Recommend me some brit rock

[poly800rock]

  Double D said:

Where the fuck were you in 1994? I haven't bought the NME since about 2001, but I'm sure there's an old copy kicking around somewhere.

I'm not contesting that the British music scene kicks ass, but the 'indie' scene at the present moment is doing nothing but pissing on the gravestones of the late 70s/early 80s New York and London scenes. At the moment the other side of the Atlantic is slaying the Brit scene, though with DFA1979 and Q & Not U broken up I'm left clinging to Minus The Bear, The Shins, The Decemberists and Interpol for any faith in that scene.

With the exception of Radiohead, who aren't exactly 'indie' anyhow, I'm at a loss to think of one surviving Brit band who can touch the early 90s or mid 80s indie/alt scenes.

Q & not U were a fucking joke after the first album...

[Astérix]

Well England, if its any consolation, I hate The Strokes more than Bloc Party. Also, when the fuck did we date? Damn ruphies...

[Servo2000]

  itsmeJT said:

I don't think British Indie and American Indie are even comparable. Especially the bands you mentioned. They do not fall in the confines of my definition of Indie.

I don't think many of their bands resemble the sound of British Indie bands. I've heard few bands successfully sound like 'The Libertines' (maybe 'The Strokes') and because of that I believe American Indie to be mostly inferior.

I'm rather of the opinion that both of those bands are literally horrible, but obviously that's a difference in taste. I wouldn't say that DFA1979 make "soppy emotional tunes" by any means, although technically they're broken up so I wouldn't call them a part of the "the scene" anymore.

I don't really understand this talk about scenes for that matter either. I'm not sure one could really say that there is an american indie "scene," more like a lot of american bands playing music on independent labels, or with an independent "sound," depending on your definition of indie. Someone would have to give me some examples of bands that fall into said scene.

[cultpop 0217]

  Servo2000 said:

I'm rather of the opinion that both of those bands are literally horrible, but obviously that's a difference in taste. I wouldn't say that DFA1979 make "soppy emotional tunes" by any means, although technically they're broken up so I wouldn't call them a part of the "the scene" anymore.

I don't really understand this talk about scenes for that matter either. I'm not sure one could really say that there is an american indie "scene," more like a lot of american bands playing music on independent labels, or with an independent "sound," depending on your definition of indie. Someone would have to give me some examples of bands that fall into said scene.

dfa 1979 were actually from toronto. canada is kicking ass actually (dfa, metric, unicorns, islands, arcade fire...)

carry on...

[likewtfyo]

Arcade Fire is totally a must. Guillemots?

[Aeros]

First of all I agree that British music is far superior to American music, whether it is mainstream music or indie music, but to say that Death Cab for Cutie sucks is simply naive.

Hell if you want to talk about lyrics then certainly Ben Gibbard has to be considered one of the better lyricists in the past 5 years.

Listen Death Cab isn't my favorite band, although I still enjoy them, there is no way that they can be considered terrible unless you are too ignorant to give them a try, because you have passed them up as "emo bullshit" without even listening to one of their albums.

[Brienneoftarth]

I agree with the above, but only in the past few years, the US has and still does churn out alot of great indie music, and Im a huge fan of uk bands. That said, yes, I agree. Im sick of quirky douchebags making shit music. also, The bravery dont even count as a band.

[Brienneoftarth]

also should mention that the stone roses debut is the best album ever made and nobody here put the happy mondays down!

[Double D]

  cultpop 0217 said:

dfa 1979 were actually from toronto. canada is kicking ass actually (dfa, metric, unicorns, islands, arcade fire...)

carry on...

Damn, I forgot The Unicorns. Since when did Canada start producing great bands?

[Double D]

  itsmeJT said:

I don't think many of their bands resemble the sound of British Indie bands. I've heard few bands successfully sound like 'The Libertines' (maybe 'The Strokes') and because of that I believe American Indie to be mostly inferior.

Asides from the Libertines postdating the Strokes, I'd just like to point out that both bands have more to do with wholeheartedly ripping off the sound and fashion of the New York and London scenes of the late 70s and early 80s than 'indie', a genre name that can be traced pretty directly to independent label British bands of the mid-80s, the NME and the C86 compilation.

[Guest itsmeJT]

  Double D said:

Asides from the Libertines postdating the Strokes, I'd just like to point out that both bands have more to do with wholeheartedly ripping off the sound and fashion of the New York and London scenes of the late 70s and early 80s than 'indie', a genre name that can be traced pretty directly to independent label British bands of the mid-80s, the NME and the C86 compilation.

The Libertines were around before The Strokes debuted their album but nobody would sign them till after The Strokes made garage rock trendy.

and yes perhaps indie is a misnomer, it means something different today than what it once did

with regards to today's bands looking back for inspiration again i'll say 'what does it matter' as long as the music is good, it's a good thing.

[Double D]

  itsmeJT said:

with regards to today's bands looking back for inspiration again i'll say 'what does it matter' as long as the music is good, it's a good thing.

Well, if you ask me it sounds more like 'pissing on the gravestones of' rather than 'inspired by'.

Then again, not much sounds original in a musical era that has seen bands like Botch and Converge shove guitar music pretty much as far as it can go. Even the ex-Botch projects Minus the Bear and These Arms are Snakes aren't exactly pushing the fold to the same degree.

[Aeros]

BTW, I love this thread. Any intelligent conversation about good music makes me happy. This is yet another reason why this forum rocks.

[englandmj7]

  Astérix said:

Well England, if its any consolation, I hate The Strokes more than Bloc Party. Also, when the fuck did we date? Damn ruphies...

It was Wednesday night at Chad's house. Last I remember you were drinking a Roofie-Colada.

[RobbertJan]

edit: meant for double d^So you'd say the Rolling Stones suck,cause they played r&b and they were heavily inspired it....

i don't see how having a sort of similar sound to good music makes something bad music immediately. As long as your not literaly stealing riffs from other bands it's ok. And I think of the bands mentioned the Libertines are not just an indie band or whatever you want to call it, it's in my opinion one of the best bands ever. The drug problems now with Peter are unfortunate and a total bore but the Libertines were genuine great artists. They gave music it's passion back and inspired pretty much every band from Britain after that. They were a unique band that had many sides, they released about 6 albums full of material for free on the internet and delivered two brilliant studio albums. I think Legs 11 from back in 2000 is them at their pinnacle. There live performances were a bit hit & miss maybe at the beginning, but always unpredictable and when on form some of their performances are among the best ever. It's a shame that they had to break up over stupid drugs and problems.

I like the Strokes too, though they are a lot less diverse in comparison with the Libertines. And Bloc Party are great live! Saw them in 2005 in Paradiso, great performance.

Anyway it seems like we're having a generation clash here, people like me in their late teens now and they 20somethings who were into all the stuff back in 1990. Could be completely wrong on this but that's what i thought reading through this thread.

[Brienneoftarth]

I really think its generational. If i was 17 and completely ignorant (not meant in a bad way) of all the music that these guys are copying/borrowing from/emulating then I would see them alot differently than some one older.

[Double D]

I wouldn't say it's entirely generational. I'm only 21, but I had pretty much every definitive indie record after 1994 when it came out and bought most of the worthwhile 80s stuff when I was 16-17. Then again such obsessiveness is supposed to be my perogative being as I'm doing a BA in music right now.

[Brienneoftarth]

yeah but having all the albums from a time is never the same as actually being around during that time, knowing the little things about a band etc, ie: who listened to them and what was the general opinion about them etc....research on a band usually leads to music journalism which tends not to be so reliable.

[andewhall]

  Downwithianbrown said:

also should mention that the stone roses debut is the best album ever made and nobody here put the happy mondays down!

In total agreement......fat neck, its gotta be a looooose fit......

[Decades]

  itsmeJT said:

The Rifles

The Rakes

Babyshambles

The View

The Noisettes

The Kooks

Arctic Monkeys

The Holloways

The Paddingtons

Razorlight

Hot Club de Paris

Kaiser Chiefs

Franz Ferdinand

The Libertines

Dirty Pretty Things

The Dykeenies

The Phoenix Drive

Ladyfuzz

The Enemy

Editors

Nine Black Alps

The Fratellis

Hard-Fi

Bloc Party

The Futureheads

Britain have all the best Indie bands whereas America is quite simply awful at Indie music.

America churns out sub-par garbage like 'The Killers', 'Metric', 'Paramore', 'Black Rebel Motorcycle Club', 'The Bravery', 'Clap Your Hands Say Yeah', 'Death Cab For Cutie' and 'Be Your Own Pet,' they're all fucking awful.

They all try to sound different. It seems each crappy American band that finds it's way onto our shores puts more effort into maintaining an image than into creating good music.

Your average American band tries to pass themselves off as some 'wacky freaky different shit' e.g that dickhead from 'We Are Scientists' whose full time job it is to look like some geek. If it's not that then there's the other side of that spectrum with 'Black Rebel Motorcycle Club' actually thinking they're rebels by acting like spoilt brats when they go to award ceremonies.

British artists don't rely on gimmicks, they produce songs that rely on actually having good lyrics. American bands seem to only have two settings, emotional drivel or sounding wacky and unusual.

The archetypal American Indie band puts more emphasis in literally trying to sound different as possible. Whereas British Indie bands define Indie more as 'Doing It Yourself', being different from mainstream pop and rap than from eachother.

*edited some grammatical mistakes

I'm sure this has been pointed out but how exactly are any of those "awful American indie bands" you listed indie? And how can you make the assumption that there aren't American D.I.Y. bands? It seems as though all you have seen is what is presented in mainstream media and have made generalizations based on that.

[darkanimal]

The Bogans

The Trouts

The Fish and Cheaps

[cheapmuthafukr]

^^the fish and cheaps are fucking amazing!!!

here's my list:

nick drake

buzzcocks

gang of four

joy division

smiths

blue mondays

stone roses

libertines

the eat-a-dicks

[Icarus]

  itsmeJT said:

The Rifles

The Rakes

Babyshambles

The View

The Noisettes

The Kooks

Arctic Monkeys

The Holloways

The Paddingtons

Razorlight

Hot Club de Paris

Kaiser Chiefs

Franz Ferdinand

The Libertines

Dirty Pretty Things

The Dykeenies

The Phoenix Drive

Ladyfuzz

The Enemy

Editors

Nine Black Alps

The Fratellis

Hard-Fi

Bloc Party

The Futureheads

Britain have all the best Indie bands whereas America is quite simply awful at Indie music.

I'm going to go ahead and say that, along with the American "indie" bands you've listed, those bands are trash. I'm going to go so far as to say almost every featured "up and coming" british "indie" band is watered-down, over-produced, crapulescence. NME is a publication that has besmirched its name for far too long by pushing crap like Bloc Party and Editors where it used to push the Fall. Truthfully, these bands listed above have spawned a grotesque British (many American bands are guilty of this same crime, but on a less prevalent level)"indie" culture and sound that entirely wrecks the concept of indie as meaning "independent." This is my personal feeling on the matter, and is certainly nothing but a subjective opinion. But, we can't go passing around opinions on the state of "indie" music when the frame is completely warped, now, can we?

[mixedup]

  Icarus said:

Anything off of Sarah Records.

someone has taste.

btw, good shoes are fantastic!

[mixedup]

  andewhall said:

In total agreement......fat neck, its gotta be a looooose fit......

yessssssssss! thinkin' & sleeping & smokin' & whorin' ooooohhhoooohooooooh oh does it ever get boring...

[jwied82]

  cultpop 0217 said:

canada is kicking ass actually (dfa, metric, unicorns, islands, arcade fire...)

carry on...

don't forget... Broken Social Scene, Stars, New Pornographers, Wolf Parade...

Canada has been kicking ass music-wise.

And, my all-time favorite lyricist (Leonard Cohen) is Canadian

[Guest itsmeJT]

  Decades said:

I'm sure this has been pointed out but how exactly are any of those "awful American indie bands" you listed indie? And how can you make the assumption that there aren't American D.I.Y. bands? It seems as though all you have seen is what is presented in mainstream media and have made generalizations based on that.

Wikipedia and allmusic list all those bands as indie rock. I don't think any of them deserve the title.

I've listened and seen every band I've talked about, it's why I felt they were good examples to use in the first place. The main point is that I don't like the music they create and I think it is utterly inferior to the Indie coming from Britain.

  Icarus said:

I'm going to go ahead and say that, along with the American "indie" bands you've listed, those bands are trash. I'm going to go so far as to say almost every featured "up and coming" british "indie" band is watered-down, over-produced, crapulescence. NME is a publication that has besmirched its name for far too long by pushing crap like Bloc Party and Editors where it used to push the Fall. Truthfully, these bands listed above have spawned a grotesque British (many American bands are guilty of this same crime, but on a less prevalent level)"indie" culture and sound that entirely wrecks the concept of indie as meaning "independent." This is my personal feeling on the matter, and is certainly nothing but a subjective opinion. But, we can't go passing around opinions on the state of "indie" music when the frame is completely warped, now, can we?

I love the music and the culture and I don't care if and how a 'concept' has suffered, it's trivial.

In regards to the list I wasn't using all of those as examples of why indie is the best, that list was referring to a question by servo2000. I don't think the last four bands listed are good.

You haven't really given any reasons for why you feel that way and your generalisation are stupid and I doubt you've listened to many of the bands I've listed except the bigger names like 'Bloc Party' and 'The Kooks'. While some of the bands like 'Editors' have significant production there are bands there that don't e.g 'The Libertines'.

Not that it even matters.

[Carl]

  jwied82 said:

don't forget... Broken Social Scene, Stars, New Pornographers, Wolf Parade...

Canada has been kicking ass music-wise.

And, my all-time favorite lyricist (Leonard Cohen) is Canadian

And the Contstantines!

Everyone forgets the best new band of the last few years came out of Canada! One more badass record and "Indie Canon" here they come.

And i must agree fully, Canada, when it comes to "Indepedent Label Rock 'N' Roll", has been the best thing all of music has had to offer recently.

[Indifferent]

  sycamore no more said:

I already mentioned it.

My bad. You also mentioned The Chameleons and Gang of Four, props!

[BOORADLEY]

i dont really want to start or add to some musical taste arguments but i dont think its fair at all to start listing completely garbage canadian and american "indie" bands. metric and the killers?! wow. anyways in my opinion it has to do with where you live. i mean ill admit it, its a fucking EFFORT for me to find and track down good brit indie bands (which i think is the purpose of this thread right?). so how can brits go and say yeah we are better blah blah blah when its *apparent *(as far as i know since you listed some pretty popular non-indie bands... you could very well know what you are talking about) that you dont know what you are talking about.

not saying just saying....

anyways some north of the border talents. wolfparade, swan lake, sunset rubdown, destroyer, frog eyes, etc. and yeah someone mentioned cohen before.

besides. who the fuck cares. good music is good music.