Michael With aging rock musicians, it's a bit of a mixed bag: Paul McCartney, for example, is a bit of a joke. Well, according to my personal theory, the face-lifted vegetarian was always an empty shell, and only John Lennon was the genius behind the Beatles. Cheap Trick? They were good until the end. Mick Jagger? Well, he's okay. Pink Floyd? So-so. The Who? They're alright. And where the hell is Udo Lindenberg? Recently, I saw "Up" by Peter Gabriel on the shelf. Not bad at all for the old chap.

In comparison, it becomes increasingly clear to me how good the music of some carefully selected new bands is these days. A few years ago, the music scene was stagnant. Then suddenly, people like Limp Bizkit came along and turned everything upside down. Nowadays, they are hated in the scene, but I still listen to them. Eminem! An annoying young man, just to my taste. And the Foo Fighters! Recently, I returned to a classic that was released a few years ago: "There Is Nothing Left to Lose" — the album of the month! Whenever I hear "Generator," I want to blast it across the whole city, turning it up so loud that it can be heard all the way to PacBell Stadium.

The new record "One by One" is not for the faint-hearted, because apart from the ballad "Tired," it really rocks. Except for the rather flat opening track, the complex music reminds me a bit of REM. It's best to imagine the band in a tiny club, playing in front of 50 people, where you stumbled in by chance.

By the way, even the definitely sixty-year-old David Letterman (America's Harald Schmidt) is a fan of this band. Another time, I will discuss the phenomenon that in the USA, quite unlike in Germany, even elderly people still wear sneakers and listen to records from rock bands.

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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Lanai
  	Oahu
  	Top product: "Maui Babe"
  	The Mysterous Game of Baseball
  	How we make such great pictures
  	Elections in America
  	Bush vs. Schröder