In this occasional column, The Enthusiast investigates cultural phenomena that valiantly resist being a source of ironic pastiche. First up: jazz-fusion vocal quartet, The Manhattan Transfer.

Good Charlotte found fame by lambasting ungrateful celebrities. Then Joel Madden starting dating and impregnating them. We ask him about any possible hypocrisies in 'Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous'.

DMC Grandmaster Roc Raida was a gentleman, a showman, and a man who could do amazing things with two turntables and a crossfader. But his unexpected death was the result of his devotion to MMA.

It took one fan's medical malady to gross out the most notorious and explicitly gory death metal band of all time: Cannibal Corpse.

Six decades since the birth of rock, we ask Monster Magnet's cosmic overlord Dave Wyndorf where riffs come from… and whether there really are any new riffs in the world.

Rappers love similes like Joanie loves Chachi. In a bonus stupid question, we ask MCs Pressure, Bliss and Ozi Batla about their favourite rap similes.

According to charts and ticket sales, Australian hip-hop has finally come of age. The Enthusiast asks current luminaries Hilltop Hoods, the Herd and Bliss N Eso, are sales a reflection of higher quality?

It's hard to look like a hard man in plasticky pleather, but that's the look tough metalcore straight edgers Earth Crisis tried out in 2000. We finally get to ask them why.

The Cure's 'Close To Me' has been sampled beyond recognition since its release in 1985, even by the band themselves. So why is Lady Sovereign getting so much shit for 'So Human'?