I don't listen to the radio anymore.

I don't watch music videos.

I still read music magazines, but I haven't bought an album solely on the
say-so of a reviewer in years.

Heck, I don't even buy music based upon an "Extremely Highly Recommended"
stamp of approval by the man from whom I've procured a considerable chunk of
my CD collection, Bruce Brodeen. (Not dissin' ya, B-Squared -- as Theo Kojak
would say, "Who loves ya, baby?" ;-) )

If I read a couple of pieces about an act that contains references that
pique my interest, I'll file the act's name away in the back of my mind
(e.g, the Replacements being name-checked in every single article about New
Jersey's Dipsomaniacs). But if I see a band in a club that knocks me
sideways, or if I encounter a critical mass of hosannas from people I
respect (certain reviewers, musically astute friends, like-minded
Auditeers), I'll hunt down a snippet on the Intarweb or hit the listening
booth at ye local hi-fi shoppe. Then, and only then, if my medulla oblongata
gurgles happily at the sounds I'm hearing, do I buy the CD.

Here's how Franz Ferdinand and I became friends: Once upon a time (last
spring), Kelly Cronin sent one of her characteristically kicky screeds to
Audities, threatening grievous bodily harm upon anyone who declined to buy
the new Franz Ferdinand album. My first thought was the usual admiring, "How
*does* Kelly manage to be droll and gushy at the same time?" My second
thought was, "Cool band name." And that was the end of that. Second
encounter: A couple weeks later, I'm standing next to Mike Bennett in a club
during IPO, and he's going on and on about Franz Ferdinand to someone.

Now, Kelly and Mike are two members of the Chicago Pop Mafia whose ears I
have grown to trust over the years. I certainly don't sync up totally with
their tastes (I swear that Mike could walk past a construction site and hear
an ELO influence in the heavy machinery ;-) ), but I always take them
seriously. Now add a third testimonial: At the next day's IPO show I mention
to Bob Hutton that I've been hearing about this band called Franz Ferdinand,
and seeing as how they're from Scotland ...

"Oh, Franz Ferdinand. They're fantastic," says Bob. "You've gotta get their
CD."

Now, Bob's another person whose tastes I respect -- and he comes at music
from a totally different angle than do Kelly or Mike. So I resolve to go to
Tower Records and check out Franz Ferdinand in the listening booth. But Bob,
bless his wee beer-soaked heart, saves me the trouble. He comes up to me on
the last night of IPO and hands me his own copy of the CD, which he'd
brought with him to listen to on his flight over from the UK.

So, before I'd listened to any of the goodies I'd brought home with me after
two weeks of manning the IPO merch table, I felt that I needed to honor my
friend Bob's altruistic gesture. I played the Franz Ferdinand album he'd
given to me.

And I loved it.

And I'm still playing it regularly, over half a year later.

No animals were harmed in the acquisition of this CD. And no industry hype
was involved, either.

In fact, a sure sign of how FF's caught on with me: "Take Me Out" is stuck
in my head right now. (And thank the Benevolent Deity for that, because for
some inexplicable reason "Living on an Island" by the Boomtown Rats had been
stuck in my head for the past week. Why are there so many freakin' catchy
songs about suicide, anyway? Riddle me *that*, Batman.)

This is why I always look forward to the end of the year. The Audities Top
20 lists aren't exactly shopping lists, but taken together (with added
weight being given to the lists of certain people whose tastes are very much
like my own) they do more to whet my appetite to buy this or that CD than
ten thousand magazine articles, or ten thousand monkeys typing music-label
PR releases, could ever hope to do. Even so, I'm *still* not going to buy an
album unless I get a chance to hear something from it first. There's too
much music out there I want to buy, and too few funds in the Sager bank
account, for me to do otherwise.

Yes, Jeff, it's easy to see why you've ruffled some feathers (or, in
Stewart's case, opened a bile duct). As Shawn said, this is a list filled
with music junkies who pride themselves upon having highly individuated and
discriminating tastes. What's refreshing about Audities is that very few of
us are snobs in spite of that. But we are most certainly not sheep, either.
And I realize that you haven't exactly accused us of being sheep, in that
you're saying that Franz Ferdinand has achieved popularity with many
Auditeers because they've heard of the band, whereas many of us haven't
heard of other less-celebrated bands. But by doing that you're still
accusing us of a sort of sheepdom-by-osmosis. And it does smack a little bit
of the sour grapes to which Jason alluded. Hey, I have no doubt that there
are acts out there I haven't heard that're right up my musical alley. But
there's just so many hours in the day to read about them all or to give them
each an exploratory listen. There are, what, 10,000 albums released every
week by the music biz? Guess what ... there aren't 1,000 of me to give them
each the trial run that they deserve.

If lovin' both Franz Ferdinand and Eugene Edwards Band is wrong, I don't
wanna be right. I'm not saying that my tastes make sense to anyone but me.
But one thing I know for sure: They're *my* tastes, not Madison Avenue's or
Hollywood's or Clear Channel's ... or Audities'. And you'd need a neutron
microscope to find the part of me that cares about who the hell is on the
cover of *Spin*. Nobody makes me like a song but me.

Mucho props to Matthew G., Bill H., Shawn C., Steve Y., and Jason D. for
their articulate sanity. And mucho regrets that this thread hasn't been
nearly as amusing of a your-taste-sucks flame-o-rama as the Great Frisbie
War of 2000.


Gregory Sager