I’d like to propose some middle way between the hyperbolic pre and post-Interpol worlds way of thinking and the Julian’s dismissal of them.

Initially, my way of thinking was closer to Julian’s. I was disgusted that anyone would take the Joy Division’s look and sound and try to reduce to a mere style and shtick. Whether you liked Joy Division or not, their music and lives – especially Ian Curtis’s – were manifestly not merely a style or a shtick. They were a hard-won reaction to grimy surroundings and to deep, personal sadness.

However, once I got over that initial reaction I came to grudgingly actually like Interpol for a couple of reasons: 1) Say what you will, but their music is exceedingly well made. I think there is significantly greater attention to detail and craftsmanship in their productions than in those of the million or so other bands doing stuff “in the same ball park”. 2) Times change. What was unaffected, hard-won experience in one generation may be reinvented as a glam-rock style in the next. That doesn’t mean that the second incarnation is bad. There’s a certain amount of warped genius in taking the Joy Division sound and combining it with a certain look and lifestyle to make it something totally different than was originally intended.

I don’t remember who these guys are right now.

But another professor I had was very fond of his short stories. To each his own. Some people actually find female comedians funny, too.

I read “Farewell to Arms” but didn’t much care for it–”For Whom the Bell Tolls” on the other hand, struck me as a very good book.

That’s a little much. I’ll be surprised if anyone remembers who these guys were in 5 years.