"_________ ROCKS!":the gradual erosion of meaning.

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http://www.collectguitars.com/StarsCollection/StarsImages/Ronson/mic http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/images/rocks.jpeg http://www.rockkansas.com/reviews/images/movies/huge-rock.jpg

The other day, some friends of mine and I were discussing the bastardization of the word "cute," and how It used to strictly refer to things like ducklings, baby pandas, small children, curious kittens, chipmunks, stuffed animals the like. At some point, however, people started to use the adjective to describe desirable members of the opposite sex ("Dude, Katie Holmes is totally cute!" etc.) The word is elastic enough to handle both functions, but it arguably remains a incorrect usage of the term.

The same thing is happening, it seems, to the verb, "rock". Used as a term to describe musical peformance, "rocks" once meant something rather specific. "Mick Ronson completely rocked!" No mystery there -- Bowie's long-time gunslinger guitarist was renowned for doing just that; playing furiously adrenalized rock'n'roll on his electric guitar (he's dead now, though, so he rocks no more). Over time, however, the term has been appropriated by individuals (the same folks who wear heavy metal t-shirts ironically) who have no business using it (I'm aware of the "LEAVE TO ROCKISTS THAT WHICH IS THERE'S!" tone of this thread....it is no accident). "Macy Gray Rocks", "Fashion Rocks!", "Avril Rocks!", "Scientology Rocks!", "The GOP Rocks!", "Seinfeld Rocks", "UGH Boots Rock!", "Jesus Rocks" etc. etc. etc.

NO THEY DON'T. THEY DON'T ROCK! THEY DON' T ROCK IN THE SLIGHTEST! THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH ROCK!

This is an excercise in futility, I know. Language -- as has been laboriously pointed out to me on other threads -- changes with the culture. I can't win that fight. But admit to me that the term has become irreparably diluted.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Dude! Linguistics and semantics rocks!

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Fetch hither mine nail gun!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:36 (twenty-one years ago)

"Rock, Rot & Rule" to thread.

― joseph pot (STINKOR™), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Didn't Ian Hunter sing "Cleveland Rocks"? Yeah, It's gotten out of hand a little.

― jim wentworth (wench), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:46 (twenty-one years ago)

ah get over it.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:49 (twenty-one years ago)

chuck eddy to thread

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Just as a refresher....

PEOPLE WHO ROCK SEEN BELOW IN THE ACT OF ROCKING:

http://www.metal-rules.com/concerts/steve.jpg

http://home.nyc.rr.com/feinleib/clash%20live%20boston.jpg

http://www.rockometer.com/photos/john87.gif

http://www.nyrock.com/img/2002/motorhead2002131.jpg

http://www.ipass.net/jthrush/biscuit.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:52 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.ispodzemlje.com/10/jackoblivian/oblivians.jpg

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:55 (twenty-one years ago)

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/07/sting.qa.ap/story.vert.sting.3.ap.jpg

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Sting hasn't rocked in over a decade.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Rock, Rot, or Rule?

― chuck garrison, Friday, 27 August 2004 04:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Rock, Rot, or Rule?

Well, you know, "rule" has had its meaning eroded even further.

People that rule seen below in the act of ruling:
http://www.lincolnshire-web.co.uk/images/henry-viii-2.jpg http://coloquio.com/famosos/isabella.gif http://www.born-today.com/Today/pix/king_george3.jpg

― wetmink (wetmink), Friday, 27 August 2004 04:05 (twenty-one years ago)

People who are uptight about other people's use of language = NOT ROCKING.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 27 August 2004 04:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Sez you.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 04:08 (twenty-one years ago)

whatever dude, you sound like a schoolteacher ie. NOT ROCK.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 27 August 2004 04:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not claiming to be rocking. Composing threads about the misuse of the term "rock" is not, in itself, rocking. Rocking involves rocking. Not typing on a keyboard.

And you should be the last person to accuse anyone of sounding like a schoolteacher.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 04:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex I just think you care way too much about what other people think and do, which is pretty NOT ROCK.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 27 August 2004 04:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree. But I'm not saying it's rock. So your point is moot.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 04:13 (twenty-one years ago)

People like Alex in NYC need to be out there on the front lines, defending rocking, so the civilians can actually do the rocking. The price of rocking is eternal vigilance.

― wetmink (wetmink), Friday, 27 August 2004 04:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Imagine an alternative universe in which "discos" had replaced "rocks".

"Did you see the way the marines took out those towelheads? Dude, that discoed!"

― Jacob (Jacob), Friday, 27 August 2004 08:15 (twenty-one years ago)

"disco sucks"

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 27 August 2004 08:20 (twenty-one years ago)

what about "KICKS ASS"?

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 27 August 2004 08:44 (twenty-one years ago)

this thread rocks

― Peter Watts (peterw), Friday, 27 August 2004 08:46 (twenty-one years ago)

"he's dead now, though, so he rocks no more"

Ah, Alex, how you cheered up my day.

Also, hstencil, school teachers are teh rockingest! Really.

― the impossible shortest special path! (the impossible shortest specia), Friday, 27 August 2004 09:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmmm... I think Alex of NYC is taking things a bit literally!!!!!!!

I always took "... ROX!!!!" etc. to be a metaphor rather than an actual description of something directly related to rock music!!!!!!!! ie Saying something "rocked" is a bit like saying "It was jolly good in a way not unlike that of a particularly good rock 'n' roll gramophone record!!!!!!!"!!!! Rather than eroding the meaning of rock, it takes something else and equates it in terms of rock!!!!

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Friday, 27 August 2004 10:37 (twenty-one years ago)

the very first picture on here:
what's he got in his mouth?

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Friday, 27 August 2004 10:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Old Fart is otm ... The term isn't being misused, rather, it's meaning is strengthened.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Friday, 27 August 2004 10:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Just as a refresher....
PEOPLE WHO ROCK SEEN BELOW IN THE ACT OF ROCKING:
Okay...i guess to deal with this, we have to define our terms.
Let's assume for a moment that "to Rock" one must first be doing something that epitomizes the best aspects of a great Rock Music performance. In this case they have to be doing ALL of the following, simultaneously:

Playing an instrument, skillfully, at a moderately fast speed

Singing with great passion and intensity

Inspiring all the males in the vicinity to worship the band via "air guitar"

Inspiring all the females in the vicinity to become "moist"

Exuding a mixture of both upbeat jocularity and undeniable machismo.

If they fail to do any of these, they are not Rocking. Right?
Okay...now here's the tricky bit. If a Rock Musician is called a Rock Musician because they aspire to Rock (ie become "the Rock Nature" as a Buddhist would say), does a Pop Musician aspire to "Pop" (ie become of "The Pop Nature")?
And if so, what multitude of different things must a Pop Musician be doing simultaneously in order to successfully "Pop"?

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Friday, 27 August 2004 10:57 (twenty-one years ago)

this thread pops

― Peter Watts (peterw), Friday, 27 August 2004 11:28 (twenty-one years ago)

...like an over-inflated balloon...

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Friday, 27 August 2004 11:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Imagine an alternative universe in which "discos" had replaced "rocks".

The Hues Corporation: 'Disco The Boat'
Disco'n'Roll
Alter Ego: 'Discoer'
Discoing Chair
Post-Disco
Heavy Disco

and vice versa:

Rock Sucks!
Rock Biscuits
Rockscoteque
Rocksography

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Friday, 27 August 2004 12:14 (twenty-one years ago)

People who suck seen in the act of sucking:

...nah, never mind.

― Marcel Post (Marcel Post), Friday, 27 August 2004 12:19 (twenty-one years ago)

i guess "school house pops" is more accurate.
it looses a lot of umph tho.

― dyson (dyson), Friday, 27 August 2004 12:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex in NYC brings up a great point. I think I would've enjoyued being a part of the original conversation that spawned this thread.

To those of you who think that this discussion is pointless or stupid ... I want to remind you that most discussions here are, but that's the point. This is the place where we can be our shallow, rockist selves and discuss the minutia of rock and pop ad nauseum. We can admit to our fellow ILM-ers that we spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about music. We can share our wacky theories, ideas, and opinions without being looked at funny by the average joe who does not know a think about music.

BTW .. that rant did not rock.

Rock on everyone!

― cw28 (cw28), Friday, 27 August 2004 12:54 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm going to start a band called "huge rock fist up".
we will ROCK.

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Friday, 27 August 2004 13:03 (twenty-one years ago)

really.
what the fuck is in that guys mouth?
a human finger?

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:14 (twenty-one years ago)

http://feedthefish.org/pictures/backgrounds/bush.jpg

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:22 (twenty-one years ago)

what the fuck is in that guys mouth?

Looks to me like any of the following:

(1) A finger-guard with which to play "slide" guitar
(2) A lighter
(3) A disconcerting, flesh-colored cigar

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)

At my senior-year-of-high-school class picnic, my friend Becky said, "Oh my God, this mostaccioli totally rocks!" I found that pretty grating then, but I don't really hang out with many sorority girls anymore for it to bother me now.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:27 (twenty-one years ago)

you are all insane.

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

The same thing is happening, it seems, to the verb, "suck". Used as a term to describe oral sex, "sucks" once meant something rather specific. "Jenna Pagano totally sucked me off!" No mystery there -- high-school sophomore Jenna Pagano was renowned for doing just that; applying furious sucking motions to the genitals of male upperclassmen (she's married now, though, so she sucks no more). Over time, however, the term has been appropriated by individuals (the same folks who wear t-shirts) who have no business using it. "Macy Gray Sucks", "Fashion Sucks!", "Avril Sucks!", "Scientology Sucks!", "The GOP Sucks!", "Seinfeld Sucks", "Ugg Boots Suck!", "Jesus Sucks" etc. etc. etc.

NO THEY DON'T. THEY DON'T SUCK! THEY DON'T SUCK IN THE SLIGHTEST! THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH BLOWJOBS!

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah jeez what a horrible misfortune it is that language evolves in ways we can't control.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Hanoi Rocks!!!

... and what..... "Like, Awesome dude!" Maybe that's for another day? ;-)

― herbalizer12 (herbalizer12), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't see that first picture! It's blocked here at work, have to check it when I get home. Some of these remarks has got me stifling giggles like a ninny, esp. the phrase "Disco The Boat!" for some reason.

This thread ROLLS!

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:39 (twenty-one years ago)

er, hstencil, i think we're in agreement.

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Who is that drummer in Alex's last picture?

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

we are in 100% agreement, amateur!st!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

this whole hubbub reminds of this fucking tool in college who wrote an editorial condemning how people use the word "like." Like, who gives a shit?

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

"Oh my God, this mostaccioli totally rocks!"

seriously, not only do i find this inoffensive, it's sort of cool. also i am hungry for mostaccioli.

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Who is that drummer in Alex's last picture?

Chuck Biscuits.

Nabisco's post made me laugh quite heartily.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:50 (twenty-one years ago)

but nabisco why do they call 'em blowjobs?!? Nobody blows on teh dicks, they suck 'em!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:51 (twenty-one years ago)

(furiously takes notes)

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

this whole hubbub reminds of this fucking tool in college who wrote an editorial condemning how people use the word "like." Like, who gives a shit?

Are you calling me a tool, you fatuous ass monkey?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

But Avril really does rock.

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:54 (twenty-one years ago)

no, I said the hubbub reminds me of the tool, bub. You are no tool, Alex. This guy was, in the worst possible way.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Now that I think about it, though, my objection wasn't based on some exclusionary idea that "rocks" should only apply to "rock & roll." I just thought it was a stupid thing to say about mostaccioli, is all.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:57 (twenty-one years ago)

why? if it's a good mostaccioli...

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually hate people who bemoan the use of the word "like" -- especially since it often serves an actual syntactic purpose and isn't just a hiccup.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 27 August 2004 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't believe I've ever tried mostaccioli, but I feel safe in the assumption that even at its veritable zenith, there is no rocking involved.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

To rock or not to rock, that is the question.

Of course it's not actually fair to say that "rocking", as Alex is defining it, is the original meaning of the word, either. Rocking used to mean just moving from side to side, as in a chair. Rock and Roll was named as such because the music reminded people of sex, so the word "rock" took on this sexual/musical connotation. So while I admire the humour of this thread and appreciate Alex's purist stance, it's possible there's an Alex alter ego somewhere who is equally upset that the verb "rock" which used to have no musical connotations at all, has come to mean playing an instrument, etc etc.

― Bimble (bimble), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.colorado.edu/AFROTC/prospective_cadets/images/csm.jpg
Mines Rocks.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Also isn't there some sort of candy called pop rocks?

― Bimble (bimble), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

People seem to think I take life much more seriously than I actually do. Not every question or postulation I post on ILX is spurred by sleepless, vein-popping intensity. Honestly.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:08 (twenty-one years ago)

perhaps hyperbole has gradually eroded your meaning?

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:12 (twenty-one years ago)

People seem to think I take life much more seriously than I actually do. Not every question or postulation I post on ILX is spurred by sleepless, vein-popping intensity. Honestly.
-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), August 27th, 2004.

well you can hardly fault us when you choose to express yourself with breathless hyberbole and overstatement all the time.

xpost

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

You mean in the same way that every post of mine is allegedly arch variations on 'meh,' Am? ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:20 (twenty-one years ago)

well, most of your posts to springsteen and strokes threads. don't take my words out of context.

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Then like Alex asks, judge his own posts in a similar context.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:24 (twenty-one years ago)

huh?

i mean, if alex is kidding, then he should let us know he's kidding.

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 17:26 (twenty-one years ago)

*pauses and frowns* Wait, do you take every post by everyone here at complete face value?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm utterly confused now. i think it's because i don't understand the parallel you seem to have drawn b/t my point about your posts on strokes threads (that you only seemed to post to say how indifferent you were) and your point about the way people receive alex's posts (that we should understand them not to be entirely serious).

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

i mean there's a difference between stating an actually-held opinion in a humorously hyberbolic way, and using hyberbole to suggest that you don't actually hold the opinion your expressing (i.e., sarcasm). i always figure alex is doing the former.

― amateur!!ts, Friday, 27 August 2004 17:32 (twenty-one years ago)

ok, i see the trouble. take this statement: "well you can hardly fault us when you choose to express yourself with breathless hyberbole and overstatement all the time" and never mind it. i don't think i expressed what i had meant to express. apologies all around.

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

for those about to rock.......

― dickvandyke (dickvandyke), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:36 (twenty-one years ago)

No worries, Am.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 August 2004 17:37 (twenty-one years ago)

well you can hardly fault us when you choose to express yourself with breathless hyberbole and overstatement all the time.

You haven't the faintest idea whether I'm breathless or not, and overstatement is a relative term.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Before someone beats me to it.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002LLC.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

i tht i took that statement back.

― amateur!!st, Friday, 27 August 2004 18:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Sorry, Am, you did.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 18:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, but what if something ACTUALLY rocks,* and someone says so, and Alex doesn't think that it rocks because he has the narrowest possible definition of rockage, and then it bothers him so much that he has to start a thread that ends up turning into him defending his rock and roll style of posting by saying that he's not really that way after all and anyone who doesn't understand that is kind of stupid? Does that rock?

*the latest Macy Gray album, which is more a rock album than R&B and has some very Sly Stone-ish stuff on it

**me

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Friday, 27 August 2004 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Then it's pistols at dawn, you blasphemer.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

"someone" should have had double stars, that typo does NOT rock

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Friday, 27 August 2004 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

how about stones? boulders?

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Friday, 27 August 2004 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

ROCKS?

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Friday, 27 August 2004 18:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Macy Gray DOES NOT rock, HAS NOT rocked, nor WILL EVER rock so long as she lives. She could record a Stooges medley and she still would never rock.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:00 (twenty-one years ago)

haha she rocks, she rocks, she so rocks that YOU CAN'T HANDLE IT and are driven to BOLD TYPE like a non-rocker

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:01 (twenty-one years ago)

stooges medley...like that would rock anyway

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:03 (twenty-one years ago)

....he gurgles from the bottom of a pungent wellspring of sickly, brown WRONGNESS.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I quit using the verb "rock/rocks" the day I noticed a soccermom's huge SUV in front of me at a stop light. It was painted in white shoepolish (in preparation for the "big game," no doubt), and the back windshield proclaimed, "West-U Elementary Soccer ROCKS!"

Since then I've heard many, many middle aged women use the term (ahem Katie Couric). They're usually moms who want to talk the language of their kids. I think it's sad. But it's probably sadder that I actually watch the Today show sometimes.

I still think using "rock" as a noun is OK, though. Like Homer's immortal, "No, no, don't stop the rock!"

― The Knitter, Friday, 27 August 2004 19:05 (twenty-one years ago)

well, rock is a noun.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:06 (twenty-one years ago)

As in, "I used this rock to bash Begs2Differ's keyboard into broken submission that he might stop spewing vitriolic lies".

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:07 (twenty-one years ago)

overstatement is a relative term

and medleys DO NOT ROCK, even if you like the stooges

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:08 (twenty-one years ago)

and medleys DO NOT ROCK, even if you like the stooges

Oh how wrong you are. What about Jane's Addiction's "L.A. Medley"? What about The Jesus Lizard's "Chrome" (essentially a Chrome medley)?

You breathe wrong like a fish breathes water.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:11 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, what about them, alex, honestly, I don't have time for the jesus fucking lizard anyway. if that's rock you can have it.

― Logged Out, Friday, 27 August 2004 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex I thought your whole point was that rock is a verb, man, what with the action and the fury and the fire-honoring. Rock = verb, pop = noun, hip-hop = adjective, techno = adverb, folk = pronoun, and IDM = conjuction.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

fish don't breathe water they breath air (filtered through water)! sheesh.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Metal = exclamation! Uggh! RowR!!!

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Can rock not be both noun and verb?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't have time for the jesus fucking lizard anyway. if that's rock you can have it.

The Jesus Lizard are no more, so you having time for them is a moot point.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm suggesting the use of the word "rogz" as a substitute for electronic music that rocks. As in "that new kid 606 fuckin' ROGZ!"

Also can you get me Jenna Pagano's number, Nabisco?

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Friday, 27 August 2004 19:29 (twenty-one years ago)

the evolution of language is a beautiful thing, and i feel privileged to watch it happen. for instance, when my friend james referred to something - i cannot for the life of me remember what - as "rocking like a rock on a rocking chair in a rockery", i felt we were really pushing the boundaries of semantic possibility.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Friday, 27 August 2004 20:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Rock, Rot, or Rule?

-- chuck garrison (wfm...), August 27th, 2004.

Rock, Rot & Rule

― joseph pot (STINKOR™), Friday, 27 August 2004 20:04 (twenty-one years ago)

No, you were just high.

― n.a. (Nick A.), Friday, 27 August 2004 20:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Because it's late Friday night, and I'm stuck here at the newsdesk on the overnight shift and no one is really posting, I present ye with....

MORE PICTURES OF INDIVIDUALS WHO ACTUALLY ROCK CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF ACTUALLY ROCKING:

http://www.whatawaytodie.com/circlejerks/circlejerks.jpg

http://seattlemusicweb.com/misfits-dc82.gif

http://www.an-irrational-domain.net/images/geordie/geordie13.JPG

http://www.livexs.nl/node/319.jpg

http://www.furious.com/perfect/graphics/stranglers.jpg

http://www.southern.com/BURNINGFLAGS/pics/blackflag_video.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 28 August 2004 01:25 (twenty-one years ago)

THESE INDIVIDUALS DO NOT ROCK:

http://www.marriageproblems.org/img/l-ron-hubbard.jpg

http://www.jesuspaintings.com/pictures/way__new_page_1.jpg

http://www.webducks.com/joes2.jpg

http://www.allhatnocattle.net/george%20bush%20slip.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 28 August 2004 01:37 (twenty-one years ago)

http://getreligion.typepad.com/getreligion/bushjesus.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 28 August 2004 01:38 (twenty-one years ago)

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Saturday, 28 August 2004 01:51 (twenty-one years ago)

semantically pure ROCKING:

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Saturday, 28 August 2004 01:54 (twenty-one years ago)

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Saturday, 28 August 2004 01:58 (twenty-one years ago)

what's the trick with image links?

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Saturday, 28 August 2004 01:58 (twenty-one years ago)

The essence of rock may be distilled from the following thread, read in its entirety.

Czech blastcore and pagan culture

― hagbard the fnorden, Saturday, 28 August 2004 02:06 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.laman.net/Animated%20GIFs/black_woman_rocking_baby_in_chair_lg_clr.gif

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Saturday, 28 August 2004 02:07 (twenty-one years ago)

She is indeed rocking.......and vaguely creepy.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 28 August 2004 02:23 (twenty-one years ago)

The erosion of meaning . . . the misunderstood . . . from Amazon.com

Hi folks! I was the bass player for the original Misunderstood, and decided to make a short posting here. I'd like to thank everyone who has written kindly of our music, and continues to hold it in high esteem. I'd also like to point out that there continues to be a tremendous amount of mis-information about us, some of which is contained in other reviews on this site.

For one thing, "I Unseen" is emphatically NOT simply our version of the Byrds "I Come and Stand at Every Door"! We wrote AND recorded it months before the Byrds ever went into the studio to do their version of the Pete Seeger song (lyrics by Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet)...and we still have the dated acetate to prove it. That may be a small point, but for those of you who are interested in the truth, there it is.

Another bit of truth has to do with the rather free use of our name after the real band collapsed due to a combination of the US draft and incredibly bad management. ANY music with the name The Misunderstood attached that was created after the songs from the London sessions (the ones on "After the Dream Faded") is emphatically NOT The Misunderstood. Rather, it's simply someone's greedy and unethical attempt to capitalize on whatever reputation we were able to establish, and includes, at most, only one band member from the original group. I'm not recommending that you not purchase it; I'm only forewarning you that the music is not of the same style (and many would say, same caliber) as what we created. It's just a name - not the essence.

Those bits of history corrected, I again thank those of you who value our music, and encourage you to purchase and enjoy it...we certainly had a great time writing/playing/recording it. And just so you won't think this is a shameless commercial plug, please know that none of us receive ANY royalties whatsoever from the sales of our CDs. That was taken away from us, just like they tried to take away the dream...but the dream lives on...with those of you who continue to listen, and in our hearts too, as we continue to create new music. Many blessings to you all!!!

P.S. Please excuse me for giving our music a 5-star rating, but I still really like it, even after all these many years.... :)

― billy nicholls, Saturday, 28 August 2004 03:13 (twenty-one years ago)

The word cute comes (I think) from acute, and originally meant sly or crafty. James Joyce uses the phrase "cute as a shithouse rat" in Ulysses. In the same book, Molly Bloom uses the word "rocks". But when she uses it, it means "bollocks." I think there's a lesson to be had from this.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Saturday, 28 August 2004 10:17 (twenty-one years ago)

http://img10.paintedover.com/uploads/10/img_0516_medium.jpg

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Saturday, 4 September 2004 02:35 (twenty-one years ago)

::::sigh::::

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 4 September 2004 02:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Rock the vote!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 4 September 2004 04:15 (twenty-one years ago)

is there a difference between literally rocking and totally rocking?

― tricky disco (disco stu), Sunday, 5 September 2004 00:31 (twenty-one years ago)

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