"Any quarter-decent three-chord knobheads could and did get a deal in the ’90s." POLL

quarter-decent three-chord knobhead sampler - a spotify playlist

http://open.spotify.com/user/onimo/playlist/7Cwanv1rx9W9EtZotmZe1T

spotify:user:onimo:playlist:7Cwanv1rx9W9EtZotmZe1T

(three or four artists not available on spotify)

That Marion interview is pretty grim, but the most startling revelation is that he still gets four grand a year in royalties.

Ride wins due to having the best album, although Spacehog "In The Meantime" is probably the best song by any of these bands. Also I'm pretty sure Adorable's "Sunshine Smile" was cool. I've heard about 2/3's of the others on used/discount comp CD's (which was how I tried to find bands in the late-90s/early-2000s) or in archived "Festive 50" streams, the types of songs that never stuck in my head or got my attention enough to go back and listen again. I also recall Kula Shaker unimpressively covered "Hush."

In other words OTM Robbie.

Why did he feel the need to take a pop, exactly? Obama doesn't have a go at the kids from the debating club in the other school on the far side of his home town.

boost his pop credentials

Auditioning for the role as Morrissey's understudy

Because he thinks that no one ever thought these bands sucked before, and he wanted to be the first one to say it.

He's bitter that he couldn't shift his Shine compilations on ebay.

Thanks, onimo, although surprisingly quite a few of those are unavailable in the US.

One that went missing, Echobelly's "Kings of the Curb":
http://youtu.be/epqZrkxZ3_o

Aargh. It's spelled "King of the Kerb"

Kerb your Enthusiasm

So is the song "Statuesque" by Sleeper built around the metaphor of someone being a statue made of stone?

Kula Shaker is among my most hated ever.

Why the ire? I know they're silly, but Tattva and Hey Dude are jams.

Wait, and Shower Your Love was terrific - everyone forgets that one.

I can't believe I'm forgetting Sound Of Drums! What a band!

Might be inclined to vote for Lush if they had been on this list.

Oh yeah. I just had a big Lush revival and was surprised by how well it held up.

Reviving right now. Forgot about the Jarvis Cocker duet.

the reason why Lush isn't on this list is because even Robbie Williams remembered that they ruled

So he's not all bad?

On December 18 2006, Robbie Williams played the last of 59 stadium shows in a row, announced he was going to spend Christmas at his home in Los Angeles, and then basically disappeared. He was hardly seen at all in 2007. He briefly checked into rehab. He spent quite a bit of time hiking and playing football (he owns a football pitch on Mulholland Drive). Then he stopped hiking and playing football. His record company, EMI, announced he had no plans to release an album in 2008. Today he unexpectedly calls me to ask if I want to go with him to the desert in Nevada to meet UFO abductees.

"I've been spending so much time at home on the internet on sites like AboveTopSecret.com," he says. "I want to do something. I want to go out there and meet these people. I want to be a part of this. I want to do something other than sit in my bed and watch the news. And it starts with the UFO conference in Laughlin, Nevada, on Thursday. We can hear people's testimony about being abducted by aliens. There's an entire family of abductees going to be there, apparently."

I log on to the conference website. It's taking place at the quite down at heel-looking Aquarius hotel and casino. The conference slogan is Educating The World One Person At A Time, which makes it sound as if there won't be many people attending. The speakers will include Ann Andrews, from Lincolnshire, who claims her son Jason has had "disturbing experiences at the hands of many different alien species", and a surgeon, Dr Roger Leir, who claims he has extracted from patients 15 metallic implants that are not of earthly metal.

"I wonder if he'll bring the implants along," I say.

"So you can see with your own eyes whether they're earthly or not?" Robbie asks.

"Yes," I say.

"According to Jon," Robbie says.

He seems a bit disapproving of my scepticism. I tell him that my problem with spaceships is this: if they exist, why do they reveal themselves to the human race only in ambiguous ways? "I think maybe they're making mistakes," he replies. "I think the shield comes off by mistake and they were there all the time." He pauses. "I don't want to hear any debunking because I want to believe."

I wonder if he is a fan of Reality Bites?

now we know why the corrs get a pass

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

One of yr less surprising results.

Kula Shaker 6 votes SMDH

Strange truths

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/401978_10152261293673797_974893272_n.jpg

looking good grady

Top two unsurprising, then it gets refreshingly odd.

did some folk think they were voting for 'worst' not 'best'?

Hallo Spacehog

i still listen to, and enjoy, the first spacehog album ..

revival glam is always going to get airplay @ hq (see that other reviled album by loius xiv !)

OK, Kula Shaker strong showing was a little surprising tbh.

suspect that for others as well as me, the 1st album is massive guilty pleasure ...

Some acquaintances started saying 'kula shaker' for 'cool' around that time; for me that ruined them forever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sW3LyVPa2gE

"the first time i did Heroin was with Elastica.. " "alex james is the bassist in Blur. my nan could do that" and "here's another song by Damon Albarn, Connection by Elastica."

he likes a laugh and a joke this lad.