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Underground > Radio & Music >

The Strokes=Worst Band Ever???

  
  

Page: 12(3)

 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
12:38 / 10.10.03
Sorry, I would have said something intelligent but someone upthread was trying to claim that Peaches had good songs and I just pissed myself laughing.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
12:48 / 10.10.03
"Fuck The Pain Away," "Lovertits," and "Set It Off" are total classics, man.
 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
13:15 / 10.10.03
Why is it so hard to believe I'm capable of holding my own opinions (which I do)? If what you said was true (that I orientate myself around other people's opinions) I'd have given in to the Flux/Flyboy hive mind several threads back, surely? I always view music on it's own merits- The Strokes don't have any!

Flux: "Last Night" is a sure shot contender for the top 10 dullest songs of all time. It's about three times slower than it should have been and the vocals are crap. It'll be forgotten in 5 years, if we're lucky.

Oh god. I just read that bit were NME claimed the the Strokes "looked like they would be handy in a streetfight". Against who? The Teletubbies?
 
 
The Strobe
13:24 / 10.10.03
Flux, sorry - was probably reading too fast and besides, everyone appears sarcastic on the internet. Thanks for the clarification, anyhow (though you needn't have bothered - Flyboy had leaped in to your defence via PM already).
 
 
rizla mission
13:45 / 10.10.03
Oh god. I just read that bit were NME claimed the the Strokes "looked like they would be handy in a streetfight". Against who? The Teletubbies?

Yeah, that gave me cause to guffaw as well.

No doubt that writer is well acquainted with violence on the mean streets of NYC.

Reminds me of something I was reading about how in the late '80s the British music press presented Dinosaur Jr and Mudhoney as "redneck wildmen" despite their obvious heritage as soft-spoken middle-class slackers..
 
 
40%
15:47 / 10.10.03

But isn't the problem that you spend too much time orienting your opinion around what you read or what other people say, rather than viewing the music on its own merits?

This is the key point, isn’t it? But it’s easier said than done. I listened to a Strokes album on a car journey once, and I didn’t see a single original idea. They’re not a bad band exactly, they’re just very mediocre. Therefore, I should be merely indifferent to them, but because of the hype, I find myself actively disliking them (them and the Darkness – and bollocks to I believe in a thing called love).

I’ve recently fallen in love with Oasis. I’ve been listening to Definitely Maybe today and I’m just starting to see the depth and authenticity of their music. Well I say I’m starting to see, in fact I bought the album when it first came out based on a review I read, and then when they became massive, I renounced them for their commercial appeal.

Since then, the interest in them has subsided, and I feel less embarassed about listening to them. I say all this to my shame

But I’m really not sure where the media stands with Oasis now. I’ve heard the odd song on the radio, but not keeping up with these things, I don’t know whether they’re ‘in’ or not. I honestly don’t know. Am I being cool, uncool or neutral by listening to them? I shouldn’t give a toss, but part of me does.

So if anyone can tell me the secret of genuinely not caring how music is perceived by others, besides obviously avoiding media coverage of bands as much as possible, I’d love to know.

Btw I’ve just noticed the abstract of this topic. A cheap shot at an undeserved target if ever I saw one…
 
 
The Falcon
16:19 / 10.10.03
Well, there had to be a Flaming Lips backlash at some point. I hold them responsible for The Thrills, personally.
 
 
40%
16:27 / 10.10.03

Yeah, they're bastards aren't they?
 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
16:46 / 10.10.03
I hate The Thrills. Do you hate The Thrills?
 
 
rizla mission
17:40 / 10.10.03
Well, there had to be a Flaming Lips backlash at some point. I hold them responsible for The Thrills, personally.

how so?
 
 
The Falcon
18:39 / 10.10.03
Because they're like a dull, if inevitable, version.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
14:59 / 20.10.03
I had my reservations about resurrecting this thread but it's the most recent one, so...

Can't remember where I read it but someone recently nailed the thing about '12:51' - that when you first hear it, you think "bah, that's a bit dull and generic", and then BAM! - three days later the melody from the verse is stuck in a loop in your head. I would add: and then you check it out again and the nagging guitar part really starts to impress... And then you see the video and start to think that Casablancas is on all the wrong drugs...
 
 
Not Here Still
18:08 / 20.10.03
Fly - that would be Alexis Petridish in the Gruniad: The single 12.51 is a masterstroke. On first listen, it sounds like the most insubstantial top-10 hit since Oasis's Songbird, a piece of music so slight you wouldn't let it out in a high wind. Yet it slowly reveals itself as the most subtly addictive melody of the year.

Well, I bought the album today (I could try to dowload it, but frankly that would be unfair to the hamster powering my computer, and all the rubber bands would snap.)

My first impression is that Julian Casablancas is having a crisis of confidence about the band. The vocals seem way down in the mix, and the album performs a neat reversal of usual LP psychology.

Most bands will stick the catchiest numbers on first, with the growers a little further in; Room on Fire seems to go the opposite way, with straight-away catchy fare like The End Has No End slung at the back while the less immediate tracks appear earlier on. Hmmm.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
18:12 / 20.10.03
Yeah, but what about "Under Control"?

That's the real gem on the record.
 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
18:23 / 20.10.03
The best part of "Room On Fire" is when you burn the CD, bury it and sow that ground with salt.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
18:49 / 20.10.03
Jeezy creezy, Radiator. You just can't stop acting like a turbodouche in this thread, can you?

We get it. You have an irrational hatred of the band. Go start a thread about Muse and get on with it then.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
21:16 / 20.10.03
At first I wasn't overly impressed with this record. It was all "oh, it's the same, they haven't moved on or done anything blah blah blah". Then I realised I'd been listening to it non stop and I actually really enjoyed pretty much every song.

So good. More please.

And flux, I agree, Under Control is a lovely little ballad, and a nice change of pace.
 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
21:58 / 20.10.03
My hatred of The Strokes is utterly rational, Flux- they're shit. No further qualification or analysis needed - they are quite simply shit. Whith a capital S. In bold. Underlined. Which would be Shit.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
22:05 / 20.10.03
You are the argumentative equivalent of little children making spag faces.

Why don't you just leave well alone, eh? Go and kick around another sandbox.
 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
22:23 / 20.10.03
Look, I hate to have to spell this out, but this is a thread titled The Strokes=Worst Band Ever???, hardly the harbinger of balanced debate. If you want to talk about how good The Storkes are, perhaps you should start a thread titled "The Strokes are ace" or perhaps "I like the Strokes. You do too? Twins!". I'm simply being on topic, old bean.
 
 
bio k9
03:19 / 21.10.03
Don't you have a university user agreement that requires you to be nice to Flux?
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
10:10 / 21.10.03
Ah, Petridis - I knew it was someone I usually can't stand... Cheers, NMA.

Random notes based on an initial to some of Room On Fire in HMV: I noticed how low the vocals are in the mix on a lot of tracks, too - of course it could be the rest of the band having a crisis of confidence in Casablancas. But in other respects I'm pleasantly surprised by the production - it's a little bit cleaner and crisper than I might have expected, with lots of nice little stop-start moments, and handclaps. Handclaps are always good. Maybe that's why the vocals are kept so low, since Casablancas' voice doesn't exactly always fit with the direction the music seems to be aiming for...

(Actually, one criticism/observation of '12:51' is that the vocals are at best an afterthought - they just follow along with the melody that's already there, and are pretty much indecipherable - and at worst are distracting/annoying - eg, the 'chorus'. I don't always mind this, and I think I'd mind less if, like some bands, I thought the effect was voice-as-instrument - the instrument here is pretty beaten-up, but I think it *could* work if that was what they were trying to do - so that the idea that there are 'words' there becomes inconsequential. Sadly it's more like Casablancas has gone away and written standard lyrics and just sung them in a very mumbling fashion...)

Other thoughts: 'What Ever Happened?' sorta fits with the "American Oasis" tag that's been bandied about, even down to the 'titles that take liberties with the English language' bit. 'Reptilia' is a really strong track - just the right mix of noise and melody. But 'Between Love & Hate' is the stand-out for me, from what I've heard: it's disco, isn't it, basically? And while rock bands doing disco can go horribly wrong, I think this one works. It feels like something new and unexpected from this band. By way of contrast, I think if you're looking for an explanation of The Strokes' original appeal, 'Meet Me In The Bathroom' is more of the best stuff from the first album: sleazy, wired, and the protagonist sounds over-indulged and at the point of exhaustion, but the song never does...
 
 
rizla mission
12:26 / 21.10.03
Heard 12:51 on the radio a minute ago. What can I say? I kinda like it.

My current take on the Strokes is as follows:
Initially it was their more garage-rocky numbers, like New York City Cops, that grabbed me, but since then my ears have bombarded with so much more thoroughly rockin' music that I was more or less "huh? Strokes? whatever..". But I'm increasingly coming round to the idea that their more laidback (downbeat?) tunes have a certain something to them that isn't immediately obvious, but emerges on repeated listens and is, well, really good..

I still can't get my head around precisely why they're megastars - they still sound completely out of place on daytime radio with all that monotone mumbling and banging around and they don't exactly do big pop songs or anything.. but then the same thing goes for Radiohead so *shrug* what do I know?
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
12:32 / 21.10.03
I guess 'Last Nite' is arguably a big pop song, y'know... But yeah, otherwise I agree that their success can seem somewhat arbitrary - not undeserved, just sorta random.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
12:52 / 21.10.03
I don't hate the Strokes, I just get confused as to what everyone sees in them, average guitar playing, vocals that sound like they've been muttered down a vacuum cleaner hose, bad bad hair. I genuinely can't see anything about them that in any way marks them out from many, many bands that come before them and can only assume that they are the indie Eric Clapton, the indie equivelent of the Britpop Ocean Colour Scene, there is nothing new about them but they are competent enough to appeal to the conservative element of the music scene.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
14:21 / 21.10.03
Radiator: Yes, this is a thread about the Strokes, and from what went before I thought just maybe you'd be able to resist the urge to come back and say... that they're shit. If you have an opinion, at least try and articulate it, but that's just pointless. I realise now my mistake was in not ignoring you. Good.

(Muse = great steaming lumps of doddy doo!!!)

Anyway, I do really like the new album. And listening to it has made me realise that I actually really did like the first one too (if you'd mentioned the strokes to me a month ago I would have just said "ehhhh.. who cares" as I was bored to death of them). So yeah, it's all very nice, fun pleasant music. There one minutes, gone the next, but with a nice little jangle left in yr head.

Even if all flyboy's favourites are all the tracks I don't think are as strong as the others. Obviously now I'll have to go and relisten to make sure I haven't missed something.

Also, anyone else think "the end has no end" = guns and roses riff back from the dead?
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
14:26 / 21.10.03
Even if all flyboy's favourites are all the tracks I don't think are as strong as the others.

Worth pointing out that I still haven't heard them all!

I really miss being a student, when *someone* I knew was bound to have bought this album and I could nick it off them for a few days...
 
 
Not Here Still
14:32 / 21.10.03
Radiator, old chap - the discussion is moving on. Could you tell us what you hate about the new record now, rather than just re-stating a position we all are already aware of? And preferably tell us with a modicum of argument, rather than just saying 'Room on Fire is shit because the Strokes play on it' or similar. I'd be interested to hear what you, as someone who doesn't like the band, thinks of their new record. Now that I know you don't like the band, I don't need to be reminded all the time, I'm not dumb.

Flux - I'm afraid you'll have to put me in the 'don't see all the fuss' camp with regard to Under Control. Nice vocal melody and all that, but not the standout track on the album for me; similar to Maps on the Yeah Yeah Yeah's album, which I also bought yesterday.

I think at the moment the two standouts are The End Has No End for the way the guitar comes in in the chorus sounding like a synth and the strut of Between Love and Hate's chorus - yeah, there's a disco influence there. By the way, those critics going on about this album being 'white reggae' - have they ever actually listened to a reggae record? For God's sake, a plectrum is moving a different way to usual on a guitar. It doesn't make the song fucking reggae...
 
 
Not Here Still
14:36 / 21.10.03
My post was written before the previous two appeared - odd to see someone else made a very similar point, Radiator. To quote a certain band, "We're not enemies - we just disagree.'

Suedehead - there's a suggestion that the riff is Sweet Child of Mine in the review I linked to above.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
15:31 / 21.10.03
You know, I can't decide whether I think the guns and roses thing because I read it somewhere or because it actually sounds like that. Nontheless, I like it.

Oh and flyboy, I didn't mean that in a critical way (even if you haven't heard them all yet). One of my favourite things about Barbelith is reading a thread, and then getting another insight in to things, then going back and relistening/watching etc and going "ohhhh, i see what they meant". I've discovered some of my favourite songs like that, and realised they just weren't that apparent to me before.

Now let's all go and start a thread on the fiery furnaces!
 
 
De Selby
00:10 / 27.10.03
Radiator, old chap - the discussion is moving on. Could you tell us what you hate about the new record now, rather than just re-stating a position we all are already aware of?

hahahahahaha

I wasn't gonna post in this thread any more, but that made me laugh. Radiator has obviously never heard the new album, and I'm willing to bet important parts of my anatomy that he hasn't heard much of the first one either. This is how I saw Radiators ONLY encounter with the Strokes:

One fine day, Mr Radiator is walking home from the newstand where he's just purchased the latest NME, his favourite music publication of all time. Radiator used to loved NME for positioning itself as a serious music publication and he read it with great fervour. Now, he was finding that NME wasn't quite the secret book of arcane musical knowledge that he'd previously thought. In fact, Radiator was starting to disagree a lot with his best friend. However, fortunately for Radiator he also discovered that he was getting as much enjoyment out of disagreeing whole heartedly with NME, as he was by agreeing with it and he began telling everyone he could that it was in fact an empty commercial rag with little integrity.

Now on this fine day, said publication decided to print the first of many items on a band called the Strokes, praising them for many reasons. Radiator took this with a grain of salt, as he didn't want to be the one to AGREE with NME, but he would reserve his opinion till he'd at least heard them (unless someone asked his opinion beforehand, in which case he'd publicly scream obscenities some of which would be directed at said band) and then it would be ok.

So everything is fine, the testosterone levels are low in Radiator and he's walking along with a smile on his dial, until he happens to walk past an open window with a radio on. Now guess what should be playing on the radio? Last Nite by the Strokes. But see, Radiator doesn't know this and so he stands there happily absorbing the immediacy of the tune, until the song ends and the Commercial DJ announces that this is gonna be a huge hit single from a little known band called The Strokes!

Radiator immediately starts to see red. They're obviously trying to make a fool out of him. Everyone knows that he doesn't listen to whats on commercial radio. And he definitely doesn't agree with NME! What are they trying to do to him? It must be this fucking pile of shit band called the Strokes! Well, he'll never listen to them again, and he'll make sure that he tries his hardest to stop everyone else thats within range of him (either virtually or *shudder* verbally) from doing so also.

And everyone lived happily ever after.
 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
03:01 / 27.10.03
I get someone to write me fan fiction? YAY!
 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
03:08 / 27.10.03
The Strokes are still shit by the way. I've listened to the first album. It made me want to slit my wrists and jump in a hot bath. Such a dull, lifeless record.

Can you see what you've done? You've re-opened old wounds!
 
 
_pin
09:01 / 27.10.03
"I really miss being a student, when *someone* I knew was bound to have bought this album and I could nick it off them for a few days... "- my old future self

Amusing fact about studentry: no one I know owns this record. Soon, I will break and buy it because I am big Brand: Strokes whore, and no one I know here will care. Also, eveyrone here thinks all hip hop is that same, claim rto not be able to tell the difference between Lemar and Sean Paul, Crazy In Love and fucking Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nutin' Ta Fuck Wit.

I fear for my own life here, but whatever. I'm still gonna get it cos Nick Valensi's hott and the music sounds exactly like Nick Valensi's hair. Which is hott. (See? SEE?? I LIKE THE MUSIC! THAT LAST BIT WAS ABOUT ME LKIKING THE MUSIC! SO FUCK OFF RADIATOR, NOW! EVEN BEFORE YOU START ON MY HIPSTER TENDENCIES!)
 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
16:16 / 27.10.03
Hey, little tip- if you don't want me to respond to your posts, don't put my name in allcaps. I'm only here again because some slightly creepy dude wrote me fan-fic.

I'm gonna start a Devo thread, that should raise the mood.
 
  

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