Sheesh! All the fag talk and accusations had me back in junior high there for a moment. Enough already! Take that crap out to the alley, like men, er fags, er what-the-hell-ever you are. I want to read what it is that you like or dislike about various musicians because I'm interested in learning more about music. Maybe the Darkside isn't such a good place for that. On the other hand, this is where some of my friends, who have opinions about music, hang out, so why not?

I'm with Dan S. regarding Billy Joel's Piano Man. If music is the combination of rhythm, melody, and harmony, then Piano Man is solid gold in more ways than one. Maybe it doesn't appeal to you, but that doesn't make it bad. It's only bad if you can substantively pick it apart within the framework of musical structure.

And what's with the Rolling Stones hate? Saying "the Stones are D-bags" is shallow and empty as criticism goes, making the criticizer the D-bag. How about something substantive? Otherwise your opinion is less useful than your asshole.

Several of you dislike the Eagles. I don't get it; I think they're really good. I know a former bass guitarist who doesn't like them either. But his criticism was that "they are too clean, too pure, too perfect . . ." He likes to jam on guitar, but that's not the purpose of every piece of music. I don't see why "clean" makes a piece "bad."

When I look back on the rock that I liked so much in my youth I realize that for the majority, the lyrics were really teeny bopper juvenile. But since the musicians were teens or 20-somethings, it amazes me that any of it includes some kind of intellectual message. And those tend to be the tunes that best stand the test of time.

OK then, get back to your usual Darkside fag festing . . .