How do you monitor startup messages in Ubuntu?

[Alan Milnes]

Paul Johnson wrote:
> I feel uncomfortable that Ubuntu just shows a logo and a progress bar.
>  Sometimes, after a kernel upgrade or package install, it is important
> to read the startup messages to see if modules fail to load or such.
>   
On most Linux distros ESC will drop out of the hidden mode and let you 
see what is happening.  For some reason Ubuntu has disabled this option 
- perhpas they worry it will confuse new users if they accidentally hit 
ESC when booting.

Alan