Okay, okay. Perhaps I did read too much into yr post. My finger gets itchy when stock terms -like 'sheep'- are thrown around without much basis, or basis on something as tenuous as taste. (I for one would probably enter most arguments with the word "rockist" if I truly believed someone was rockist [and I sometimes wonder] or if I felt I understood every nuance of the word). Especially when it comes to pop music because I think s'very easy to view its fans as dumb or unimaginative despite, and I'm steadfast on this, pop music's highly intelligent and imaginative approach to music in 2003. Even better than some of the esoteric, supposedly intellectual carp I spin.

Anyway, I hope I don't come off as targetting you (since we do argue a lot). We both have strong feelings about music, obviously, though we appear to be in opposite camps as far as thinking about music and talking about music and purchasing music goes.

Sorry I didn't get yr email. That account has been inactive for quite sometime (though I did reactivate it after I read yr post and will make a habit of checking it once a week).

Ya' know I sat back, and took the time to think for a minute, just what is it that I say that gets you so mad at me.(This was after I made my last post). I came to the conclusion it was my refering to to pop music fans as "sheep". I am going to do my best to not use that term on this board anymore, as to not offend you or anyone else. I somtimes forget that this board is full of fans of every kind of music, and get a little over opinionated at times. A good example is that "Britney Spears" thread. I think I went a little overboard in that thread(I was having a bad day), and my point was buried under all my ranting and B.S. I have that problem in this BB in more than just this forum. I need to try and not be so negative, but it is a hard thing to do for such an opinionated person like myself.

I do beleave we are all "sheep" in one form or another. When it comes to DVD's I am as a big a sheep as anybody else. I really don't beleave that the only people that can be a sheep are pop music fans, it's just a general term I use a lot when I refer to them. You do have to admit though, that the kids of today are more "sheeply" than any generation before them, as well as the pop fans. It is not as much thier fault, as much as it is living in a world full of vast commercialism where things are being ramed down thier throats to the point where they almost have to like it. Corperate America is destroying the music industry, as I once knew it, and it is hard for me to accept. I wish I could take the time to exsplain how it is happening, but it would take me ten pages to do so.

If the kids today just knew how much better things were back in the day. I'm not talking about the music in general, I'm talking about the industry as a whole. Concerts were better, and a lot cheaper. Radio wasn't so homogenized, and we had DJ's who were really fans of the music they played, and not just pretending to be a fan, like most do now. The only stations that used playlists back then were the top 40 pop music stations. Most of the rest of Radio didn't limmit themselves to just "the hits", so radio back in the day had a lot more to offer to the average music fan. AOR(album oriented radio) stations were so much better than what we have now. Then came MTV.

MTV, at the time, was a great idea. It was untill it was bought out by corperate America, and turned into a waistland for selling pimple cream. MTV now has so much influence on our teen and pre-teen children that it is almost sick. You could put up a test pattern as a video on MTV, and if played enough, kids would flock like, well er' ummm well... you know... the "S" word, to go get it. MTV plays a good roll in why the music industry is so homoginized today, but is not fully to blame. The potential behind MTV just helped catch the eye of the greedy bastards who have run the ship aground as of late. I could ramble on forever about MTV, and what a disgrace to music it has become(by disgrace I don't mean the music, as much as the marketing, and such), but that is for another time, and thread.

I guess what I'm saying is I'm a disgruntled music fan, and I really miss the way things were. I really wish all the young people who never knew a world without MTV, Clearchannel, etc... could go back and see how it was. I think they would then understand a little more about where I am coming from, and why I am so passionate about preaching my hatred towards what is happening today. It has always been about the $$$, but these days the $$$ is overriding the quality, as well as the entire experience of music, and what it is about. Videos have taken some of our imagination away as to what we want a song to be about for us. We are flocked like, well um er' you know the "s" word again, into amphitheaters, which make concerts seem stagnant, and more like going to the movies than seeing your favorite band live. Radio has become nothing more than a big giant playlist fueled by the "payola" scam, and is no longer a valuable resource for finding decent music anymore. Commercialism and greed are slowly killing everything that music is supposed to be about, and most of the fans of pop music are blind to this, and just keep taking the bait. That is one of the reasons I call them the "S" word I guess.

I don't mean to ramble, I'm just trying to give a little insite on where I am coming from. I'll end this now by saying I am sorry for flinging the "S" word around like a tossed salad, and will try my best to not use it anymore. I never meant to offend anyone.

Take it easy, and have a good day, or as we Iron Maiden fans say.

UP THE IRONS!!!

Oh, how I love it when dvdtalkers can put aside their differences and sing together in beautiful harmony.

Somewhere, out there, Britney Spears and Frank Zappa are holding hands and smiling, and, just for a minute, we all come together with our mutual love of music.

(oh, and Christina Aguillera is humping something)