Sadly, my wife has declared Thelonious, Miles, and Lemmy off-limits for kids' names.

Raymond Douglas Childs has a nice ring to it...

I'm generally not a big Britpop fan (Lord spare me from Oasis), but I do like Pulp.

Blur's where it's happening, bay-bee.

I can't get over the "woo hoo!" song. It's soured me on Blur. Also the fact that there's a lyric in that song that sounds like, "I got my head checked / by Erma Bombeck."

I know that's stupid. I should give them another try.

I can't get over the "woo hoo!" song. It's soured me on Blur.

Heh. That's the most anomalous song in their catalogue. And it's purposefully so, because it was their sort of historical response to Nirvana. A way to let go of all their tightly crafted, carefully thought out songs and let one rip with a big, dumb roar. They're very Not!Dumb most of the time.

That's the most anomalous song in their catalogue

This gives me hope. iTunes, ho!

Now, I do like "Langford" and "Raymond Douglas". I'm partial to "Quine," too, but my wife thinks that it'll only get him beat up every day.

I'm a philistine. I love "Song 2" and "Crazy Beat."

(Also, Jen, it's "by a jumbo jet." Which makes no more sense, but there you go.)

Now, I do like "Langford" and "Raymond Douglas". I'm partial to "Quine," too, but my wife thinks that it'll only get him beat up every day.

She's got to like a name like Sally.

This gives me hope. iTunes, ho!

I really like Modern Life Is Rubbish. Here's the AMG review:

As a response to the dominance of grunge in the U.K. and their own decreasing profile in their homeland — and also as a response to Suede's sudden popularity — Blur reinvented themselves with their second album, Modern Life Is Rubbish, abandoning the shoegazing and baggy influences that dominated Leisure for traditional pop. On the surface, Modern Life may appear to be an homage to the Kinks, David Bowie, the Beatles and Syd Barrett, yet it isn't a restatement, it's a revitalization. Blur use British guitar-pop from the Beatles to My Bloody Valentine as a foundation, spinning off tales of contemporary despair. If Damon Albarn wasn't such a clever songwriter, both lyrically and melodically, Modern Life could have sunk under its own pretensions, and the latter half does drag slightly. However, the record teems with life, since Blur refuse to treat their classicist songs as museum pieces. Graham Coxon's guitar tears each song open, either with unpredictable melodic lines or layers of translucent, hypnotic effects, and his work creates great tension with Alex James' kinetic bass. And that provides Albarn a vibrant background for his social satires and cutting commentary. But the reason Modern Life Is Rubbish is such a dynamic record and ushered in a new era of British pop is that nearly every song is carefully constructed and boasts a killer melody, from the stately "For Tomorrow" and the punky "Advert" to the vaudeville stomp of "Sunday Sunday" and the neo-psychedelic "Chemical World." Even with its flaws, it's a record of considerable vision and excitement. (The American version of Modern Life is Rubbish substitutes the demo version of "Chemical World" for the studio version on the British edition. It also adds the superb single "Pop Scene" before the final song, "Resigned.") — Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Parklife and The Great Escape are also excellent.

by a jumbo jet

Oh, crap. I'll never get on a plane again without humming "by Erma Bombeck" to that tune.

A Salon article about the 20th anniversary of the release of Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade. The article is kinda' annoying, though (I take exception to the way the writer disparages Nirvana and The Velvet Underground). But still, it's nice to see Zen Arcade recognized as one of the best and most important rock albums ever.