It's sort of like Jian Ghomeshi. That whole thing was a massive surprise to me (the guy from Moxy Fruvous and Q is a rapist? That's some whiplash in my perceptions right there), but it was apparently common knowledge in Canada's national music and media scene.

I hadn't heard about RHCP doing that kind of thing until fairly recently. All of the stuff in this article was news to me (like the late 80s arrests that she mentions) and it's actually a shock. I knew about the drug issues, but that's a different matter, not something directly harmful to other people like this.

Imagine skateboarding punk. For better or worse, you're probably thinking of Pennywise's sound. It's a good version of that sound, so if that sounds good to you (I can certainly go for it here and there), then you'll probably find something to like.

I'm sorry to hear about that in turn. Yeah, it was tough as hell, as you'd know. He was only 25 (cause of death: a mystery even to the coroner. My best guess is an undetected aneurysm, as he had a seizure disorder). Your friend would've been even younger.

I also heavily considered the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but I don't know if there was ever a completely definitive lineup there that could be considered the "classic" trio. The Minutemen definitely deserve a spot on the list, as they were awesome and very much themselves. Cream are a solid choice, though increasingly…

"Imagine" was a decent one. It wasn't totally obvious, but it wasn't a huge stretch either; as you say, it was a bit of a sacred cow, which makes it a good pick. The criticism was specific and pretty cogent (while not being a slam dunk; there was plenty to say in response). "Black Hole Sun" was, I think, an example…

That one was fantastic. It was a perfect example of someone interesting grappling with a very specific and personal hatred towards a song that's well-known and not at all an obvious target. It was a one-in-a-million perfect opportunity for this feature. No one who read it will ever think about Slappy the same way…

Yeah, I think it's just an additional sort of mental obstacle for some of them to overcome, and I think that's a good thing on the whole. It means that they usually won't lay into something unless they've got a specific reason to hate it. Albini's a fantastic example. That guy never holds back on his opinion, but…

Regatta de Blanc is an embarrassment of riches in that regard. "No time this time" should have had a place as a dark horse new wave live standard (enough adjectival words in that sentence?).

It seems to be harder to get musicians on for this than comedians, who usually just treat it as another avenue for riffs. I think it's harder to rip on somebody for doing something competent that you don't like, you know? With musicians, it's not enough to dislike a song; they usually won't do this unless they…

Depends on how you do them. I've been to several that were just dreadful affairs, all focused on duty with little personal feeling. There's this weird standard where they're supposed to be a certain length, no longer or shorter; you're supposed to feel and act a certain way without deviating from the script; and the…

It's OK, but it's not the greatest part of Brand New Day as an album. It works well as a closer, as it sort of sums up the sound and themes of the album pretty well, but it's undistinguished on its own.

There are some pretty good installments, but it's actually a surprisingly tough feature to do well. A lot of it comes down to the choice of song, and said choice is tougher than it looks. If it's too old, it'll seem irrelevant. If it's newer, then it'll either seem contrarian (if the song is respected) or pointless…

I remember getting my guitar teacher to learn and teach the rhythm parts of "Miss Gradenko" to me. He wasn't familiar with it and was pleasantly surprised. It has a very neat little chord progression and the guitar solo is really cool, in my opinion. It's one of those songs that's pretty much the definition of a…

The clarinet has a wonderfully sardonic and delicate tone (when it's, you know, played without squawking). It's not too surprising that it fell out of favour as sounds got bigger and brassier in practically every genre.

I've found that it's sort of a social thing for me. I've only done much of it with other people. It works well when you're having a long, wide-ranging conversation where silence is comfortable.

Oh my god, the devil switched tactics!

I really liked Alan Cumming on this show. I enjoyed that he was allowed to be just a bit more mega than everybody else.

A friend of mine and I did that once in university. We watched A Clockwork Orange, got drunk, and watched A Clockwork Orgy. The sex was boring, so we skipped to the good bits (the best part: instead of singing "Singing in the Rain", Alex just twirls around briefly to a MIDI instrumental version of "Take me out to…

"What is it, Dr. Jerkoff?"
"Why, Flesh, it appears to be some sort of penisaurus!"