Smashing Pumpkins were happy namedrop cheesy stuff, because Corgan didn't really give a monkeys what people thought, which is part of the reason he sorta went off at the deep end. The fact that Cheap Trick were in the same city actually sorta proves my point. Corgan absorbed what was around him, people are influenced by their surroundings, you can't deny where you're coming from. The point is a band doesn't actually have to be that good to be influential. They just have to be around.

"Will Achtung baby be seen as important in the greater scheme of music" - I dunno, anyway, that's just perception and the concencus of "cool", it's the sort of thing that leads journos to do those 100 most important albums of all time lists. Give me strength! What I do know is that it's a great album and a lot of people listened to it, so it's bound to have some cultural influence? I think of it as a gateway album too, people will listen to this and have their appetite whetted for music thats a bit adventurous, it makes you wonder "what else is out there?" It did for me, and has hugely shaped my tastes, then again. I'm not a musician.

People often judge a bands influence by what they can hear of that band in other bands records, however just because a band doesn't actually sound like their influences does not mean they have not been influenced, if that makes sense? For example, take Lali Puna and The Go! Team. Two very different bands, but both claim to be heavily influenced by Sonic Youth. It's not immediately apparent, but it's the spirit of that band they have copied, not the sound.

One of the reasons a lot bands seem so stale these days is they are conceptual but with a narrow frame of reference at the same time. It's like they've decided what sort of band is "correct", and taken all the "right" influences and then started a band. That just isn't going to work, you have to give things room to breathe.

Thats a good post binok. Well put.

The comment about Zoo TV is spot on too. I remember during that Seven Ages of Rock series on the BBC, they had an episode on stadium rock and someone commented that ZooTV is the only stage show that is actually enhanced by the fact that its in a huge stadium/field. They really got it right with that tour.

If Bono was listening to Joy Division and the Clash in the early years, where did he get that posh English accent from?

from listening to the Clash

What posh English accent??????

On the early albums, Boy in particular, he effects a sort of up-market English accent to his singing voice. I was just wondering who he nicked this from, since it doesn't really sound like his main influences of the time. Took him about four years to shake it and start singing with his own accent too.

Maybe thats how they talked in Ballymun back in 1979.

To anyone who's not sure about Springsteen take a look at these video's on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAvolRT3sX4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-8LUvW9qv4&mode=related&search=

There both from his performance at the Hammersmith Odeon in '75. It is, at least in my humble opinion, the best live music you will see captured on film. You can buy the CD of the concert or for a few more bucks buy the DVD with the Born to Run anniversary edition, you wont be disappointed.

As to the whole over rated thing I'm gonna put my head on the block and say I think Hendrix is over rated...

Abba have tons of great songs!



The Edge's guitar playing is genius and a HUGE influence on modern music. Yes, it is simple melodies and a delay pedal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EDuK46ZqFM). But he is repeatedly name checked by guitar players....I'm not a big fan of most of their music or their politics but the Edge is/was a genius.

Yes and no, he's a guitar hero but people focus on his technical ability and playing innovation and not his wider musical and songwriting talent. You can't say he's that overrated when a turgid band like Led Zeppelin are mentioned in the same breath, he was lightyears ahead of them.

Yeah, plus the songs he's most associated with, Hey Joe and (probably) Foxy Lady, are far from his best. Hey Joe was a cover too.

The three studio albums he released during his lifetime are superb.

Maybe I'm reiterating what someone else has already said, but I couldn't ignore this thread and not register my dislike-nay, hatred-of The Doors. (Admittedly, my distaste for them is due as much to the kind of arrogant, pseudo-intellectual audience they attract as it is to their endless musical masturbation and the sixth-form doggerel that Morrison deemed "poetry.")