I'm sick of this obsession with the unholy trinity of Lohan, Spears and Hilton. When has any of these 3 bimbos done anything relevant besides getting hammered at a club and getting their picture taken with their dress over their head, with their bid'ness out there for the whole world to see. I personally could care less about any of these idiots stints at rehab, jail or whatever...hopefully, this to will pass, like the kidney stone festering in my ureter right now...

But Whatever....

I wanted to riff a little on the present state of music, but I really can't do that without sharing some of my favorite albums with the masses out there (or even the 3 or 4 people that read my little how ya doin) so here they are with my crappy comments. These are in no specific order, but these albums are in heavy rotation on my Ipod:

U2 - October: I absolutely think that U2 are the biggest sell-outs in music today, but that fact doesn't affect my opinion that this album is chock full of brilliance. When I first heard this record as a Junior in high school (yes, I'm that freaking old), I thought there wasn't a bad track on the record. Today, I think that Fire and I threw a brick through a window didn't stand the test of time. I listen to the live version of "Gloria" from the Live at Red Rocks record at least once a week. Too bad that Bono's hair plugs, green sunglasses and his penchant to stay relevant have ruined the groups music.

Pearl Jam - 10: Man, when this record came out, I couldn't stop listening to "Black", but there isn't a bad song on 10...I like Pearl Jam a ton, but they've never been able to match the brilliance of this record.

Beach Boys - Pet Sounds: "Wouldn't it be nice" might be the greatest song ever written and with all the other great tunes on this record; Sloop John B and God Only Knows (Big Love's theme BTW)included, you can listen to this album during dinner and not have to forward through any tracks. I don't like most of the Beach Boy's Jan and Dean ripoffs, but this whole record is great.

Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers: Many of my contemporaries like "Exile on Main Street" or "Let it Bleed" better than this album, but that is why we all have opinions. I like both of those other albums, but this one sticks out in my mind, for it's versatility and it's energy. "Bitch" is the main event here, but missing out on "Brown Sugar", "Wild Horses", "Can't You Hear Me Knockin", "Sister Morphine" or "Dead Flowers" would definately be the sin of omission.

Black Flag - Damaged: The first time I heard this record was 1985 and I was an angsty, anti social bastard trying to fit in by himself down in South Florida. So much of what was put into this album spoke to me and with the exception of "TV Party" which is a flaming piece of crap, I listen to this album a lot and think about my days watching hardcore shows at various VFW halls and the Cameo Theater down here in South Florida....great times.

Pauls Boutique - Beastie Boys: I am not a hip hop guy by any stretch of the imagination, but I would put this record up against anything that has come out in the last 5 years in that genre. Again, a solid listen and a toe tapper all the way through. What's amazing about this is that Russell Simmons thought that The Beasties would get eaten up by the man at a major label, without Rick Rubin producing...he was wrong.

This is going to be an ongoing theme for my blog, I will try to recommend a couple of albums an entry, that being said, there really is not much being produced currently that is worth a crap and I try to give credit where credit is due, but lately, it's mostly me bitching about how bad music has been the last 10 years.

If I never see another record by the following artists, it will be too soon:

Gwen Stefani: Looking at her early garage sale wardrobe alone is enough to send me over the edge, but starting with "Hollaback Girl", she has taken the concept of the "gimmick record" to new heights and is currently beating this crappy music into the dirt. I hate this garbage worse than most anything I've ever heard (gregorian chants and Christian "Rock" included)

Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas: See above...the fact that anyone knows who Fergie is insults my so-called intelligence.

Akon: What is an Akon? I'm not sure, except that his records (even his "hits") seem to be a hook sung over and over in that nasally tone....is that what music has become now? Ugh.

Fall Out Boy/Plain White Tees/Every other generic group making psudo punk-pop music: Being an old school punk, this what gives me the most annoying pains in my chest...What is this music? It ain't punk...and herein lies the rub. What if you put a mohawk and a ripped up t-shirt on the high school quarterback...you get this crap. I hate hate hate hate hate this worse than hearing "Umbrella" done acoustically by a dude.

That's about all the time I have for today, I look forward to any comments anyone wants to offer up about anything. My next TV show I am looking forward to (besides the new Office eps) is American Band...I hope they don't screw that up.

Till next time...
I'm Mike Rose