"No new tale to tell / Twenty-six years, on my way to hell" sounded really cool when I was fourteen. By the time I was twenty-six, I felt so embarrassed by that line that I was forced to evacuate mid-song after collapsing into a heap on the floor laughing at karaoke.

"Despite all my rage / I am still just a rat in a cage"

For anyone who hasn't heard it before, Metallic KO is worth listening to for the stage banter alone. Aside from Dylan's Live At "Royal Albert Hall" and Suicide's 23 Minutes Over Brussels I don't think a more confrontational officially released live recording exists.

Tough question, as both albums are absolutely essential for me. That said, I'm gonna go with Raw Power - even though I prefer the Iggy mix, I discovered the original album with the Bowie mix at a point in my life where it made such a huge impression I can't fathom not choosing it (though Funhouse is still my favorite…

I first owned Raw Power on cassette with the Bowie mix and I absolutely loved it, but when the Iggy mix came out in '97 I was instantly converted; it sounded so much more powerful. I've been alternating between the two mixes recently as the whole clipping issue with Iggy's ridiculously loud mix is an obvious flaw, but…

Actually, he's called Donald ("Donarudo") here. I once watched a variety show where viewers wrote in with interesting bits of trivia, and someone won 20000 yen (about 200 dollars) for revealing that the corporate mascot loved and known as "Donald" by so many in these parts was actually called "Ronald" in the USA.

I played that song to death when I first got Stereopathetic Soulmanure and I still come back to it regularly - great rainy day song. Rowboat and Puttin' It Down wouldn't have sounded out of place on the One Foot In The Grave album - though oddly enough the song One Foot In The Grave probably would have.

I try to avoid that ubiquitous combo whenever possible, but on those occasions where it's unavoidable I find the Tabasco that comes to the table almost every time pizza is served here helps. The only time I had pizza so bad that I could barely manage to swallow a single bite, it was topped with a sweet and salty…

Back in my days teaching eikaiwa, I explained that corn and mayonnaise weren't common pizza toppings in North America. One lady in the class got a confused look on her face and asked with a certain amount of concern in her voice, "Then what kind of pizza do children eat?" as if the idea of children eating any other…

I believe that's the '95 line-up, but '94 would have been just as good or even better - Beastie Boys, Tribe Called Quest, George Clinton, Nick Cave, Boredoms (on the main stage for the first half of the tour, WTF!!!!), Flaming Lips (with Ronald Jones!), GBV, The Breeders, Palace, Stereolab and Shudder To Think to name…

I think Mellow Gold is a pretty solid album. Stereopathetic Soulmanure (which came out later the same year but was recorded between 1988-93) is all over the place - but I still love it.

You keep your Clark bar. But nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!

Not to mention Randall Flagg rocking the mullet and all-denim regalia in '94, and being anything other than one of the rednecks with a souped-up K-car that used to drive around the old shopping plaza in my hometown over and over again on Friday nights.

Yes! All the snake imagery and metaphors that recurred throughout the film were rendered meaningless when Stone decided to go with the "upbeat" ending instead. Also made introducing a new character (Owen) four-fifths of the way through the film rather pointless.

Beck - Mellow Gold/Stereopathetic Soulmanure/One Foot in the Grave
Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
Elvis Costello - Brutal Youth
Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep
Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand
Hüsker Dü - The Living End (live album which sounds SO much better than any of their studio albums)
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Johnny Cash -…

I've listened to the Tonight's The Night album hundreds of times over the years, and whenever that song starts I get goosebumps. Every single time.

I think it's because they were awful - though the burgers were even worse. The milkshakes weren't bad though.

Piece of Pie (original version):

Nothing to be guilty about in my opinion. Too many people (like Jonah Ray and the pathetically-biased interviewer) consider Sublime a lame band because of the culture of frat boys and jocks who grew up around that eponymous third album in the late 90's. However, I'd argue they are a band in need of a serious critical…

You may be right; it's already at about 165 million views, which is a little over half of what "Call Me Maybe" had before it became a hit here. Then again, that song from Frozen (better known in these parts as "Re-goooo!") probably has the market for number of English-language songs that can be popular in Japan in a…