NME's 25 Bands Making America Cool Again
Wait, we stopped being cool? Regardless, NME's press release does a good job explaining the reasoning behind this list from their 8/2 issue, so I'm going to quote at length:
As the USA steals itself for a new president this year, it seems the country is also undergoing something of a musical revolution. In its latest issue "We [Love] USA" iconic British music magazine NME, celebrates the 25 American acts who are whipping up a storm on both sides of the Atlantic -- signalling the re-birth of the US music scene!Alex Miller, New Bands Editor for NME said: "Right now I can barely go a day without coming across a new genius band from the States. While the art scene of Brooklyn or the punks of LA are keeping the underground fascinating, the ceaseless ambitions of Lil Wayne and the Kings Of Leon are making the Chili Pepper and Fiddy Cent clichés of the mainstream redundant. If only it wasn't so bloody hard to get a green card!"
As you can tell by the cover, Vampire Weekend (just back from Cape Cod) are signaling the rebirth of the US music scene, as are the aforementioned Lil Wayne and Kings Of Leon. The rest:
01 Vampire Weekend
02 Lil Wayne
03 Glass Candy
04 Kings Of Leon
05 MGMT
06 Spank Rock
07 TV On The Radio
08 Boy Crisis
09 Black Kids
10 Holy Ghost Revival
11 The Hold Steady
12 Fleet Foxes
13 Amazing Baby
14 Jay Reatard
15 HEALTH
16 The Cool Kids
17 Black Lips
18 Yo Majesty
19 White Denim
20 Telepathe
21 Iglu and Hartly
22 Chester French
23 Girl Talk
24 TheDeathSet
25 Grace Jones
See, pugs or no pugs, Black Kids are still making America cool. And Fleet Foxes are making it happen even if some of our readers think they sound like other folks's folk. With a list of this sort, it's surprising No Age, Yeasayer, High Places, or the Vivian Girls didn't make a showing ... but Grace Jones did? Note: If I need Iglu and Hartly to make the US of A cool again, I'd rather be square. Get more info about the print version of the Americana issue here.
Posted at 4:00 PM by brandon
from number 12 down it's a great list of bands. but last time i checked England wasn't really the pinnacle of cool. north american bands own english bands.
Score = 6
Fuck Up American
Score = -23
actually i'm canadian, buddy.
Score = 17
I guess the key phrase here is 'whipping up a storm on both sides of the atlantic'. It's not necessarily the coolest 25 new bands in America (lil wayne is so not new or a band!) but rather the top 25 that are starting to break it (or could break it) in the UK. Explaining why the taste is so shit.
NME sucks. They gave UNKLE's debut album 6/10 and The Moon & Antarctica 7/10. FAIL! Can't we just ignore it already?
Score = 2
Yeah, that's way too high a rating for "The Moon & Antarctica." Douchebags.
Score = -7
Oh noes! We have a bad magazine... you have... no magazine of note.. oops. you lose (again)
Score = -5
Umm, I'm British.
Score = 1
Oh my....the British are so fucking annoying! We've had to put up with their awful brit po for years.....fuck them.
Score = -12
fuck you
Score = -6
haha HA!! Dont you know... Amerikkans are hated the world over?? if you think we're annoying you need to get out more.. your basis for comparison is obviously screwed
Score = 2
well, we our friendly people and dentists certainly make up for all our shitt bands. Anyways, with he tons of people in this country...not all our bands can be genius.
The British can be so smug sometimes
Score = -2
what the fuck did you say?
Score = -7
Craig Finn > Pete Doherty
Score = 6
Morrissey > Craig Finn
Score = 10
Wait...Pete Doherty's a musician?
Score = 0
Where's the Jonas Brothers?
Seriously though: no Grizzly Bear? They're Radiohead approved after all.
Score = 22
The British totally sniff their own farts!
Score = -9
Wow...if this magazine represents english people im glad to be american.
Score = 6
telepathe (no. 20) stunk up the free no age show at the seaport.
Score = 1
The British music scene has been stale for years. I think its humorous that Brits think that they are superior to Americans when it comes to music, particurly in regards to independent music. America has had way more of a positive influence on rock music this decade (disregarding American mainstream rock). Plus, the fact that they placed Vampire Weekend at the top with such obvious omissions proves that NME no longer has any idea what its talking about.
Score = 14
If the American version of NME issued a "Top 25 Bands Making England Cool Again" I couldn't even think of 10. Radiohead, Futureheads, Art Brut, uhh...
Score = 4
I'm proudly English and I would not have put many of those bands in my top 20 American bands. However theres just as many good English bands as there are American bands just no-one knows about them because no-one here seems to listen to anything that isn't in the charts. The Leeds music scene is absolutely fantastic at the moment. NME is crap as well the magazines need to take much more notice of the smaller bands.
Score = 10
fuck the lot of you - the nme is a bible and rocks in comparison to pitchfork a.k.a Black kids killers- as an English person living in America - you should be happy someone is giving your country a compliment.... oh and in the light of the recent economic nightmare that the usa are having right now....you yanks probably could not even afford to buy the NME..so sod off.
Score = -67
NME is the US magazine of music. if you want to see what pete doherty was doing over the weekend, then yeah its good. but if you care about real music journalism, then its a joke.
U.S. bands will always be better than the British. There's no way your country could produce individuals like Dylan.
Score = 0
no but we did have the Beatles and the rolling stones- heard of them?
Score = 5
Yeah, well where did they get their influences......ahhh ever heard of American blues and rock n roll???
Anyways, if you're trying to compare mick jagger and keith richards to Dylan your a fucking cunt. See, I used your language so you'd understand.
Score = 10
and where would “rock n roll” be without the influences of africa.. or ireland..or france..or italy etc. “rock n roll” is an arbitrary term used to describe a conglomeration of sound that was created through the cross pollination of many different cultures meeting in the same place - the USA. we’re all indebted to each other. quit being so divisive. borders only exist in your mind. BTW to make an argument that no other country could create a dylan or someone like dylan is just absurd. he is an original that could never be duplicated
Score = 23
"God gave rock n roll to you, gave rock n roll to you
Put it in the soul of everyone
God gave rock n roll to you, gave rock n roll to you
Save rock n roll for everyone"
*Close the thread, Jerry. We're done here.
Score = 3
you are seriously retarded!!!! rock n roll came from france and italy???!!! this whole thread is sad.
Score = -4
my point is that the immigrants that founded this country brought with them their own musical instruments and traditions. rock n roll came out of deep roots that sometimes get ignored. (hence the title rock and roll and not rhythm and blues). gospel, folk, country, jazz, and numerous other regional musical traditions that existed at the time contributed to what we know as rock and roll. all of those genres, in one way or another, borrow from the influences of their ancestors (yeah italy and france included). rock and roll came from a unique situation and i think the genre exemplifies what's beautiful about this country.
Score = 1
Hey! this is between the US and the UK... leave Africa, Ireland, and Italy out of this!
Score = 5
the UK sucks. you have writers op-edding in the NY times saying how we should all be afraid of terrorists coming to attack us in UFOs. go listen to oasis and sod off, buggeroo.
Score = -5
03 Glass Candy
08 Boy Crisis
10 Holy Ghost Revival
13 Amazing Baby
20 Telepathe
21 Iglu and Hartly
22 Chester French
25 Grace Jones
am i square for not knowing who any of the above are?
Score = 42
not necessarily square... just not very well informed
Score = -45
no. I just spent the last hour or so flipping around everyone of these bands sounds online, and the only thing worth checking out at all may be chester. maybe. MAYBE. Everything else is vastly overrated.
Score = 6
You spent a whole hour checking out all these bands? Thanks for your opinion, asshole.
Score = -16
Actually, the hour was just a general number, but it doesn't take 20 smells to tell you your shit stinks, and it doesn't take 20 in depth listens to fluffly indie "electro" bs to realize how shallow and vain it is.
Score = 7
Wow, negative six? Really? Harsh.
I guess if the hour you took to judge eight different artists was more approximate than exact, you don't deserve to be called an asshole. Your methods of criticism are totally appropriate and rational. If the music stinks, it doesn't take long to be able to tell. I apologize.
Of course, I judged you to be an asshole just about as quickly as you judged these bands to be shitty.
Score = 6
no. I just spent the last hour or so flipping around everyone of these bands sounds online, and the only thing worth checking out at all may be chester. maybe. MAYBE. Everything else is vastly overrated.
Score = 0
not telepathe, please
Score = 0
25 bands i dont care to listen to. and im american.
Score = 7
Black Keys? My Morning Jacket? The National? Pearl Jam? Oh, and the Killers of course.
Score = 7
Why isn't this article listed under "Shit List"…
Well, most of them are good, I guess.
Score = 1
weezy is not my president!
and grace jones? the black chick?
where the "F" is hercules & love affair?
Score = -4
i saw telepathe at the fader fort at sxsw this year. they are simply godawful. they just stand up there and sway their skinny bodies around and try to make singing o's over and over again sound like music. well, it's not.
Score = 3
"steals" itself?
Score = 4
The Hold Steady should be #1 on any list...........well, you know the english cant possibly understand why they are so good. they just couldn't get it.
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that's because they suck.
Score = 1
uh where the fuck is my morning jacket
Score = 7
As usual, mention Baltimore bands, ignore Baltimore scene.
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grace jones isn't american
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english bands all sound the same. arctic monkeys, kaiser chiefs, wombats, fratellis, mystery jets, libertines, oasis. all mediocre all interchangable. i can´t think of a truly great english album since closer. england always seems to take great american music and make it worse. thank god we have had the stooges, ny dolls, ramones, pixies, the strokes, and no age to remind the world what rock really is and rescue us from coldplay. and the national are definetly one of the best american bands around. oh and if it wasn´t for us they´d be speaking german.
Score = -1
the fratellis are scottish ya twat
Score = -3
please never again mention the strokes and no age with the stooges or the new york dolls, you idiot
Score = 0
instead of arguing, why dont we reccommend music to each other? i reccommend the stone roses for folk over the continant. late eighties band long since split, but some fantastic tunes and the guitarist and drummer are quality. playing stuff few have bettered to this day.
Score = 0
left out brand new and thrice, 2 best bands in america by far. oh but i guess theyr'e not "indie" enough for the NME.
Score = -27
actually it's because they suck
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SERIOUSLY?
Score = 2
o my, i really hope you're joking...if not, you fail
Score = 7
Actually Brand New really is probably in the top 10 best bands in the States. If you actually listened to them you might know that. Then again you probably still wouldn't.
Score = 0
why the fuck is grace jones on the list?
Score = 3
Black Kids might be one of the worst bands I've ever heard, and may be worse for America than Bush.
Score = 13
Oh oh I see. 25 Coolest bands besides Deerhunter and Dan Deacon, right? NME is starved for readers, but for a published periodical, can you blame them?
Score = 5
Martha's about to roll me a spliff and then we'll roll out and beat some Redcoat ass over this. Who's with me?
Score = 19
a haha thanks for the laugh, George. I get the feeling this list is half bands the author has discovered in the past 4 months or so, and half bands that they have a friend in and want to give them publicity, they can write stuff like that since no one in the UK will know the dif.
Score = 3
As a Brit (well Scottish) I can safely say NME's taste is awful. The soundalike indie bands they support are just awful. Pretty much all the music I listen to is not British. I'm sick of the lack of good British music these days, however, bands like Frightened Rabbit, Twilight Sad and Neon Neon are amazing. American bands seem to draw on numerous influences, yet every band the NME likes are Libertines knockoff, and considering the Libertines where nothing special, this is pretty sad. The best country for music? Canada..... the Canadian music scene is brilliant and knocks lumps out of both countries.
Score = 21
ugghh *reaches for chair
Having painfully read a few posts (more like 3 yr old cries for scene supremacy), it's obvious Americans are grossly unaware of lesser known British acts and profess that the entire country comprises of generic Arctic Monkeys imitations. Maybe on the surface level (charts anyone?), but at least British listeners are much more open-minded than their American counterparts.
As far as influences go, it's a give and take relationship between American and British music. Each side of the Atlantic listens and shoots back an interpretation of what's put out at the time. Resorting to this mudslinging only suggests we should all walk barefoot again, climb a tree and start flinging feces at each other.
Score = 5
"...we should all walk barefoot again, climb a tree and start flinging feces at each other."
you say that like we're not (ostensibly) already doing that now...
Score = 6
ok too many comments of people actually caring.. it's NME! Not even real musicians from the UK care about them!
Score = 13
Wow, no MY MORNING JACKET? wtf?
Or The National? Bon Iver?
The Brits are so repressed and clueless.....
Thank god for Radiohead though.
Score = 4
I like this NME cover, it reminds me of the poster for License to Drive with the Coreys.
Score = 3
Oh, I get it. At first I was confused, but then I realized that in the UK, "cool" is a derogatory term. In fact, in the UK they wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people!
Score = 6
There is SOME good stuff on there though. It's weird that the mainstream is only just now getting hip to Jay Reatard projects. Where the fuck were you guys five years ago?
Score = 1
New bands. That's why there isn't any Pearl Jam, My Morning Jacket or even The National but it's still missing Grizzly Bear who should be up there instead of Fleet Foxes in my opinion.
Score = 3
it's not just "new" bands.
i.e: the hold steady, tv on the radio, lil wayne, kings of leon...
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and.. uh... grace jones.
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Hey guys, I know you're having fun arguing and all that, but I just wanted to remind you:
Generalizations are fucking stupid.
Score = 3
WE. CREATED. ROCK. AND. ROLL.
/DISCUSSION
Score = 2
Thanks, UK. I feel better.
Score = 3
26. Golden Animals
http://www.myspace.com/goldenanimals
Score = 0
also, what about spoon?
Score = 5
"I'm afraid of Amerikkans"
Score = 3
nowhere in the list or magazine cover or anywhere does it say "New Artists" or else people like Lil Wayne wouldn't be on the list...so there is a few major flaws in this list
Score = 1
I honestly hadn't bothered to listen to much of this previously, and no wonder, most of these bands are goddamn terrible and overrated like xiu xiu. what is it about this, for lack of a better way to describe it, "kitschy" 80's inspired bs being so popular now? If you like these bands, fine, but don't pretend they are like the fucking beatles when it comes to uniqueness or being original. Whether it's "electro" pop, "electro" indie like the black kids, it's all over rated as hell.
Score = 2