"Hey Ya" took me completely by surprise. I was watching Fuse, and the video came up, and I saw it was OutKast, so I was all ready to change the channel because generally, I'm not into hip-hop/R & B, but the music was so infectious and fun. And there was a guitar! And interesting lyrics! One listen and I was addicted. Then I discovered it was like the popularest song ever and I was all, "Oh."

Will she be happy to know I saw them perform at a benefit concert for a minority-focused GOTV (get out the vote) organization sponsored by MoveOn.org and featuring keynote speaker William Jefferson Clinton?

!!!! Michelle, do you know if this was filmed or televised? She'd adore it, I'm sure.

Also, I do have the "Hey Ya!" love as long as I listen to it sparingly. It makes me happy and bouncy.

I don't think it was, alas. Sorry.

And, yeah, "WITL" is cheesy. But that's part of what I like about it.

And, yeah, "WITL" is cheesy. But that's part of what I like about it.

It rides in the "Hey Ya!" boat for me. Makes me happy and bouncy.

Didja know that Fergie used to be in a girl hip-hop/R&B group called Wild Orchid? And yeah, she's of the purty.

While watching The Guru on DVD last week, I became hooked on the Bollywood dance music that was playing over the menu screen. I let it go on and on while I did some things at my computer.

Didja know that Fergie used to be in a girl hip-hop/R&B group called Wild Orchid? And yeah, she's of the purty.

I did not know that. are the decent? similar to who?

I vaguely remember seeing them on MTV. Pretty standard top-40 fare, IIRC.

awesome. may have to see if launch has them.

Catching up, because I took a long time to write a post in Lit'ry --

Does anyone want to hear about how much I love the following Kylie Minogue songs?

Although she hasn't been mentioned much lately, there is Kylie love around here. In fact, when Angus asked about the best single of the year to date, I nominated "Red Blooded Woman."

My BEP love really hit with their second single. "Where Is the Love" was a fine message song in an era that could use a few more of them, but to follow it with such delicious uptempo pop like "Shut Up"!

From Joe's list the other day, the only 2 I have are The Who and PE.

You don't own Zep IV?! COMMUNIST! Well... at least you had enough sense not to denigrate Rush last night. Those Canadians would have pitched you off that roof before you could say Molson.

There's nothing on my list that's particularly obscure. Other than the jazz albums, basically everything in the first twenty albums was not only a hit but a big hit. I point this out because of the heated feelings from the lit thread and the hard feelings about this thread that popped up. HANG ON -- before you stop reading, what I mean is not "You don't know these masterworks by giants of 20th century popular music? Well, maybe you should try another thread." In fact I mean just the opposite.

It's hard to get bigger than Sinatra or the Beatles. The Aretha, Dylan & Hendrix albums contain their most famous songs. The Zeppelin & Who albums were so overplayed during the 70s & 80s that they became jokes. Miles, Monk, Mingus & Coltrane are names that non-jazz fans recognize. Sly and Rod Stewart hit number 1 with the chosen albums, and both had no. 1 singles on them. Yet a lot of the very, very musically literate people here aren't familiar with this stuff. Why? Because the world of music IS VAST. Even if you have "big ears" (musicianspeak for wide-ranging, open-minded taste) you can only get to know little bits of it. Those bits can be immersing yourself in one sort of music or it can be sampling whatever you come across but not digging deeply into an artist's catalogue or any one style.

I don't recognize 90% of the bands Jon talks about, much less have any familiarity with their music. Hayden's & my tastes overlap a bit more, but the punk & Amerindie stuff that's so near & dear to his heart is either unknown to me or gets a much less enthusiastic response from me. Ditto Misha & Hec. It's hard not to have some overlap with David given his listening habits. But do I share his fondness for glam? Not at all. Do I want him to stop talking about it? Not at all. I love to hear people who are enthusiastic about things they love. I want more discussion about big hits because I'm completely out of touch with what's hot. OTOH I also want people to talk about really obscure stuff that I otherwise wouldn't hear about, whether it's obscure because it just hasn't caught on yet or because it's some fringe thing that will never catch on. I dig the avant garde way more in theory than in practice (my tastes, though wideranging, are basically conservative), but I'm glad that Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman and Terry Riley believed in themselves enough to keep at it in the face of killing indifference.

There isn't a single person in this thread who, when all is said and done, will have taught more than s/he's learned here. IM(not so)HO.