Around the horn.

When Morrissey and I started The Smiths, we thought pop music was the most important thing in the world. Johnny Marr remembers The Queen Is Dead, twenty years on. (Twenty? Jesus Christ.)

Various unintentional influences have crept into our work, some of which were quickly removed: The Moody Blues, Tubeway Army, Wings, always Wings, never The Beatles, Eno of course, you can't play ebow (a bow for electric guitars) without sounding like Eno, Modern English, middle period post-Gabriel Genesis, The Stranglers, 10CC. We're still trying to find a way to insert some dub/white reggae in the mix, just as an intellectual exercise, to see if we can do it without being dropped from the label. New Pornos live at the 9:30 in DC on March 6, courtesy NPR. Weak mix, but a solid hour of songsmithery, and three of finest from Twin Cinema. That NPR host sucks ass, however.

Trick or treating with Carlos D. Other Music snuff film [scroll down].

Blogwatch: wordsandmusic and word the cat. Word. And music! To emulate/imitate/assiduate/inhalate. How missed till now? See also the latest Point of Departure, and don't miss this signal lesson in how not to respond to an artist's criticism of your review.

I got fucking awesome taste in music, as the first four of my 3,497 songs that came up on shuffle will dictate. David Cross et al. discussing their shuffle-playlists at The Onion AV.

The lilting melodies of Trio Matamoros, Orquesta Aragon and the compositions of the great composer Lecuona are some kind of holy grail of the heart in the same way that the legendary bluesman’s few recordings are to many rockers. David Byrne gets all Latin curatorial on us, but at least there's two-and-a-half hours of music to support the syllabus.

And finally: You and I differ on many things. I like Queen Latifah. You do not. I'm open to your opinions, as long as you know that they disgust me. The incomparable Jeff Johnson, on his disagreements.