alright? we're back from our day off & ready to get back at the bands that anyone could use to replace any of the bands on MY greatest bands ever list. ghostfacekiller himself suggested guns 'n roses... but i figger failing utterly on every level to live up to the promise of a landmark debut record doesn't get you on the "greatest" list. unless it's the "greatest disappointments" list... which guns n' roses would almost certainly top. no band could have been better...

here then... 16-20

16. nirvana
formed, 1987 near seattle
debut: bleach, 1989
frontman: kurt cobain
classic lineup: kurt cobain, guitar; kris novoselic, bass; dave grohl, drums.
debate: did he or didn't he?
drugged & dead young: kurt cobain, suicide, age 27
breakthrough album: nevermind
definitive album: nevermind
my fave album: nevermind
last GREAT album: mtv unplugged in new york
last GOOD album: from the muddy banks of the wishkah
best known song: smells like teen spirit
best song: smells like teen spirit (like F%#K it isn't!!)
little known connections: dave grohl went on to start up the foo fighters after cobain's death (you all knew that, right..?). backing guitarist (both in nirvana & later, in foo) pat smear was one of the founders of the germs, one of the very best of the original l.a. punk bands. oh... you knew that too? then how 'bout THIS? dave grohl was brought in to replace original drummer chad channing... channing was in a band with ben shepherd & jason everman back in the late 1980s. when cobain was looking to expand nirvana to four members (in hopes of getting more people to help pay for the recording session for bleach), he brought channing & everman in. everman quickly got the boot & went to join a group calling itself soundgarden. soon after, he was ejected in favour of his pal shepherd. which means that jason everman was a member of nirvana until a year before "nevermind" AND a member of soundgarden until right before "badmotorfinger"!! pete best, eat your heart out.

17. parliament-funkadelic
formed, 1955 in detroit (as the parliaments)
debut: osmium / funkadelic, both 1970
frontman: george clinton
classic lineup: man... ok, a SHORT list of the inner circle of the p-funk empire... george clinton, raymond davis, calvin simon & grady thomas were the original barbershop quartet clinton started up in the back of an actual barbershop in 1955. dawn silva & lynn mabry were the primary chyck singers. band?: eddie hazel & fuzzy haskins, guitar; bernie worrell, organ; junie morrison, keys; bootsy collins & billy "bass" nelson, bass; maceo parker, sax; fred wesley, trombone; tyrone lampkin, drums.
debate: shut up & DANCE!
dead young: eddie hazel, liver failure, age 42
breakthrough album: osmuim
definitive album: maggot brain?
my fave album: funkentelechy vs the placebo syndrome
last GREAT album: uncle jam wants YOU
best known song: give up the funk (tear the roof off the sucker)
best song: flash light
little known connections: how do you put together the greatest funk collective ever? you get members from the previous greatest funk collectives ever. parker, wesley & bootsy had all helped "invent" funk backing james brown in the jb's. silva & mabry joined the p-funk group after they were abandoned mid-tour when sly stone suddenly disbanded his family stone & left show-biz. bernie worrell had been in tavares; junie morrison came from the ohio players. & ray davis, who sang bass in the original barbershop quartet, went on to take over bass duties in the temptations in the 1990s.

18. the pogues
formed, 1982 in london.
debut: red roses for me, 1984.
frontman: shane macgowan
classic lineup: shane macgowan, vocals; jem finer, james fearnley, cait o'riordan, andrew ranken, spider stacey, philip chevron... i can't seem to find credits on record or internet that specifies which instruments these good folks play... they may have played 'em all.
debate: shane macgowan vs. spider stacey.
breakthrough record: if i should fall from grace with god
definitive record: rum, sodomy & the lash
my fave record: rum, sodomy & the lash
last GREAT record: if i should fall from grace with god
last GOOD record: hell's ditch
best known song: fairy tale of new york
best song: & the band played waltzing matilda
little known connections: macgowan had played in a london punk band called the nipple erectors before joining the pogues.

19. public enemy
formed, 1982 in long island, ny
debut: yo! bum rush the show, 1987
frontman: chuck d
classic lineup: chuck d, flavor flav, professor griff, terminator x, the bomb squad.
favour: please.... PLEASE don't watch flavor of love!
breakthrough record: it takes a nation of millions to hold us back
definitive record: fear of a black planet
my fave record: hmm... apocalypse 91: the enemy strikes black (but only just!!)
last GREAT record: apocalypse 91: the enemy strikes black
last GOOD record: muse sick-n-hour mess age [confession: i haven't heard either of their two more recent releases]
best known song: bring tha noize
best song: y'know... this may be the toughest "best song" pick i'll have to make... but i'll go with "fight the power". over a coupla dozen contenders.
HEARKEN back to a time when black anger wasn't some corporate lapdog... & a time when flavor flav's antics were just crazy enough to be dangerous. there were a few years in the late 1980s when whitey lived in geniune terror of thugs like public enemy. & then the west-coast-east-coast thing exploded & tupac 'n' biggie were sacrificed to make peace b/w everyone. F*&K that... crank "by the time i get to arizona" & relive a time when young male black anger was a legitimate force for social change.

20. queen
formed, 1971 in london.
debut: queen, 1973
frontman: freddie mercury
classic lineup: freddie mercury, vocals/piano; brian may, guitar; john deacon, bass; roger taylor, drums.
debate: did anyone really not know freddie was gay?
dead young: freddie mercury, AIDS-related, age 45.
breakthrough album: queen ii
definitive album: a night at the opera
my fave album: sheer heart attack
last GREAT album: i don't know that i could dub any queen album a GREAT album...
last GOOD album: the game
best known song: bohemian rhapsody
best song: stone cold crazy
little known connections: here's a link b/w the two bands that led the gay-rock revolution of the 1970s... queen evolved from a band brian may & roger taylor started back at college in 1968 called smile. the 3rd member of smile was tim staffel on bass/vocals. when he was ejected in favour of freddie mercury, staffel wound up in a band called morgan, whose frontman (morgan fisher) joined gay-rock band mott the hoople shortly before their 1973 breakup. smile, who once opened for pink floyd & yes at london's royal albert hall, recorded demo tracks that finally saw the light of day in 1997 as "ghost of a smile", released in japan. also, brian may released a four-song ep in 1983 as the star fleet project, featuring eddie van halen & reo speedwagon drummer alan gratzer.

whew... only 10 more bands to go... & then i've already got a list of 5 bands that probably should have been on this list of 30... it never ends, i tell ya!