The Swamp

Tom Brokaw

rass wrote:Tom Brokaw

Straight As Boom. We were commenting on how several panelists haven't aged, then switched channels and, fuck Brokaw looks old.

He's just 76! I wokld have guessed 85. Fuck cancer.

I all of the sudden wanted to watch Oh God: Book Two last night.

The Sybian wrote:

rass wrote:Tom Brokaw

Straight As Boom. We were commenting on how several panelists haven't aged, then switched channels and, fuck Brokaw looks old.

Charlie Gibson too.

License To Ill was released 30 years ago.

The first Calvin & Hobbes published 31 years ago today.

Achtung Baby turns 25 years old today. I was 25 when 9/11 happened and was OK.

Giff wrote:Achtung Baby turns 25 years old today.

Songs from "War" were staples at my frat parties. That album came out 33 years ago.

Fuck.

Damn it's been forever since U2 turned shitty.

P.D.X. wrote:Damn it's been forever since U2 turned shitty.

I wouldn't say shitty, but yeah. Achtung Baby was the beginning of the downturn. Still a very good album with one great song. Last U2 album I ever listened to though.

Willie Wilson and Jesse Barfield!

Barfield could pass for a guy who retired just a few years ago but Wilson looks like he played with Cool Papa Bell.

"Sinbad, you look great!" is something I would have unknowingly said to Jesse Barfield.

P.D.X. wrote:Damn it's been forever since U2 turned shitty.

I bought Zooropa without listening to it first. Listened to it once. Once. Last U2 album I've listened to, even the free one they forced onto my iPod.

Some week we should just argue incessantly over which album was the one where a bands' legacy would have been better off had they died / broken up before releasing it.

Sorry but I'll go to my death insisting that Zooropa is a criminally underrated album. But yeah, most everything they've done since then has been crap.

This reminds me of a thought I've had for a while. Are we absolutely sure all famous bands' later stuff is crap, or are we just blinded by a combination of nostalgia and hipsterism? Like, will rock critics 50 years from now universally agree that the Rolling Stones' best album was one from like 1997 and no one realized it at the time?

I think there's a better chance that we're too forgiving and later stuff is shit that truly wouldn't even get noticed if it weren't for who made the shit.

Johnny Carwash wrote:This reminds me of a thought I've had for a while. Are we absolutely sure all famous bands' later stuff is crap, or are we just blinded by a combination of nostalgia and hipsterism? Like, will rock critics 50 years from now universally agree that the Rolling Stones' best album was one from like 1997 and no one realized it at the time?

Possibly. With U2, I think they started going more in a Pop direction. That opinion is skewed, as I only heard the songs that got radio play, which of course is going to be the poppiest songs. They lost their edge (sorry, couldn't think of a better word). Their best stuff was the powerful protest songs with soul, not the high pitched squeal of "she wore lemon" which has been stuck in my head since mentioning Zooropa.

Everybody goes pop. Because that's how you get PAID.

brian wrote:Sorry but I'll go to my death insisting that Zooropa is a criminally underrated album. But yeah, most everything they've done since then has been crap.

I left after All That You Can't Leave Behind. Good memories of that one during the first year of law school.

I've enjoyed everything they've put out until the last one. I think How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and All That You Can't Leave Behind are outstanding. I even dug most of No Line on the Horizon.

mister d wrote:Some week we should just argue incessantly over which album was the one where a bands' legacy would have been better off had they died / broken up before releasing it.

A_B wrote:Everybody goes pop. Because that's how you get PAID.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure U2 was just squeaking by until they went mainstream with Zooropa.

Giff wrote:I've enjoyed everything they've put out until the last one. I think How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and All That You Can't Leave Behind are outstanding. I even dug most of No Line on the Horizon.

Counting people I do and don't really know, I think you're the most loyal to bands so I'd defer strongly to any albums you consider to be deaths if it came before the masses.

Shirley wrote:

A_B wrote:Everybody goes pop. Because that's how you get PAID.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure U2 was just squeaking by until they went mainstream with Zooropa.

I KNOW RIGHT

U2's problem is that, after Rattle & Hum (which essentially is a collection of Joshua Tree outtakes and a celebration of American roots music), I think they felt that they were never going to capture the timelessness of Joshua Tree (arguably the best LP of all time) again, so they shifted gears and went after variations of synth-rock...Which sucks because few people can capture Gary Numan.

And my point is very few bands don't want to become popular. That's all.

howard wrote:

Hard to believe it's been 40 years, old timer!

Billy Rosewood's puffy face, and his out of shape body that even an overly large t-shirt can't hide.

mister d wrote:

Giff wrote:I've enjoyed everything they've put out until the last one. I think How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and All That You Can't Leave Behind are outstanding. I even dug most of No Line on the Horizon.

Counting people I do and don't really know, I think you're the most loyal to bands so I'd defer strongly to any albums you consider to be deaths if it came before the masses.

I fully realize that they're (mainly speaking U2 and DMB) not nearly as good as they used to be, but as long as they're decent enough, I'll still enjoy them thanks to the memories their music brings, whether it's new or old.

howard wrote:

I guess they failed since I'm guessing all of us know who that is, without a caption, and 40 years after their only album came out.

What makes me feel old, or pathetic, is that I don't know who that is.

The king is gone
but he's not forgotten
This is the story
of a ...

And, if you still don't get it, after PDX's clue, I'll just give you this...

John Lydon had never before written a song. His first song, the first line:

"I am an Anti-Christ"

(maybe he did want to become famous. but there was no future.)

P.D.X. wrote:The king is gone
but he's not forgotten
This is the story
of a ...

OK, that I can figure out.

Barfield was my favorite Jay for years. Best outfield arm I have ever seen.

This is Paul Weller of The Jam.