Apt comparison to the Harlan Ellison story. I loved that in my brief horror period ( early teen) along with Lovecraft and others. “I have no mouth but I must scream” was a high point in existential terror for the young, impressionable me.
This is a thought provoking essay. I am too old for those tech items described, but I had similar thoughts after reading Asimov’s robot bools and Dick’s “Do Androids dream of electric Sheep” ( the book behind Bladerunner. We had a Verboten for my son, though. His must not have been as good as the one described. It struggled to do anything but the simplest directions and the preprogrammed smile. I certainly never picked up a dog treat. Finally, I am pretty sure that I am not an android but, indeed, how would I know?
Real androids are unlikely to follow Asimov’s three laws of robotics but even those enable others to determine an android’s nature, not the android himself (itself?).
Thank you very much for the read and the kind words. Some of my favorite books there as well. And truth be told, Verbot wasn't aaaaalways such a crackerjack at executing those commands for me either lol. Just don't tell him I said anything ;)
“ I love Machines of Loving Grace. They have been my favorite band ever since I first heard their song “Golgotha Tenement Blues” on the movie soundtrack for The Crow back in 1994”
I bought the soundtrack immediately following watching movie at popular icon Odyssey Records in Las Vegas where I hung out a lot searching for music after my shows.
That soundtrack still gets heavy rotation when I'm at the gym! So many great tracks.
So (aside from Golgotha Tenement Blues of course haha) what's your favorite track on that soundtrack?
Also, I was thinking, speaking of soundtracks, if you ever had the time and inclination, I would love to hear your thoughts on the use of music to augment a performance or to create a certain response in audiences. I feel like it can have a huge impact.
I discovered Machines of Loving Grace because of The Crow as well; given your enthusiasm regarding the band, I'm going to listen to their discography in the near future! But what should I start with? Got any albums you recommend?
And that "crybaby Trent" comment will never fail to make me laugh ... though The Becoming was the best track off of Downward Spiral.
Thank you very much for the read and the reply, Ophelia! Always great to hear from you.
I obviously totally agree about the hysterical "crybaby Trent" line and "The Becoming." And I am ecstatic to find someone else who has heard of my beloved Machines of Loving Grace. That Crow soundtrack was a real murderers row.
Whew, in some ways I have been preparing for your questions about MLG recommendations my entire life, and in others my enthusiasm for the band still makes it nigh-impossible to distill down my answers to something actually useful lol
But I shall try!
And, in truth, there is a pretty simple tack that I would recommend: good ol' chronological order :)
That means going from their eponymous first album to Concentration to Gilt (with a possible detour to a CD single or two along the way, more on that below)
MLG's entire catalog is really only three albums released in the the few years from 1991 to 1995 (Crow OST was '94), which still blows my mind. I wish there was more, but at least it does make it easy for people to give them a listen without having to devote an inordinate amount of time. Even though I love Burn like Brilliant Trash (the first track on their first album) as much as Serpico (the last track on their last album), there is definitely a progression that takes place over that short span that lends itself to a chronological listening order. Beyond some of the themes I mention in the article here, I don't want to say too much more beforehand though, so you can enjoy hearing the tracks "fresh" and allowing your own impressions and interpretations to develop. That said, I would certainly be happy to discuss any tracks or general observations once you start giving them a listen!
A few fun tidbits though:
1) The first, eponymous album was actually submitted as a demo, but the studio liked it so much and wanted to capitalize on rising interest in "Industrial" music coming off the success off Trent's '89 debut "Pretty Hate Machine," that they basically released it as-is, despite initial reticence from the founding trio of Benzel, Fisher, and Kupers. The album is still an absolute monster though, establishing their hard-edged sound and dystopian lyrics, but already showing a lot of range, for example, in the slower, melodic track Ciccolina. Fun fact there! Cicciolina is actually about this badass Italian pornstar-turned-parliament member Illona Staller who went by the stage name of "Cicciolina" in her previous career. The crazier part is that MLG is not the only industrial band of the era to write a song about her! The also brilliant British outfit Pop Will Eat Itself (headed by Clint Mansell, who much like our boy Trent, would later go on to have huge success in the film industry, in his case working largely with Aronofsky) also wrote a great song about her. Small world!
2) There are a ton of great CD singles MLG put out that often feature excellent remixes, but one really fun track to hunt for early on is "All I Really Need" off the "Rite of Shiva" single, the rare complete, otherwise unreleased track on a single. It is a wild, unique track that always struck me as largely Fisher having fun with his synth because of the uncharacteristic (but I think great) number of film/tv samples woven in, including a sneaky one (woman yelling "Kill me kill me KILL ME!") taken from one of my favorite shows, Patrick McGoohan's seminal classic The Prisoner.
3) Speaking of, there are a ton of interesting references interwoven into their second album, Concentration. From the Bikini Atoll where the nuclear weapons testing was conducted to Blake's Doors of Perception, Benzel really loads a lot of into his lyrics on this album. He also has track, Content?, that is a loose throwback to the track Content off their first album, again adding to the chronological listening order.
3.5) The first album's Terminal City actually references Cielo Drive, which has a lot of angles because not only was it the scene of the first of the infamous Manson Murders, but also the location where Trent would later record part of Downward Spiral. Small--and terrifying--world!
4) And speaking of small world crossovers, one more for the road because I could be here all day and you were already assuredly regretting asking for MLG recommendations three paragraphs ago haha, Brad Kemp who played drums on Concentration left after that album and MLG brought in none other than David Suycott, which blew my mind when I was younger because I already knew Suycott from his time with another band I love, Stabbing Westward. Kemp and Suycott were both great drummers, but I must say, Suycott's work on Gilt (their third and tragically final album... though that is a whoooole other story lol) is outstanding, especially on brutal yet eerily methodical tracks like Suicide King.
Happy listening!
[Edit: Just wanted to add in that given their relatively small discography and ostensibly typical industrial stylings, some people wonder why this band--given how much music I listen to haha--is my favorite. I could go on about the bleak, haunting poetic beauty or the mix of heavy riffs and subtle melodies yada yada, but the truth is... it is the feel. The band creates/captures a wholly unique feeling, a soundscape, in their work that I have never heard replicated or ever really been able to put my finger on. It is evokes an emotion that I don't have a word for. It is a strange mix of futuristic nostalgia, of a hopeful ennui, of a decaying decadence... to quote their track Richest Junkie Still Alive, when I listen to any other band "it don't feel the same."]
My week must be going well, given my comment section exchange with Jonathan E (even though I think his account is deleted now :P) about '00s alt-rock and now a long-awaited reply about music recommendations--finally, I can hope to graduate from being like one of those plebeians who claim to know Nirvana when they barely know "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Come to think of it, even though quarantine was a blight on my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I don't think I otherwise would've delved into alternative music as much--guess teenage angst has paid off well.
Oddly enough, I usually don't follow a chronological order when browsing a band's discography (maybe except for RATM and TOOL), so this was a pretty helpful note to keep in mind, thank you! I'm somewhat of a novice when it comes to goth / industrial music, so I'll be sure to keep Stabbing Westward and Pop Will Eat Itself on my list afterwards; I'm pleasantly surprised that you're familiar with the genre (lyre of Delphi and all), since it means I can someday ask about the best Ministry songs to check out.
The recording of Downward Spiral in Sharon Tate's house is one of the first things I learned about the album--I remember an interview wherein Trent talked about watching Taxi Driver during the recording of The Fragile, and wouldn't be surprised to hear that creating art with darkness required immersion for many musicians at the time. Impossible to believe that I discovered Nine Inch Nails because of Flyleaf (though Final Destination was also responsible).
Thank you for the recommendations, and sorry that my reply barely addressed your fun facts--I've tried introducing a lot of music to my peers, and any perceived dismissiveness would infuriate me to no end, so I know what it's like! I'll have something more to say after I listen to MLG, Concentration, and Gilt--hopefully I enjoy them as much as that Life is Killing Me album :D
Edit: Damn it, I really should reload the page and read the edits before responding. I felt a similar way about Muse (their first 4-5 albums, at least)--they had an atmosphere in Showbiz and Absolution that I find so difficult to truly articulate. An aristocratic and sci-fi tormentedness, perhaps? They inspired my writing a lot, I'll say that.
"Teenage angst has paid of well... now I'm bored and old"
I cannot tell you how excited I was to see you sneak that Serve the Servant line in there. Seriously made my day haha. As did pretty much your entire wonderful reply here!
As evidenced by my rambling MLG manifesto (I should have just said Terminal City, Limiter, and Suicide King as my my favorite tracks of each album and spared you the eye strain lol, though I'm happy if it helped at all.), I am hesitant to even get started on Stabbing Westward, PWEI, and the mad lad Jourgenson because I am an enormous fan of all three. That said, if I you do feel like reading a bunch of heavy metal minutia, despite my classical appellation here I am always happy to oblige :)
Speaking of, I could use your insight on Flyleaf because I'd never heard of them. Worth a listen? And if you are catching Final Destination radio plays, rocking out to Type O Negative, and already versed in interviews with ol' Trent then you can probably tell me a thing or two about NIN and other industrial acts as well!
The role of darkness in the creative process is a huge topic too. Lots of ways to approach that one.
Yeah, the plebes with the Nirvana smiley shirts that couldn't hum "Come As You Are" if you let them listen to "Life Goes On" by The Damned and "Eighties" by Killing Joke back-to-back can be a bit grating at times haha. But I try to show people grace (to coin a phrase) because I was that neophyte at some point too. No shame in that! Though if they really don't care to learn about the bands despite claiming otherwise, thaaaaat is a bit harder to excuse lol
Great call on Muse and their uniquely evocative style as well. I'd add my beloved Mars Volta to that list, again especially early stuff. I contend Deloused is one of the ten greatest albums ever released. Don't ask me the other nine though haha
And also don't worry about reply timing or length. I am notoriously bad at keeping up with this stuff, so I take no offense when (or if) people get a chance to reply in the hopes the universe may extend the same courtesy to me lol. Plus I do have a habit of going back after I submit something and immediately catching stuff I messed up or slipped my mind (like this sentence), so if people miss that without a refresh then that's on me :D
Quoting song lyrics in normal conversation is my strength--and fatal flaw (hamartia, so to speak). I'll definitely be sure to reach out about other music minutiae, but thank you for the specific song recommendations! I liked that Save Yourself song by Stabbing Westward, so I’ll check out the rest of their work soon enough.
As for Flyleaf, finally a question I can answer! They're in a similar genre as Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, and Seether... so I personally enjoyed their work a lot (I actually love '00s post-grunge, haha). They're not Lacuna Coil or Evanescence (I'm sure you've heard of them!), in that Lacey has a very idiosyncratic (not technically advanced) voice, which might not be suited to everyone's taste. But they were pretty adjacent to a lot of the alt-rock outfits too—they toured with Korn on the ’06 Family Values!
I think their Memento Mori album (e.g. Beautiful Bride, Chasm, Again, Missing, The Kind, Enemy) was their magnum opus, but I cherish their demos (e.g. Life, Penholder, Whispering Fingertips, Sleepwalker) greatly—there was an eeriness to them. Of course, their eponymous album has a lot of gems too (All Around Me, Sorrow, I’m Sorry, Perfect, Cassie, Tina). There, that’s 16 songs to start with! :)
Here's their NIN cover (which I really didn’t expect from a Christian band):
The darkness/creativity discussion is one that I think ought to be had more often. I don’t know whether *darkness* is a prerequisite for creativity per se (a lot of creative works are fairly saccharine as well), but in some ways, I think one has to be willing to offer up their “soul” as a conduit for the ‘muses’ (as a chalice to contain all their influences)—though, if it’s not relegated, it can just as easily overtake a person. Otherwise, I think melancholy can bring about a mental sobriety that’s often latent (I think that scene in Inside Out wherein only Sadness could get Riley to change her mind has influenced my outlook more than I thought, hahaha)—all of this belongs in a future article haha.
To be fair to the Nirvana neophytes, I’ve just become more of a gatekeeper after songs I liked (though not by Nirvana) started proliferating on Tiktok, and Youtube comment sections became infested with Gen Z slang; I’ll eternally defend “name three songs” for this reason alone—I’m *still* a neophyte about many artists (e.g. I’m only familiar with NIN’s first three studio albums)! On a more sincere note, I do worry about the extent to which culture has become a series of images to brandish, as opposed to expressive acts... but that’s also a topic for another time.
Mars Volta is another band on my list now. A Perfect Circle (since I'm an insufferable TOOL fan) and Failure (though I've only listened to one album) are also bands that come to mind, along with Incubus... I'll be sure to keep on rockin’ (in the "free" world), have a good day/week as well!
Apt comparison to the Harlan Ellison story. I loved that in my brief horror period ( early teen) along with Lovecraft and others. “I have no mouth but I must scream” was a high point in existential terror for the young, impressionable me.
Lovecraft AND Ellison!? We are talking the same terrifying language here, John haha
This is a thought provoking essay. I am too old for those tech items described, but I had similar thoughts after reading Asimov’s robot bools and Dick’s “Do Androids dream of electric Sheep” ( the book behind Bladerunner. We had a Verboten for my son, though. His must not have been as good as the one described. It struggled to do anything but the simplest directions and the preprogrammed smile. I certainly never picked up a dog treat. Finally, I am pretty sure that I am not an android but, indeed, how would I know?
Real androids are unlikely to follow Asimov’s three laws of robotics but even those enable others to determine an android’s nature, not the android himself (itself?).
Thank you very much for the read and the kind words. Some of my favorite books there as well. And truth be told, Verbot wasn't aaaaalways such a crackerjack at executing those commands for me either lol. Just don't tell him I said anything ;)
“ I love Machines of Loving Grace. They have been my favorite band ever since I first heard their song “Golgotha Tenement Blues” on the movie soundtrack for The Crow back in 1994”
I bought the soundtrack immediately following watching movie at popular icon Odyssey Records in Las Vegas where I hung out a lot searching for music after my shows.
That soundtrack still gets heavy rotation when I'm at the gym! So many great tracks.
So (aside from Golgotha Tenement Blues of course haha) what's your favorite track on that soundtrack?
Also, I was thinking, speaking of soundtracks, if you ever had the time and inclination, I would love to hear your thoughts on the use of music to augment a performance or to create a certain response in audiences. I feel like it can have a huge impact.
I discovered Machines of Loving Grace because of The Crow as well; given your enthusiasm regarding the band, I'm going to listen to their discography in the near future! But what should I start with? Got any albums you recommend?
And that "crybaby Trent" comment will never fail to make me laugh ... though The Becoming was the best track off of Downward Spiral.
Thank you very much for the read and the reply, Ophelia! Always great to hear from you.
I obviously totally agree about the hysterical "crybaby Trent" line and "The Becoming." And I am ecstatic to find someone else who has heard of my beloved Machines of Loving Grace. That Crow soundtrack was a real murderers row.
Whew, in some ways I have been preparing for your questions about MLG recommendations my entire life, and in others my enthusiasm for the band still makes it nigh-impossible to distill down my answers to something actually useful lol
But I shall try!
And, in truth, there is a pretty simple tack that I would recommend: good ol' chronological order :)
That means going from their eponymous first album to Concentration to Gilt (with a possible detour to a CD single or two along the way, more on that below)
MLG's entire catalog is really only three albums released in the the few years from 1991 to 1995 (Crow OST was '94), which still blows my mind. I wish there was more, but at least it does make it easy for people to give them a listen without having to devote an inordinate amount of time. Even though I love Burn like Brilliant Trash (the first track on their first album) as much as Serpico (the last track on their last album), there is definitely a progression that takes place over that short span that lends itself to a chronological listening order. Beyond some of the themes I mention in the article here, I don't want to say too much more beforehand though, so you can enjoy hearing the tracks "fresh" and allowing your own impressions and interpretations to develop. That said, I would certainly be happy to discuss any tracks or general observations once you start giving them a listen!
A few fun tidbits though:
1) The first, eponymous album was actually submitted as a demo, but the studio liked it so much and wanted to capitalize on rising interest in "Industrial" music coming off the success off Trent's '89 debut "Pretty Hate Machine," that they basically released it as-is, despite initial reticence from the founding trio of Benzel, Fisher, and Kupers. The album is still an absolute monster though, establishing their hard-edged sound and dystopian lyrics, but already showing a lot of range, for example, in the slower, melodic track Ciccolina. Fun fact there! Cicciolina is actually about this badass Italian pornstar-turned-parliament member Illona Staller who went by the stage name of "Cicciolina" in her previous career. The crazier part is that MLG is not the only industrial band of the era to write a song about her! The also brilliant British outfit Pop Will Eat Itself (headed by Clint Mansell, who much like our boy Trent, would later go on to have huge success in the film industry, in his case working largely with Aronofsky) also wrote a great song about her. Small world!
2) There are a ton of great CD singles MLG put out that often feature excellent remixes, but one really fun track to hunt for early on is "All I Really Need" off the "Rite of Shiva" single, the rare complete, otherwise unreleased track on a single. It is a wild, unique track that always struck me as largely Fisher having fun with his synth because of the uncharacteristic (but I think great) number of film/tv samples woven in, including a sneaky one (woman yelling "Kill me kill me KILL ME!") taken from one of my favorite shows, Patrick McGoohan's seminal classic The Prisoner.
3) Speaking of, there are a ton of interesting references interwoven into their second album, Concentration. From the Bikini Atoll where the nuclear weapons testing was conducted to Blake's Doors of Perception, Benzel really loads a lot of into his lyrics on this album. He also has track, Content?, that is a loose throwback to the track Content off their first album, again adding to the chronological listening order.
3.5) The first album's Terminal City actually references Cielo Drive, which has a lot of angles because not only was it the scene of the first of the infamous Manson Murders, but also the location where Trent would later record part of Downward Spiral. Small--and terrifying--world!
4) And speaking of small world crossovers, one more for the road because I could be here all day and you were already assuredly regretting asking for MLG recommendations three paragraphs ago haha, Brad Kemp who played drums on Concentration left after that album and MLG brought in none other than David Suycott, which blew my mind when I was younger because I already knew Suycott from his time with another band I love, Stabbing Westward. Kemp and Suycott were both great drummers, but I must say, Suycott's work on Gilt (their third and tragically final album... though that is a whoooole other story lol) is outstanding, especially on brutal yet eerily methodical tracks like Suicide King.
Happy listening!
[Edit: Just wanted to add in that given their relatively small discography and ostensibly typical industrial stylings, some people wonder why this band--given how much music I listen to haha--is my favorite. I could go on about the bleak, haunting poetic beauty or the mix of heavy riffs and subtle melodies yada yada, but the truth is... it is the feel. The band creates/captures a wholly unique feeling, a soundscape, in their work that I have never heard replicated or ever really been able to put my finger on. It is evokes an emotion that I don't have a word for. It is a strange mix of futuristic nostalgia, of a hopeful ennui, of a decaying decadence... to quote their track Richest Junkie Still Alive, when I listen to any other band "it don't feel the same."]
My week must be going well, given my comment section exchange with Jonathan E (even though I think his account is deleted now :P) about '00s alt-rock and now a long-awaited reply about music recommendations--finally, I can hope to graduate from being like one of those plebeians who claim to know Nirvana when they barely know "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Come to think of it, even though quarantine was a blight on my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I don't think I otherwise would've delved into alternative music as much--guess teenage angst has paid off well.
Oddly enough, I usually don't follow a chronological order when browsing a band's discography (maybe except for RATM and TOOL), so this was a pretty helpful note to keep in mind, thank you! I'm somewhat of a novice when it comes to goth / industrial music, so I'll be sure to keep Stabbing Westward and Pop Will Eat Itself on my list afterwards; I'm pleasantly surprised that you're familiar with the genre (lyre of Delphi and all), since it means I can someday ask about the best Ministry songs to check out.
The recording of Downward Spiral in Sharon Tate's house is one of the first things I learned about the album--I remember an interview wherein Trent talked about watching Taxi Driver during the recording of The Fragile, and wouldn't be surprised to hear that creating art with darkness required immersion for many musicians at the time. Impossible to believe that I discovered Nine Inch Nails because of Flyleaf (though Final Destination was also responsible).
Thank you for the recommendations, and sorry that my reply barely addressed your fun facts--I've tried introducing a lot of music to my peers, and any perceived dismissiveness would infuriate me to no end, so I know what it's like! I'll have something more to say after I listen to MLG, Concentration, and Gilt--hopefully I enjoy them as much as that Life is Killing Me album :D
Edit: Damn it, I really should reload the page and read the edits before responding. I felt a similar way about Muse (their first 4-5 albums, at least)--they had an atmosphere in Showbiz and Absolution that I find so difficult to truly articulate. An aristocratic and sci-fi tormentedness, perhaps? They inspired my writing a lot, I'll say that.
"Teenage angst has paid of well... now I'm bored and old"
I cannot tell you how excited I was to see you sneak that Serve the Servant line in there. Seriously made my day haha. As did pretty much your entire wonderful reply here!
As evidenced by my rambling MLG manifesto (I should have just said Terminal City, Limiter, and Suicide King as my my favorite tracks of each album and spared you the eye strain lol, though I'm happy if it helped at all.), I am hesitant to even get started on Stabbing Westward, PWEI, and the mad lad Jourgenson because I am an enormous fan of all three. That said, if I you do feel like reading a bunch of heavy metal minutia, despite my classical appellation here I am always happy to oblige :)
Speaking of, I could use your insight on Flyleaf because I'd never heard of them. Worth a listen? And if you are catching Final Destination radio plays, rocking out to Type O Negative, and already versed in interviews with ol' Trent then you can probably tell me a thing or two about NIN and other industrial acts as well!
The role of darkness in the creative process is a huge topic too. Lots of ways to approach that one.
Yeah, the plebes with the Nirvana smiley shirts that couldn't hum "Come As You Are" if you let them listen to "Life Goes On" by The Damned and "Eighties" by Killing Joke back-to-back can be a bit grating at times haha. But I try to show people grace (to coin a phrase) because I was that neophyte at some point too. No shame in that! Though if they really don't care to learn about the bands despite claiming otherwise, thaaaaat is a bit harder to excuse lol
Great call on Muse and their uniquely evocative style as well. I'd add my beloved Mars Volta to that list, again especially early stuff. I contend Deloused is one of the ten greatest albums ever released. Don't ask me the other nine though haha
And also don't worry about reply timing or length. I am notoriously bad at keeping up with this stuff, so I take no offense when (or if) people get a chance to reply in the hopes the universe may extend the same courtesy to me lol. Plus I do have a habit of going back after I submit something and immediately catching stuff I messed up or slipped my mind (like this sentence), so if people miss that without a refresh then that's on me :D
Have a good one and keep rockin'!
Quoting song lyrics in normal conversation is my strength--and fatal flaw (hamartia, so to speak). I'll definitely be sure to reach out about other music minutiae, but thank you for the specific song recommendations! I liked that Save Yourself song by Stabbing Westward, so I’ll check out the rest of their work soon enough.
As for Flyleaf, finally a question I can answer! They're in a similar genre as Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, and Seether... so I personally enjoyed their work a lot (I actually love '00s post-grunge, haha). They're not Lacuna Coil or Evanescence (I'm sure you've heard of them!), in that Lacey has a very idiosyncratic (not technically advanced) voice, which might not be suited to everyone's taste. But they were pretty adjacent to a lot of the alt-rock outfits too—they toured with Korn on the ’06 Family Values!
I think their Memento Mori album (e.g. Beautiful Bride, Chasm, Again, Missing, The Kind, Enemy) was their magnum opus, but I cherish their demos (e.g. Life, Penholder, Whispering Fingertips, Sleepwalker) greatly—there was an eeriness to them. Of course, their eponymous album has a lot of gems too (All Around Me, Sorrow, I’m Sorry, Perfect, Cassie, Tina). There, that’s 16 songs to start with! :)
Here's their NIN cover (which I really didn’t expect from a Christian band):
https://youtu.be/vsXgqqWcpMQ?feature=shared
Here’s their live (and superior version) of I’m So Sick:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydqOXHhtICs
The darkness/creativity discussion is one that I think ought to be had more often. I don’t know whether *darkness* is a prerequisite for creativity per se (a lot of creative works are fairly saccharine as well), but in some ways, I think one has to be willing to offer up their “soul” as a conduit for the ‘muses’ (as a chalice to contain all their influences)—though, if it’s not relegated, it can just as easily overtake a person. Otherwise, I think melancholy can bring about a mental sobriety that’s often latent (I think that scene in Inside Out wherein only Sadness could get Riley to change her mind has influenced my outlook more than I thought, hahaha)—all of this belongs in a future article haha.
To be fair to the Nirvana neophytes, I’ve just become more of a gatekeeper after songs I liked (though not by Nirvana) started proliferating on Tiktok, and Youtube comment sections became infested with Gen Z slang; I’ll eternally defend “name three songs” for this reason alone—I’m *still* a neophyte about many artists (e.g. I’m only familiar with NIN’s first three studio albums)! On a more sincere note, I do worry about the extent to which culture has become a series of images to brandish, as opposed to expressive acts... but that’s also a topic for another time.
Mars Volta is another band on my list now. A Perfect Circle (since I'm an insufferable TOOL fan) and Failure (though I've only listened to one album) are also bands that come to mind, along with Incubus... I'll be sure to keep on rockin’ (in the "free" world), have a good day/week as well!
Gandalf was truly wise.
Like you I am cordial to machines as I am also to animals, especially dogs. I treat both as members of the family.
The Brautigan poem is good. Thanks.
Will seek out Machines if Loving Grace to hear. Will point my son to it also.
Tip from an old lady … keep all the good t-shirts 😊…