I'd go further than that - in my day Pop Music was all lobotomised fomulaic crap with exceptions proving rules - hell, I was born on August 22nd 1961 and just look at my birth number one! What a star to be born under! (See the thread Number one the day you were born? for more on this - be prepared for some major dissapointments!). For sure there's still the persistence of the moronic, but I'd say on whe whole it's better now than ever right now, with top bands, singers, writers, producers etc. very much in evidence. So, celebrate the old by all means, but it's possible to do so without missing the point of the present, or making opening salvos such as Every time I turn the radio on and that awful racket that passes for music these days... (that was Folk on 2 you were listening to, right?). And with that I'm off to Listen Again to pick up on the latest Tim Westwood selections which always makes me glad to be alive. Give it a try - you never know!

S O'P

PS - How many folkies does it take to change a lightbulb anyway?

PPS - There is a song in which we are urged to try to remember the kind of september when life was slow and oh so mellow which resides in some hellish nether-realm that is signposted Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here. Just the thought of it brings me out in hives and cold sweats and has me running for the toilet in a giddy delirium not sure which end to attend to first. Avoiding this song is my life's work - I live in dread fear of its cosummate awfulness and yet I know one day it will be death of me and that some wag (quite possibly my long suffering wife) will have it played at my funeral instead of my current song of choice (Joey Ramone's cover of What A wonderful World if you must know).

PPPS - In the spirit of the thread put me down for The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore by The Walker Brothers