I listened to No More Cocoons on Friday for the first time. What I love about Jello Biafra's spoken word is how RIGHT he was. In 1987 he had a clear sense of what could and would come to pass. The audience was hooting with laughter but 25 years later I was nodding along solemnly.

Truly. That senitment grows clearer by the year. I'm still pissed about Heller's C+ to Blues Funeral.

It kinda bummed me out that the album version of Wanna Make It on Era Vulgaris has that trippy wonk-wonk-wonk segue tacked on it. Weird buzzkill.

Townshend explains that incident well in last year's Who I Am. Deals with his own boyhood abuse and his deeply felt concern for the victims of child abuse. I happen to believe that he was researching as he says, but obv. crossed the line by giving his credit card info to a pay site.

Philly J, I agree with your sentiment, particularly the time of year that you associate with the album. It has always been an April album to me.

That is such a better response to the Freebird heckle than Modest Mouse's. Issac Brock just rants something along the lines of "First of all, fuck Freebird. Secondly, we would never, ever play Freebird in a million years." That's the easy way out. Actually playing the shit out of it is far more impressive.

I saw him play "Joey" last year. Now THAT was surprising.

Hellz yeah. I couldn't get tickets to the O2 reunion show, but at least I've seen Plant sing my 2nd fave Zeppelin tune, the mighty "When the Levee Breaks," along with the others you mentioned (sans the Stairway tease) when I saw him in '05. He's still an incredible performer, even with the lower register he sings in…

I know PJ might (in some circles) be a pretty dorky band to love, but they inspire incredible crowd-singalongs like no others. "Baba" is one of their best encores for sure.

I was there. That was an epic show, but Bono's bit was strange. Really strange. Bono rapped in a Primus-esque twang and rhymed about how he likes his dinner with ham when he goes to see Pearl Jam.

In 2011 I got to see them play both "Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns" and "Daughter" with Dead Moon's "It's OK" tag, which are probably two of my favorite PJ moments. At this point I have only to see them play "Leash" and my personal PJ wishlist will be fulfilled… well, another go at the La's "Timeless Melody" would be…

That counts, since it's not a Buffalo Springfield song. Reminds me of when I saw CSNY in 2006 and they played a perfect version of "For What It's Worth." Hearing Neil Young play those harmonics gave me the best goosebumps.

Thank goodness for the All-Starr Band. It's likely the only way I could have expected to see "Africa" performed live, let alone Mister Mister tunes.

That's a great answer. I've watched the youtube video 100 times.

This is a great AV Q&A. So many good answers. Folks' stories remind me of that sweet blend of surprising-yet-hoped-for song choices:

I read Never Mind the Pollacks and LOVED it. I thought it was hilarious. Some of the characterization was a bit weird—I recall the portrayal of REM being a bit much—but the book remains one of the funniest treks through the Our Band Could Be Your Life territory that I know.

You are not alone in awaiting a Stormcock reissue. My stereo speakers have been calling out for that dual-acoustic guitar action in Same Old Rock.

Yup, that's the one. Mine too. As good an intro to Mr. Mann as I could have.

What the 14th President said is accurate. To achieve the premium sound you need the biggest space between grooves at the highest velocity (45 rpm). As you note, for many artists' releases—Beach House, Brightblack Morning Light, the new Atoms for Peace, Earth, Grizzly Bear—this rather annoyingly means flipping every…

I picked up my first Herbie Mann record a couple of weeks ago—The Glory of Love. Was hoping for a solid jazz flute rendition of The Letter, and Herbie damn well delivered. Second greatest Herbie in jazz history.