Top ten twats in rock and pop.

[Jah Womble]

Temporary Secretary is obviously good: just Macca mucking about in the studio - and frankly all the better for it. At that stage of his career, he was doing far too much dressing up and acting like a plonker in videos. (The Frog Chorus can go swivel on their lily pads, however.)

I understand that they're not obliged to do so but if you've developed a reputation - rightly or wrongly - for being more than a bit pretentious, doing something to add a bit of levity wouldn't go amiss.

Why would they want to do that? The only ‘downbeat’ major band of which I can think that made such a transition (ie, while maintaining any level of credibility on top of sales) are The Cure. And even then they didn’t always get it right.

[delicatemoth]

And I know it's not a widely held opinion but I think 'We All Stand Together' is an outstanding, lushly charming song, like the Beach Boys or ABBA.

[delicatemoth]

Wings might have thought he was a twat when they had to stay in the cold barn next to his farmhouse on the Mull of Kintyre while him and Linda sat around getting stoned. I think that's what happened. Probably the most twattish thing he's done musically is title an album 'Kisses On The Bottom'. He didn't need to do that. Some of his lyrics are really odd. 'Check My Machine' is another great one. But he was doing pure schlock back in the Beatles, 'Ob La Di Ob La Da' and that, so he was always going to do more as a solo artist. Anyway, 'Band On The Run' and 'McCartney 2' are both fine albums and 'Ram' is pretty good too.

[Sporting]

Say Say Say is indeed great. While not loving Temporary Secretary I really don't get the hate for Macca. Shit, he's not even been a tax exile, has he?

[delicatemoth]

'Temporary Secretary' is amazing, you dafties. He's done loads of great stuff post Beatles, 'We All Stand Together' and 'Say Say Say' are fantastic for starters.

[3 Colours Red]

Fair enough opinion. However, they (and others) are not actually demanding any kind of response from the listener. However the latter chooses to react or respond to their lyrics - either positively or negatively - is down to him/her.

I understand that they're not obliged to do so but if you've developed a reputation - rightly or wrongly - for being more than a bit pretentious, doing something to add a bit of levity wouldn't go amiss.

[delicatemoth]

unlistenable drone antimusic

Thing is, this is how many folk regard a lot of the music I do like, where I think they're mistaken. Radiohead are the real thing, a drizzly dirge. I must have listened to OK Computer ten times or thereabouts trying to work out what people heard in it. Not a single note ever stuck in my head, and I couldn't name any of the songs. Same goes for 'Dog Star Man' by Suede, which loads of people I know also thought was great. But Suede don't seem like twats as far as I know, and I do like 'The Drowners' and 'My Insatiable One'.

[Sporting]

Yes, I'm with G-Man on this.

[G-Man]

As for McCartney, doesn't everyone love Temporary Secretary?

It's horrible. I agree with you on the rest of what you said about McCartney, but "Temporary Secretary" is terrible.

[Jah Womble]

I think we're getting away from the point I was trying to make.

It's not bad lyrics per se, it's nonsense and pretension passing off as profundity.

Fair enough opinion. However, they (and others) are not actually demanding any kind of response from the listener. However the latter chooses to react or respond to their lyrics - either positively or negatively - is down to him/her.

It’s how I feel when forced to listen to certain prog bands from the seventies, or Alanis Morissette, for example. I’d concur in that I find a lot of Radiohead’s lyrics tiresome - but they’re musically way ahead of the majority, so I don’t lose too much sleep over it.

[Hot Pepsi]

I think that's true but it still doesn't excuse Desiree being "scared of a ghost, I'd rather have a piece of toast"

But I can relate to that. I would rather have toast than see a scary ghost.

[MsD]

I love The Bends and have 3 other Radiohead albums, I think I was earning a lot in the mid-90s.

As for McCartney, doesn't everyone love Temporary Secretary? Plus the songs mentioned, Maybe I'm Amazed and the BOTR album. I like Silly Love Songs, although it does what it says on the tin. And Another Day. He's just a master of the effortless melody.

[3 Colours Red]

I think we're getting away from the point I was trying to make.

It's not bad lyrics per se, it's nonsense and pretension passing off as profundity.

[Jah Womble]

True, that needs a bit of a slap.

Ditto Van Halen and their ‘only time will tell if we can stand the test of time’.

And indeed many others.

[Foot of Astaire's]

I think that’s possibly what’s happening, aye.

Whatever one thinks of their output, unless what they’re issuing is highly offensive (in the proper sense of the expression), Radiohead or any band aren’t obliged to explain or defend their material to anybody.

I think that's true but it still doesn't excuse Desiree being "scared of a ghost, I'd rather have a piece of toast"

[Jah Womble]

I think that’s possibly what’s happening, aye.

Whatever one thinks of their output, unless what they’re issuing is highly offensive (in the proper sense of the expression), Radiohead or any band aren’t obliged to explain or defend their material to anybody.

[3 Colours Red]

But if you're doing nothing to dispel the notion that your stream of consciousness is deep and meaningful, surely you have to take at least some of that blame too?

Mind you, my disdain for Radiohead may be a stain on my argument.

[Jah Womble]

I have no issue with lyrics being profound.

I have no issue with lyrics being total nonsense.

But Radiohead have that problem of trying to pass off word salad as profundity. "Oh, what does it all mean?" "These lyrics really speak to me."

BULL. SHIT.

That’s largely the fault of the listener. Bands good, bad and indifferent have been peddling dubious lyrics for half a century-plus.

[Sporting]

Band on the Run wasn't a bad album at all.

On top of that, Maybe I'm Amazed, Helen Wheels, Listen to What the Man Said and Temporary Secretary were all decent singles.

His work with Youth in The Fireman is worth checking out too.

[3 Colours Red]

I always remember a letter on C4 teletext lambasting U2 for writing the line "A mole, digging in a hole" and saying they'll never write a line "as good as 'karma police, arrest this man'". And I realised that they were absolutely serious.

I have no issue with lyrics being profound.

I have no issue with lyrics being total nonsense.

But Radiohead have that problem of trying to pass off word salad as profundity. "Oh, what does it all mean?" "These lyrics really speak to me."

BULL. SHIT.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Street Spirit is the best Radiohead tune.

Don't @ me, I'm absolutely correct as usual.

[Hot Pepsi]

I do like "High And Dry", and "Creep" was good for its day. But I never got the adulation for Radiohead, especially for OK Computer, which has been traded as some kind of seminal work for reasons I don't get even when Q magazine tried to explain it to me.

Same. I like The Bends.

[Hot Pepsi]

But even in his activism, Bono adopted a saviour complex. And even if it sprang from the genuine concern, the activism smacked of self-mythologising. Take debt relief: Jubilee 2000 was a movement initiated by activists and the Catholic Church in the 1990s. The bandwagon was rolling along when Bono jumped on it and made it seem as if it was his invention.

Similarly his and Geldof's notion that they should be spokesmen for Africa without having a mandate or being subordinate to an African-led movement. There is a racist element to that.

There were benefits to that, of course, but they came at the price of twattishness.

They believe they’re bringing attention to the issue, which they are. But, as you pointed out, they want to be in charge of something. I suspect that has more to do with them being the sort of people who can’t stand not being in control and/or being surrounded by sycophants, rather than racism per se. But it isn’t a good look.

Lots of celebrities seem to do this. One hears a lot more about the one’s who have started their own foundations etc. rather than the ones who are willing to just help out established organization and take up less of the spotlight. Either they and/or their mangers want more control over the “brand.”

[Sits]

Paul Simon.

[Patrick Thistle]

Don't worry, it's not just you two.

Yay!