[Heccubus]

Mr. Bungle
I like Mike Patton. I think Adult Themes For Voice was one of the most interesting experimental noise albums I've ever heard, I love Faith No More and I definitely dig the EP he recorded with the Dillinger Escape Plan. But Mr. Bungle rubs me the wrong way. It just strikes me as Patton and some other dudes going "Hey! Look! We're so weird and wacky! Isn't that cool!?" No, it isn't really. They just get on my nerves after a while.

Mudhoney
I really never thought Mudhoney was that great to begin with. Likewise for most of that whole grunge thing. I mean, yeah, I have an appreciation for them as "legends" or whatever, but let's face it. They did a small handful of acceptable albums, and a stack of complete trash. That and they can't really seem to accept the fact that they're so far past their prime that they've started to grow mold.

Malfunkshun
Again, I really don't care about 90% of the whole "grunge" scene. So whatever. Next.

The Coral
I think I heard a song by them once and shook my head in disgust. If I wanted to listen to Super Furry Animals or Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, I'd just go listen to them. You know?

Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet
They did the theme for Kids In The Hall. Outside of that I really couldn't care less about them. The aforementioned "Having an Average Weekend" is a decent track, but it doesn't strike me as being a sound that could hold itself steadily over the course of an entire album. Very one trick pony.

Kicked In The Head
You people don't get it do you. We've been over this. Ska/punk had one good act, whom I will get to in a second. This is not that band though. So they might just as well just stop trying now.

Johnny Cash
It's difficult for me to speak ill of a man I have called one of my favourite songwriters, particularly after his unfortunate death, but there is one thing that I don't like about the man. His American Recordings albums are so hit-or-miss that it can be infuriating. The covers they chose often made absolutely NO sense ("Rusty Cage") and the ones that seemed like a good idea were rarely executed well ("Bridge Over Troubled Water"). But whatever. Who actually goes "Hey let's get this guy to make fun of a dead legend." What's wrong with you?

Operation Ivy
First up. No, Jesse Michaels does NOT have a speech impediment. Pick up a copy of the Sub City/Asian Man records benefit comp Plea For Peace: Take Action, Vol. 2. Mr. Michaels does a spoken word PSA at the beginning with very clear, well enunciated speech.
Secondly, despite being the only decent band to come out of the ska/punk movement, Operation Ivy suffered from one major flaw: their songs were all built on the same basic structure. They rarely deviated from one or two tempos and basic sounds. It makes them pretty boring, all things considered.

[Zewb]

I was referring to Tim Armstrong, who developed a slur in his voice from drug abuse and stuff like that.

And Kicked in the Head is neither ska nor punk.

[Heccubus]

Click
Typically speaking, if a band's primary genre classification is "ska/punk" and is followed by "third wave ska revival" on the most concise music database on the internet, I'm going to go with that.

And if you were referring to Tim Armstrong, why wouldn't you have specified as such? He was not the lead vocalist for Operation Ivy. By simply referring to the vocals in Operation Ivy, one is not going to assume that you're referring to Tim Armstrong. See?

[Zewb]

My mistake, sorry, I was thinking Rancid, since he's the frontman in that band.

Anyway, I've actually listened to KITH and what I hear is hard rock. Sometimes it is accompanied by a horn section, but that doesn't make it ska. You can listen to all of their songs for free on their website.

[Heccubus]

One could say the same about Rocket From The Crypt, but they still get grouped with the ska/punk scene, despite their being above it. However, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and check out Kicked In The Head a little more closely.

FOR THE RECORD:
I am actually giving a second chance to a band that has already been torn apart. This has never happened before.

UPDATE
Okay, well after giving some brief listens to a bunch of stuff on their website, I have to say that I'm going to stick with my original sentiments. They're a punk band with some ska thrown in. Hence, ska/punk. I wouldn't use "hard rock" as a descriptor of their sound in any circumstances, so I'm definitely standing by my initial statement. Sorry about your luck.

[Otal Nimrodi]

I'm told there's a band called Blue October, and that it's awesome, so... Blue October.

[Spoon Poetic]

What's with all the colors being in band names lately? Some friends of mine are in a band, called themselves "Against." Then they got a record deal and stuff, and they're being made to change their name. Were told to put a color in their name because that's what makes hits?? So now they're "Red-Handed." *shrug* It's not the name that makes the band, to me.

They Might Be Giants

SNMNMNM

Carbon Leaf

Blue Man Group

The Unicorns

Snow Patrol

And just for fun: Marilyn Manson

[Heccubus]

Blue October
Laughable. Think about what would happen if Nickelback were from Houston, instead of whatever backwards Canadian town they're from. That's pretty much what Blue October makes me think of. They seem to have tried experimenting with electronics on their second album, like every other hard rock-ish band does, and they do it so poorly that, like I said, it's laughable. It seems forced. Like they're saying "LOOK! WE ARE EXPERIMENTAL NOW! LIKE WILCO! ONLY WILCO IS ACTUALLY GOOD!" I don't know who told you these guys are good but they were sorely mistaken.

They Might Be Giants
I can only handle so much of this band. I think I have a copy of "Flood" and a copy of "Apollo 18" somewhere...both have been listened to maybe once since I got them. I just get sick of the whole "OMG we are so weird and geeky" vibe. And now they write children's albums, interspersed with uninspired, same-y releases that just retread old ground.

SNMNMNM
You know, based on reading the AMG description of this band, I would assume it was basically the same as They Might Be Giants. Which would make me groan. And it did. Lo and behold, they DO sound exactly like They Might Be Giants. Their vocalist even sounds exactly the same as a Flood-era John Linnell. So much for that then. Next.

Carbon Leaf
If I wanted to listen to Celtic-influenced rock, I'd go listen to "Rum, Sodomy & The Lash". Next.

Blue Man Group
Gimmicky. Very, very gimmicky. I mean, granted, their music is cool in a kind of "look what we can do with a bunch of shit we had in our garage" way, but it gets old fast. That and I have problems with people who completely sell their sound and image to Intel. That rubs me the wrong way on a few levels.

The Unicorns
I like The Unicorns. I really do. But, again, I tire of them easily. The whole "lo-fi for the sake of sounding like we recorded our entire album in the back of a U-Haul" really does get old. It's good to see they abandoned it a bit with Islands, in lieu of some actual production values, but it doesn't change the fact that in my opinion, The Unicorns had very little longevity. They don't hold up nowadays, I don't think.

Snow Patrol
Another post-Blur britpop band. I think by the time I'd had enough of Coldplay (which was about 45 seconds into the first time I heard "Yellow") I was done with britpop entirely. Snow Patrol has maybe one or two solid tracks, and the rest is primarily disposable. We really don't need any more of these bands, United Kingdom. Can you stop sending them to us? Thanks.

Marilyn Manson
Here's the thing about Marilyn Manson. He's a brilliant man. He knows exactly what he can do to provoke people, and he does it well. He knows that there will be people who see the humour in his stage getups, and there will be others who don't, and still others who are uptight enough to get offended by it. Similarily, he knows that as long as he keeps doing whatever he wants and saying whatever he wants, people will still care about Marilyn Manson. However, he pretty much sucks at setting all of these antics to music. Marilyn Manson, as a band, has released maybe one good album ("Antichrist Superstar"), and it wasn't even that great. His vocals are, at best, horrible. The musicians he works with seem adept at trying very hard to sound like Nine Inch Nails, but don't have a clue when it comes to sounding good.
To be fair, there was room for Manson's attention whoring in the 90s, after grunge died and the rock world was stagnant and uninteresting thanks to the whole "punk revival" thing. Enter: Manson, who fucks everybody's shit up nicely, and things get moderately interesting again. Still though...his music is pretty much unforgivable.

[Spoon Poetic]

What's wrong with Celtic/Celtic influenced stuff? I'm Irish, ya know... *sniff*

[Heccubus]

What's wrong with Celtic/Celtic influenced stuff? I'm Irish, ya know... *sniff*

That doesn't mean everyone has to like it.

[J m HofMarN]

Check out the Red Elvises. They're a surf rock group from Siberia. And if you think that's enough to make fun of them than check out "boogie on the beach" or "my love is killing me" they're actually remarkably decent.

[Zewb]

I enjoy Dream Theater's music. They try new things, they're definitely skilled, and unlike most metal bands, the lead singer can actually sing. Plus, they show an apparent appreciation for classical music.

[natalie]

i am now loving classical music with a twist.

[Wayne]

tortoise? king tubby?

[Icey]

The Bad Plus
Gackt
Tom Waitts
Beasty Boys