Comments on: Random Rules

By: Tad

Tad — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:02:51 +0000

Shuffle can be evil, but numbers don’t lie. For ex., my Last.fm stats show my overall favorite artists as:

10 Indigo Girls
11 Weezer
12 Jonathan Coulton
13 The Beatles
14 Gipsy Kings
14 John Mayer

22 Billy Joel
38 John Lennon

(Sir Paul didn’t make the list).

By: Hepcat

Hepcat — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:07:34 +0000

Well, I missed Air Supply when they were big — I went on a pop music walkabout and was listening to other stuff. But I had season passes to the music festival in the town I lived in, and I have to tell you, those guys are cheesy, but they give 110% to the cheese. There are people whose music I’ve admired more who could learn something from their whole-heartedness.

So, no shame in mentioning them.

By: Jack F

Jack F — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:47:09 +0000

Beatles, Billy Joel era comment number 2:

The 60s and 70s are over. Rest in Peace, George Carlin.

By: Jack F

Jack F — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:45:46 +0000

My Zune shuffles onto McCartney, Billy Joel and Beatles constantly. Oh. And Jonathan Coulton.

I actually liked Billy Joel’s last couple albums. Sure, they weren’t The Stranger or Turnstiles, but there’s some good music there. It’s actually been 15 years since his last album (River of Dreams). I hope he does take another crack at it one of these days. But his only new song since then, All My Life, sounds more like warmed over Sinatra than anything else. I’m not holding out too much hope. (Guess I can report back after I see Joel in concert next month for the first time in 20 years.)

By: Audrey

Audrey — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:51:57 +0000

Tangentially, my physics teacher in high school did the Dark Side of the Moon/Wizard of Oz sync for all his classes.

He’s one of the most awesome teachers ever, by the way. He let us shoot water balloons at him for a lab, for example.

By: LoonieBin

LoonieBin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:33:38 +0000

From a pronunciation standpoint, it’s four Johns. Whether or not one goes by “Jonathan,” they’re still a “Jon.” At any rate, it’s cool.

By: Ann

Ann — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:32:25 +0000

Glad to know I’m not the only one who gets slightly stabby when their name is misspelled.

Very fun interview btw.

By: JoCo

JoCo — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:54:54 +0000

Scott: my name is not John.

By: Zac

Zac — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:46:49 +0000

I think claiming 3 Johns is appropriate. We don’t know what vicinity Linnell was to the situation, which is necessary to decide whether to count him or not.

By: Scott

Scott — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:24:28 +0000

You dissapoint me by claiming a three-Jo(h)n situation when there were clearly four. Good read, though.

By: Agrimat

Agrimat — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 06:00:57 +0000

Now I’m curious. What IS the most embarrassing thing on your iPod?

By: manstraw

manstraw — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:00:57 +0000

wish you were here is my number one.

i absolutely roared with laughter at the felt like handing poop to angel moment. completely identified with it. the wife thought I went crazy there laughing to myself.

and, um, the best beatles songs were George’s! Frank Sinatra once said in an interview that the best Lennon/McCartney song was Something. So there ya go!

By: Kaethe

Kaethe — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:56:49 +0000

“Dark Side of the Rainbow” is on Youtube in about 6 different sections. It’s pretty grainy, but it’s awesome! This is a link to the first one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmCfvcfHwKA&feature=PlayList&p=9253314B492605AD&index=0

By: Cindy

Cindy — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:11:58 +0000

Air Supply? Try “All Out of Love” by Air Supply feat. the Celtic Tenors. Priceless.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:24:01 +0000

Why aren’t there any other bald, white guys shouting out to Parliament and Dr. John in here?

By: M_pony

M_pony — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:45:54 +0000

If you want a perfect example of the perfect 2 minute pop song, listen to “All The Things I Wasn’t” by the Canadian band Grapes Of Wrath.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFQYf94BGGc
They’ve written other wonderful pop songs like “Peace Of Mind”, but All the things I wasn’t is quite possibly the most perfect piece of fragile music ever written by humanity.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:21:26 +0000

I think you’ve graduated past the title of ” ‘Self Proclaimed’ Internet Star” to just full-on “Internet Star” by this point, wouldn’t you say?

Silly, silly Onion.

By: Chris Hartzog

Chris Hartzog — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:18:08 +0000

Jon, this might make you feel better (or not). I just noticed that in my site’s blogroll, your name falls in between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Wordpress provided the sorting.

By: Chris Hartzog

Chris Hartzog — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:02:48 +0000

McCartney was at his best when he was in competition with Lennon, The Beach Boys and others and before he was a multi billionaire….you know maybe just a pauperly millionaire. But in spite of that, he just recently still put out some good tunes on Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard. On the other hand, I didn’t care for much of anything on Memory Almost Full. Nobody bats a thousand all of the time.

By: William

William — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:53:43 +0000

Love is over.

By: Gina

Gina — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:25:56 +0000

” I don’t think I’ve ever made a song that I think is awesome.”

Aww. Don’t worry, the rest of us think your songs are so awesome, we’ve got you covered.

By: Gina

Gina — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:16:39 +0000

“I met him and gave him a copy of my CD, and it felt like I was handing a piece of poop to an angel.”

Bwaaa ha ha ha ha!

By: art

art — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:22:12 +0000

billy joel is awesome. wish he would just make another full length album with new stuff. dunno if it would be good but still…

By: LoonieBin

LoonieBin — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:19:44 +0000

According to the pre-interview bio, “Ikea” was from Thing A Week?

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:05:04 +0000

Nice interview, Jonathan. I look forward to catching your show for the first time when you swing through Boston again.

By: Colleenky

Colleenky — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:54:30 +0000

I lerv Pink Floyd. I really dug them when I was a kid, and as an adult, I had stopped listening to them for some reason. I guess because I didn’t still have hours and hours to sit in a room by myself with my headphones on.

So true, so true. I miss being able to do that.

By: Roman V.

Roman V. — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:40:53 +0000

I’m reading in this interview that for at least one part of an answer you adopted a British accent. I think I’d like to hear said adoption, and I bet I am not alone.

By: Demetrius

Demetrius — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:19:09 +0000

McCartney? He should be so lucky as to meet JoCo! When did *he* ever feature zombies or robots in a song? …other than Wild Honey Pie …and, Revolution #9.0, respectively.

By: Marcy

Marcy — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:04:32 +0000

Jonathan, now that I know how you feel about me I will no longer be supporting your UK tour.

Sir Paul McCartney

[ha ha ha ha!! sorry JoCo, couldn't resist...... Paul would never drop you, at least not without a better reason...lol]

By: MitchO

MitchO — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:56:34 +0000

Could be worse. When I was in 5th grade, we were all given one of those “autograph” books and the front page had a “My Favorites” page to fill out. I knew nothing about music and wrote in “Hungry Like The Wolf” for favorite song.

I wish I chose Air Supply~

By: Connor

Connor — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:46:20 +0000

Pretty funny stuff.
You’re into a lot of old music…
Whatever, to each his own. No need for self-consciousness.

Air supply?
Hahaha.

By: CupcakeAndTea

CupcakeAndTea — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:34:17 +0000

Don’t worry Joco I’ve always questioned my taste in music also, bubblegum pop and pop what was i thinking ^^ great interview