The Top Albums of 2008

1) Bon Iver- "For Emma, Forever Ago"

Typically not the kind of thing I go for. Lo-fi, unpolished, almost sounds like a demo. Thank God I let this one in to my head this year. I can't shake these songs. Delivered with such feeling it's impossible to not be drawn in. Every song stands on it's own, but they all work together to form a brilliant whole. Many nights while laying in bed, these songs would play in my head. A haunting work.



2) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds- "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!"

In 1994, I got to see a Nick Cave show that I liked, but my attention was severely distracted as I was waiting for the Beastie Boys and Smashing Pumpkins later in the day. Too bad I was so young because I'm sure if I had been paying attention and knew who Nick Cave was, it wouldn't have taken me years to "find" him. A defining album of what Nick Cave is. A stunning lyrical work taken alone, but you can't give short shrift to the Bad Seeds and what really holds the album together, the music.



3) Kings of Leon- "Only By The Night"

Every so often, a record will come by and take you by complete surprise. While I've never been a huge KOL fan, I am now. This is EXACTLY how I like my rock & roll, huge and ambitious.




4) Spiritualized- "Songs in A&E"

The finest Spiritualized record to come along in a long, long time. Rivals the "Ladies and Gentleman, We Are Floating In Outer Space" album and that's certainly saying something as that would make any top fifty list of all time (of mine). More stripped down and melancholy than one would expect from someone who was near death with an aggressive pneumonia as Jason Pierce was a couple years ago. Thankfully he recovered and will continue to make music as great as this in years to come.




5) Death Cab For Cutie- "Narrow Stairs"

They always make everything they do seem so effortless. How easily Ben Gibbard turns a phrase and how it always paints a picture of exactly what he wants you to see always surprises me. Just like a great author. While maybe not perfect from front to back, the majority outweighs the couple weak spots.





6) Department of Eagles- "In Ear Park"

The side project of Grizzly Bear alum, include me in the group that enjoys this "B" job better than the "A" job. "In Ear Park" has a cinematic feel to it that I always love.






7) Ryan Adams- "Cardinology"

I was so happy to hear this album. After the last album "Easy Tiger", I was afraid that we were going to start witnessing an artist who was tired of beating his head against the wall for mainstream acceptance and was ready for the cash grab. Thankfully, we're continuing to get the Ryan Adams we know and (almost) always love. Gorgeous melodies (as always) and some great classic rock feel.





8) The Raconteurs- "Consolers of the Lonely"

Immensely improves on the debut album, better songs, better flow, better record from front to back. Jack White gets better every year. Not to take anything away from everyone else in the band as they're all great in their own right. Jack White is the Larry Bird to their Kevin McHale. He makes everyone else around him better.




9) Metallica- "Death Magnetic"

The obvious choice for comeback of the year, they find their future by rediscovering their legendary past. As powerful as anything they've ever done, it will stand along "Master of Puppets" and "...And Justice for All" without batting an eye. Many complaints that they're "ripping off" their past glories. Fair complaint, but unless we want to keep listening to "St Anger" year after year...







10) Shearwater "Rook"

An Okkervil River side project, count me in the group (yes, just like Department of Eagles) that consider this a better album than the one Okkervil River released this year. From the opening track "Century Eyes" I knew I had a top ten finalist, and the subsequent tracks did nothing but strengthen my initial premonition. Soaring vocals and soft to loud dynamics always sucker me in, and closing track "The Snow Leopard" does it as well as anything I've heard. Not sure why two "side projects" made my list this year, but it can only be seen as a good omen for the future.

Magnificent...

While my wife was watching "17 Kids and Counting" tonight on TLC, I was interested to hear how this family limits what music they bring in to their house as it "overtakes" you and it's ungodly or whatever. (Yes, I'm paraphrasing)...

I then decided to pop in Led Zeppelin "Live from the Royal Albert Hall" and listened to John Bonham tear in to the opening of "We're Gonna Groove" and then in to "I Can't Quit You Babe"...

If that's not proof of Gods magnificence, I don't know what is brother.

Veep

The Difference Between Me and a Great Speaker...

As always, Mr. Obama makes my previous post look like amateur hour.

"Lately, [McCain] and Governor Palin have actually accused me of -- get this -- socialism. John McCain just repeated the charge again this morning. And you know why? Because I want to give a tax cut to the middle class -- a tax cut to 95% of American workers. These are folks who work hard every single day and get payroll taxes taken out of their paycheck every single week. These are the teachers and janitors who work in our schools. They're the cops and firefighters who keep us safe. They're the waitresses who work double shifts, the cashiers at Wal-Mart, the plumbers fighting for the American Dream. John McCain thinks that giving these Americans a break is socialism. Well I call it opportunity, and there is nothing more American than that.

"If John McCain wants to talk about redistributing wealth to those who don't need it and don't deserve it, let's talk about the $700,000 tax cut he wants to give Fortune 500 CEOs, who've been making out like bandits -- some of them literally. Let's talk about the $300 billion he wants to give to the same Wall Street banks that got us into this mess. Let's talk about the $4 billion he wants to give oil companies like Exxon-Mobil or the $200 billion he wants to give the biggest corporations in America. Let's talk about the 100 million middle-class Americans who John McCain doesn't want to give a single dime of tax relief. Don't tell me that CEOs and oil companies deserve a tax break before the men and women who are working overtime day after day and still can't pay the bills. That's not right, and that's not change.

"I promise you this -- not only will the middle class get a tax cut under my plan, but if you make less than $250,000 a year -- which includes 98 percent of small business owners -- you won't see your taxes increase one single dime. Not your payroll taxes, not your income taxes, not your capital gains taxes -- nothing. That is my commitment to you.

95%

Yesterday evening I got together with a wonderful group of people for a Minnesota fall tradition, a potluck dinner/bonfire. There was plenty to eat, plenty to drink and plenty of discussion on where this country is headed. Inevitably the conversation turned to the current election as hard as we all tried to stay away from the topic. Being a proud lower middle class Democrat, I was vastly outnumbered by most of my Republican leaning friends. There was genuine fear among these good people about what would happen under an Obama presidency. After we talked over each other about the rhetorical garbage such as Bill Ayers, McCains robocall campaign, Palins qualifications (or lackthereof), etc... The conversation turned to real policy, specifically the Obama plan of raising taxes on the richest 5% in the country while reducing taxes or keeping levels the same on the other 95%. We discussed how 40% of people in this country "don't pay taxes". I brought up the fact that within this 40%, these people pay the payroll tax which is, in fact, a tax. They brought to my attention that these people get most of their payroll taxes back at the end of the year. While this is somewhat true, my argument was that while some of these people got this money back, it's directly due to the fact that they are probably the most in need of it. We then turned to how Mr. Obamas tax plan will horribly harm the small and medium businesses by directly affecting their ability to hire, pay benefits, match retirement plans, etc... While this certainly sounds good on paper, I would offer up this comeback (which I didn't get a chance to effectively make as my friends daughter fell down the stairs. (She was ok).
Let's say Business "A" is a medium size business with 50 employees, and hovers around the 250,000 dollar amount that Mr. Obama has said he will tax back up to Clinton-era levels of taxation. In effect, a repeal of the Bush tax cuts. Their agrument is that they would have to lay off a certain percentage of their staff to pay for these tax increases. Again, this sounds reasonable, but I certainly don't agree. To me there's something important this argument misses. Let's say Mr. Obama does what he says, and cuts or keeps even taxes for those making less 250,000/year, the "95%" as the campaign keeps referring to. It seems to me that the more taxes are cut for this 95%, the more capital they have to work with. They have more money to spend on groceries, clothes, vacations, cars, home improvements, etc... at any rate, goods and services. Isn't this what truly makes a free market economy run? I would venture to say that by going back to Clinton level tax rates, we could keep unemployment at record lows, again due to the boom that this "95%" would be spending. The more people are spending, the more money Business "A" makes and the more people they need to hire to keep up. "Trickle UP Economics". Regardless of what you thought about the Clintons and all their problems, only the most biased right wing observer could say that the Clinton economy was something to avoid. Is it only me who sees this? Why would we want 95% of people to have higher tax rates effectively reducing their purchasing power at a time when we truly need this 95% out there buying goods and services?

Yet Another Phoenix Rises...

First the Pumpkins, now this? What a great time for music.

Louris and Olson Together Again

Hold Steady...

Record number four is complete. Brings a smile to my face and a tear to my eye.

Official Hold Steady Website

Wilco's Five Night Chicago Residency..

A review of the five night jaunt Wilco took exploring their back catalog this past week in Chicago.

Extended Play

















With special guest Andrew Bird on violin...

Nicole Atkins at The Current...

MP3 or Stream of a live performance in the Current studio by the always terrific Nicole Atkins

Nicole Atkins at the Current

Burial - Untrue

I know I'm arriving a bit late to the Burial party, but one of my current favorites.

Another Country...

Ok, so it's early and I'm on my first listen, but Tift Merrits "Another Country" is the warmest and nicest and best of this early part of the year. Loving it.

(Not my) 20 Most Influential Records....

From the Times Online:

1 The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground & Nico Hardly anybody bought it, as the saying goes, but everyone who did formed a band.

2 Beatles, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Created the idea of using the recording studio as an instrument.

3 David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars The arrival of postmodernism in rock’s most glamorous self-fulfilling prophecy.

4 Patti Smith, Horses Pioneered vast new territories for women in popular music.

5 Beach Boys, Pet Sounds The instrumentation, the harmonies, the arrangements, the sheer ambition.

6 Beatles, Revolver Goodbye “pop group”, hello “rock band”.

7 The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced? Shaped our sonic world – the template for guitar heroes everywhere.

8 Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited How does it feel? Like a whole new world just opened up.

9 Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back Hip-hop comes of age.

10 Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks... Rendered the rock dinosaurs extinct (for a while).

11 Kraftwerk, Trans-Europe Express It sounded like the future then; eerily, it still does now.

12 Michael Jackson, Thriller The last quarter of a century of R&B starts here.

13 Nirvana, Nevermind Rendered the rock dinosaurs extinct (again).

14 NWA, Straight Outta Compton Created the template for gangsta rap.

15 Aretha Franklin, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You A soul masterpiece, and an album whose anthems radiated out into the wider culture.

16 Ramones, Ramones Rock’s ultimate palate-cleanser. Generations of punks started here.

17 Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On Motown finds its social conscience.

18 The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Gilded Palace of Sin It was largely ignored at the time, but where would alt-country be without it?

19 Bob Marley and the Wailers, Live! Reggae goes global.

20 Joni Mitchell, Blue Searching for sensitive singer-songwriters? Here’s the source.

Warpaint...

Just heard "Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution" from the upcoming new Black Crowes album entitled "Warpaint". The band sounds refreshed and this seems to be a song that would fit well on "Southern Harmony". While this isn't the Crowes I grew up with as far as who's in the band, this is a very positive sign that the band isn't straying far from what they do best.

For fun, a couple gems:

Wanton Song with Jimmy Page



Feelin Alright on Letterman '94



Wiser Time - Chris and Rich Only

I just... I can't... I'm speechless...

In a stunning move and what absolutely has to be an April Fools joke in December, the RIAA is now claiming that it is against the law to rip a cd YOU BOUGHT to your personal computer. We're not even talking about sharing anymore, we're talking about personal use. Somebody really needs to step in and take these fools down a notch. They are absolutely stepping over the line. From the Washington Post:

"Despite more than 20,000 lawsuits filed against music fans in the years since they started finding free tunes online rather than buying CDs from record companies, the recording industry has utterly failed to halt the decline of the record album or the rise of digital music sharing.

Still, hardly a month goes by without a news release from the industry's lobby, the Recording Industry Association of America, touting a new wave of letters to college students and others demanding a settlement payment and threatening a legal battle.

Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.

"I couldn't believe it when I read that," says Ray Beckerman, a New York lawyer who represents six clients who have been sued by the RIAA. "The basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation."

This has to be seen as an act of desperation. They haven't been able to curtail illegal downloading so now they go for the source.

On second thought though, how would they know that this man had "illegal" songs on his computer? Unless he was sharing them, how would they know? Hopefully this story get's a bit clearer in the coming weeks.

Favorite Twenty Two Songs of 2007...

Tarantula - The Smashing Pumpkins (Zeitgeist)
The Phoenix Rises. To Hell with the haters.





Icky Thump - The White Stripes (Icky Thump)
A terrific guitar workout. Everytime I think Jack has reached the end of how far you can take the one guitar/ one drum beat formula, he proves me wrong. He becomes more relevant with each release. Entering the "legend" territory now.





Harder, Better,Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk (Alive 2007)
I defy anyone NOT to shake their ass when the bass line kicks in on this re-working of their original tune. Believe me, I'm the last person I would have expected to LOVE this. Made me go out and buy their "hits" record. French House music as interpreted by two guys dressed as robots. For Christs sake, I've gone mental...




Teenagers - My Chemical Romance (The Black Parade)
I read that this is a rip off of "Keep Your Hands to Yourself" by the Georgia Satellites. Not sure exactly why that's a problem. One of the funnest songs of the year.





The Con - Tegan & Sara (The Con)
Love this song more every time I hear it.





Everybody Knows - Ryan Adams (Easy Tiger)
Focused, polished, sober and clean Ryan Adams. It just doesn't get any better.





The Pretender - Foo Fighters (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace)
More melodic hard rock sweetness from the Foos.





Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On) - Robert Plant & Allison Krauss (Raising Sand)
Whoever thought to team up these two should win a Grammy. While it seems an odd pairing it works on every level (except for the cheesy video).





Gimme Shelter - Keith Urban & Alicia Keys (Live Earth Concert)
Great cover of the classic Stones tune.





Sick, Sick, Sick - Queens of the Stone Age (Era Vulgaris)
Sick Nine Inch Nails vibe and an even sicker video make for the sickest QOTSA tune yet.





Impossible Germany - Wilco (Sky Blue Sky)
One of highlights of my least favorite Wilco record.





Australia - The Shins - (Wincing The Night Away)
Their best song yet. Makes everything they've done previous sound like warm up.




You Know I'm No Good - Amy Winehouse (Back to Black) I couldn't escape this song this year, and I never wanted to.





Boy With A Coin - Iron & Wine (The Shepards Dog)





Mistaken For Strangers - The National (Boxer)
Could have really picked any song from this album.





You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb - Spoon (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga)
Motown reincarnated by some white boys from Texas.





Heinrich Maneuver - Interpol



Antichrist Television Blues - Arcade Fire (Neon Bible)
Skewers pathetic stage parents who try to find meaning in their life by not letting their children live their own.





The Way It Is - Nicole Atkins (Neptune City)
Fell in love instantly when I saw her on Letterman earlier this year. I believe I saw her in an American Express ad for some reason too. Not sure what that means, other than I have a crush...






Fans - Kings Of Leon (Because Of The Times)
Never been a big KOL fan, but I did find myself liking this song a bit.






When Doves Cry/ Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (Live) - Damien Rice
Mr. Rice crosses these two seemingly disparate covers in to one aching acoustic ballad and the result is thrilling. This you tube version adds some more as well...





House of Cards - Radiohead (In Rainbows)
The best example of the newer, warmer Radiohead. They've actually written a love song.

Top Ten Albums? of 2007...

In this day and age of Itunes and legal (and illegal) downloads, many are predicting the death of the album. Looking back on this past year one would be forced to argue with that prediction. While perusing my Itunes to develop this list, I was struck immediately at how difficult it would be to narrow down to a top ten. This was easily the most difficult year I've had striking albums from the "Ten". It could have easily been a top twenty, but tradition won out and forced me to weed out the absolute ten gems that I saw as the primary releases of the year. I've included the "honorable mention" section again for this reason. Three restrictions. No soundtracks, no "hits" records and they didn't neccesarily HAVE to be released THIS year, just recently. So without further ado...



"Let me come over I can waste your time I'm bored
invite me to the war every night of the summer
and we'll play G.I. blood, G.I. blood "
- Gospel


1) The National - Boxer - In keeping with my list of best songs to close an album, "Gospel" would easily make that list. Not to say that's the only highlight. Far from it. Every song works in the context of the album to create a restrained and beautiful effort from start to finish. Grand.














"You used to be alright
What happened?
Did the cat get your tongue?
Did your string come undone?"
- 15 Step


2) Radiohead – "In Rainbows" - What more can be said about this release? A little bit was lost in the hype surrounding the method of release for this. Musically, it's the "warmest" Radiohead album I've heard. It's downright beautiful and hopeful in spots. Typical Radiohead, stunning and imaginative, from the physical product to the way of getting it to the people.









"I don't know what I believe
but if I feel safe, what do I need?"
- United States

3) The Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist - Most criticisms of this album started out with either A) "What an arrogant thing to name an album" or B) "Billy Corgan is an egomaniac". Great reviewing by an always dependable music media. Pathetic. David Fricke of Rolling Stone gave it a 4/5 star review and that's good enough for me. Classic Pumpkins sound with some added flourishes for good measure. What every REAL Pumpkins fan had been waiting for and seemingly the start of another era for SP. Bloody hard and fantastic.









"Encircle me,
I need to be taken down."
- The Con


4) Tegan and Sara – The Con - Produced by Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie, this is a strong record from front to back. Downright raucous in spots to pure pop beauty in others, it runs the gamut. Something for everyone while maintaining it's form as a complete whole.














"And she may cry like a baby
And she may drive me crazy
'Cause I am lately lonely"
- Elephant


5) Damien Rice – 9 - The final installment for Damien and his muse, Lisa Hannigan, this is a less melancholic and much more outright angry record. It will be very interesting to see how his music works without Lisa's input. Highlights are the sad "Nine Crimes" and the elegant "Grey Room". What an artist. Along with his previous effort "O", both are definite "deserted island" discs.











"These twin city kisses.
sound like clicks and hisses.
and we all come down and drown in the mississippi river."
- Stuck Between Stations

6) The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls In America - The winner of Scott's favorite new favorite band, this record is rocking from start to finish. I read somewhere once that they were referred to (not so kindly) as "a modern day Soul Asylum as fronted by Charles Nelson Reilly". Well that sounds pretty damn good to me. "Stuck Between Stations" is one of the strongest songs to EVER open an album. The lyrics make you want to move to Minneapolis and take up partying as a full time occupation. Even though they make their home in New York, these guys are First Avenue to the core.









"When will we get,
the time to be,
just friends"
- Just Friends

7) Amy Winehouse – Back to Black - Before she became the tabloid fodder that she has become, she made a great soul record in the tradition of the old order. This record bleeds Motown and Stax. There's a reason "You Know I'm No Good" became a huge hit, it's just simply good soul music, as is every other song on this collection. Poised to be a big star before her umm.. issues, let's hope she gets her act together and keeps making records like this.












"Give me your hand,
lets jump out the window..."
- Australia

8) The Shins – Wincing the Night Away - On record The Shins just do not disappoint. From the jangly Beatle-esque pop of "Australia" to the Paul Simon-ish "A Comet Appears" what drives this album is songwriting as all other Shins records. Evidently they're not capable of making a half assed effort.














"Maybe it's time we give something new a try..."
- "No I In Threesome"


9) Interpol – Our Love To Admire - I'm not a big fan of the term "shoegazer" but it aptly sums up what these guys do. While my favorite CD is still "Turn On the Bright Lights", this is a close second. Darkness rarely sounds this brilliant.
















"You got no fear for the underdog,
that's why you will not survive"
- The Underdog


10) Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Every so often I hate a band when I first hear them. To name a few, Jeff Buckley, Janes Addiction, Primus and of course those hacks, the Smashing Pumpkins. Now these are all staples in my collection and some of my favorite bands. Spoon is the latest entrant in this ridiculous habit of mine. This pretty much guarantees that Spoon will be my favorite band for the next year and a half. It doesn't hurt that they put out such a great release. The word being thrown around is minimalist when referring to this band and that's a pretty fitting label. This music breathes and has a lot of open spaces that make the songs work as much as the various instrumentation. "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" and "The Underdog" are as fine as popular music gets.



Honorable Mention:

1) Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
2) Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam
3) Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
4) Rilo Kiley – Under The Blacklight
5) The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
6) Feist – The Reminder
7) Queens of The Stone Age – Era Vulgaris
8) Explosions in the Sky - All of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone
9) Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger
10) Allison Krauss & Robert Plant - Raising Sand

Better luck next time:

As good as the previous twenty were, there's always a few missteps by bands I respect. Here they are from this year.

1) Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
2) The Killers – Sams’ Town
3) Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
4) Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight
5) The Mars Volta - Amputechture

SP...

According to their official website, the premier band of the 90's is back together and writing songs for a new album. No word yet on if all four members are back or new blood. One can only assume that a tour will follow. Wait and see I guess...

• www.smashingpumpkins.com

The Best of Lately...

1) "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" by Panic! at the Disco - Put aside the self- indulgent name and the fact that the video plays ad nauseum on MTV2 and you'll realize this is one of the most talented and ambituous bands to break through to the "mainstream" in a long time.









2) "3121" by Prince - A lot of critics are calling this the next logical step in his return to form and a great follow up to his comeback album "Musicology". The highlights are the lead single "Black Sweat", and the guitar workout "Fury". A reminder of what makes Prince great and one of the all time best.






3) "On An Island" by David Gilmour - It would be impossible to NOT compare this record to a Pink Floyd record, so I didn't even try not to. It's slightly different than what we would have maybe heard from a reunited or at least partially reunited Floyd, but still "Floydian" all the same. While drawing inevitable comparisons to Floyds last release 'The Division Bell", this album also takes us back a bit to the "Obscured By Clouds" and "Meddle" era's. Easily his best solo work, and most likely due to the fact that it sounds Pink Floyd.



4) "Amos Lee" by Amos Lee - Part Keb Mo' and part James Taylor, this is a fantastic debut album by someone you'll be hearing more of in the future.






5) "Black Cadillac" by Roseanne Cash - The only Roseanne Cash album I own, it made me want to go back and rediscover her back catalog. A meditation on the three major losses she suffered within the span of two years (father , stepmother, and mother), this record should be nominated for more than a couple grammys come awards time.

Update: No Pumpkins Reunion yet...

In response to the previous Pumpkins reunion rumors on this blog and on other more credible news outlets, it turns out the Pumpkins won't be playing at any of the major summer festivals.

In other Pumpkins related news from MTV.COM:

Melissa Auf Der Maur said Corgan has been working on material that will, at some point, surface in the form of a new Smashing Pumpkins album.

"From what I understand, Billy [will be] making a Pumpkins record over the next little while," Auf Der Maur told MTV News last week. "Everyone knows Billy doesn't need too many people to make a Pumpkins record, other than Jimmy [Chamberlin, longtime Pumpkins drummer] — who he has [on board]."

A spokesperson for Azoff Management confirmed Thursday (February 2) that Corgan and Chamberlin have signed on with the firm as Smashing Pumpkins, and that the two are writing new music. A source close to the situation told MTV News that the duo plan to record over the summer and that the new Pumpkins could surface before the end of the year — however, no definitive plans are set.

Stay tuned...

From Rolling Stones latest poll...

"The poll also reveals that record labels that sue file sharers may be targeting their best customers: Downloaders are more likely than other respondents to frequently buy CDs in stores."

So let me get this straight. People who file share music on the internet are... music fans? That is SO shocking! Has anyone told the record labels this? I bet if the record labels knew this they'd stop suing file sharers immediately, right? I bet it's a bad business model to sue your best customers.

Idiots.