot," on behalf of even more people (who?). Anyway, no, Def Leppard are just '80s; they are not glam. They are just banal hard AOR. Nothing more ambiguous or predictable.
@ longlivetohardrock: I owe you an apology; I confused Thin Lizzy with Cinderella, as I had listened to both a long time ago, and the fact that these two names are always associated causes confusion for me. So I've downloaded some of their songs now, and they're not bad. Of course, not my favorite band :-), but they do some decent slow hard rock with blues influences, melodic but without falling into the banality (in my opinion) of AOR. I listened to "Hey Stupid" by Alice Cooper (reviewed by Fidia, by the way :P) that frankly reminds me of the banal and melodic hard rock of Bon Jovi, with those choruses that sound like stadium anthems (the title track is scarily close to songs like "Living On a Prayer," "Bad Medicine," or "You Give Love A Bad Name"). I was very careful not to include the Scorpions in my list as I only know the mediocre ballad "Wind Of Change" (there are thousands of ballads like that) and the "Blackout" album, which I didn't like at all. I've never had the chance to listen to Uriah Heep, but their covers give me the impression of progressive hard rock that closely resembles Dream Theater. Perhaps I'm wrong; I should listen to one of their albums. I've never heard of Wishbone Ash; I’ll check them out now. Anyway, aside from everything, I think "keyboard riffs" have never existed. Haloa.
