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It is somewhat implicitly assumed that gender equality is a pre-condition for a better society. Although I am behind this idea, I never thought about the "why" question behind this. I am sure this is the topics of many dissertations and books. What occurred to me as I listened to my best alternative rock playlist in my mp3 player, that the quality of the music -as far as I can judge- is highly correlated with the gender equality in a band. All of my favorite rock bands have at least a single woman member: Kim Gordon - Sonic Youth (Bass) Maureen "Moe" Tucker - The Velvet Underground (Drums) Kim Deal - Pixies (Bass) Bilinda Butcher - My Bloody Valentine (Guitars/Vocals) Debbie Googe - My Bloody Valentine (Bass) By the way, you know where gender inequality leads. Spice Girls.

80s are known for bad music, bad hair and bad clothes. Although I agree on the last two, I think the alternative music scene, especially in UK, was extremely productive, innovative and good. Being a categories guy, here are my top 5 Alternative Rock Albums from the 80s, without any particular order. Daydream Nation - 1988 - Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were influenced by the works of the avant garde composer Glenn Branca. Their early work were a little too noisy even for the alternative music scene. They found the perfect balance between being avant garde and being easily enjoyed in this album. Teenage Riot, Eric's Trip, Providence, and Triology are my favorite. Treasure - 1984 - Cocteau Twins Elisabet Fraiser's -one who sang Massive Atack's Teardrop- nearly unintelligible yet magical singing mixes with ethereal guitars of Robin Guthrie, to give the music of Cocteau Twins a dreamlike tone. This record is much harder than their other works, and reminds me slightly of Bauhaus. Ivo...

My Bloody Valentine, the big guns of shoegazing are on tour after 15 years of hiatus. This is their performance from Fuji festival in Japan of their song To Here Knows When, from Tremolo EP, one of my favorites. They are on tour, however following the festival season they will be doing US gigs mainly. So unfortunately it is highly unlikely that I will loose my self among guitars listening to You Made Me Realize...