Maybe I'll give it a spin but to be honest, me and hard rock in general have been drifting apart increasingly in recent times. I can only still stomach few bands of the genre that I listened to in the past. Say, are you an AC/DC fan, Manos?

Album Rating: 3.0

Yup, a big one. I consider their '70s run legendary. How about you?

That's it, I just can't seem to get into those guys. Bon Scott was cool, I've heard Powerage, which is excellent, amnd Highway To Hell, which I didn't love as much as most people but is also great. But the Brian Johnson stuff is unbearable to me. I mean, all the songs sound the same after a while, I don't get the appeal. That's a problem I've been having in most hard rock bands I used to listen to.

Album Rating: 3.0

You shouldn't worry too much because, especially with Brian Johnson, AC/DC play that style of boogie that does feel the same sometimes. There are only two non-Bon Scott albums that I truly hold in high regard and I'm a big fan! How about other bands like Scorpions, Deep Purple, The Doors, etc.?

Which albums are those? As for other bands, I'd say few bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix I still have patience to listen to occasionally. And in Purple's specific case, today I'd only listen to Machine Head or In Rock, I couldn't imagine delving any further. I was never a big Doors fan actually, though I always admired Jim Morrison's stage presence. Another "classic rock" band I was never a big fan of but now seem even less inclined to listen to would be Aerosmith, besides Toys In The Attic, I think they're a pretty standard rock band. What do you have to say?

Album Rating: 3.0

Back in Black and Stiff Upper Lip are the only Brian Johnson albums I love. First one is AC/DC basically in their prime and second is just filthy boogie rock done properly.



Not a big Aerosmith fan either. They are good songwriters, ok players but overall there's not much for me there. As you've said, pretty standard even though I respect their influence in sleaze. The Rolling Stones is also a classic band I've never been a big fan of. I think they can be an excellent compilation band but Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers are the only albums of theirs I really dig.

I listened to Back In Black from start to finish a couple of times, just a while back, and though I did love tunes such as Hells Bells and Shoot To Thrill, the album itself to me was nice but not the classic people hail it as. And I can't understand the love for You Shook Me All Night Long, pretty boring radio rock if you ask me. I never listened to Stiff Upper Lip, I did check For Those About To Rock, and though the title track is obviously awesome the rest of the album sounded pretty average in comparison.

Yeah, I was never a Rolling Stones fan myself. I've listened to a couple of compilation albums and to be honest I was never really that impressed to check out their studio releases. Most of the "classic" Stones songs, I just never seemed to enjoy all that much. I'd say, besides Brown Sugar and Helter Skelter, I don't think I've ever enjoyed a Rolling Stones tune all that much. Now that we've started a little discussion here, I may as well just ask. What's your view on Bruce Springsteen?

Album Rating: 3.0

Helter Skelter is a Beatles tune ;) You dig The Beatles?



I was seriously hooked on Bruce Springsteen 6-7 years ago. I find his first four albums brilliant but I never enjoyed The River or Born in the USA and haven't properly checked Nebraska. Apart from these, I haven't checked any other albums of his. Hammersmith Odeon London '75 is also a great live album.

Oops, I meant Gimme Shelter :]

Though I haven't rated any Beatles album because I haven't listened to any in full for a long time (I have to change that), I'm a big fan for sure. I remember when I was even younger than now, I was attracted to the album cover of Revolver, I always found it quite interesting, and from what I can remember it's one of my favorite Beatles albums.

I never really got into Bruce Springsteen. I understand that he's the typical "American working class" guy and everybody loves him because of that, but I never quite enjoyed what I've heard from him. To me, he's another one of those overrated "classic rock" artists whose appeal just never struck me. Though he's a bit different than the bands I've been mentioning, I'd much rather have Neil Young.

I don't know if you're a fan of indie rock or not. Not the so called "modern" indie, any mainstream alt rock artist seems to get thrown the indie tag, even if he's not an indie artist at all. I'm talking about the first movement of the genre, that lasted from the 1980's to the late 90's. Stuff such as Pixies, Pavement, The Smiths, R.E.M., all that stuff. Are you a fan?

Album Rating: 3.0

I can definitely get your preference for Neil Young given that he's the father of grunge which I know you dig.



I always appreciated the passion in Springsteen's music even though the "working class" stuff never appealed to me. Songs like "Jungleland" or "Incident On 57th Street" brings the feels whereas "Tenth Avenue Freeze" or "Rosalita" bring the groove haha. I can see you digging him in due time but maybe now is not the time ;)



My knowledge on indie is very limited even though I tried a few times listening to R.E.M. and I hold The Queen Is Dead in high regard. But from the little I heard, I'm not a big fan of indie.

Absolutely, Young deserves all the recognition he gets. Not only I'm a big fan of his albums from Everybody Knows... to Tonight's The Night, I also respect him immensely for his contribution to the grunge scene. His album Freedom is great, maybe I don't love it as much as other people, but Ragged Glory is excellent. I mean, Cobain and Vedder themselves have quoted him as a huge influence, guy's a legend.

R.E.M. is one of my favorite bands, not only of the genre but all time really, I recall you told me you had listened to Murmur once. Reckoning, Document and Automatic For The People are also superb, especially Automatic which is a near classic for me. Even Accelerate, from 2008, is a very strong album, one of the best in years. If you loved The Queen Is Dead, you should check the other Smiths stuff as well. Superb band as well.

The reason I asked about indie rock in the first place was because of the Beatles mention. I heard the album Pod by a band called The Breeders, it was a side project for Kim Deal from Pixies, and they had a cover of Happiness Is A Warm Gun. The album itself is outstanding, at least in my opinion, and the cover is spectacular. Go check it out on Youtube, I think you'd dig it. Have you ever listened to Pixies?

Album Rating: 3.0

Nah, at least not voluntarily haha. I've only heard a couple of their songs on the radio such as "Where Is My Mind". Maybe I'll check one of their albums in due time. Where does one start?



Eventually, I'll check more stuff from The Smiths and R.E.M. too but the last couple of months I've been in a classic metal mood for some reason.

Funnily enough, I've never been quite into metal myself (though my pie chart seems to pretend I do sometimes), and the classic rock we've already discussed before I've been meaning to stay away haha. As for Pixies, it depends. Surfer Rosa and Doolittle are the band's best albums for sure. Would you prefer a really noisy, punk influenced alt rock or a slightly more polished and pop inclined yet just as energetic sound instead?

Album Rating: 3.0

Hmm, I'd prefer to start with a more polished one and then get to the more noisy...

In that case, Doolittle's the album for you. After that, you should check out Surfer Rosa. For that more polished sound, you also would enjoy giving a crack at that side project I mentioned, The Breeders. The albums Pod and Last Splash are both awesome.