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July 17, 2006

Lily Allen Vs. Indie

UK charttopper Lily Allen tells NME about the outcome of her blog dis of Carl Barat and the Kooks.

"Libertines fans gave me a lot of shit, but I think they're all obsessed with that band in a really dangerous way. I get hate mail all the time! I like it. I feel bad for my fans who send me nice messages because I tend to only reply to the really horrible ones. People are constantly being rude about me, especially after The Kooks and the Carl Barat thing.

I like lots of indie bands. I'm a fan of good guitar music. I think it's just that at the moment everyone's like, 'Music's so great, we've got these great indie rock bands' but in reality they all sound the same. They're just doing what S Club 7 and Steps did - regurgitating the same songs because that's what people are buying at the moment."

Oh yeah? Well you're regurgitating ... uh ... Professor Longhair!

Professor Longhair - "Big Chief" (MP3 Link Expired)

S Club 7, the nerve.

Posted at 3:35 PM in
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30 Comments

S club 7? Is she nuts????

Posted by: Stacey at 07/17/06 3:52 PM | Reply
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The thought of S Club 7 is the only thing that's helping me recover from the photo of Adrienne Curry and Christopher Knight over on the side there.

Posted by: David at 07/17/06 3:56 PM | Reply
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but her comments are pretty spot on. dude wearing sun glasses inside playign the guitar self importantly ? UGHHHH

Posted by: ugh at 07/17/06 4:15 PM | Reply
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If she's referring to Arctic Monkeys and WAS, I'm with her. But why shit on indie rock as a whole. Doug Marsch, Isaac Brock and Craig Finn, to pick a few, deserve a little more credit.

Posted by: jonathan at 07/17/06 4:33 PM | Reply
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I somewhat agree, seeing as there are many an artist currently just doing the same old thing over and over. Not that there aren't loads of agreat inventive artists out there, but a lot of them really do sound the same.

Posted by: a is for applebits at 07/17/06 4:44 PM | Reply
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I think the problem nowadays is almost anything that came out or is coming out are considered indie rock when in fact it is not, much like the word "grunge" and "britpop", any band that came out during that time were lumped under the same genre.

Posted by: andrew at 07/17/06 4:46 PM | Reply
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Indie rock is such a blanket term that it pretty much applies to anything at this point. It's like "alternative".

Posted by: Jeff at 07/17/06 4:49 PM | Reply
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She's spot on. I'm indie through and through, but there is so much sound-alike music in the indie arena these days. Alot of the indie bands have the musical chops and produce ok music - it's pleasant enough and doesn't affirmatively make you retch, but they really have nothing much to say.

Posted by: Dean Wermer at 07/17/06 5:05 PM | Reply
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She's got a lot of lip for someone who produces dull music..

Posted by: Apexa at 07/17/06 5:09 PM | Reply
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will she even get 15 minutes of fame?

Posted by: skeptical at 07/17/06 5:10 PM | Reply
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I wish my family could buy a record career for me. Wait...is she like the UK music version of Tori Spelling? Not really hot, but somehow has all the connections?

Posted by: mydadisrich at 07/17/06 5:10 PM | Reply
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Ha! I thought it was just me turning into a cranky old person. "What, are you kidding? They sound just like band xxxxx."

I like Lily's music - it's catchy and fun!

Posted by: Jen at 07/17/06 5:41 PM | Reply
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Although it would have carried more credibility if it came from another, actually talented musician, it's still relevant. A few months ago I heard the beginning hype of the Kooks with people talking about how they sounded like early Bob Dylan when he had just turned electric. I immediately went to check them out and found myself reminded of a previous realization that the neu-london "indie" music scene is a joke. The libertines were to the arctic monkeys what interpol was to the killers. Just generic rip offs somehow passing themselves off as the new IT sound. The kooks sound like a more whiney libertines. Surely England has some better bands...

Posted by: Devin at 07/17/06 6:38 PM | Reply
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What's the saying? If you're not indie by the time you leave high school, you've got no soul. But if you haven't figured out that it's all been done before by the time you leave college, you've got no brain...? Something like that.

Not like nobody hasn't plundered Jamaican music or sung about 'Larndahn' before either but Lily has a great attitude, fun lyrics and, erm, a nice rack. I'll take it.

Posted by: crittick at 07/17/06 7:29 PM | Reply
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Hating on the Kooks?? Has anyone heard "Ooh La"? For shame.

Posted by: Sean at 07/17/06 7:37 PM | Reply
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Ahaha, that comment is way too funny to even dis. Sure, indie rock is increasingly popular at the moement, but she's a bit of a music snob for saying that indie music is no longer good, simply because its popular.

http://www.musictimes.com.au

Posted by: Music Times at 07/17/06 8:07 PM | Reply
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she's a certified hottie

Posted by: pat at 07/17/06 8:13 PM | Reply
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Lily Allen's music is fun. And despite her use of the word "all," I think it's clear she doesn't mean that every indie artist sounds the same, just most of 'em.

Besides, any opportunity to post "Big Chief" again is a good thing. Check out this version recorded live at Tipitina's in 1978.

http://www.thepopview.com/mptres/big-chief-live.mp3

Posted by: The Pop View at 07/18/06 11:04 AM | Reply
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Lily Allen = Overrated

Posted by: fred at 07/18/06 11:51 AM | Reply
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I think by "regurgitating" music she means music of their own. Kind of like the Strokes. They just put the same shit out over and over again with different words and maybe a change in pitch in Julian's voice for a couple of songs. And I agree, it's quite refreshing to hear Professor Longhair revived in sort of a way.

Posted by: KidWhatever at 07/19/06 3:28 AM | Reply
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I think I like her now.

Posted by: Crack at 07/19/06 4:54 AM | Reply
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I like the Kooks and Lily! I think they're both really good! However Razorlight...Johnny Borrel, good call! What a prick! Well I recently heard a cover of Naive by Lily Allen, so she can't really dislike the Kooks that much! (Or maybe she just has a thing for Luke, don't we all!) It was a really good cover actually! It was on some radio show or other, well worth checking out for a fan of either artist!

Posted by: Klm at 07/24/06 7:08 PM | Reply
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hiya i wanna meet ya i luv ya songs they well cool

Posted by: sian at 07/27/06 3:26 PM | Reply
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The reason Libertines fans are obsessed is because there hasn't been much good music since them.
Just look at the rubbish Lilly Allen has given us.
All i have to say about Lilly Allen is Chav me up buttercup!

Posted by: Joe at 08/04/06 9:23 PM | Reply
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alot of what they call indie in England sound the same. There is mainstream indie over there, at they all use the same formula. Its jus like how Hip Hop is over here.

Posted by: charlie Filthy Breaks at 11/29/06 11:35 AM | Reply
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I'd have to agree with her. Because even though i am a rock fan and i am starting a band around now i have to say that most of the rock music that comes around lately is rubbish, sad, but true, so that's how it goes. Acctually the whole music industry is boring. Lily on the other hand did make a decent pop album so i'd have to praise her for that. R.e.m., Radiohead, Depeche Mode and The cranberries are the best rock music there is around. Yet i guess the cranberries have(not officialy) split.

Posted by: R.e.m. at 01/16/07 5:54 PM | Reply
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Hi! Why I can't fill my info in profile? Can somebody help me?
My login is Kisakookoo!

Posted by: Kisakookoo at 01/24/07 7:07 AM | Reply
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Hi! Why I can't fill my info in profile? Can somebody help me?
My login is Kisakookoo!

Posted by: Kisakookoo at 01/24/07 11:56 PM | Reply
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Yeah, make fun of good musicians when you're a talentless bitch like Lily Allen. Come on. Lily Allen is a cocky annoying woman who produces terrible songs horribly known as "hip-hop".

Posted by: OMG LIKE I'M LILAY ALLEN at 08/04/07 2:38 PM | Reply
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Indie music is, and always will be shit, barring a few greats like the Happy Mondays, Stone Roses and Black Grape, most of what is called indie is just rich boy rock, pseudo rebellion for the Dyeddy's Manney generation, it is all dull, all sounds the same and all propogated by spoilt rich kids with their "attitude of ironic detachment" which, in normal English means snobbery. A lot of people state that modern indie sounds the same, too true, although to me that has been the status quo for some time now, since the heady days of Shitpop, the only difference now is the fact that it has all become so similar sounding to the point that it cannot be ignored any longer, even by die hard students, er, I mean indie fans.

Posted by: KNTM at 08/06/07 4:57 AM | Reply
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