Why are the libertines so important

kingofvillan

Could somebody please explain to me why the libertines are described as "the most important band of our generation". I mean don't fet me wrong i have their album and its enjoyable, but musically its not revolutionary and there are many other bands who do it just as well. Is it just me or is it the rock'n'roll antics of Pete Doherty(drugs, drink, sex and errr breaking into your bandmates house!!!) which has got them so highly regarded. This way there seen as renegades and so the definition of rock n roll. This is not what rock is about, its about making music which will effect people and in this respect they're simply average.

munkeehaven

i see you read the NME, it's an english thing..they sort of are a ''nostalgia band'' , singing about ''Albion'' and ''old england'', so it kind of plays on the hearts of enlganders...they would be the equivalent i guess of ....maybe ''hot house flowers '', the way that they use their heritage and language, in their music, if you know what i mean....and they seem to be highly regarded by morrisey aswell, which gives them that extra cred , without having to do much.

Doctor J

Because one of the must have done favours for every cretin journo in the NME. If it wasn't for that poxy fad mag no-one would give the Libertines the time of day

munkeehaven

yeah, that magazine has really gone to shyte ,hasn't it?...i used to get it around 2 years ago, and it was alright, good reviews and articles...but then, all of a sudden , it started to become crapper and crapper, obssessing about stupid bands==namely the strokes, white stripes et al..it just started to annoy the hell outta me..so i stopped buying it..the odd time now i'll get it again just out of curiousity, but then i always regret it, because it's still SHYTE!!

Doctor J

That magazine has been shyte as long as I can remeber. It's a medium for intellectual voids who couldn't cut it as real musicians to try and amuse each other by writing biased vacuous slop and calling it a review and championing clearly inferior music in a vain effort to appear ahead of the game and, somehow, credible. I wouldn't use its pages to wipe my ass.

kingofvillan

I agree with both of your assesments of nme's eternal bandwagon jumping, however i think its unfair to say that bands like white stripes and strokes are stupid.

Unlike the libertines i actually believe these are more the bands of our generation, and you'd agree if u saw the strokes at oxegen-words cant describe how good they were so im forced to make on up..... scrumtralescent!!!

John

Considering all the bands the NME champions are so retro sounding, shouldn't it be called the Nostalgic Music Express instead of New Music Express?

Doctor J

I quite like both the Stokes and the White Stripes, however, I think neither are the future of rock and roll. How can something so clearly retro and drawing blatantly from what has gone before be the future?

super_furry

The NME effectively became irrelevant when Melody Maker shut down, and they had no competition.

John

Originally posted by Doctor J
I quite like both the Stokes and the White Stripes

My only problem with the Strokes is that all their songs sound the same. They were really good the first time I saw them but at Oxegen they didn't cut the mustard. If they played a shorter set it would have been a damn fine performance but the set was too long for so many songs that sounded the same.

But back to the topic, the Libertines are the afterbirth compared to other much better bands of their type (like the aforementioned White Stripes, Strokes, the Rapture, the Von Bondies and whatnot). I think the NME are just dying to "discover" the next big thing and as such they try and get everyone excited over mediocre bands like the Libertines.

Doctor J

Meloday Maker was a bag of piss too. There was no competition, they were pratically in cahoots, creating 'scenes' and championing bands in the 'scene' they had just invented.

Anyone remember S.M.A.S.H. and the 'New Wave Of New Wave' farce?

eth0_

I don't mind the libertines, they're ok I guess, but most important band of our generation? What?

John

Originally posted by eth0_
I don't mind the libertines, they're ok I guess, but most important band of our generation? What?

Everybody knows it's the Darkness

Robbo

The NME should be seen as a relative with a dose of Alzheimers. Their time has passed, they forget what they've done and where they come from and are prone to making ludicrous statements that aren't really grounded in reality. Bear in mind that they've also inflicted Julie Burchill on the world as well...

With regards the perennial "most important band of our generation" tag, it's overused. Everytime some goon tells me that Nirvana were the band of my generation, I cringe and wish to be from another generation, even one that may be affiliated with Sigue Sigue Sputnik...

The Libertines are a pretty good band with a proper shambolic rock and roll spirit (well, you can hardly see the lad from Keane being arrested, can you?) and we can leave it at that. Bless music journos, they can get a bit overexcited at times (Gay Dad anyone?).

munkeehaven

it's really hard to get good music mag's these day's. i mean metal hammer's fine if that's your thing, but i'm just not a total metalhead...hotpress is quite good, and has a good eye on the gigs around the place....uncut...okayish....the one i miss is the face...even though there wasn't much music in it..

Doctor J

I'm so old I've started reading Mojo

John

I read the Wire, or as one of my mates calls it, pretentious music for pretentious people. I never know to be offended or not. I used to read Hot Press but it strikes me as a bit NME when it comes to crap Irish bands (see the I hate the Frames thread).

munkeehaven

yeah, hotpress are a bit typical when it comes to new bands==although, i did read a gig review of the frames in that mag and they actually said they were shi-ite..so i have a bit more respect for the mag now...i'd say their sales have gone up anyway since the new sex column has been introduced ,nothing special ,imo. the highlight of that mag for me is either bootboy or the film reviews or the political stuff.

John

Sam Snort is my personal fave

Doctor J

Stuart Clarke is an honourable enough chap, met him a few times, he's got his head and heart in the right place.