You know what bothers me?

[Avaitor]

"This is basically the pop-friendly and telegenic boy-band version of indie-folk, designed for people who think they?re above pop-friendly and telegenic boy bands."

This is what one of the AV Club members had to say about Mumford & Sons, and as far as I'm concerned, you can say the same about pretty much any band that's had a hit as of late.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I'm trying to think of any "indie-folk" that isn't just quiet pop.

Anyone remember Belle & Sebastian? They were pop.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Oh, to add to it, I actually like what little I've heard of M&S. It's not a genre I listen to much, but they seem to have some good stuff.

[No-Personality]

this bugged me:

Where did Madonna rank? #1

I guess if they did one thing right, that was it.

There's no real argument. Sure, there are more talented musicians as strict musicians. But Madonna understands SO MUCH MORE about music than anyone with a snob bone (which you do have Avaitor, admit it; of course, so does almost everyone else on this board) ever give her credit for. This is why. Because she is the greatest all-around package. She literally puts as much art into the music as her producers and collaborators who are sometimes more responsible for the greatest qualities in her best work. And she knows the business, she championed the music video when that was actually being criticized by other artists, she has amazing ears, and everything she is is dynamic even when she's not doing her best. Her influence is one of the most important things about her (not just that she made fucking legendary music). She literally helped break sexual boundaries for artists today. Without her, there is so much we wouldn't have. Now, I know not everyone appreciates that. A wide span of people don't- from people who would attack the doors she's opened up in political discourse to people who just hate what music is today (and the more you listen to their reasons why, the more you hear a criticism of women in general: really revealing some highly sexist opinions).

[Dr. Insomniac]

Die Another Day. That is all.

[Lord Dalek]

Not quite. Hard Candy.

[No-Personality]

Die Another Day. That is all.

Not a bad song, really. Easily better than "Hollywood" and I say better than "American Life" (which need only exist for the music video, one of the most important pieces of political commentary in the last decade: bar none).

Not quite. Hard Candy.

Actually, I'd say (as someone who actually owns these albums) Hard Candy is on the better side of Madonna's post-Ray of Light output. "Beat Goes On," "Miles Away," "Dance 2night," "She's Not Me," and "Give it 2 Me" (and, no, I don't care about 2's as words) are all great tracks and most of the album filler is better than it needs to be as well ("Spanish Lesson" and "Heartbeat" especially). The production is good on almost every song (in fact, the only terrible track all around is the 1st single, "4 Minutes").

[Avaitor]

What was up with the Madonna cameo in DAD, though?

But yeah, Laz, you bring up some good points about M. And I know I'm a snob, heh. At least we know what we like, though.

[No-Personality]

Once a woman who has ever had a reputation connected with sex appears in a 007 film, she becomes a Bond Girl. And don't even try to debate that, it's the only thing that explains Martine Beswick being able to promote movies like The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood. When you watch that film, you'll get a fair grasp on just how wrong the Bond Girl phenomenon is, and (I'm speaking pre-emptively here) you'll earn whatever critical thing you're about to say about Madonna in a Bond film. Frankly, it's a whore's market. If M had been played by Helen Mirren rather than Judi Dench, we wouldn't be talking about this.

(Okay, that even looks cryptic to me: what I'm saying is that they hired her because the movies are about sex, she knows a lot about that, and that's usually what they hire female actresses for (Dench is the only example I can think of where they hired a woman for her Class Clout). Regardless of how frequently people say she isn't hot, she gets every hot woman on the planet to respect her because they can see that she knows what she's doing. She kissed Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera on LIVE television and went to a strip club in her most famous music video in years before the movie went into production. She got people talking and garnered more attention for the movie. They knew she would, so they put her in it.)

[Foggle]

Skyfall proved that M is the best Bond girl though.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Everyone knows that James Bond was the best Bond Girl in Casino Royale.

[No-Personality]

My list goes:

1. Grace Jones
2. Daniel Craig
3. that's it.

[Avaitor]

Lyrical tropes I hate in rap:

• Excessive bragging of one's wealth
• Constant namedropping of needless references, aka "hashtag rap"
• Support of violence, particularly of the "gangsta" or domestic kind

Tropes most commonly seen in modern rap:

^

[Spark Of Spirit]

Add in degradation of women and you have the cliches in a nice wrapper.

[Avaitor]

Yeah, I kind of meant that when I wrote domestic abuse, but that is worthy of its own category. Although Nicki Minaj does not help the cause any.

In other news, looks like there's trouble on Slayer's front. Man, I hate how greed is killing bands like these. Soon enough, we won't have any of these senior bands around at all.