From Viceland.com: a list of “seminal” and “irrelevant” bands — hilarious, unapologetically politically incorrect (as is the rest of the site — don’t read if you’re easily offended), totally off-base, and they name-check my favorite Swans:
808 State, Big Black, Swans… they look great on a T-shirt, but if that was the only CD you had to listen to on your next bus trip you’d go “aw, fuck!” and stare out the window thinking to yourself “fuuuuuck!”
I love the Swans too, but I was listening to the Greed / Holy Money CD while driving down from Davis to San Francisco and pretty much thinking the same thing. (And as much as I love Merzbow… god, I need a break every now and then though. Maybe put on some James Taylor or something.)