"Imperfect sound forever" is a wide ranging article that discusses the problem with over-compressed music on modern CDs which has garnered a fair amount of attention lately, but also covers how we now consume music and everything else in our lives.... »

"...For the purposes of this book, I will be dealing with rock music and pop music, the subtle distinction being that 'rock music' is a loud aggressive form of entertainment enjoyed by many people, whereas 'pop music' is crap." Many years ago, BB bought a small yellow hardback called... »

Article from The Guardian: "Twenty years ago, Mark Taylor was a 16-year-old with few friends and an obsession with the Smiths." Figures.... »

All About Eve's grassroots Top 40 comeback campaign has hit the buffers, as their new single, "Let Me Go Home" stalls at no. 52. Given that a band only needs to sell about fifty copies to reach no. 1 these days, this is a pretty bad showing. Presumably, if... »

Ashley Norris over at the Guardian becomes one of the first mainstream journos to sample the All Of MP3 "samples" (that's full length, unprotected samples in the format of your choice, bud). He offers some unintentional (we think) black humour.... »

"The whole sixth form likes The Smiths and he's listening to Yes!" scoffed Garve one day in the sixth form common room as I foisted 90125 on everyone again. No actually Garve, the whole sixth form does not validate your tastes because they're not all tossers (not quite), I... »

Thanks to Matt from Debris for putting me on to the OSI album. Say "prog metal supergroup" to me normally and I'll be halfway out the door before you reach the final syllable, and indeed I approached this one warily, circling round it for a good few months (twelve,... »

Lonely? Depressed? Filled with despair and feeling suicidal? You're probably best not downloading these Scarlet Martyrs MP3s then - now available once more following a long, and we're sure much-needed, absence.... »

Years of corporate servility and domestic senility have left BB unable to summon the once-legendary rage and venom, not to mention literacy, that sustained whole articles of tilting at windmills. Reduced to soundbites and "boom-boom" punchlines, we can only sigh apathetically about the following:... »

The BB bunker (OK...bedroom) is currently rockin' to the sweet soul sounds of The Best Prog Rock Album in the World...Ever, a compilation so authentic that it's a triple album - the horror (look, if you don't want to read about this then fine, sod off back to the... »

...Said an alleged Sisters fan to BB once. Which, if you're not a Sisters fan, amounts to liking two early singles and not the three albums and numerous EPs that followed. This NotBBC post nicely points up the problems in being a fan of one specific period of a... »

In the new issue of Word magazine, Moby talks about how long it took him to realise that - far from a merry jape or publicity stunt - Eminem really did hate him. He doesn't understand why. "...There was a genuine hate and rage on his part towards me.... »

Peter Gabriel, MEN Arena, 18th May 2003 The MEN Arena is filled with a cacophony of creaks and groans, as a large 30+ aged audience attempts gamely to cope with the worst seating this side of a new Virgin train. Playing the MEN demands a lot of a performer,... »

BB doesn't normally post links to other sites because: It's boring, particularly when there's barely any relevant or stimulating commentary alongside. (Look at this. This is interesting. Hey, cool. Which pointless meat product are you?) Having ensnared your browser, we've no motivation to redirect it elsewhere. We actually have... »

until they have a go at the band you like. Ugh, prog rock dinosaurs, I hate 'em. For no good reason, I'd like to say why: Because they're dinosaurs. My dad says being over forty doesn't make someone a dinosaur. What a total dino, man. Because I heard Tales From... »

Seen on cover of 'Now' magazine: MYLEENE: My Hear'Say Hell ...What about our's, bitch?!... »

So what's the RIAA got its frilly knickers in a twist for? They're seriously worried that millions of people with taste will want to pirate the tired old shit they've been peddling for the last five years?? Oh yeah, I so want an illegal copy of Britney's new album. Dude,... »

The power of ROCK! BB recently dug out a long-forgotten compilation tape, containing many hits of the eighties carefully recorded off the radio and spliced with snippets of Bruno Brookes - a man still irritating even in two second snatches. Part-way through the side 2, we found "Here I Go... »

session at The Bank (it was a bank, it's now owned by Banks' Brewery). There was a wide range of refreshingly amateur talent, and at least one well refreshed amateur: Old blokes in baggy blue jeans playing 12 bar blues. Well, it's more acceptable than smoking a pipe and talking... »

Just saw the following headline on Yahoo! news: LONDON (Reuters) - The stars have begun arriving in force for the grizzliest show in the British pop music calendar -- the Brit Awards. Spot which word I misread. And then tell me it isn't more appropriate.... »

At the 2001 Progressive Rock Summit in Montreux, talks aimed at strategically limiting the length of bass guitar solos broke down after delegates were unable to agree a maximum number of hours. Chris Squire of Yes pushed for an upper bound of six hours, but Geddy Lee of Rush countered... »

As I get older, I find my mind increasingly regresses to the past because it is somehow better, rosier and the days were sunnier. As far as music went, you could hear the words and the guitars. Hence, the Think Floyd gig in the heady atmosphere of Warrington Parr Hall... »

I thought the record companies were scared of Napster because they feared that people would download songs by Britney Spears and N'Sync for free. But perhaps they're actually petrified that people might not download those songs even though they're free! And what would that say about the quality of artists... »

you joined one of the six tribes of pop yet? Personally, I firmly believe that we need to dispossess the tribes, move them to reservations and slowly begin disinheriting them of their "culture".... »

Top gangsta rap star GayLord Poppa has changed his name to "Sweetie, bend me over and batter my behind with the rough end of a baseball bat- Bitchboy". "But you can call me Malcolm," added the rapper.... »

It began with a whinge, which developed into an annoying whine before climaxing in a major outburst of dissatisfaction before subsiding into a low, continuous grumble in the background: the lack of inspiring culture (particularly music) today, right here, right now. I've slagged Coldplay & Travis before for being dull... »

Record companies embrace Napster Sorry, you ain't gonna see it. Never - not even after "Turkeys embrace Xmas". No matter how much of a "community" it might gather or how badly consumers want it. Napster is about downloading songs (particularly obscure singles from the 70s and 80s that are only... »

A friend writes: "I wrote to a web development company - but my letter got sent to an accountant who is the liquidator of that company! But he wants someone to look after his website..."... »

- definitive proof at last that he's full of shit. I always suspected Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers wasn't quite as gosh-darn clever as he liked to make out. Remember "sweating out intelligence, like I don't know what it is" - there's a surprise. Or how about the... »

I finally saw Napster. And it is good. Big Bubbles has a theory that, whatever you want to do, however selfish, perverse, harmful, violent or shameful it is, your subconscious will always find a way to justify it later. This is most often illustrated in hypnotism ("What are you talking... »

Egotism appears to be firmly back in fashion within rock music. Whereas once it was sufficient in interviews to burble something along the lines of: "We're not bothered about being `the best' or selling the most records. We just do what we do and if people like it, fine." Now... »