Coveting others' presents

[lederhosen]

We gave waitingman a copy of "I Hate Myself And Want To Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard" last night for his Christmas present, and I spent much of the evening pinching it back off him. I don't agree with all of Tom Reynold's song choices (In The Air Tonight is the only Phil Collins song I like, thankyouverramuch), but even then the snark is entertaining. (Plus, he's not afraid to snark himself extensively for getting the entire article about Ben Folds Five's Brick badly wrong.)

My favourite line, handily cut-and-pasted from this Guardian article:

Clocking in at over seven minutes, Total Eclipse [of the Heart] is Wagner's Ring Cycle without the funny hats; the equivalent of an opera company pelting you with copies of Anne Rice novels. You're completely drained when it's over and desperately in need of a shower to rinse off the raven droppings.

Comments

[hacked2death.livejournal.com]

I flipped through that book in the local Dymocks the other day. Kinda funny, even though i LIKE Billy's version of Landslide.. :P

[waitingman.livejournal.com]

Didn't end up getting home from last night until about 20 minutes ago (8pm), so will be laughing myself to sleep with the rest of the book tonight.

I liked his description of Whitney throwing in so many extra vowels (Iiiiiiiii Will Always Looooooooooove Youououououou), that it sounds like a diphthong festival.

Many thanks for yet another superbly twisted gift!!

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

From one superbly twisted person to another - you're welcome.

[texas-tiger.livejournal.com]

23. You don't bring me flowers Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand (1978)
Neil and Babs phoned in this turgid song with all the energy of a ping-pong match played in zero gravity. Though performed as a duet, Streisand should have recorded it alone, since the lyrics are clearly from a woman's point of view; no self-respecting guy ever complains about not getting flowers or hearing any love songs. You Don't Bring Me Flowers is the most egregious example of middle-of-the-road music, so named because if you drive in the middle of the road, you'll eventually die in a head-on collision.

I find that rather interesting, considering that, IIRC, Diamond wrote and recorded that song originally.

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

Google says he wrote it with Alan & Marilyn Bergman, but he does seem to have recorded it solo before teaming up with Streisand. A bit odd, but probably easier to accept than Nick Cave pretending to be a fifteen-year-old girl :-)

[jesusandrew.livejournal.com]

Considered getting a copy, but decided I didn't have enough faith in the writer's taste, amusing as some of it was.

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

I certainly wouldn't hire him to choose me a playlist (I'm rather fond of several of the ones he denigrated), but the denigration was amusing in its own right.