Who's the Best Band on Earth?

[zorndeslammes]

don't worry Zorn.... Sunn O))) will have a "hardcore" cult audience 50 fucking years from now because of it. Mostly comprised of pimply nerds who think that the cloaks are evidence that girls suck (but are such sluts), and that the "colour and order of relaease" thing indicates their awesomness and collectibility.

This is true to some extent. The fact that Black1 and White2 are better than anything by BSS or Arcade Fire will help too.

[Rit]

i don't know about that

[shin]

ritalinpants said:

it just seems as though your ire is with the critical reactions and not with the music itself.

Can't it be both?

[rockysigman]

Yeah, see, if a band sucks, it's offputting enough, but if everyone is going crazy about them, its bound to be even more irritating. I see nothing wrong with disliking a band because of an over zealous critical response. To a certain point at least.

[melon1]

Radiohead


BUT, I've never heard Broken Social Scene so who knows if that'll change. I seriously doubt it, but after seeing luke and Rileydog rave about 'em so much, I'm finally convinced that my next purchase must be You Forgot It In People. Hopefully I'll be thanking you guys for this.

Oh yeah, never heard Arcade Fire either. How could I have even voted on this board I just see Radiohead SO FAR above any bands in the last 10 years that I'm positive that nobody's going to beat them, for me.

[JesusLooksLikeMe]

Strokes certainly attract criticism because of over-zealous critical hype. They're actually a good, slick rock band that certainly aren't shite.

We wrote the book on over-zealous critical hype in the UK, which is why every half-decent new act gets such a critical mauling from the rest of the world. If the Arctic Monkeys weren't being tagged 'saviours of rock' or whatever ridiculous thing the London press is pushing, then they could quietly release a promising debut and none of you lot would give a shit, much less go out of your way to slag 'em off.

As for Whte Stripes... yeah, my antipathy is partly based on American journo's on mags like RS going on and on about how fuckign great they are, when it's one man (and his percussively challenged sibling) doing solid, accomplished, bluesy 3 minute rock numbers.

I've heard about half, maybe two thirds of the WS songs mentioned back there and the ones I recognise (except Hotel Yorba) I like quite a bit. But we're talking "the best band on earth" here people. The best fucking band on the planet! And that, for me at least, means a band who transcend the music and take you to another place, or some hippy shit about awakening the senses and making you glad you're alive. No matter how solid Jack's riffs are, he doesn't have the "Soma effect". Pumpkins could do it. "Pushit" does it. Radiohead and Sigur Ros do it time and again. And that's part of being better than the rest, even though it's risky.

Much as I love the Strokes, they aren't about to take you to the rarest places. White Stripes are too grounded and basic to do that too.

[luke]

Oh man I'm embarrassed that I made this thread. It needs to just go away.

[JesusLooksLikeMe]

shin said:

Nobody will care about either band and you all bloody well know it. Pitchfork names Funeral the best album of 2004 then inexplicably put it at #45 on the best of 2000-2004 (behind 7 other 2004 records) a few months later. BSS didn't even make the top 100 of THIS year.

In the end, only a few dedicated nerds such as yourselves will still care about either. The trendsetters giveth and they taketh away.

Don't underestimate Arcade Fire. They've gone mainstream in the UK. The Brit awards, for fuck's sake. And they're all over TV, ads, montages... every sport sequence, trailer, documentary using stuff from Funeral right now. That's extraordinary given their position and music. If (unlikely, but possible) they come up with 2 more albums that good you'll be eating those words.

On BSS you're right though shin. Not that I'm commenting on the quality of their music (which I've still not heard enough to pass judgement on) in saying that.

[luke]

Thing is, TOOL attracts a good number of real music fans, but most of their fanbase is jocks and jackass metalheads. That's one advantage a "harder" act is going to have over an indie one.

BSS will never be as big as Arcade Fire, I say, but they'll always be better. And I'll always listen to them, I'm sure, dedicated nerd I am.

As for Pitchfork, we all know they have shit taste and zero credibility, so who fucking cares? They won't be around in five years, either, once the uber-hip trend dies out.

(guess that's not the way to make this thing disappear...)

[phil]

There is a wine analogy here ...

Something about the respective merits
of vins nouveaux VS table wines VS great millésimes ...

I'll let you guys figure it all out for yourselves ...

[Galactus]

While BSS never quite got the Best Band In The World treatment from most of the indie rags, I'd say they're already bigger then the Arcade Fire.

[luke]

ded said:

While BSS never quite got the Best Band In The World treatment from most of the indie rags, I'd say they're already bigger then the Arcade Fire.

Maybe that's just a regional thing, then. I do not hang out with a single person, from sorority girls to indie kids to old washed up punks and metalheads on back to my fraternity brothers, who don't either own Funeral or are familiar with it.

On the other hand, I do not know a SINGLE person, including the fucking indie hipster dude who does record reviews for the college I graduated from's newspaper, who has the slightest clue who Broken Social Scene are.

[rockysigman]

I guess there isn't any real concrete terms to define "biggest", but I really don't understand how BSS could be considered bigger right now than the Arcade Fire.

Album sales: Arcade Fire
General public awareness of them: Arcade Fire
Buzz: Close, but still the Arcade Fire
Fanaticism of their fans: Probably pretty close

[Galactus]

I guess largely what I'm basing that on is I just read more about BSS then I remember reading about AF. When that album came there were alot of raving reviews but it just seems like BSS is in every magazine I have here at the store...maybe I'm wrong but I thought the places you saw Arcade Fire they were raving but it just feels like I see articles about BSS in more places.

[Rit]

Both bands have been chatted up plenty by indie mags and have also made stray appearances into mainstream mags as the token posterchilds of indiedom.