one good thing about music...

my sister in law gave me a kick ass leather bound journal for my birthday. i wrote in it yesterday after several sunday afternoon beers. here are the results:

if music means the world to you, then you'll spare no adjective when describing it.

how can you deny the drama? when that slinky, guttural bass line hits you in the chest and reverberates up your throat; the climax of a long, drawn-out chorus building into a bridge that makes you close your eyes and sway inside of your own little space; a whisper followed by a scream.

i've been listening to America lately. not the band, but the country. 12 bar blues progressions from masters like john lee hooker, the moody swamp boogie reinterpreted so masterfully by modern-day mofro; the brilliant neo-glam of las vegas' the killers; the rural midwestern prog-roots-rock of melody masters wilco; the spit and the shine and the venom of eminem.

i like american music. i like the junked-up funked-up reggae punk rock of sublime; the lo-fi twisted rockabilly of the violent femmes; the guitar in ocean waves of jack johnson; the earnest, lap-steel virtuosity of ben harper; the soaring, mountain grooves of the samples; the jazz and grit of willie nelson's west texas country.

but i will say this: when a good - a really good - british band invades america(or any other part of the world that's no longer part of the british empire)... it's some powerful stuff. oasis was the biggest damn band in america for 2 years! coldplay marries rock and melodrama so perfectly they ought to name a new style of music after them. led zeppelin came, saw, and screwed their way across this great land. and let's not forget the four lads who started it all... john, paul, george and ringo.

british bands, perhaps more than rockers from anywhere else, understand perfectly that marriage of talent, good songwriting, world-conquering attitude, perfect timing, and just plain mystical f*#king coolness. it is completely and totally compelling, and if you love music - if you truly love it - you have probably fallen in love with a british band at one time or another.

here's to new order. to the irish U2. to the verve.

here's to the rolling stones. eric clapton. the beatles.

here's to the sex pistols. here's to the clash (the clash!).

and my own personal conquerors: here's to the fucking stone roses.

peace out.