h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Most pop and R'n'B is unlistenable, as far as I'm concerned, but 'Umbrella' by Rihanna takes the cake. How exactly did she manage to turn buffering into a legitimate musical tool?

I agree. I've been told that it's a sign that I'm getting old. However, I suspect that humans have de-evolved the gene that makes them capable of writing melodies.

I recently heard that a song had been number one for a while - the umbrella song - and thought that it must be really good, so went on to YouTube for a listen. I thought "is that it?!"

That really is the most annoying song I´ve heard in a while.

And however did the JCB song ever get to number 1?
Wrong, wrong, wrong!

>>And however did the JCB song ever get to number 1?<<

The JCB song was class. Something genuinely different to all the other dung in the charts and lyrics that actually meant something and were quite touching.

Jamie Cullum seems to get a lot of acclaim and I can't quite figure out why.

I like "The Streets" his first two albums were invigorating because they put to music ( I know some of you dont think what he does is music but that's just a subjective view) gives an artstic treatment to the lives of everyday people in the 21st century.

Yes there are probably better songs which touch on timeless themes in the human condition but those first two albums posses an imidiacy that made them accessible to a lot of people in the way Bob Dylan managed to upset and engage people wen he went electric. As for Mike Skinners voice to be honest Id rather listen to him than Bob Dylan.

Rhianna's song like so many songs that I and a ot of you dont like is simply insanely popular with teenage girls. Its a song abut devotion to a slightly wayward man. "Why do women love bastards"? and it seems dreary, mindless msuic? I really dont have a clue.

Critcial acclaim is a funny thing read one mag and an album is rubbish another and the same music is worth swapping a kidney in order to own it. Wide critical acclaim is more dificult to come by and tends to involve one of two things a new band or sound being something critics are prepared to stick their neck out for in order to appear be ahead of the pack in saying is great or something so genuinely good that people have to give credit where credit is due.

Meatloaf is one of the artisits that most annoys me his music is a pale immitation of the music of Queeen when they were at their most self indulgent and worst. Yet People buy loads of it still it. Bat out of hell was in the album charst for I think it was two years less than the the last ice age and it is rubish from start to finish.

Well in my opinion it is.

I would say Meatloaf and Queen have just both taken inspiration from opera and such. I like Meatloaf, but in small doses.

I remember seeing a magazine list compiled of albums readers had voted "Most overrated albums of all time" which as you can imagine was almost identical to the "Greatest albums of all time" they had run previously.

I went to see Muse at Wembley in June and The Streets were the warm up act. I have seldom seen an act more unsuited to a stadium gig as a couple of blokes with microphones, playing in a place with slightly dodgy acoustics so it was difficult to hear the all-important lyrics, standing pretty much still in the middle of a huge stage. They weren't my cup of before and seeing them live hasn't really awoken any kind of fondness...

Billy Joel's "Piano Man". If there were a hell, that one'd be in the jukebox.

Couldnt agree more about the size of the venue dimishing the effect of what is a very conspiritorial act. I saw the streets in a dance tent andthey went down so well and record sales in during the year meant the folowing year they were on the main stage and were lost and not as good as the previous year.

Twoof the reasons i like the streets is that I relate to a lot of their stuff because it talks about experiences much like my own a few years back and I cant deny more than a little home town fondness creeping into the equation too...which reminds me of a question I had meant to ask a while back.