I am now imitating the RCA dog .BRRRRRRrrrrrraaah? 
In Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, when the main protagonist signs up for the service (necessary, in that world, to gain the vote), he puts down a long list of preferences, ending with “infantry”. He doesn’t bother to put anything on the list after that, since below infantry, there’s nothing left but things like field-testing spacesuits on Venus, or similar forms of creative suicide.
Years later, Heinlein tried to claim that the service options weren’t limited to the military; that one could become a full citizen by serving as a mailman or the like. I’m sure Johnny Rico would have appreciated knowing that… It sounds like a lot more fun than suit-testing.
The classic is the aging rocker(s), decades past their prime, who get back together to release an so-so album, then inevitably claim its “its our/my best work since X”. Where X was their genre-defining album released at their creative peak.
I agree – Roger has always been a bit of a windbag.
The others only sounded pretentious because they were stoned. Dave, Rick, and especially Nick have always seemed to be pretty down-to-earth guys.
I like much of R. Kelly’s music but the fact that he glossed himself the ‘Pied Piper’ then went on to be charged statutory rape made me quirk an eyebrow. I guess it’s possible he only knew about the pipes and the rats.
Terry Goodkind, of The Sword of Truth series, thinks the he’s a talented writer.
Maybe if Chris Martin had the songwriting talents to backup his claims it would be excusable, but no, I’m sorry Chris, you are the most pompous douche in music today:
Before X&Y came out he claimed the band would be “reinventing the wheel”.
Mostly he was yelling at them for setting off fireworks and random screaming. If I was at the concert, I would have been very grateful for him to have done so, too. He rightly points out that the people were being disruptive to the point of making it impossible to hear the music. I’ve been at concerts like that and I feel like I’ve wasted my money. I say bravo to him for saying what he said. I hate people who just randomly scream at the top of their lungs and make as much noise as possible at concerts. Some of us go to hear the music.
(This isn’t to say that Roger Waters can’t be or hasn’t been a narcissistic ass at times, just that in this particular case I happen to agree with him.)
Most delusional thing an artist can say about their work #1:
They rioted at Stravinski’s Right of Spring too.
I’m pretty sure that Heinlein mentioned that non-military forms of service existed in the book. Jobs like mailman were presumedly the type of thing Johnny put on his preference list ahead of infantry.
Back when Baywatch was on the air, David Hasselhoff said that the reason the show was so popular was because viewers like seeing a show about a family (Hasselhoff’s character had a son). Hasselhoff said that the audience would like the show even more if there was more time devoted to his character’s family life and less spent on the beach scenes.
No, sweetie. This song rocks.
You misspelled “sucks”…
(sorry, that song was the default if nobody put money in the jukebox at a Pizza Hut I worked at ages ago. If nobody put in money for like 10 minutes, it would play that song automatically. Oh man how I hate that song. Never liked it much to begin with, but ever since that I hate it with the firey passion of a million suns.)
Okay, sorry you don’t like that choice.
Perhaps something that is more along the linesof what Billy Joel was trying to achieve with those two above-linked songs. 30 years earlier, and a hell of a lot better.
Look, I like Billy Joel. I’m from Long Island. I can’t help it. But the man does not rock hard. Sorry.
:dubious: Yeah, those songs are so similar. Well, anyway, I think those two songs rock.
And so I’m not just hijacking a thread, I’ll nominate Oasis when they thought that they’d be the next Beatles.
Good call on Cochran. Billy Joel rocks hard in comparison to the Olsen twins.
The first record by Héroes del Silencio was an enormous hit in Spain. A unique sound, interesting lyrics, tunes you could sing along.
The second record dove into the Mariannas trench and came out the other side. It sold a lot on the first day… and then stopped, once people heard it and went “uh? are these the same guys?”
I saw an interview with their singer where he claimed that “well, all those people who claim they don’t like this record because they don’t understand the lyrics are just dumb; I write for intelligent people, not for the dregs.”
Dude, “the dregs” made you rich and several years’ worth of polls among Mensa members indicate that the officially-intelligent do not understand that second record either…
"Why do they cover Paul’s songs but never mine? "
- Yoko Ono
Nitpick: It’s “Rite of Spring”, or, Le Sacre Du Printemps, if you REALLY want to be picky.
Not to hijack, but I’m pretty sure that in Heinlein’s Starship Troopers jobs such as police officer and mail man were only available to citizens, ie: they required a prior period of military service.
It’s been years since I’ve last read it, but isn’t there a bar fight or similar altercation and Johnny mentions something about reading the responding officers ribbon bar? Later he or one of his squad mates imagines getting “one of those reserved jobs, like policeman”?
Taken in the context of his musical direction, I don't think it was a delusional attempt to reach a young audience. Going from heir to bebop protege to father of cool to inventor of fusion funk indicates someone with a keen eye to setting of trends.
"Soul Train" notwithstanding I'd say he succeeded in attracting that audience though it cost him some of the traditional purist base.