Marka Ragnos

That's a great list! -- slightly different than I would have expected (am I sounding patronising enough? ). I had about 46. Mine are in re-ordered "worst" to best. I guess I do give some weight to popularity, too -- sort of the if a tree falls ... argument. I love that Big Star album, but no one gave a shit about that for years and not many even heard it, and in the end, Alex Chilton was driving around the midwest in his car doing shows to tiny audiences of hipsters but it was too late. Sad story, really. But it just wasn't that "big" of an album -- so I don't know. Then there all the artists with mediocre or weird or unrepresentative debuts who later proved everyone wrong. Prince, for instance. The Beatles and, for me, a huge one, Public Enemy. And Kraftwerk. Not sure how many on this board would have really witnessed the impact of the Cars' debut in the fall of 1978 and into 1979. Not enormous in UK. Very hard to overstate impact in US middle America. It was strangely divisive -- and got such airplay. The Libertines, 'Up the Bracket' (2002) Big Star, '#1 Record' (1972) Nine Inch Nails, 'Pretty Hate Machine' (1989) Metallica, 'Kill 'Em All' (1983) Fiona Apple, 'Tidal' (1996) Frank Ocean, 'Channel Orange' (2012) The Modern Lovers, 'The Modern Lovers' (1976) Pearl Jam, 'Ten' (1991) Sade, 'Diamond Life' (1984) The Go-Go's, 'Beauty and the Beat' (1981) Rage Against the Machine, 'Rage Against the Machine' (1992) Leonard Cohen, 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' (1967) The B-52's, 'The B-52s' (1979) Van Halen, 'Van Halen' (1978) Ramones, 'Ramones' (1976) Pavement, 'Slanted and Enchanted' (1992) The Cars, 'The Cars' (1978) Led Zeppelin, 'Led Zeppelin' (1969) The Pretenders, 'Pretenders' (1980) Pink Floyd, 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn' (1967) PJ Harvey, 'Dry' (1992) Yazoo, 'Upstairs at Eric's' (1982) Violent Femmes, 'Violent Femmes' (1983) Bad Bunny, 'X 100pre' (2018) Liz Phair, 'Exile in Guyville' (1993) Kanye West, 'The College Dropout' (2004) Wire, 'Pink Flag' (1977) Steel Pulse, 'Handsworth Revolution' (1978) Madonna, 'Madonna' (1983) Devo, 'Q: Are We Not Men? We Are Devo!' (1978) Whitney Houston, 'Whitney Houston' (1985) Run-DMC, 'Run-DMC' (1984) The Smiths, 'The Smiths' (1984) R.E.M., 'Murmur' (1983) Black Sabbath, 'Black Sabbath' (1970) Elvis Presley, 'Elvis Presley' (1956) N.W.A, 'Straight Outta Compton' (1988) The Doors, 'The Doors' (1967) The Velvet Underground, 'The Velvet Underground and Nico' (1967) The Beatles, 'Please Please Me' (1963) The Sex Pistols, 'Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols' (1977)

I really find myself struggling to accept many entries and their ranking on this Rolling Stone list ... of greatest debut albums. I suppose these lists are meant as conversation starters. What do you think of the rankings? I would never put the Ramones at No. 1. I would never even include the Strokes. Fionna Apple higher ranked than Run DMC?! No, no, no.

Oh, **** this song ...

NWA's debut hit hard ...

1976. Certainly one of the best rock debuts ever ... no question. Tom Petty stood WAY out at the time, and like so many American acts that challenge the status quo, England helped "discover" him for America (same with the Pixies, Chrissie Hyde, etc.). I know someone who knew members of the band in those early days in Florida, and he said they were a local sensation as the "Mud diggers" or something like that, but being from northern Florida at the time was just really very unhip (it perhaps still is lol).

I pretty much would never want to try to take the ball from that man. "You keep it -- I'm leaving the pitch, OK? Just don't end me."

Summary of today's Acuna transfer news: A report that's probably unreliable has been disproven by another report that's also probably unreliable. The concept of an opening bid is apparently a bridge too far in terms of subtlety for our hyperventilating transfer media:

Sweet "rare groove."

Same here, really. Better songs and a little more clarity in the band's sound on . The first album to me is more about carving out a unique space through self-production of a whole underground scene using a technology -- cassettes -- to share it easily and widely.

The Beat Happening. Started K Records more or less …

AC/DC High Voltage. It was just a fantastic debut. It sounded so fresh when it came out. I knew so many kids who were absolutely nuts for the sound.

I'm worried people will convince me we should go for Acuna -- because then Chelsea will buy him. So I'm going to have to fight this one, folks. No better way to ensure his transfer to Villa.

The debut of Paisley's Close Lobsters (Foxheads Stalk The Land) made an outsized impression on the college radio scene in the States, and to say that I adored this album doesn't come close. My friends and I would smoke weed like crazy and listen to it over and over. Got to see them in Boston. Unforgettable show. Still think the record holds up. I think the singer is, like me, a middle-aged professor somewhere now. The music is interesting because it's kind of the apex of jangle pop to me. So many great songs.

What a great topic!!!! So many thoughts ... won't even try to talk about influence as I'll be posting about the Carter Family and Duane Eddie snd Leadbelly, etc. So I'll stick to music from the last half century. Thomas Dolby's debut Golden Age of Wireless always struck me as a really complete and beautiful package of pop songs produced in a way that, well, had its time. I truly admire his ingenuity in the studio, too. He's a professor in the States now, and a very good one, I hear.

Don't think it's on pink flag, but I love their one song about the beetles -- the insects, that is.

Are we talking landscaping ... or manscaping?

It's all just getting ... pathetic. I am eating this up ...

My contract at VT states only three Kenneths a week, and that's my fourth -- you've overpaid me, sir.

Ah, Puccini's aria sung by Pavorotti -- all about hopeful love in the face and coldness and fear. That'll do nicely.

Ah, the Jinx. That strange vestige of our pagan past -- a kind of secular mysticism. How does Collins define it? "... an unlucky or malevolent force, person, or thing." But any past thread related to Villa's "bad luck" or such really isn't quite the Jinx. A Jinx is its own thing. It's not bad luck. It's not a curse, really. The Jinx can only be the Jinx. You have thus invoked the Jinx as a Villa fan. That is a bold move, mate. There is no turning back. It remains to be seen whether we are indeed Jinxed, but I feel you, that's for sure. I do not, persoanlly, think we're Jinxed. I don't believe in Jinxery, myself, although I respect others' right to believe it. It's a curious thing. I think some 10% of Britons now go to church weekly. More far more believe in Jinxes, I would suspect. But isn't the Jinx also something someone does, too, like cracking open an egg. Like because a random VTer said we would place in the Champions League this year, they created a Jinx? I think many, many football supporters think this way. Have we cracked open an egg this year? I do not know. It does appear we may hire one soon, ie, Acuna.

I still don't totally accept that he even was that bad on Saturday given the totality of circumstances. Groupthink and recency bias at work.

I mean this in the most mutually respectful, affectionate way, but we do all seem a bit thin-skinned this week, don't we? What's going on? (Oh, we had a catastrophic shock to our hope and dreams in the last week and maybe haven't totally got over it. )

Hope he plays ASAP, of course, but I trust you all over myself about what's wisest. Not convinced he'd be unprepared for the rigors of Everton. I want to see him playing now now now.

The idea that someone might bother to photoshop themselves with Digne is just kind weird. I mean, no disrespect to Digne, but he's not that big of a deal. (Btw, it's not photoshopped. As for the supposed conversation about flying, who knows where that really comes from? How do we know the image is even new? We don't.)

I would trust more VT posts about transfers, in general, if we have a few wins under our belts. A lot of rather gloomy recency bias at work this week -- understandably! Kamara had a bad game. Generally, he's been great.