Music performers don't seem to admit it, but "intangibles" contribute a lot to the quality of their songwriting. Noel Gallagher may think his band is "mega", but it's obvious that the message in their music was more genuine when they really were working classmen, rather than just writing songs about it. Similarly cast out is Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes, to nobody's surprise, it's far less poignant (and considerably more eerie) when you're 40 than it is when you're 20 to be singing about not being able to get the girls. These are but two examples, but it the concept is itself not surprising to a blues fan. When you're Robert Johnson, growing up poor, son of a plantation worker, the blues are for real. When Eric Clapton plays the blues in the spacious, air conditioned Royal Albert Hall, it's a notable suspension of reality. That's why I still chuckle when I hear his version of "Hoochie Coochie Man", right at the point when he says "I wanna make pretty womens". Gets me every time.

Having just seen "High Fidelity", I feel inclined to contribute a couple of Top Five lists to society:

TOP FIVE B-SIDES, 1990's

1. Drugstore -- Accelerate

2. Suede -- The Living Dead

3. Stereolab -- Tempter

4. MBV -- Moon Song

5. Orbital -- Sunday

TOP FIVE PULP LYRICS

1. Pink Glove

2. Disco 2000

3. Joyriders

4. Dishes

5. Something Changed

Hate and discrimination exists. Hate and discrimination is bad. Often, in protest to the world's injustices, old farts like Sting write some sappy song asking people to start being nice to each other. Every once in a long while, someone comes up with the ingenious idea of combating hate by throwing hate right back where it came from, even more hateful than before. One such record is the "Rage Against Nazis" ep by Katharsis, perhaps the most visceral recording ever. Then there is "Swastika Eyes" by Primal Scream, perhaps the best single released in the last three years. Preposterously aggressive and impossibly loud, spitting out venom along the lines of "a military-industrial illusion of democracy", it breathes, sweats and bleeds reciprocal hate. Why be diplomatic when you can say "we see through all of your bullshit, you stinking Nazi motherfucker"!!!! Obviously, in real-life politics, this type of reaction is not feasible. In music, such binding restraints don't exist, and that's why "Swastika Eyes" sounds like such a damn important piece of music.

In a somewhat distorted fashion, Lou Perleman is the Phil Spector of the late 1990's. Lou is the fuhrer of today's boy bands in much the way that Spector owned the girl group scene in the early 1960's. Lou isn't nearly as famous as Phil was in the latter's heyday, but this could be chalked up to two factors: 1) Lou's a lot older than his proteges, 2) Lou's been fired by many of his proteges. Whereas Phil was a tyrant within the recording studio, Lou is a tyrant (by all accounts) everywhere but. And as for his own personal fame -- he may be elevated with the ABC series "Making the Band".