For what it’s worth, I repeat that I agree that Complicated and Sk8er Boi are decent tracks if you’re in the mood for insubstantial pop-punk, but I don’t like them enough to buy her album. And I just don’t buy singles - I’ve always felt that albums are simply much better value and more satisfying than even the catchiest single. [For what it's worth, see the end of this comment for a listing of my entire singles collection.]

I certainly can’t criticise Dan too harshly for his musical tastes, since goodness knows I’ve bought some commercial rubbish over the years. Once upon a time, many moons ago, I bought the Kids From Fame albums. Yes, both of them… I even own an MC Hammer album! (And now that I’ve committed this post to the web Google will grab it and I’ll never live it down!)

OK. For the record, my singles collection consists of:

Prince’s Sexy MF. I didn’t know the album it came from was due for release within weeks of the single’s release and it’d been a while since his last album.I have no idea why I bought Pulp’s Help The Aged single, given that This Is Hardcore (which, incidentally, I liked a lot) was released not long after.Freddie Mercury’s duet with Montserrat Caballe on Barcelona was so barmy but brilliant that I just had to have a copy.En Vogue’s Free Your Mind was a sassy, classy mix of R&B and rock, but nothing else I’d heard of theirs grabbed me so I just bought the single and played it to death.

And that’s it. Unless my memory is playing tricks on me. (But then, what could my subconscious possibly be trying to hide from me, given that it’s already permitted me to admit to buying The Kids from Fame … Again?)

You’re right, though. I can’t stand the spelling of Sk8er Boi either.