User talk:Zmbro

Happy New Year!

Zmbro,
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia.
OrdinaryOtter (talk) 08:14, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

   Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:Happy New Year fireworks}} to user talk pages.

A tag has been placed on File:Elvis Costello and the Attractions 1979.jpg requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section F7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because it is a non-free file from a commercial source (e.g. Associated Press, Getty Images), where the file itself is not the subject of sourced commentary. If you can explain why the file can be used under the non-free content guidelines, please add the appropriate non-free use tag and rationale.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines.  ${\displaystyle 999}$REAL 💬 ⬆   19:51, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Your good article nomination of the article Load (album) is under review. See the review page for more information. This may take up to 7 days; feel free to contact the reviewer with any questions you might have. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of SignedInteger -- SignedInteger (talk) 14:05, 8 January 2026 (UTC)

Your decision to revert was good, not sure if you're aware but these edits come from an LTA who has been blocked several times. They have a bunch of technical tells (which is why I know that was them) but their general preoccupation is insisting on vandalizing the term "neo-Nazi" into articles with 0 sources, often of random CEOs and celebrities they don't like, then concern trolling about it when confronted.

Going forward, just revert them for block evasion, debate is useless. No matter what source you bring up, they aren't satisfied, they will misrepresent sources, then admit it don't say this, and then when you call them out will imply you're whitewashing secret neo-Nazi cabals. They have been doing this for several months, and may continue targeting the Bowie page. Just wanted to make you aware. PARAKANYAA (talk) 17:14, 8 January 2026 (UTC)

PARAKANYAA I appreciate the heads up. The only reason I didn't revert to begin with was that I neglected to see the original revert, and no one had reverted the post I responded to by the time I replied (thinking it was real). I'll keep an eye out for the future and not waste my time with this shit. Thanks! – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 17:16, 8 January 2026 (UTC)

Your good article nomination of the article Load (album) has passed; congratulations! See the review page for more information. If the article is eligible to appear in the "Did you know" section of the Main Page, you can nominate it within the next seven days. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of SignedInteger -- SignedInteger (talk) 02:26, 9 January 2026 (UTC)

Your good article nomination of the article Reload (Metallica album) is under review. See the review page for more information. This may take up to 7 days; feel free to contact the reviewer with any questions you might have. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of SignedInteger -- SignedInteger (talk) 02:44, 9 January 2026 (UTC)

Your good article nomination of the article Reload (Metallica album) has passed; congratulations! See the review page for more information. If the article is eligible to appear in the "Did you know" section of the Main Page, you can nominate it within the next seven days. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of SignedInteger -- SignedInteger (talk) 04:43, 9 January 2026 (UTC)

Hello there. This is a courtesy notification to let you know that I've just blanked-and-redirected the articles "Sense of Doubt" and "Neuköln" to "Heroes" (album), since neither song seemed to have any significant coverage outside of mentions in Bowie biographies or coverage about "Heroes". As the person who got the album to GA, you are likely the editor with the most knowledge about whether this sort of significant coverage does exist at all for these songs; if so, feel free to reverts these BLARs. Leafy46 (talk) 21:24, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

Your good article nomination of the article Hallo Spaceboy is under review. See the review page for more information. This may take up to 7 days; feel free to contact the reviewer with any questions you might have. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of Ceoil -- Ceoil (talk) 21:46, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for all of your wonderful work - it was such a delightful brightness to see Ziggy Stardust on main page today. You rock. Netherzone (talk) 01:46, 30 January 2026 (UTC)

Quick facts

story · music · places

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Thank you today for Life on Mars?, "about... David Bowie's 1971 masterpiece "Life on Mars?". Take two, electric boogaloo. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:40, 30 January 2026 (UTC)

Thank you both so much! Appreciate the kind words :-) – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 17:08, 1 February 2026 (UTC)

On 5 February 2026, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Load (album), which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the cover artworks for Metallica's Load and Reload were created by mixing blood with semen and urine, respectively? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Reload (Metallica album). You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Load (album)), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to nominate it.

		Hook update
		Your hook reached 18,894 views (787.2 per hour), making it one of the most viewed hooks of February 2026 – nice work!

GalliumBot (talk • contribs) (he/it) 03:27, 6 February 2026 (UTC)

JuniperChill (talk) 00:07, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

On 5 February 2026, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Reload (Metallica album), which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the cover artworks for Metallica's Load and Reload were created by mixing blood with semen and urine, respectively? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Reload (Metallica album). You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Reload (Metallica album)), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to nominate it.

JuniperChill (talk) 00:07, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

Hello, I'm Qwerfjkl (bot). I have automatically detected that this edit performed by you, on the page Wild Life (Wings album), may have introduced referencing errors. They are as follows:

• A URL error. References show this error when one of the URL-containing parameters contains an invalid URL. Please edit the article to add the valid URL. (Fix | Ask for help)

Please check this page and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can report it to my operator. Thanks, Qwerfjkl (bot) (talk) 00:52, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

Your good article nomination of the article Hallo Spaceboy has passed; congratulations! See the review page for more information. If the article is eligible to appear in the "Did you know" section of the Main Page, you can nominate it within the next seven days. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of Ceoil -- Ceoil (talk) 00:09, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

Hi, zmbro. I'm just posting to let you know that List of songs recorded by the Smiths – a list that you have been heavily involved with – has been chosen to appear on the Main Page as Today's featured list for March 18, 2026. The TFL blurb can be seen here. If you have any thoughts on the selection, please post them on my talk page or at TFL talk. --PresN 02:48, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for your work on Elvis Costello. I agree that it is not GA status (yet.)

His appearances on Saturday Night Live were mentioned in three places. This seems unnecessary. I merged them.

Bob Dylan has a Featured Article, and rightly. Without GAs are those who followed in his happy wake: Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits and Elvis Costello. One thing at a time...

I love this quote, on the influences of Armed Forces: "If you're sitting in a station wagon driving from Atlanta to Madison, Wisconsin and listening to Bowie's Low and Heroes and Iggy Pop's The Idiot and ABBA's Greatest Hits over and over again, that's the kind of record you'll make!" Hollis Hurlbut (talk) 02:49, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

Hollis Hurlbut These things take time. I still have a bunch of work to do at David Bowie (already an FA) to bring that article up to modern standards. Problem is, I have other hobbies that gets in the way of WP, as well as other projects and the like. For the future, do NOT nominate articles for GA (and especially FA) unless you've reviewed the GA criteria. Costello's article should have been a given: dozens of uncited paragraphs, a refs needed tag, and improper sources. For example, the wiki fan site is not a reliable source (which you cited in this edit). Furthermore, in this edit, you did not provide enough info (see Template:Cite comic). And that only covers sources; Costello's article needs much more on prose writing, musical influences, his jumping from genre to genre, and songwriting style to be even close to GA, but I think it's doable, especially while he's still alive. – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 18:20, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

Strunk and White write "If those who have studied the art of writing are in accord on any one point, it is this: the surest way to arouse and hold the reader’s attention is by being specific, definite, and concrete." I have tried to that. There was mention of the Byrds influencing Costello's interest in country music. The album was Sweetheart of the Rodeo. I added it. I have tried to say more with less, as brevity is the soul of wit (the character who says that, Polonius, is long-winded, so that was a joke on Shakespeare's part. Never mind.) I also added quotes around Bowie's "Heroes" (I heard Philip Glass's "Heroes" symphony on the radio this morning. Synchronicity?

I have not read Costello's Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink, though I want to. His songwriting is specific, definite and concrete. (I have read Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One. Well-written, but don't expect a lot of answers.)

The article is far from perfect but, as Lennon and McCartney said, getting better. Hollis Hurlbut (talk) 15:14, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

I do think the article is getting better. It used to say Costello "neither particularly liked or disliked Presley". I do not think someone who was ambivalent about Elvis would record King of America with two of Presley's sidemen.

I think detail is worth adding. I think it's notable that "Watching the Detectives" was inspired by The Clash's debut and by Bernard Herrmann's Hitchcock scores, as that shows Costello's eclectic affinities. Hollis Hurlbut (talk) 18:00, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

It is, but a few minor additions and copyedits will not make it a GA. The article still needs restructuring and an overhaul of sources (particularly in the 2000s era). I would like to see more analysis of his consistent genre-hopping and collaborations, as that feels particularly weak. – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 20:26, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Agreed, the more recent sections seem weaker. What structural changes do you recommend?

There was mention of him playing with Green Day. Interesting, I guess, but I'm not sure it's encyclopedically significant. Some things were mentioned redundantly, in many places, like R. White's "Secret Lemonade Drinker" ad. That seems important enough to mention once. Hollis Hurlbut (talk) 23:46, 18 March 2026 (UTC)