What about the walkman?

The soundtrack that follows you?

Why do we love music that is loveless. The ballad, that is one thing -- or is that the difficult thing to understand? To sing about a quest, to listen to a song about something romantic, something worth dying for -- that requires an intense belief. Act of faith, commitment. Is that the unusual, unnatural thing?

Think of all those old Bowie songs. Is there the sound of love in Aimee Mann? Mebbe, or mebbe it's just crabby, pinched bitterness and cynicism wrapped in pop.