Um… you have no idea what you're talking about.

True, but it does keep my bald head warm in a hotel ballroom's frigid AC.

Even the most basic search of what I write about for The A.V. Club will totally dispel your "niche reviewer" thing. Just because I'm writing a series about '90s punk and hardcore doesn't mean that's all I listen to or am knowledgable about, then or now. At the same time I was getting into punk and hardcore in the…

Kate Baker is an excellent editor and podcaster recognized highly among her peers for her professionalism and craft. What she (or anyone else) looks like has jack shit to do with anything.

Nonfiction articles and columns regarding the genre.

Hideous? It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

If you think a Hugo Award is "mainstream success," you may need help. Prestigious within the field, but not exactly the Oscars when it comes to household-name recognition.

Thanks all. And if you haven't yet had the chance to acquaint yourself with Clarkesworld, the site runs some of the best science fiction and fantasy short stories around today. If you haven't kept up with short-form genre fiction lately, it's the perfect place to start. [end plug]

Confession: I have not read any of your comments. But I did Ctrl-F to see how many times Dawes was mentioned.

Quick note to guitar geeks: In this piece I originally wrote: "…the kind of dissonant harmonics that would soon come to define bands like Fugazi and Helmet." That got changed in editing to "harmonies." Of course, I really did mean "harmonics." The correction should show up soon. Thanks.

Credibility? I guess I stopped thinking in those terms about music a long time ago. If a band doesn't have "cred," does that make them "poseurs"? As for how GOOD Rancid is: up through Wolves, very. As for how important they are: ditto.

It's a Vandals reference. Fear Of A Punk Planet. Taken from the PE album, of course.

Thanks for that!

Oh, I absolutely will. My old punk band in the '90s was actually on an Allied comp. And I lived in Colorado, stomping grounds of Angel Hair, whom I saw often. And I used to put on shows for Ebullition bands when they came through town…

The only thing that will save The Voice is Deafheaven.

By way of Hawkwind… (Now I am imagining a TG/Hawklords collaboration circa 1978 and it's blowing my mind.)

Actually, Frank and I are starting up a Mutants & Masterminds campaign soon!

Thanks, OWFP. And everyone else who took the time to read.

I've been a fan, since, um, they were still around. One of my favorites. Their catalog is a little too small to warrant a G2G, but I've pitched one on space rock before…

Not to give away my whole list—I may still want to write this up someday!—but I agree with Joy Division (mentioned elsewhere, although I'd pick a song that actually was released in the '80s and that embodies proto-shoegaze far better, "The Only Mistake") and The Smiths (also mentioned elsewhere, although I'd pick a…