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When did indie music go tits up?
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IanB
IanB
6761 posts

Edited May 05, 2013, 14:17
Re: When did indie music go tits up?
May 05, 2013, 14:15
keith a wrote:
IanB wrote:
keith a wrote:
Moon Cat wrote:
keith a wrote:
Moon Cat wrote:
keith a wrote:
Moon Cat wrote:


Oasis had it and blew it (or snorted it as it were). Some genius tunes, and absolutely kicked the dust up, but ultimately crippled, as so many from this city before or since, by a slavish adherence to 'cool'.


Dunno about that last bit. I think you're first reference was more the issue with where and how it went wrong.


Liam Gallagher is clearly terrified of looking 'silly', within his limited parameters


That statement could refer to just about any 'rock star' you could think of.


Not really. I'd say there are loads of 'em that are completely aware of ridiculousness and are not afraid to embrace it. Dave Lee Roth, that band beginnning with "K" you like so much, Adam Ant (so much so he wrote a line about it), Slade, Ian Anderson, Bowie on occasion albeit through alter-egos, Devo, Andrew Eldritch, David Coverdale, Rob Halford, GWAR, Steel Panther, The Darkness, Mikael Akerfeldt, Robbie Williams, Cheap Trick, ALice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Iggy, John Lydon (when they trot out the Pistols),.... to name but a few.


Hmmm. They all have their own image and do what they do. Liam has his and does his thing. I can't imagine Andrew Eldritch going on The Muppet Show anymore than Liam. But if you're picking The Darkness you may as well go the whole hog and pick The Barron Knights.


I am sure Eldritch would have loved to have been on the Muppet show though probably as a Muppet rather than as himself. The Sisters collaborated on that 2000AD thing in the late 80s which was not at all reverential. Have you seen the Floodland era videos? Completely absurd and knowingly so. The sort of thing that could only have been come up with by someone who grew up with The Avengers and that 60s school of serious/silly high camp tv.

The Darkness are total winkers. Maybe you need to be an appreciator of unwinking rock n roll of that ilk to get the joke AND fall in love with the tunes. It's a little like the folks who allegedly took Spinal Tap at face value as a documentary and missed the mock aspect entirely. Though I say that as someone who plays the Rutles album as often as I play Revolver.


Whoah!! The Darkness are punching way above their weight getting mentioned in the same breath as Spinal Tap and The Rutles!

Despite ridiculousness of the whole thing they always seemed to take themselves quite seriously. I was about to say it helps if you like the type of music that they're parodying, but then again if somethings good enough (like Spinal Tap or The Mighty Wind for that matter), it doesn't matter. But liking early punk definitely helps me appreciate the joke of Punk's Not Dad where some older blokes play spirit of '76 type thrashy stuff, but with subjects that include sheds and man-flu as opposed to anarchy and smashing things up!


Spinal Tap and Rutles belong together no question but The Darkness do not. I was comparing the confusion among not-in-the-metal-know onlookers rather than linking the things themselves. The Darkness are not pastiche. There is definitely a guilty pleasure aspect for the parts of their audience that "don't usually like that kind of thing" and there are more than a few nods and winks towards those of us who like that kind of music but the artistic intent is I think deadly serious. Like Jellyfish in that respect and at least as serious as say The Specials. Or Elastica. Or The Strokes. There is a wink and a joke in there for sure but it is on the people who don't get it.
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