Zoinks. I think a lot of bile is being spewed here for no good reason. Firstly, Mike's pithy statement below about the "fact" of The Darkness' ruling seems to me to be pretty plainly tongue-in-cheek and of a piece with the band's own tongue-in-cheek over-the-topness. I mean, the fact that someone earlier brought up an AOL chatroom to describe this discourse should tell you that HE WAS NOT MEANING TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. And like a few others here, I don't think there's anything inherently condescending in asking why something that's obviously hit big in the U.K. isn't hitting nearly as big in the States. Or America. Or whatever region we Yanks are typically said to inhabit. (Listers south of the Mason-Dixon Line may take some offense at being lumped in with us northerners, but that's another story altogether.) Me, I think the cultural differences between each side of The Pond are pretty fascinating, and I don't take someone asking a question about it to be inherently damning. But hey, that's just me, apparently. I caught The Darkness on Letterman (or was it Conan?) a few weeks back. Fun, yes, but not about to set my world on fire. Then again, what passes for smash hits in the ol' U. S. of A. usually doesn't do much for me personally either. Christopher > -----Original Message----- > From: audities-owner@smoe.org > [mailto:audities-owner@smoe.org] On Behalf Of Jeff > Sent: Monday, February 02, 2004 1:03 PM > To: audities@smoe.org > Subject: Re: Americans Just Don't Get It ... > > > >Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 10:51:36 -0500 > >From: Mike > >To: audities@smoe.org > >Subject: Re: Americans Just Don't Get It... > >Message-ID: > > >The Darkness rule. Period. Not opinion, fact. > > >M > >-- > __________________________________ > >http://www.sparklefest.com > >T-shirts, programs, CD's all on sale! > > Gosh Mike, > > I'm sure glad you're here on the list to tell the rest of us > just what the facts are. I always confuse opinion and fact, > so thanks, really. I don't know how we'd function without > you. Thanks for providing such a valuable service. And those > "Periods"? *Very* effective! I agree with you wholeheartedly, > Darkness rule among bad-joke bands who's fifteen minutes are > just about up. Comma. Not fact, opinion. > > Nice post, though. Sorry if I missed the "joke". > > Jeff T. > Delaware > >