L.A. alt weekly L.A. Weekly, who is known to put together some of these “Worst … Ever” lists, just piled together their 20 Worst Hipster Bands countdown. Their thesis:
On its surface hipsterdom seems to be an individuality-grab, but most of today’s 20 and 30-something bands from Silver Lake and Williamsburg sound shockingly similar. They’re all playing variations of retro garage and soul music — or bringing glockenspiels and choirs on incestuous nationwide tours — all the while clad in vintage garb likely infested with lice. We’re not saying that they should be outlawed by, like, Congress or something. Just that they should be avoided.
(via LA Weekly)
The list:
20 The Black Keys
19 TV On The Radio
18 Sleigh Bells
17 fun.
16 MGMT
15 Death Cab For Cutie
14 Wavves
13 The Decemberists
12 Pomplamoose
11 Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros
10 White Rabbits
09 Beach House
08 The Airborne Toxic Event
07 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
06 Beirut
05 Grizzly Bear
04 Bright Eyes
03 Arcade Fire
02 tUnE-yArDs
01 Bon Iver
View the paper’s breakdowns here.
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>Yawn<
L.A. Weakly
you guys have to report on this – the saga of the Flaming Lips’ “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” continues…remember that whole beef with Badu thing?
http://pitchfork.com/news/47636-watch-the-nsfw-video-for-flaming-lips-and-amanda-palmers-the-first-time-ever-i-saw-your-face/
Was their criteria ‘good bands that are popular amongst people who like music’? Because that seems to work for most bands on the list.
I think they probably just went through Pitchfork’s end of year lists, listened to one song, googled a picture and bang – ‘controversial’ ‘article’ in 10 easy minutes.
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I hate you.
Give this man the prize
This is..stupid
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Are they just upset that no one cares about Incubus and 311 anymore?
and yellowcard LOL
311…Wut?
SUBLIME WITH ROME
Worst Hipster go-to jokes:
1. 311
Best Stereogum go-to jokes:
1. 311
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I saw a number of bands I enjoyed on the list and figured it would interesting to hear a different perspective on them, but that was exceptionally poorly written.
They were just fishin’ four some clicks y’all. And it’s funny because some of these bands (fun.) aren’t even for hipsters. Nice try, L.A. Weekly.
yeah, i’ve heard three of these bands in hot topic so i think they’re disqualified.
i apologize for being in a hot topic.
It’s good to see LA Weekly really going for the gold there.
I suppose the author of the LA Weekly article is a fan of the likes of Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift. I prefer real musicians who can actually perform well live and sound like themselves without lipsynching and endless technological “help”. You know, like the ones on this list.
Like MGMT playing to backing tracks on their laptops?
According to NPR Taylor Swift is punk now, so maybe she should be in this list
“YOU’RE THE SONIC EQUIVALENT OF A OF AN EMPTY CANVAS TOTEBAG”- What I said out loud while reading the list on the phone next to my dad.
You’re right, L.A. Weekly, I should have been more dismissive from the get-go.
This is the most desperate cry for clicks I’ve ever seen in my life. Tons of great bands on here. Tons of stupidly written reasons why they aren’t great by the LA weekly. The whole thing is a sensational mess. Moving on….
I watched fun. on TV the other night and got the strongest urge to punch a lead singer in the face since the first time I saw a Buckcherry music video.
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I am absolutely pro-gay rights, I am a true supporter of any minority’s righs, but that doesn’t mean I have to like ALL the gay people in the world, does it?
Don’t worry, Anna…it’s not you. Jordy’s pretty notorious for posting ignorant broad stroke bullshit on this site. She’s kinda dumb.
no no, it just means that you have to like fun. you have no choice, so start listening.
Ah, the good ol’ days… Back when fun. was unknown and not terrible…
Jordy, that’s something a hipster would say.
I LVOE THE COCAINE I LVOE THE COCAINE
Extreme trolling for clicks on LA Weekly’s part.
seems like an April fool’s day joke
Side note, under the Bon Iver part, he discusses that music was better when “they humped strangers in club bathrooms in adolescent indiscretion”. Maybe this hack should stop listening to Bon Iver and Beirut and go pick up a Ke$ha album…
Yeah, or they should just stop contradicting themselves cus on their 20 worst bands ever they had Sex Pistols top 3. The Pistols might not have been humping strangers in bathrooms (just doing drugs w. them and cutting their own winkies), but they kind of embody the whole rock star nihilism thing LA Geekly’s putting on a pedestal in the Bon Iver part, though I actually agreed mostly with the Bon Iver blurb.
Another funny point is how they left off hipster-heralded (but what is a hipster even) AnCo which was in the top 5 of their worst ever bands list. They missed an opportunity to rip into how the new album hz. to listen to and how their latest video reveals that their circus act has been a jest the whole time. Even if I’d have disagreed with it cus the new album KICKS!
Any time I see the word “hipster” used as baseless derision, it makes me want to write a thesis paper on how the word doesn’t mean anything anymore and how it’s just a catch-all for something you don’t like.
Seasame Street is hipster.
Ah, I take that last bit back; I love Sesame Street.
Right, Sesame Street is fine. Elmo is a hipster douche.
I feel it is an appropriate time to repost this image
For what they deem a scene of shockingly similar-sounding bands, they’ve assembled a pretty varied-sounding list.
EXACTLY
I’m not even going to give them the satisfaction of a page view.
nothing about this makes sense.
Is a “hipster” someone who is actually in-the-know, or just someone who lives in a trendy area?
Based on this list, “hipster” is defined by the latter statement. Several of these bands (specifically, fun. ;MGMT; Death Cab For Cutie; Arcade Fire.) are not exactly cool anymore, though I’d wager a guess that the young parents in SIlver Lake and Wiliamsburg still sing along…and their kids will grow up thinking “Kids” is in fact, about kids. haha.
I think Arcade Fire is still cool :(
i think you’re still cool
I realize that I should just shrug this off as a totally subjective and downright ignorant list, but it’s really getting to me. It’s just insulting to music culture. It reminds me of an article published in Men’s Fitness where a writer went around Comic-Con and insulted cosplayers who had some weight issues.
If you don’t like specific music, shut the fuck up and don’t write stupid lists about it.
The whole thing was written to get a rise out of people, the writer him/herself probably doesn’t even believe half the shit written in the article. Seems odd to get worked up about something like that.
Yeah, you’re right about that. It does come across as an insincere sort of “shock” piece, and I definitely shouldn’t be as annoyed about it as I am.
Just felt compelled to get some steam out.
I like a lot of these bands…
Also, there are a bunch that are just “alt-rock” for the mainstream.
I’m confused and I don’t appreciate that.
yeah.. bands like black keys, MGMT, fun., Death Cab are all pretty much pop acts, just not plugged with as much corporate sludge, hardly the “underground music” “hipsters” listen to. Its easy to see that hipster is a term that has come to refer to just the aesthetics of music, but its so inconsistent relative and generic that no one actually knows what theyre talking about, so instead people like LA Weekly just look like idiots making a random list that means nothing
What hipster listens to fun. or airborne toxic event? Don’t secretaries listen to fun.? Isn’t your older brother who loved Candlebox into Airborne Toxic Event?
Pomplamoose? L.A. Weekly has crossed the line.
Seriously. I was at a total loss with that one. A couple people who figured out how to go completely around the system and make a living creating music that is only distributed through YouTube and iTunes. Not much need for hate there, methinks (I’m sure somebody will disagree, though).
Also since when is The Black Keys a “hipster” band? These guys are about as commercial as they come now (which isn’t a bad thing).
Nothing says “hipster” like selling out Madison Square Garden.
Hence LCD Soundsystem.
The Black Keys
fun.
MGMT
Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros
The Airborne Toxic Event
The above bands are about as “hipster” as an Axe body spraying, Bud Light drinking, Goldman Sachs employee going to church in a Lincon Naivigator before voting republican in time to watch the Kardashians show with his secretly gay son who’s scared dad will kill him with his gun collection if he finds out.
So your point is they aren’t very hipster?
“sound shockingly similar”
Sleigh Bells – Arcade Fire
MGMT – tUnE-yArDs
Wavves – Beirut
TVOTR – Bright Eyes
Yeah…
hahaha, you’re so damn right.
this guy forgot to write his weekly article and by the time he realized, he only have five minutes to do so. then suddenly he came up with this shit because they were playing the black keys somewhere.
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HAHAHAHAHA Chill… This isn’t Corban’s list. This is a list created by some underpaid chump at LA Weekly in order to rack up page clicks. Corban is a cool dude leave him out of it!
I got your back Corban.
THANK U BASED SLOTH
Did you seriously not read “LA Weekly’s” in the title?
U’re $toopid!
Right, they’re too cool to like hipster stuff. Everybody’s into that shit now, it’s totally over.
Oh, please.
They should change their name to LA WEAKLY!!!!! lololololololololololoolol right?
Donnytilla is gonna be PISSED when he gets here.
yeah anybody who can claim that bon iver sounds like tune-yards sounds like black keys sounds like tv on the radio etc etc….fucking idiots.
AWESOME!!!!!!!
amm.. you’re reading the wrong article.. sorry.
At least they’re getting page views, which is unusual for this terrible ‘magazine.’ The word ‘hipster’ apparently means someone who listens to the same music as everyone else…?
I find it amusing that first it’s said, “they all sound the same,” and then to explain what “the same” means, the author throws out a bunch of heterogeneous descriptions: “retro garage”; “soul music”; “glockenspiels and choirs.” Because those things all sound the same!
Yeah, fucking TV on the Radio, a bunch of Beach House wannabes. And don’t get me started on The Airborne Toxic Event, or as I call them, Bon Iver.
I’m guessing that’s the result of different word jockeys commissioned to write different patches of the piece and the introduction writer wasn’t really sure what the overall theme/message was supposed to be because they just wanted to do something provocative and easy (“HIPSTERS! Am I RIGHT?!?”)
But even within their own blurbs it’s confusing. They equate fun. with Arcade Fire, Death Cab with Weezer, Beach House with Massive Attack and Stereolab. It’s all so… huh?
I’ll never understand the point of provoking people at an attempt of being edgy and counter-counter-cultural. Other than pageviews.
One thing I will agree on, after seeing the People’s List on Pitchfork, is that we’ve arrived at too much of a critical canon. It’s important to have outliers, experimenters, freaks and weirdos.
Thanks for giving words to my thoughts exactly regarding the People’s List. However, it’s really amusing that this LA Weekly list does absolutely nothing to illustrate that point.
It’s not that there is a canon- there are just some albums that more people own and like- how the ‘Fork really screwed up with that dumb list is that they could have easily listed the top 2000 albums and had comments from lot’s of number 1s from people that weren’t in the top 200- we all could have reflected on a bunch of albums many of us have forgotten. In one fell swoop they could have had there own little IMDB for albums of the last 15 years- and then they could have run like a Baseball Reference ELO to fine tune it- that would have been fun. Instead they hit the lowest common denominator of the most albums that are generally well regarded, but not anything polarizing or maybe a little bit out there. However, that list wasn’t really that bad relative to Pitchfork’s yearly list of top [novelty] tracks that would become embarrassing mix tapes in 10 months.
But does that make Is This It, Funeral, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy bad albums? I agree with you that their songs list is terrible usually.
I’d argue that those three albums are undeserving of the canonization they’ve received. Hell, Is This It isn’t even the best Strokes album. And MBDTF, for a “perfect” album, sure has a lot of skippable moments.
Ooh, some downvotes. Please, someone, tell me why I’m wrong.
The main thing I got from the People’s List is that lots of people seem to think Radiohead are the second coming of Christ. Radiohead are a prime example IMO of a band that is vastly overrated while still being quite good.
To be honest, if Jesus came back singing Street Spirit I’d probably convert.
What if Justin Hawkins came back singing “Street Spirit”?
Why are you trying to hurt me so?
Before anyone gets me wrong; they’re a great band, but OK Computer, Kid A and In Rainbows 1, 2 & 6? Amnesiac in the top 20 albums of the last 15 years? Seriously?
Well Ok Computer and Kid A are phenomenal albums. And In Rainbows is chock full of beautiful, great song toos. It’s not that surprising that they’re rated so highly. Amnesica is good, but you’re probably right, they’re are certainly 20 albums better than it.
fun. are hipsters? I thought they were just cunts?
Take that, fun.! No, but seriously, fuck those guys.
For better art criticism from Los Angeles, I recommend LA Canvas. A free monthly mag with good taste and a nice aesthetic.
Hey, wait. That resembles my music collection! Am I a hipster now?
No Bon Iver, though. I must be safe!
They never made a “20 worst weekly magazines” list because they were sure to hit the jackpot!
Beach House is #9 and Tune-Yards is #2…Thanks for reminding me how utterly ignorant you are, L.A. Weekly.
tune-yards should be the only band on the list
The argument in their thesis does contain a shred of truth, but then they picked 20 of the most popular distinctive sounding bands. yup.
Now you’ve upset Bowie…
And who the hell is Pomplamoose?
oh, you have to be a ‘hipster’ to know that…
I’m pretty sure the writers were just taking the piss out of us, but a lot of what they said could probably be true. However, when they mentioned Beach House, “As Linda Richman might say, they’re neither about beaches nor house music.” That was pretty hilarious.
Jeeesus!!! I’m not a hipster! That’s the fault of my ears… Those capricious bitches are always trying to embarrass me! I attempt sometimes to convince them: “Can’t you just settle for something popular, something bland and inoffensive like Miley Cyrus or Jonas Brothers?” But they constantly act like bloody beatnicks under influence. They love those songs where there’s no chorus to hum in unison, those bands with badly dressed people who sing occasionally out of tune but always with the spirit of adventure! One day, I will cut off those misbelievers and throw them inside the eternal flames of a Virgin Megastore….
Hey LA Weakly intern blogger,
Feel free to leave Los Angeles today. None of us lice infested lemmings will do a thing to stop you. Return post-haste to Brooklyn where reducing the residents to worn-out cliches might still get you a chuckle, instead of the middle finger in your face that you are getting here right now.
One cannot be considered a writer of integrity when the entire premise of your article is rooted in the prejudicial stereotyping of a person based upon the way they dress. These times call for higher standards, get them or get out. The LA Weekly has become a trash rag.
Radio Free Indie
“Hey, I like this song,” I said to my wife. “Is this Bright Eyes or Sleigh Bells?”
Hipster 1: “OMG I love Death Cab! That song “Gangsta” is totes the best!” Hipster 2: “Actually, that song is by Tune-Yards, not Death Cab.” Hipster 1: “Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?” She screamed, as her PBR came crashing down on the floor of her Williamsburg loft. Inconsolable, she cleaned up the mess, humming her favorite Wavves song “The Sound of Setting” amidst sobs of embarrassment.
I like most of these bands, but this article is actually pretty funny. What’s funnier is that the list has sent fans alike into complete outrage. Yes, LA Weekly is s hit-whore, but it’s got people talkin.
Struggling though to see how Spin Doctors made the Top 20 Worst of all Time
Does this mean I’m a hipster?
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Instantly putting the two big name grammy indie acts (AF and Bon Iver) in the top 3 shows they just picked the most visible/recognizable bands they could think of regardless of how “hipster” or bad they are, especially considering AF hasn’t been hip in almost a decade now. Also, black keys, fun, TATE, Edward Sharpe, and MGMT are reviled/despised by most hipsters I’d say.
I’m not being ironic here, I really want to know who they think is good.
Never mind, I answered my own question. Here’s an article about loving Avril Lavigne:
http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2011/09/fuck_guilty_pleasures.php
I can’t tell if their actually being serious with that section though. If you look at the rest of the articles, they defend Nicki Minaj and say Sugar Ray’s “Every Morning” is deep. So that may or may not be a section full of jerking off.
Just someone tell me, what the hell is a hipster?
I’m guilty of passing that title on to someone before and this was my understanding of it at the time:
it’s some one who
1. regurgitates the wikipedia entries they studied the night before in order to appear cultured to anyone they talk to
2. is a highbrow snob. they enjoy the “finer” things in life and look down on you if you don’t know about them or don’t enjoy them
3. has to be ahead of the curve. “oh thats old news”
4. Calls other people hipsters in some shoddy attempt to distance themselves from the title. “you like ____ because its trendy. I, however, like ____ for the right reasons.”
Now, i thought these rules applied to anyone, whether they listened exclusively to R&B or Punk doesn’t make a difference. The hipster titled used to umbrella music, fashion, literature, movies, etc. never made sense to me.
Really though the entire thing is ridiculous. “they” statements are made to describe people who make us feel inferior. It seems really “hip” these days to call people hipsters.
It’s also seems to be many other things, such as the cafe you go to, the neighborhood you live in, the diet you have… The word hipster has stopped existing to me because it seems to be everything now.
It’s also seems to be many other things, such as the cafe you go to, the neighborhood you live in, the diet you have… The word hipster has stopped existing to me because it seems to be everything now.
Based on most of these my 55 yr old republican stepfather is a hipster. This reads more like the overgeneralized stereotype of what people think ‘hipsters’ are. Lot of different type of people can be highbrow snobs.
hmm, then I guess they would be pseudo highbrow snobs? mionno. labeling people doesn’t work to anyones advantage. i guess that was just a list of pet-peeves.
Yeah that’s what I thought. The term as I understood it a few years ago applied to certain types of highbrow snobs, but more specific stereotypes started developing as to what these people were into, then it started applying to many more things than music or art and now it’s totally meaningless. It can’t even be said to be a simple stereotype because what it applies to is so vague.
Beach House should not be on this list. I can see no connection between their music and retro garage or soul music. There is no band around today that sounds like them as far as I know. They have made some of the most beautiful music I ever heard, along with being humble good people who do not rip off their fans or sell out.
could say the same about Grizzly Bear.
Technically Grizzly Bear does- Knife could easily be a motown song in the 60s and they did a cover of The Crystals “He Hit Me.” The arrival of Dan Rossen definitely sent the band into a more folky musical direction than soul, but I think the influence is still down there somewhere. Regardless, I don’t think that author knows or cares enough about Grizzly Bear to consider my argument about what genres they fit into.
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no, you don’t like beach house
Absolutely agree. Love Beach House and they should be given immunity along with half the others on the list.
And people are hired to write this shit. Waste of money and time. Why does it matter what-so-ever if someone tours with glockenspiels and choirs, they can tour with a pink dragon for all I care.
If my band didn’t make the list, does it mean we’re still in the club?
I cannot believe no one has made a “Bon Iver should be higher” joke. I guess that one is over?
The only thing these acts have in common is the mean-spirited stereotype of their fan bases. ‘Hipster’ is exclusively used now to insult people based on what they wear and what they listen to, regardless of the type of person they may or may not be. Not sure when that became a funny joke to make.
This stuff gets under my skin.
Worst Ever Journalism List.
2. Fox.
1. L.A. Weekly.
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Can anyone direct me to some good glockenspiel music?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE1HkkARinY
But I’m afraid to tell you: it’s swedish hipster shit…
finally Bon Iver at the top of a list where he belongs.
What hipster wrote the list??
LA Weekly and NME should have a ‘list off’ to determine who gets to cement their legacy as the kings of making lists of no consequence on the blogosphere.
That does it… Hell in a Cell. Right now, LA Weekly. You can pick the special guest referee, I don’t care.
I feel like those of us who comment things like ‘I don’t even know what a hipster is.’ Or ‘What is a hipster, anyway?’ Or ‘Hipster is so over-utilized as to have rendered it completely meaningless.’ are totally hipsters. Oh yeah, and pretending to have like 75% of these bands second albums also puts you into the category.
‘liked’, I meant.
Exactly. But that’s the thing though, people who are hipsters generally don’t believe they are guilty of being one. Its all part of their psychology, hipsters don’t want to be seen as conformists, yet society has easily been able to classify them as there is conformity in hipsterdom. Alot of it. And they can’t stand the fact that society has been able to reduce down their entire meticulously overwrought persona with just one word, because it is like looking at their own hypocrisy in a way, so they deny it. And just because some people misuse the word “hipster” doesn’t mean that hipsters don’t exist. That’s some awful logic right there.
I’m a hipster, does that make me not-a-hipster?
You say “they’ve” been easily classified but only 1 or 2 acts on this list are really at all alike. Too much is lumped into the label, and at some point it does start losing its meaning. This rant proves the mean-spirited nature of its usage, too. No one’s saying hipsters don’t exist, but someone is going to be defensive if 20 bands they like are on a list like this.
Let’s just be honest and embrace the term 10 years later. We’re all fucking hipsters. Including you, eldave.
No, no, no, lil, you’re totally right. I’ve been a hipster for at least two years. And I really wanted to be a hipster for like 20 before that. I’ve had the great mustache and everything. I think that we have all made a lifestyle choice and that choice (the defining, unifying quality of those hipsters in the cartoon above) is to sit in judgment at the throne of “life”. We all judge with the fear of being judged, so we have created some false alternative in which no one is righteous enough to judge us because we have really put concentrated thought into every aspect of our personhood. This is why hipsterdom is sooooo difficult to i.d. via physical manifestations. The true mark of the hipster is hidden under the messy-on-purpose hairdo. It’s not wrong to be a hipster, which is the core of the issue, here. People don’t scorn hipsters because they are thoughtful. It’s the pretense that proves irksome. Liking something because you have discovered a true value in it despite the consensus doesn’t make you wrong. But pretending to like every Animal Collective album more than the next guy does make you wrong (and a giant asshole whose opinion/perspective/original angle is rendered completely invalid by your own selfish desire to love just one fucking thing more than anyone else. Because let’s face it, at the root of every cynical asshole is just a little guy like me who has a lot of love to give.).
Because gifs and memes are original..
which “el” are you again?
Fair enough, I just wanted to point out that an easy addition to any hipster pre-req list would be “has a Stereogum username and frequents the comment section.”
Not so loud! They’ll hear you!
Some people aren’t making a choice to be a certain way. Some people just like what they like. And I think those are the people (like me) who don’t think this list is funny. Your definition is all over the place. People who need to like something more than other people are not inherently hipster. Same with the “throne of life” comment. Again, these are overgeneralized stereotypes of what MTV says a hipster is. I love every band on this list and I would like to think I’m not like that.
UM EXCEPT FUN.
this isn’t about who is a hipster… it’s about the fact that the ‘list’ is totally fucked up.
What a great way to boost Grizzly Bear sales!
At some point the world is going to have to accept that the Black Keys have transcended “hipster” status. They are just a big, famous rock band at this point. Similarly, Death Cab has been a pop radio hit for 10 years and Arcade Fire won album of the year at the friggin’ Grammy’s. These are not “hipster” bands, it’s just what current music sounds like, accessible by any one with access to FM radio.
hmmm, i don’t like maybe 5 of the bands on this list, but i don’t consider any of these ‘hipster’ because ‘hipsters’ only listen to things in an ironic sense don’t they? like bad hip-hop, yacht rock, and hair metal where i’m sitting. soo…what does this article achieve? nothing.
This was really just a sequel to their other 20 worst bands list, they just added the “hipster” part to make it more, um, hip.
i have read LA Weekly for most of my life and 99.99% of the time i highly value their opinion this is that moment that i and just extremely disappointed by them
This list makes me want to drink a PBR.
was this list written exclusively for stereogum commenters to ridicule?
this is so ridiculous! maybe LA weekly are bieber fans, screw them!
Bands on this list that actually sound similar:
MAYBE and I mean MAYBE Bright Eyes and The Decemberists.
That’s really it.
Also, if you clicked the link in the article to their other worst-of lists, you would’ve been directed to a “Top 20 Worst Bands” list, which included;
The Raconteurs
Oasis
Fleet Foxes
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Pearl Jam
Animal Collective
The Sex Pistols (are you kidding me? I don’t even like punk and this is ridiculous)
LCD Soundsystem
So apparently, “Californication,” “Vs.” and “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?” don’t compare to legendary albums like “Chocolate Starfish” by Limp Bizkit or “Human Clay” by Creed.
I didn’t read it yet, but HOW ON EARTH IS ANIMAL COLLECTIVE NOT THERE?
Not that it matters, these lists are wretched. Like not “everyone has their own opinion you’re not gonna agree with everything”, but just “these are trash lists.”
Ok, I tried to read a couple of those lists but it’s maybe the worst attempt at pointlessly baiting people I’ve ever read on the hallowed, pointless halls of the internet. It doesn’t even make me want to read on to be outraged it just makes me neverwant to ever read anything from that publication again.
Sorry but who the heck is the Airborne Toxic Event? Am I that out-of-touch?
This is almost as weird as their Top 20 Worst Bands Ever list (which included LCD Soundsystem, Sex Pistols, Fleet Foxes, RHCP, and Pearl Jam – among others).
Don’t be sorry, they’re not really indie or anything. Still not bad, though.
I really don’t understand this stupid list. Are they saying these band suck? Or are they just being ironic? When did fun. become hipster? Should I be listening to them???? SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!!
in my examination ‘hipster bands’ is not what the list is really about. what they’re getting at is the bands most pumped up by phonies, not hipsters.
it’s sort of a ‘I listen to (insert list band) because I think it gets me indie/hipster ‘cred’ but I probably wouldn’t like it other than the fact that some obscure blog/website/friend touted it and I have trouble forming an original opinion on anything’ list.
shocked that dirty projectors and grimes aren’t on this.
and no, lowercase isn’t hipster, it’s just lazy right now.
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What this list should be called is “20 bands someone on our staff doesn’t like and we need to fill up space. Also, some of them might have popularity that outweighs their relevance or ability.” But AT LEAST half this bands are perfectly legitimate, and while I’m neutral about the label ‘hipster’ label, Airborne Toxic Event DOES NOT fit that category. I won’t even start into these writers’ completely made-up notions of what rock and roll is “supposed to be”. It comes across only as aging Gen-Xers prattling on about how music was so much better back in the day.
For some of the bands, they actually make good points (not going to say which ones, but describing Pitchfork as the ‘hipster gestapo’ sounds pretty dead-on). What this article should say is something I’ve felt for a long time: recording shitty music in lo-fi doesn’t make it not shitty. That is all.
god this list is stupid
LA Weekly’s 20 Worst Hipster Bloggers
It’s so ironic that this is a list a bunch of holier than thou hipsters would come up with. Although I don’t consider half of these “hipster bands” I mean, some of them have won Gramys and had number 1 albums.
I think I will check a few of these bands out, if they are like the other bands on the list.
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The strange thing about Justin Vernon’s vocals (Bon Iver) is that he released about 100 songs prior to Bon Iver where he NEVER sand in falsetto. I’m not sure why he went that route with Bon Iver, but I’m hoping he mixes it up more in the future.
He’s got a great voice all round. I think the falsetto works for the songs he’s done so far as Bon Iver but he’s got a great, soulful lower register too.
OK, this can’t be serious, right? I mean, I just went and looked at their ’20 Worst Band of All-Time’ and there’s no way they could expect ANYONE to believe that was a serious list.
When did my dad start writing for LA Weekly?
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I was doing a bit of nostalgia-surfing yesterday and was looking at Vampire Weekend’s “Band to Watch” article from 2007, someone commented on the same page in 2008 talking about the backlash against VW at the time, and there was a reply:
“Dave | Posted on Nov 23rd, 2008
Of course there is. This is stereogum. Its fashionable at the moment, give it time i’m pretty sure Justin Vernon will be seen as the spawn of satan…”
True wisdom there from Dave. There does seem to be a bit of a 4 year cycle or so through hype, back-lash and then eventually acceptance.
fun..wait…fun…no wait…fun..a hipster band…has anyone from LA weekly ever seen a hipster?
everyone should just into emo now
what?? the guy who wrote this must spend his time listening to britney spears or her nanny dusty records. stupid jaundiced bastard, he probably doesn’t fit in any music festival.
Makes me so glad I stopped reading the Weekly a long time ago, and yet still ashamed to be an L.A. resident.
lost me at “The guitar-and-drums ‘blues’ punk combo thing wasn’t very good even when The White Stripes did it.”
I didn’t read the entire thing, I couldn’t be bothered. But it seems weird they’ve assumed the same detached, ironic self-awareness that they appear to criticise.
I can agree to some extent. Except about Grizzly Bear, Arcade Fire, The Black Keys, Beach House, The Decemberists, Wavves, Tune-Yards, eh.. the whole list blows. Fuck them.
I’d like to see the list of the best 20 hipster bands.
Well if there’s an article to say Sleigh Bells are a crappy band for hipsters, though the rest is pretty good, I’m in.
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Author Ben Westhoff’s most recent published book is on Southern Hip-Hop. He’s breaking the first rule of writing: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW. Also, the second rule of writing: Become a tax salesman before you sell out so thoroughly that you have resorted to compiling shitty shock-value lists from mostly OTHER online writers that only matter if they cause a stir. We’re laughing at you, not with you.
It’s reaally easy to criticize.