Lambchop Flansburgh

er, hi Crocodill. How'd you know I was reading this thread? I didn't even post here. ::

See, this is why this site makes me feel old. I read the title of this thread and go, "What??!! Who hasn't heard of Pere Ubu?" Then I think, well, it's been about 18 years since "Cloudcuckooland", which was their last moderately successful album. Sure they've done some great stuff since then, but definitely nothing on MTV or the radio (as if...). Anyway, YES, I have heard of Pere Ubu. They're not all dark, nor loud, but they are definitely unique and worth checking out.

Never overestimate the intelligence of the American television viewer. Let's just hope they're too busy watching Fear Factor and The Real World to go out and vote for Bush. (ducking)

Two things. First, a good two billion people believe in reincarnation on this planet, probably more. They don't all live in trailer parks. Many of those people look for signs just like the ones you've described to determine who the soul of a person was in a former life. Again, these are perfectly sane people, not characters from a cartoon show. Second, many people believe that Jim Morrison did in fact survive his "death" and that he lived in South America for several years afterward. He had talked about leaving the life of celebrity behind him, and it would not be too far-fetched to imagine someone of his financial means and spiritual inclinations faking his death in order to "escape." Not to say that it happened, but it's not inconceivable. Just my $.02.

In addition the book mentioned above, check out Nick Tosches' "Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll." Great profiles of some of the artists who pre-dated Elvis and made music that could conceivably be called Rock & Roll.

Peter Gabriel just kept getting better after he left Genesis. Phil Collins just kept getting worse after he left Genesis.

A little off topic, but what about musicians who are instantly recognizable? I've always thought George Harrison's guitar was unmistakable. I'd probably say the same for Mark Knopfler as well. Any other ideas?

They Might Be Giants have many songs under a minute: "Spider" is 50 seconds long, "Minimum Wage" clocks in at 46 seconds. On their latest album, there's "Spine" at 33 seconds, and "Spines" at just 30 seconds. On the McSweeney's CD they did (it accompanied a book of 38 short stories with a song written for each story), there's a song called "Lincoln, Washington, and That Jefferson Guy" (which is a rewritten line from a Dylan song) that lasts only 24 seconds. But the shortest of all their stuff in my collection (not counting a 9 second radio promo they did) is a song called "Dog On Fire" -- it's 17 seconds long. It ended up being used as the 2nd half of the theme song for Jon Stewart's The Daily Show.

Is your friend listening to Pink Floyd's "Breathe" and thinking the title is "Run Rabbit Run"?

Dylan coughs in a song called "Suze" that ended up on "Bootlegs Vol. 1-3". It's actually labeled "Suze (The Cough Song)". A good example of the Who is at the end of "Happy Jack" -- Keith Moon has been goofing around in the booth while Townsend was trying to record his vocals. At the end you hear Pete say "I saw ya!"