What have Nick Cave, Julian Cope, Billy Bragg, Gary Numan, Shane McGowan, Stuart Adamson, Paul Weller, Neil Finn, Prince, Thurston Moore, Kate Bush, Madonna and Michael Jackson got in common?

They would all have been in the same school year. The school year runs from
September to August for birthdays, all these artists were born between September 1957 and August 1958.

Would have been an excellent school band :)

Off music and film topics. Bit of an incident yesterday. Was traveling on the bus listening to the Adam and Joe podcast when out of my window I saw a man kneeling down on a womans arms holding here down. Initially I thought she was drunk and he was subduing her. Then he lifted her face and planted punch upon punch onto her face. A fellow traveller pushed the stop button and me and another traveller followed him off the bus. We confronted the assailant and his friend and they scarpered. Police were called etc. I feel so bad I should have realised what was going on and stopped it prior to her assault. So angry with myself. Sorry fellow Word readers.

Thanks to hearing the Penguin Cafe track "Landau" on the latest Word cd I purchased the album on iTunes tonight. It's really, really lovely. That is all. :)

I recently purchased a best of 10cc compilation as I knew a few of their tracks (I was born in 78) so they were not on my radar time-wise. On the back of the cd it states their Uk chart positions (10 top tens of which 3 were number one). Has there ever been a band who were so successful who have slipped from the radar so completely? My peers in my office have barely heard of them. Any opinions? Any long time fans of the band out there in Wordland?

I know there is quite a number of football fans amongst the massive. What team to you support and what are your hopes/dreams for the new season?

Speaking as a Swansea City fan I believe that we will attain a comfortable mid-place position in the Championship and would like to see a long run in one of the cups.

What about yourselves?

I've been asked to dj on my sister in laws wedding - anyone with any tips to the best songs to play to get the party going? It's not a "serious music" crowd so Im looking for the obvious floor fillers. Thanks a lot.

I'm taking my step-daughter to Rome for a holiday on Friday, never been there before, any tips? I'm thinking of good restaurants, friendly bar (to watch the Italy vs New Zealand game) and (ahem) and decent record shops. Any tips on how not to get ripped off would be appreciated as well. Ta massive chaps and chapesses.

We all have albums that we love probably more than we should, probably more than they derserve. Not the greatest albums ever, nonetheless albums we happily return to. No reasons need to be given, no background stories. Name 3. For me:-
The Blue Aeroplanes - Swagger
Shack -HMS Fable
King Creosote - Bombshell.

And the massive?

I've been working through my iTunes to see who are my most played bands/artists. Transferring info to excel, lots of inserting and deleting has brought me to my top 20.
20. Wire 19. Fall 18. Nick Lowe 17. Prince 16. Van Morrison 15.Nick Cave 14. Elvis Costello 13. Go-Betweens 12. Smiths 11. Bowie 10. The Men They Couldnt Hang 9. Billy Bragg 8. Squeeze 7. XTC 6. Alarm 5. Madness 4. HJH 3. Robert Pollard 2. R.E.M. 1. Guided By Voices.

Suprising list, I would never have guessed that was my "top 20".

This is a plea to the Beatles listening massive. I have read/heard many, many times that The Beatles sang in American accents. Could you please point me in the direction of obvious American diction in their songs? Ta chaps/chapesses.

I've just joined my local library which has a cd section. Picked up Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets. Hear of it but never heard it before. I've been playing it whilst cooking this evening - it sounds bloody great. Where has this album been all my life? Can anyone recommend any more Eno? I wouldn't know where to start. Ta, Massive.

I've just bought an i-phone and am looking for advice for good apps to download. Any suggestions? Doesn't have to be music based. Ta.

NME's top 100 tracks of the decade has been announced. I'm suprised that i've got 47 of those songs on my i-pod, much more than I would have expected.

List of 100 below.

Last year the winner of the noxious X-Factor Alexandra Burke released a version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallellujah”. This release for me was a bit of a double-edged sword. On one side it was great to see a great song reach a larger audience, making the writer a few bob in the bargain. However the other selfish part of me feels like “we” lost the song to the general music public. So I was wondering which previously chart-free songwriter may be lucky this year. Will Simon Cowell thrust Richard Thompson’s “The Great Valerio” onto Radio 1 listeners’ eardrums? Will Cheryl Cole enjoy one of her young charges singing “Time” by Tom Waits or “The French Inhaler” by Warren Zevon. So Posse, which song would you love or hate this years X-Factor winner to perform? Don’t forget its bound to be this years Xmas No.1. Let’s make it a good one eh?

Tonight I will commence the playing of my Christmas i-pod playlist. Too early you say? Let me explain. My father started this tradition with my family. We would come back from the neighbourhood bonfire/fireworks party and he would drag out his Nat King Cole and Andy Williams Christmas lp’s and the whole family would sit, listen and enjoy. Sadly my father passed away when I was 15, but I always remember this part of his personality with huge joy and continued his Bonfire night tradition when I had a family. Even though my daughter is now 17, she asked me this morning “Christmas songs start tonight then.” So be as cynical as you like there is one 38 year old Welshman who will hoist a glass to his father whilst Nat begins to sing “Chesnuts roasting on an open fire....” tonight. Happy Christmas to all the posse.