I like music, but I have the rather curious attitude that all different types of music are all more or less the same thing. This results in an eclectic CD collection. Because I'm not spending the rest of my life typing, I have narrowed my selection to these:

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Nine Inch Nails

You have to respect a guy for whom the name "Trent Reznor" just isn't rock 'n' roll enough. Not Mr. Reznor. He has to go and call himself Nine Inch Nails.

He's been making gothic-industrial-keyboard-punk albums for YEARS now, and they just keep getting better. One of his latest albums, called Year Zero is a bit weird, because it's a concept album about a dystopian future, etc. However, the one before that, With Teeth, rocks like a rocking thing. He registered his annoyance with his record company by offering his entire new album as a free download from his site: The Slip

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Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash is dead now. It wasn't always like this though. He has been playing Country & Western (wait, wait, it's not like that!) music for forty years now, and his last two albums are fantastic. Let's face it - it's the voice. His last album (called Cash: American Recordings IV) has a fantastic cover of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus". It's worth it for that alone. He seems to have a knack of turning the most harmless love song and infusing it with a sinister element of menace... oh never mind.

A movie about his life story, "Walk The Line", was very watchable, but sadly eclipsed by the Oscar for Jaime Foxx's admittedly wonderful performance in "Ray".

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Tom Waits

I like Tom Waits because he can be connected to every other musician or actor in the world in six steps or less. This is a game I've been playing on every board on which I post, and no one's stumped me yet (except for the man known as "Basilides", whose suggestion "Mo Kin" hath stumped us all). Have a go. Email me the name of any actor or musician in the world. Be amazed.

His latest album is called Real Gone and amounts to the usual degree of clattering and banging in an effort to find a smoky beat and a gravelly, world-weary life lesson.

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Neil Young

If there was a medal for consistency, then surely Neil Young would be in contention. Since 1969, he's been kicking out at least one album every two years of top quality rock music. Except for the ones where he decides that Country & Western has come back into fashion. And that really weird one called Trans where he just goes completely nuts and pretends to be Kraftwerk. Thankfully in latter days he has decided to stick with what he does best - long sprawling rock epics of loud guitar noise.

Update April 2009: He's released his new album, Fork in the Road. The entire album - all the songs - are about him driving around in his car. There is also something of an ecological message. However, it totally rocks. It's loud and electric-guitary and it's right up there with the best of his 70s work. Very impressive. If you have any respect for rock music, go buy it. It's great.

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Orbital

Orbital are two brothers called Phil and Paul Hartnoll. As with most dance groups, their stock and trade is electronic beeps, whistles and bangs, arranged in simple melodies and put to a thumping drum 'n' bass backbeat. For some reason, they seem to do it better than most. Given the short attention span of your average raver, the idea of a career in this type of music is problematic at best, but Orbital have managed it. Their last album is called Blue Album, because of the tendency of their fans to refer to their albums by the colour of the sleeve rather than the actual name, but I still prefer Insides (a.k.a. the yellow album).

Their site completely rocks, being extremely well-maintained, with much of their back catalogue and live work available for download. Check out the fake advertisements they made for the Altogether DVD. Very amusing. They say they've finished, and that the Blue album is their last, but I suspect they may be fibbing.

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Rammstein

Rammstein are a loud German band. They record most of their songs in German, but have recorded one song in Spanish, and have used English and Russian in other songs. It doesn't matter though, because once they take off, it's just a big wall of noise, and eventually the rhythm is going to get you.

Their stage shows are always spectacular, and they have been known to set themselves on fire, shoot themselves out of cannons, etc. And, unlike other bands, the on-stage theatrics are equal to the task set by the music.

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Daft Punk

These two French DJs make interesting electronic bleeps and whistles over old Barry Manilow records and then sell them to the masses. It's great dance music, if you're into that sort of thing. No one really knows what they look like, as they are only prepared to appear in public wearing those robot helmets. Why, even now, one of them could be standing right next to you. Oh yes.

Their new album is called Daft Punk Alive 2007 and is a chronicle of their latest tour set, which was first unveiled at Coachella in California in 2006. No one really knew what to make of it, because it took their well-known singles and mushed them all up into a sort of crazy dance techno casserole. I have it on constant rotation in my car.

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