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Additional: If you only want to hear low-fi novelty songs like Bring Back The Old Last.fm, try Song for Thor.

I'll keep this brief - I'm, understandably, annoyed that I seem to be becoming a one-song band with my song Bring Back The Old Last.fm - Though it was done with good intentions, I realised this when somebody uploaded to Paper Truth's last.fm profile the Bring Back The Old Last.fm logo. Though I agree with the sentiments and I'm proud of the song's popularity, I refuse to be represented as a musician by this logo. I need to replace this picture, but I don't like my face or have a logo for Paper Truth - I may have to upload a placeholder just for now. I would like people to give the rest of my music a chance, so here's a quick guide to start you off, featuring my own favourites of my songs, and trying to feature a large variety of my sound. Without sounding like I'm bragging, hopefully.

I Hear You
Written and recorded all in one day, this medium-pace song is popular among those who have listened to me. I didn't sing as usual, as my standard voice hardly fits the song. It could be referred to as a power ballad, I suppose. I'm proud of the scope I've managed to introduce into this song, and the 'descent' riff part.
For fans of: Hope of the States, perhaps? They were in mind when I started writing it.

Corruption Come
Fast, loud, relentless, commanding is what I was going for. I've tried a punk song several times, and I'm convinced this is my best attempt.
For fans of: Bad Religion and other brain-punk.

April 4th
Though simple and written within a day (in a week in which I uploaded three new songs), I am proud of this quite fast and funky instrumental - with riffs flying everywhere, it almost sounds as if I'm any good at guitar.
For fans of: Aggressive, funky instrumentals. Mogwai is an obvious one to say, though the sound isn't too similar.

Kill Fashion
This track was rated 8/10 by John Earls in the Planet Sound (Teletext Channel 4 page 340 or digital Teletext on ITV services page 820) weekly Demo reviews, and I am proud of this. He referred to this electro-tinged trancey song as 'dark dance', and I agree with that. This song involves the least singing, more of a sprechstimme.
For fans of: I've had this track compared to Klaxons and Patrick Wolf but I think it sits closer to The Faint if they were slower.

(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
I occasionally cover songs, and I occasionally deem these covers good enough for uploading. I like my arrangement of this song (Original is here: (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea), which I guess could be pigeonholed within this New Rave thing.
For fans of: Elvis Costello and the Attractions, of course! And, because I said New Rave, Klaxons.

The Greatest Day
Another one that didn't take long to write, but I like this track for its simplicity. Perhaps it is clear I was listening to a lot of David Sylvian at the time.
For fans of: David Sylvian

There are also songs from what I call my old-skool era that I am very proud of but I need to record a better version of.

Now, if you like any of those, why not check out the rest of my Various tracks and keep up with My MySpace? Or PM me to recommend particular tracks if you only like some of it. There's no pressure, but I just don't want to be thought of as that guy who made Bring Back The Old Last.fm, especially as I could've even done a far better recording of the song.

Many thanks to anyone who gives me some time with this!
Colin

Sometimes I buy an album because I've seen it in so many Top 50 or 100 lists. Sometimes I regret doing so. Here's when:

The Verve - Urban Hymns
Horrendous, self-obsessed, ridiculously-faced lout-with-a-soul Richard Ashcroft and his cronies' spacey hit album, Urban Hymns gained popularity from its very annoying single (also Chris Martin's favourite song and the template for all he's written), Bitter Sweet Symphony. Ashcroft, who still insists it's the best album ever, says "Write something better than the intro [...] and I'll buy you a fucking house". The intro, of course, being the part which involves the sampled strings and roughly nothing else.
I'm not here to just insult him (though it is often needed); the lyrics are much smarter than the average Northern 90s band, there's a sincere ballad in The Drugs Don't Work, and no other songs are actually awful. However, the sound is very vague, and no songs but the aforementioned two strike anything more than their chorus (often not even that) into one's memory, making the thorough sweeping ambience simply overlong and dull, a chore to listen to.

R.E.M. - Out of Time
Now, I'm quite the fan of R.E.M., and their next album, Automatic for the People, is nigh on flawless - Out of Time seemingly gets into these Best Albums lists on its coat-tails. Sure, there's the impeccable single Losing My Religion which got the album all its sales, but what more? Two parody songs with no longevity, the dullest instrumental I've heard, two with Mike Mills' lyrics and lead vocals - not advisable album material - and featureless awkwardfest Belong. Though the remaining songs are brilliant, one must wait through (or sift through) the crap to hear them. They've done much better. At least it's not a long album.

Pixies - Surfer Rosa
Just get Doolittle.

Primal Scream - Screamadelica
A couple of decent songs - though lyrically generic - surrounded by lengthy, boring dub. I've given this album (and others by this band) many chances, and I still can't see what the fuss is about.

The Strokes - Is This It
No it's not. Somehow, The Strokes were promoted as the return of The Stooges, The Velvet Underground and what not. But that's just promotion - I should consider them for what they actually are.
Now, I know the clunkiness is part of their sound, but every song but [track artist=The Strokes]New York City Cops and Last Nite sounds like it wants to be punk but can't quite make it with the factory rhythms and one-note-twice, next-note-twice guitar style getting in its way. Cops, however, manages punk, and Last Nite is a delightful 60s throwback. There are a couple more nice ones, but forgettable. Get their second album instead; it's them getting it right.

U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind
I'd heard Beautiful Day, so why did I get this? A friend recommended it. I've not talked to him in ages.

The Velvet Underground - Loaded
I don't quite see all the fuss behind their famous album with Nico, but my problem there is mainly with the production (which couldn't be helped back in the 60s), and the album does host several immortal songs when you look beyond that. Loaded, meanwhile, has absolutely nothing enticing but its first track, Who Loves the Sun. Lou Reed is a brilliant songwriter and lyricist, but there is very little of interest here.

Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Oasis are completely not for me - brash, violent, a grating voice singing from a rhyming dictionary. However, I rather like their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, with its blend of stupid testosterone rock, stupid power ballads and one surprisingly insightful track, Cast No Shadow, which sounds like The Verve getting it right (and was written for Ashcroft, I believe). As this debut often appears a couple of numbers better than the above on these lists, I decided it was worth a try (and it was only £1 or thereabouts). Again, the lyrics were often rush-written in taxis and trains from anything that comes to mind, and it shows. As usual with Oasis (and several albums that have made this list), the tracks are often overlong.
Rock 'n' Roll Star is a relentless display of why Oasis are popular, marred only by its dodgy reprise, and Cigarettes & Alcohol shares this honour, while Live Forever and Slide Away are strong medium-pacers. But there’s all the others - the lame Shakermaker, in which one is left awaiting some kind of actual chorus for the full five minutes, and ultimately disappointed, several rockers let down by production and being so forgettable, and shoegazing Columbia which might be good if it weren't six minutes long. And then there's the utter shite - two acoustic stains called Digsy's Dinner, a song about 'coming to mine for tea', and Married With Children, a childish diss which could've only amused its target, bizarrely placed as the closer. Bear in mind, most of those who love this album are those who can't spell the title.

Radiohead - Amnesiac
As they're ever-so-popular with the modern intellectual, I must be cynical over Radiohead. And for the better, I think, or they'd have got away with this. Subtle, quiet and a bit messy is what they were aiming for, and they got that. However, I'm still yet to hear anything of interest here, and believe this album is only so popular because the band are. I still much prefer back when they were more obvious in The Bends.

Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque
A collection of Scottish cute-pop songwriters, Teenage Fanclub have made some good songs... They're not here. Perhaps some better production than the lame, depressing sounds that were the style back then would have complimented the Fanclub's cheeriness more effectively, but the simple songs on this album are the kind Paul McCartney passes off. Ew.

Right, this'll do for now. I've got some of these CDs to sell or trade in soon. I've not listed albums that I simply dislike because of their style, as that would be unfair, and I’ve tried to avoid listing those I just think are a bit overrated but still great (Pearl Jam – Ten) or not the band’s best (Blur – Parklife). There could be more disillusioning albums to add (though not necessarily ones that end up in Top 100s – perhaps ones that I bought because I like their other work) in the near future, so I might add to this list sometime.

I can't stand the new last.fm layout. I used to like commenting on songs and browsing profiles but now everything's so nastily arranged, it pains me to do so - even more than reading a page of Comic Sans. It's not so much that I'm demanding it to return to exactly how it was before - though that would be optimal, some things such as immediate statistics instead of weekly ones are obviously beneficial to the typical user (but not to me). It's quite a shame as I was such a fan of this site, but now with the MySpace comments box instead of a shoutbox (they're very similar in principle but very different in reality) and a general layout I think one would assosciate with Facebook, it's becoming awful. Recent Activity is perverse (though optional; phew), pages are too big, there's no Paint It Black option (and I find red and white very ugly), everything seems just slung on a page in no particular order, it seems intent on becoming like a social networking site and has somehow adopted such a slimy persona now.

I'm staying on for now, but I'm never subscribing if it stays like this, and I'm leaving soon if nothing improves.

AND when I tried submitting this journal to Bring Back The Old Last.fm it put it on the next group up, twice, so now I'll have to tick the checkbox below the one I want.

Whenever I go on an innocent user-browse through compatible peoples, I keep seeing people I've seen before in shoutboxes. I guess it's natural that people contact the people they're Super-compatible with, but I feel maybe there's some secret society I'm missing out on.
On a similar note, I'm still pretty sure I saw Rach on last.fm before meeting her in real life.

Anyone with enough time who doesn't detest me, please give my own recordings, Paper Truth, a listen.
The best way is through MySpace as I update that personally.
www.myspace.com/papertruth
Downloads are available there.
Thanks,
Colin

There's so much great music I've missed this year, as always. Only two new bands are mentioned on this list; I guess that shows what I think of the new music this year...
However, it's been an exciting year for a lot of older bands, and we've had some of the most bizarre (and some of the best, too) comebacks.
I'm not doing the best albums in a list, beause ordering things is difficult. They're in tiers instead; I hope it makes sense.
I've left links all around here - check out some of the songs on last.fm. Where possible, they're in order of awesomity.

Three Alright Albums.
Art Brut - It's a Bit Complicated
Art Brut's debut was full of repetitive punk carried along by tonedeaf but adorably enthusiastic Eddie Argos' silly, and often hilarious, narration. It's not a joke that would've carried perfectly to any second album, and here they went for a more mature record, now dealing with his awkward relations with girls and obsession with popular music. The lyrics aren't as funny (though gems do exist there) and its slightly less snappy pace makes it fall short of Bang Bang Rock & Roll, but there are several brilliant songs in there. Musically, it's stronger than the first record but not exceptional among modern music.
I just hope they can reach Album Number Three without the punchlines wearing too thin.
Best songs:
Nag Nag Nag Nag
Blame It On The Trains (Album) (sic)
St Pauli (Album) (sic)

Hot Hot Heat - Happiness Ltd.
Their third full-length tells the story of singer Steve Bays' first experience of heartbreak. After 2005's brilliant Elevator and the loss of their guitarist and songwriter Dante DeCarlo, I didn't expect any better. I expected disaster, but this far surpassed expectation. It's a decent and very listenable album, with some of their best work, even catchier than before. Hearing Steve Bays attempt crooning can be funny at times, though. If not for the repetitive song formats (too much of the Quiet Half-Chorus Three-Quarters Through cliché) and huge chorus-focus of the album, it'd be equal to Elevator. They're also on brilliant form live lately. New guitarist Luke Paquin fits in fine.
Best songs:
Give Up?
My best fiend
Let Me In

Brett Anderson - Brett Anderson
The tiny-faced Suede singer's first solo effort is a calm record, avoiding fast pace and having little aggression, to give some pleasant Sunday-morning fodder. Laughably predictable lyrics and quite a bit of help from his friend Fred Ball, but it's still got beautiful songwriting and performance. It's nothing more or less than what it aims to be, and it has its place as a good album.
(Annoyingly, none of these songs are available on last.fm)
Best songs:
To The Winter
Love is dead
Dust and Rain

Three Dickheads
Richard Archer
Hard-Fi frontman and all-around smarmy prick Archer acts profound and original while he makes his humdrum lad-rock with lyrics like "I think I love ya, just wanna touch ya". And then there's the whole "NO COVER ART" shenanigan. It's not original or clever. His face needs punching.

Mika
A spindly foreigner with a weird face and a girl's name, Mika appeared with the unavoidable and admittedly fun song Grace Kelly, arpeggioing way past male voice comfort. Then his next single seemed like a parody of the first. Then his next single seemed like a parody of that one. Ridiculously repetitive and it's a very annoying thing to be repetitive with. Get away from our media.

Paul McCartney
The arsehole behind all of The Beatles' worst songs and his ridiculous face regained tabloid attention by divorcing a pirate. I was sick of his stupid smile already... then he made terrible mandolin song Dance Tonight. At least he had the self-depreciating humour to dis Big Brother for "celebrating mediocrity and highlighting boring people" after further proving himself both of the above. Thing is, though, he clings to that terrible, enraging abomination as if it's any good as a song - it's appeared in an iPod commercial and he played it on Jools Holland's Hootenanny many months after its release. For someone so loved by music fans, you'd expect some better lyrics than rhyming "tonight" with "alright"... and "tonight" again, just to round it off. Oh, and I know a person with a mandolin is bound to look a little lame, but whoah, he's broken boundaries there. If only he didn't have a past as an incredibly popular musician, people would see how crap he is. And his face.
We must count our blessings, though - it's not as bad as his Christmas one.

Three Pretty Good Albums.
(And all of these three are guitarful)
Bad Religion - New Maps Of Hell
Their last one, The Empire Strikes First, had a couple of brilliant songs but didn't really stand as a full album. They've turned that around here - no songs are huge standouts but as an album it's among their best. In the space of 39 minutes, they convey sixteen songs as politically charged as ever. One of those bands that doesn't change but never needs to; Greg Graffin, Brett Gurewitz and pals show Green Day how to do it.
Best songs:
New Dark Ages
Honest Goodbye
Before You Die

Scorpions - Humanity: Hour 1
On a friend's recommendation, I checked out this album, not expecting much from those who came up with "Rock You Like A Hurricane", but these veterans have surprised me with a very strong album. About an even distribution of power ballads and rockers, and lyrics far above the metal average. An appearance from Billy Corgan doesn't hinder it.
Best songs:
Humanity
The Cross
We Will Rise Again

Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist
Now, Billy Corgan himself. he gets a lot of hatred these days. He's a narcissist with a horrible voice and a silly head. However, The Smashing Pumpkins were behind some of the 90s' best albums, and this late, late comeback (though only Billy and drum master Jimmy Chamberlin perform on the album and they're the only old-school Pumpkins in the live band) bursts with the multi-multi-tracked rock fire of the band at their best.
Best songs:
Doomsday Clock
Tarantula
United States

Two that grew on me.
The Hives - The Black and White album
On the day of its release and for the next few weeks, I struggled to find a physical copy so resorted to torrenting this album. Despite what I expected from the very Hivesish track names, I wasn't so pleased with what I heard - single Tick Tick Boom the only highlight. On repeat listens, one by one the songs grew on me. It's not their best, nor is it as good as some reviewers have hyped it - There are a couple of very clumsy attempts at other genres (including falsetto from a voice that should never try it), and an intentionally pathetic instrumental, but when they stick to the witty ego-tripping punk rock they know best, they're on very good form.
Best songs:
Tick Tick Boom
Won't Be Long
Try It Again

Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future
Very hyped, very popular. In both lyrics and music, all of the songs work in sets of two or three sections copied and pasted about, which put me off the album at first listen (which I bought after being coaxed by wondrous single Golden Skans). However, after a while not hearing it, I tried it again and the album has gone far up in my opinion, though I can't quite place why.
Best songs:
Golden Skans
Magick
Atlantis To Interzone

Three I've gone off.
Interpol - Our Love To Admire
The pre-album single got me excited about this release, and on first listen it was more accessible than older Interpol releases and I was very keen on it. Then, on each repeat listen, each song but the aforementioned got very bland.
The Heinrich Maneuver

Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
This manages to be a kind of concept album, pure evil, AND user-friendly all at the same time, and I give Trent Reznor great credit for that. However, some songs have become bland and uninteresting as I listened again, some plainly annoying. There's still a good few gems and it still classes as a "good" album, though.
The Great Destroyer

Little Man Tate - About What You Know
I got into this band through their pre-album tracks and demos - a wittier version of the scamp-rock that'd been plaguing the airwaves recently. When I got the album, the joke began to wear thin, leaving just some mediocre music with an annoying Northern singer. Still, they did do what could be considered this decade's Disco 2000:
Sexy In Latin

Three good acts who are new to me:
The Weakerthans
I discovered this band through Greg Graffin's solo album, as several members perform on it, so thought they'd be worth a shot. I was instantly impressed, the cushioned punk and intelligent lyrics (conveyed through a silly nasal voice) really appealed to me. When I discovered they had an imminent album, I downloaded it (because it was impossible to find in real life. I'll try my best someday) and it's a very friendly and impressive creation.
Aside

Luxembourg
A gayer Pulp, a prettier The Smiths or a more crooning Suede, Luxembourg arrive a decade late for Britpop yet pull it off so well.
Faint Praise

Emma Pollock
I never had much time for The Delgados, but I should clearly give them another shot as Emma's solo work is some beautiful singer-songwriter fare.
Paper and Glue

Three great ones.
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Brilliant songwriter Polly Jean and her piano have brought us a beautiful creation right here - mysterious, beautiful and very hurt.
Dear Darkness
The Piano
When Under Ether

The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America
Despite being released in 2006, I've seen this on many 2007 lists, so I assume that's when the UK release was. Any excuse to include this, though. The American kings of spoken-word, The Hold Steady have quite a masterpiece here with their tales of youth, drugs, romance and despair in their homeland. Musically, it's well-endowed indie with just the right amount of keyboards and an epic Bruce Springsteen feel to it, and Craig Finn's narration gives it an embracing story throughout.
Stuck Between Stations
Massive Nights
Chillout Tent

Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position
I have walkingabortion to thank for introducing me to Sir Wolf. After two albums of folk vs. techno, he was ready to take himself mainstream with this radio-friendly, but still as beautiful, set of new songs. Sadly, he didn't seem too happy with the media attention as a glam star, but that can't dent the beauty of the album itself, with ecstatic celebrations of love, techno swaggers and majestic ballads.
Augustine
The Magic Position
Bluebells

Two disappointing albums.
The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Funeral was a masterpiece - a snowy, enigmatic collection of songs with lots of instruments and substance. Then there was this, and it's a very clumsy attempt at something different but the same.

Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
After two brilliant albums released at the same time in 2005, it would take a lot for Bright Eyes to impress me, but I can't help but think that this release is far inferior to Conor Oberst's past work. Nothing gripping at all.

Three great singles.
The Automatic - Raoul
It's a re-release of a song from 2006, so I'm cheating a bit but it's worth it to mention this track, which I recall enjoying on its first release. Though they're known for their badly-written but still horribly catchy Monster, The Automatic clearly have more skill than demonstrated there, and this is where it's shown.

New Royal Family - Anyone Fancy A Chocolate Digestive?
The Two Pints of Lager (live) of our generation, this song doesn't go much further than the offering of the aforementioned biscuit, and isn't even daring enough to come up with much more than one line not mentioned in the title. What it is is crazy Southerners having a bloody good time with an annoying but extremely fun confectionery anthem.

Maxïmo Park - Our Velocity
My, my. Apply Some Pressure was the zany, fun single with witty lyrics, catchy riffs and a danceable pace for their debut... and for their second album they've managed to do the same but so much better. Relentless and without reason to relent.

Extra Awards
Radcliffe and Maconie for their brilliant radio show.
Reuben for their awesome Christmas song.
Trash Fashion for ruining, or greatly enhancing, the life of everyone called Dave. It's a Rave Dave.
Flight of the Conchords - I'd been a fan of this folky parody duo for two years when I found out that they had made their own sitcom. After much waiting with baited breath, the show did not disappoint. Twelve episodes of great humour and songs. I hope Series 2 in 2008 is as good. Business Time
Tay Zonday - I don't want to talk about this sellout, but I thoroughly recommend his old stuff. And by old, I mean about five months old.
Martin Drew - The Music teacher at my college who inadvertently became a star of the techno scene throughout 2007.

Three best albums.
Manic Street Preachers - Send Away The Tigers
I'm not going to call this the 'return to form' it's been hailed as by others. There was no loss of form in recent albums. What they have returned to, though, is mass appeal (despite previous album Lifeblood's sleek production), and rock vigour. Ten guitarry songs with a loudness and anthemic quality ideal for playing live (which was impressive when I saw it). Despite their repetitive nature, Nicky Wire's lyrics are still on great form. Little over half an hour, but it's a storm from start to finish. Ignore the cover of Working Class Hero, though.
Imperial Bodybags
AutumnSong
Indian Summer

The Cooper Temple Clause - Make This Your Own
One of the great tragedies of the year was TCTC's split. However, beforehand they did manage to produce a brilliant album. Last year's preview song Damage left me waiting excitedly for far too long, but the album's eventual release made it worth the wait. More radio-friendly than their older creations, yet they were no longer major-label and all the singles they tried were doomed upon release. Three lead singers, explorations of rock, electro, acoustic, power-ballads and more. These songs have come to mean a lot to me, and I encourage everyone to find a copy wherever you can. I really regret that I never managed to see this band perform live.
Homo Sapiens
What have you gone & done (sic)
Head

Charlotte Hatherley - The Deep Blue
Ex-Ash guitarist Charlotte created an album of cute punk soaked with David Bowie influence a couple of years ago, and abandoned (quite rightly considering their recent material) the band to focus on her own work. This album is calmer than her debut, and full of harmonies and a watery elegance, yet still a little bit insane; reminiscent of the work of Kate Bush. One of those you have to listen to as a whole product to fully appreciate, it has the perfect ambient medium-pace feel to it. Nevertheless, it's not afraid to rock a good few times, and there are spiky punk and pop gems among the longer, slower tracks here.
(Sadly, it seems last.fm are yet to acknowledge this album so you can’t listen to the tracks yet)
Behave
Again
It Isn't Over

Thanks for reading this! Of course there was music I would've liked to mention but there just wasn't space. I hope you try out some of this stuff.

In this essay, I'm re-evaluating the first few musical acts I was a fan of. Where would I cut it off? Well, there seems a natural cut-off point - The two just beyond it are Manic Street Preachers and Bad Religion.
As always, I may have left some out. Meh.
I remain proud I left getting into music a bit late so I didn't like any of the crap that was around when I was 10.
Oh, and no pictures, they'd be pretty pointless and take effort to put in, despite spacing out text.
Last.fm readers, I've been ultra-nice and made all the Artist part links. Not the albums or tracks I mention, though; that'd take ages.
Here we go.

R.E.M.
I first got into R.E.M. through the most obvious album, Automatic For The People, which I tried out because I remember hearing and loving Orange Crush (completely different album, I know, but that's just how it happened). I now own a copy of every single R.E.M. album but their first two (no idea why I've not got those two, they are probably very good).
I still consider myself a fan of R.E.M., but I think I'm a bit sick of them recently, or at least their post-Document records.
Perhaps I'm just talking stupid; I know they're a brilliant band and I love their albums, but they don't mean as much as they used to to me. It could be high time my break from them ceases, and I return to their wonder.
Oh, and if their next album is more like their best-of's two new songs than Around The Sun, bravo.

Red Hot Chili Peppers
Oof, this is an obvious band to be a fan of. And I definitely was, for quite a while. Their albums By The Way and Californication showcase some fine funk-rock from talented musicians at the top of the game (fear not, purists, I know Blood Sugar Sex Magik is better but it takes ages to listen to). Now, I'm more sick of these guys than R.E.M., something mainly caused by their horrible painting-by-numbers double album Stadium Arcadium, more an endurance test than a medium of entertainment, and I guess I matured past Antony Kiedis' not-always-so-intellectual lyrics. They're the biggest rock band of this century, possibly equal to those Foo Fighters, and they deserve that. I'll let them keep on rocking, but can't consider myself much of a fan any more. Still worth an occasional listen. Oh, and screw their 80s stuff. With a screwdriver.
And, as cliché as it is to say, Flea is a brilliant bassist.

Ash
Often guitar pop in its purest form, Ash have provided us with many happy little anthems which I lapped up when I first became musically aware. Very well-written, at least musically, though lyrically not quite profound. Their pre-albums EP and debut album are full of teenage vigour, follow-up Nu-clear Sounds experiments and succeeds, and Free All Angels is lovely pop. However, they then went and made Meltdown. What's Meltdown? It's an album full of the rock Foo Fighters wish they could still make: instrumentally talented (Rick McMurray's drumming is suddenly awesome) and fiery. Lyrically, it's sub-Motley Crue (who don't get their umlauts, sorry) rhyming-dictionary fodder, ruining what could be their best creation. It's not a bad album by any means, but it'll leave you cringing throughout. Charlotte Hatherley left this sinking ship to develop her solo career, and I think the intelligent music exited as she did - nothing I've heard from their 2007 effort interests me at all, just a Muse parody and an over-emoting song cowritten with Bono. Since Ash becoming pointless, I've not had that much interest in them, but I occasionally go back and realise how great Tim Wheeler's songwriting used to be.
Charlotte, however, is amazing.

The Hives
Conceited punk-rock in brilliant outfits, The Hives are a genius invention. I acquired a taste for them a while after their UK popularity storm, and in doing so discovered a band with a great sound and a lot of wit considering it's not even their first language. Their official forum was one of my first internet haunts, and I made a good few lasting friends there. I edged away from the forum when it got full of annoying fangirls, boring and repetitive. However, I don't think the band can suffer the same fate. Their next album, Tyrannosaurus Hives, is a vastly underrated gem of punk rock + 80s synth sensibilites = lovely. I'm still a big fan of The Hives, despite their newest album being a bit patchy and their increasing acclaim on the R&B scene - they've worked with Pharrell and Timbaland now. What the hell?
They've also done a good job of keeping up the Greatest Band In The World thing, and shall hopefully remain as awesome, dress in many more dapper costumes and make some more brilliant videos. My only fear is their act wearing thin: though they do try their hardest to deviate, they're best at the good ol' punk rock.

The Offspring
Surely I was hooked by Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)? Nope, I got into them through their songs included on Crazy Taxi (which I can also thank for the wonders of Bad Religion), both from the album Ixnay On The Hombre, from where my interest spread. I've still not taken time to look up their minor first two albums, but heard all their more famous stuff. And what an annoying story it is. Smash is a brilliant punk album for those who just didn't get Dookie (I'm one of you; I spent ages trying to like Green Day on a recommendation; not worth it), and underrated follow-up Ixnay fuses this with a more classic-rock/grunge sound, brilliantly. A storming punk band with a sense of humour and the occasional novelty song, nothing wrong with that. Then came Americana, with much cleaner production, overwhelmed with novelty songs including the aforementioned Pretty Fly, reggaeish Why Don't You Get A Job? and a terrible, infantile and completely unfunny lyric-shifted cover of Feelings. In general, it's not a bad album but definitely a bad omen for their future. Also, The Kids Aren't Alright is a complete mis-fire of an attempt at a meaningful song. Dexter Holland IS capable of getting it right, but there's no evidence here. And since then, what? They're more like Bloodhound Gang than Bad Religion nowadays. And it just doesn't work. I like the occasional song (the silly and synthy Hit That is irresistible) but their albums as a whole have been pathetic since Americana. Their best-of's new song, Can't Repeat, is ironically in many ways a repeat of The Kids, but actually decent this time. I hope their old talent will Come Out And Play. harharhar

Radiohead
The first British band on this list - the Nationality distribution has changed a lot since then, with huge thanks to Matt for having both good taste and a lot of mp3s. Starting with The Bends, not extending beyond OK Computer for a long time... it's a pretty understandable means for a younger me to get into Radiohead, their other stuff being, put simply, weirder. And Radiohead in this era were a digestible rock band with cleverly-written songs. I still like these two albums as much as I always did, and I'm not so keen on their more abstract stuff (Hail to the Thief, however, is great), at least yet.
I can't like In Rainbows yet, though it should be good if I get it on CD.

Stereophonics
Oh, holy holy, I HATE Stereophonics. And it's not that they were never good - their debut album is what these modern indie types should aspire to, their follow-up suffers from Follow-Up Syndrome but still has a good few great songs, and the albums just get progressively worse. What are they now? An egotistical act (okay, perhaps this much was always the case) producing by-the-books American rock. They've lost their Welsh Pedestrian vibe long ago, and are now Hard-Fiwith perhaps even less genuinity.
Oh, and Have a Nice Day is TERRIBLE. I got into them when this song was flying around even though I hated it. Hrm.

David Bowie
Anyone who's seen my Top One list on Last.fm, or knows me, can work out David Bowie is quite important to me. And why not? I got into him through a Best Of my dad has. A Best Of can never sum up Bowie's works, a 40-year career with its own highs and lows, and the highs are brilliant. I eventually dared to try out albums one-by-one and it definitely worked. Now got about 20 of them, perhaps there's a couple more I need to purchase. Bowie has inspired so many and his work still resonates in the best work of others these years. I wonder if he'll try returning to music himself sometime...

So, yeah, those are the first few acts I got into. Not literally got into. In general, I still like them all, though four have got notably worse recently, and all are or at least were very good. Thanks for reading, though it's probably pretty boring. And I'm not reading through, so there're probably parts that make no sense.