Good call on Rain Parade.

"You don't like meatloaf as a kid, but as an adult, it's just fantastic."
And maybe the opposite is true with Meat Loaf.

Me, too, but it's a "good" headache.

It is an extremely long intro. It's helpful, though, if you're new to the show. After seeing a few episodes, you could just tune in a little late and know you wouldn't miss anything.

1970s: "Rock and Roll All Night" by Kiss (or Kiss in general)

Key point: "But the fact remains that anthems are often chosen with the benefit of hindsight, then retroactively assigned a larger role in history than they may have actually had."

I only sing the words
I don't know they mean
It doesn't matter though
It's just a self-machine

I would put "Everybody Hurts" near the top of my "R.E.M. Hatesong" list, definitely.

I remember that, too, for some reason.

As much as I always appreciated how Social Distortion was able to merge the retro-roots of '50s rock with the rough edges of punk (or at least "post-punk) several years before Green Day sorts did the same thing — a lot of the band's best-remembered tracks run at least a minute too long for their own good.

I think I would put "Black Hole Sun" on my top 50 Hatesong list — possibly for overlapping reasons presented in this installment.

Not sure I agree entirely. I hadn't heard "Everything You Know Is Wrong" before, either, but it's about as spot-on as you can get for TMBG send-up. In fact, a They Might Be Giants "Gateway" or "Primer" could damn near start with Al's version, and it'd encapsulate the vibe pretty accurately.

To extrapolate a multitude of previous comments … "weak" was unfortunate adjective for MV; uneven, overblown, those I can see. "Weak" is just … weak. …

The 180 he did between the two, in itself, is impressive.

Too many comments to check, so I'm sure I'm repeating something for at least the second time: tone, pitch and timbre are nouns, not adjectives, Scott!

I did not like this movie.

" … it will now be even easier for Uncle Bob to wake up, shuffle out of bed, and record four new albums before lunch."
Love that part.

Of course "Wolfgang" would be difficult to surpass or even equal — although I still wanna hear this one.

Shouldn't Sean Penn be on this list?

I know next-to-nothing about film "theory," or nuances of movie criticism, but most of the next-to-nothing I do know has come from reading Ebert's reviews (and watching his original TV stuff w/ Siskel).