Shit "The _____" bands from the noughties that are all but forgotten

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

The Thrills were the Toploader of that generation. Pure toss on toast.

[Dr Rock]

I liked that Big Sur song.

[ajsmith]

The Thrills were the Toploader of that generation. Pure toss on toast.

I remember quite liking their hit and a half. They had more of a classy 'discovering the Brother Era Beach Boys albums while taking a greyhound bus across the west coast' worthy album rock vibe than Toploader, who more had a 'smug smellyfoot all round hippy entertainers' vibe imo. Hope that sounds about right. You can imagine Toploader would make efforts to get the crowd involved when performing live whereas The Thrills would just stand there.

[newbridge]

The Coral were actually decent (though it helps if you never lay eyes on the lead singer).

[Wayman C. McCreery]

The 'burn

Short for "The Blackburn", hilariously.

See also: The Shining[nb]shit "The ____" band from the noughties that are all but forgotten, not short for The Blackburn[/nb].

[alan nagsworth]

This thread is a total mess. People are just spouting off bands with zero fucking research, it's actually quite embarrassing. Here's a list of bands mentioned who don't belong here, and why:

The Maccabees - I still listen to their first two albums and I like them a lot.

The Hives - A ruddy great fun garage band with wicked energy

The Libertines - A lot of people still listen to them, and that first album alone is a cracker

The Moldy Peaches - Are you off your box? How does an American anti-folk act with a sizeable cult following end up here? They were ace, Kimya's ace, Adam Green's ace

The Kills - They're really very good and they have at least a handful of worthwhile records

The Cribs - They're still going, Johnny Marr made a record with them, I do quite like them myself and my mate loves them

Scissor Sisters - That first album is brilliant, "Laura" is a phenomenal pop song and the Floyd cover was daring and exciting

The Coral - Admittedly quite heavy on the Beatles plagiarising but again their first two albums are still really good, and the "Nightfreak" EP is totally ace

The Dandy Warhols - Man I've not listened to them in an age but I recall them being very successful and, to my mind, still worth revisiting

Hot Chip - Have a fucking word mate

LCD Soundsystem - Have a FUCKING WORD. Seriously? They're incredible.

The Rapture - They went to shite with "Pieces of the People We Love" but everything prior to that is really good. They were a highly formidable post punk band with a great loose, noisy sound. "House of Jealous Lovers" is an absolutely blinding song, and "Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks" is an awesome record.

TV on the Radio - What the fuck, man? One of the more baffling choices here. Dave Sitek is a fantastic producer, their records are shit-hot and they're still going very strong. I'm seeing them live in August and I am hella excited.

Sort it out.

[thecuriousorange]

The Rasmus still exist and have EIGHT albums.
Just think about that.

[lazarou]

The Coral - Admittedly quite heavy on the Beatles plagiarising but again their first two albums are still really good, and the "Nightfreak" EP is totally ace

I don't think anyone's actually said a bad word about the Coral on here, to be fair. Worst it got was my "liked them at the time" business. I was probably hedging my bets a bit more than usual as I liked an awful lot of questionable stuff back then.

[greenman]

I  think there was the same amount of 'landfill indie' in 1995 as 2005, it's just there were more good bands around to make up for it. Similar to Captain Z I've been going through every single 'Now That's What I Call Music' in the last couple of days, and things are going ok in all sorts of music up until about 2004. Then after that it rapidly goes to shit. The 'The' bands here that were the best all came in just before 2004 I think.

edit just checked and LCD Soundsystem was 2005. But they were the last good ones. Definitely.

Around just after the turn of the millennium was I'd say the point where things really got bad, a lot of the older big names that had propped up the scene against the indie bandwagon jumpers started to drop off and the Strokes especially showed just how totally commercialised the whole thing had become.

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

I always hated The Strokes and the fact that they heralded the era of Razorlight et al only increased my hatred. The NME deserves to be sealed within a pit of its own excrement for the hype train that pushed them forward.

[SteveDave]

There's one song by The Coral on our hold music at work "Pass It On". I wish them death whenever it's played...

Then all the tales will be told
Whilst you and I are in the cold
But don't think this is the end
'Cause it's just begun my friend

[Dr Rock]

You can tell they are from Liverpool just from those four lines.

[23 Daves]

Scissor Sisters - That first album is brilliant, "Laura" is a phenomenal pop song and the Floyd cover was daring and exciting

Pilfered, more like. Any DJ worth his or her salt knows that there were already a few Pink Floyd disco covers from the 70s, not least: https://youtu.be/J6PHI-UiOPM It just suited the band's temperament to take those kinds of ideas and have a big Student Fresher's Week laugh with them.

Sorry, never could stand the Scissor Sisters. Far too self-consciously ironic and whacky for my liking. Like The Bee Gees jamming with Elton John and some obscure Italian disco producer with the "quirk" button pushed up far too high. If you're going to do that stuff, at least have the decency to do it without making it sound like you're tittering up your sleeve during the process.

I'll defend The Thrills and The Bees, while not pretending to be deeply wounded that either of them made it on to anyone's lists. The Bees produced some brilliant neo-psychedelic moments in their time, and The Thrills "So Much For The City" is patchy but rather good summer retro-pop when it hits its highs. "Big Sur" and "One Horse Town" in particular are marvellous moments. Can't confess I listen to them very often anymore, though.

[ajsmith]

There's one song by The Coral on our hold music at work "Pass It On". I wish them death whenever it's played...

Then all the tales will be told
Whilst you and I are in the cold
But don't think this is the end
'Cause it's just begun my friend

The Coral I think are unique among 00s indie bands in that that song and their later radio staple 'In The Morning' passed the test to be played regularly on Glasgow's oldies station Clyde 2 at the time they were out . If that's not an endorsement of achvieving an authentically classic retropop sound I don't know what wid be.

[Hollow]

Too many brilliant bands bein slandered here. You could make a whole list of The ___'s that emerged in the wake of The Libertines, but that doesn't mean The Libertines were shit. They were fuckin brilliant.

https://youtu.be/Tgo7pjuDiDI

https://youtu.be/VisSLsjrFqY

Yep...I winced at the mention too...and as far as I know they are still great.

[alan nagsworth]

Pilfered, more like. Any DJ worth his or her salt knows that there were already a few Pink Floyd disco covers from the 70s, not least: https://youtu.be/J6PHI-UiOPM It just suited the band's temperament to take those kinds of ideas and have a big Student Fresher's Week laugh with them.

Sorry, never could stand the Scissor Sisters. Far too self-consciously ironic and whacky for my liking. Like The Bee Gees jamming with Elton John and some obscure Italian disco producer with the "quirk" button pushed up far too high. If you're going to do that stuff, at least have the decency to do it without sounding like without making it sound like you're tittering up your sleeve during the process.

That's fair enough, I didn't know they existed prior to SS' cover. Still though, it doesn't disprove my saying that they've still got appeal to those who were fans at the time, and I'd wager that "Mary" at least has its own gravity as a worthwhile, heartfelt pop ballad, knowingly ironic or not. It's still well-crafted pop music, after all, which is something that bands like The Hoosiers or The Feeling simply couldn't bring to the table.

[ajsmith]

That's fair enough, I didn't know they existed prior to SS' cover. Still though, it doesn't disprove my saying that they've still got appeal to those who were fans at the time, and I'd wager that "Mary" at least has its own gravity as a worthwhile, heartfelt pop ballad, knowingly ironic or not. It's still well-crafted pop music, after all, which is something that bands like The Hoosiers or The Feeling simply couldn't bring to the table.

Hmm... I would venture to proclaim that the Feeling's overplayed- to- fuck- in - 2006 and now entirely forgotten big hit 'Fill My Little World' is the very definition of well crafted pop music.

[The Plunger]

The first Scissor Sisters lp is great and still sounds good today. Pretty much everything from 'I Don't Feel Like Dancing' onwards is average. Although I do enjoy this poppers o'clock beast from their third album, which seems to invoke much of the spirit of their debut :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U18FmwBjUkU

[Kane Jones]

Hmm... I would venture to proclaim that the Feeling's overplayed- to- fuck- in - 2006 and now entirely forgotten big hit 'Fill My Little World' is the very definition of well crafted pop music.

I Love It When You Call was a guilty pleasure of mine. It sounds like power pop to me; crunchy guitars, synths, big chorus and three part harmonies. Nowt wrong with that to me.

[Serge]

Count me as another fan of The Scissor Sisters' first album. Pity that like Hercules And Love Affair (who, to be fair, are outside the remit of this thread), they turned to shit very quickly. I was also going to mention Friendly Fires, who I thought had a 'The' at the beginning of their name, but don't. I still love their first album, but again, would tread warily after that.

[Kane Jones]

Friendly Fires' Late Night Tales mix is one of the best in the entire series. Weirdly, I've not bothered to listen to any of their stuff. Mainly because their cover of Eberhard Schoener and Sting's Why Don't You Answer is the worst track on the album (it's decent, but it's too similar to the original, which seems pointless to me if you're doing a cover).

[non capisco]

Friendly Fires are one of those bands who used up all their good songs on their debut. I do have fond memories of that record and seeing them with a few mates at Benacassim one year. The chorus of 'Paris' is still a neckhair prickling affair. 'In The Hospital' is good enough for you to forgive the bare-faced melodic pinch from Talking Head's 'Crosseyed And Painless'.

Heard the second album once and didn't think much of it.

[HodgerMccodger]

I think this topic is a bit like the "Films that stupid people think are intelligent" thread a while ago, it's inevitable that one person is going to dismiss a group that someone else (quietly) thinks were good, and actually really innovative actually.

The main issue seems to be guitar bands influenced by the Libertines; where everything had a vain unilad knees-up feel to it, an agonised over scruffy, pouting, punk aesthetic- The View, The Kooks, The Others, The Pigeon Detectives, The Fratellis, The Razorlight, The Towers of London. It feels like this type of music has now matured into more urbane, craftsy, folksy dinner party stuff like The Mumford and Sons, The Lumineers and The Noah and The Whale. Of course you could say this is just a snobby, mean spirited characterisation of these groups, and you should just enjoy the songs if you like them.

Then there is the slightly broader trends that tend to get lumped into the "indie landfill" category- garage rock, retro new wave bands, electro and the "80s revival-that-lasted-a-decade" stuff. People often want to salvage some of these bands, and say they were doing something interesting; The Arcade Fire, The Bloc Party, The Vampire Weekend and The MGMT are often treated as exceptions. The only group I really like from this period would be The White Stripes; I think their first four albums up to Elephant were pretty fantastic.

One thing I think these bands suffered from, unfairly, was the hype piled on them by critics and DJs, everyone had to be the next big thing. I remember reading a review of The Others and thinking it was essential that I heard them, and when I did I was naturally very disappointed. It reminds me of the fast show sketch about an earlier period

With distance and time, and the fact that the Adam and Joe podcasts tend to include a lot of this stuff, I've got some affection for the groups and can look past the negative associations I mentioned above (which are always a bit daft). For me the best thing to do is think these bands have usually got one song in them, not a fantastic song by any means (probably not enough to call them a one hit wonder), but it's usually a song that's got some energy, some inspiration in the hooks, or an interesting melody or sound- and just enjoy it for that. That's not true of all these bands admittedly but there you go,

Anyway in that spirit,

Beirut- Postcards From Italy
Boy Kill Boy- Back Again
Two Door Cinema Club- What You Know
Captain Soul- T-Shirt 69
The Automatic- Raoul
The Dirty Pretty Things- Bang, Bang, You're Dead
Dragonette- I Get Around
The Dirty Projectors- The Gun Has No Trigger

There are probably some better songs to illustrate the point to be honest,

[Spiteface]

The Crescent
&
The 'burn

I have never knowingly heard anything by them though. They might be brilliant, but I suspect not.

I vaguely remember the Crescent being shit and having an ugly lead singer. I looked up one of their songs on youtube just now (I'll spare you the awfulness). I'm still correct. And watching the video, I'm not convinced the singer in the video and the voice on the song are the same person.

[thecuriousorange]

I recently found a Maximo Park CD I took for free from my student newspaper office nine years ago when no one else wanted to review it. I didn't do a review, but I liked the CD a bit at the time, as unlike some albums it has one good song[nb] Two half-good songs.[/nb].

Are they still a thing? I know that after being dropped, the singer from The Automatic went to university in Cardiff to do some computer degree course, so don't hold your breath for a comeback.

[SteveDave]

I Love It When You Call was a guilty pleasure of mine. It sounds like power pop to me; crunchy guitars, synths, big chorus and three part harmonies. Nowt wrong with that to me.

Also their "I Thought It Was Over" has one of the best EVERYTHING-STOPS-AND-THEN-THERE'S-A-LITTLE-SYNTH-BIT on any song ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcXlSh8Gpfk 3:19-3:20

[greenman]

One thing I think these bands suffered from, unfairly, was the hype piled on them by critics and DJs, everyone had to be the next big thing.

The problem I would say is that a lot of these bands weren't really terrible but neither were they really musical geniuses. As the "indie" scene became increasingly commercialised genuinely great bands no longer got the same kind of attention they had though out much of the 90's(especially just post Britpop).

Dodgy and Shed Seven weren't nearly as offensive when mixed in with Spiritualised, Shack, Radiohead, Massive Attack, SFA, etc.

[23 Daves]

*Sighs* You see, The Arcade Fire... I find them bloody irritating. A load of emotive noise signifying absolutely nothing. They're worse than Oasis while thinking they're something grander and more worthy. I can't deal with that attitude, the last five years have been riddled with it - lead singers with screwed up faces singing about insignificant bullshit while a band drums up an overblown 70s sound/ "authentic folky sound" in the background. KILL IT WITH FIRE.

The White Stripes I like and occasionally love. They weren't the first band to try the stripped back garage blues skiffle trick, having numerous 60s/ 70s forebears, but they did do it better than anyone else, and had weird, troubled aspects to what they did which were believable. Jack White's peculiar obsessions did seem to come from a slightly uncomfortable or unusual place, which made them considerably more interesting than (say) The Hives.

A lot of the trashy Libertines copyists I can kind of take or leave. They were like the noughties equivalents of These Animal Men or S*M*A*S*H. It's impossible to get annoyed by them or indeed get interested in them, but for a drunk night out on the tiles some of them were passable.

[non capisco]

Jack White's peculiar obsessions did seem to come from a slightly uncomfortable or unusual place, which made them considerably more interesting than (say) The Hives.

The Hives were an excellent, contagiously fun bubblegum garage band, though. I occasionally go back to tunes like 'Die, All Right!' or 'Outsmarted' for a cheap drunken headphones blast and they still work. They also fell off my radar before they went rubbish unlike Jack White and whatever boring Jools Holland bait he's churning out now.

[thecuriousorange]

Does anything say "2004" more than a supergroup called "The Chavs" made up of members of Razorlight, The Libertines, The Klaxons,The Charlatans, The Cooper Temple Clause?