Melody Maker's 50 Ways The Alternative Nation is Fighting Back

[Pauline Walnuts]

Oct 11- Oct 17 2000, what a time to be alive.

1. JJ72'S TEENAGE ANGST- Emotion and drama back in the charts again.
2. THE CARLING WEEKEND READING AND LEEDS- The best festival ever kick-starts the indie resurgence.
3. TEN YEARS OF 'THE EVENING SESSION'- Tireless promotion of new bands from our Steve. Respect.
4. COLDPLAY AT NUMBER ONE- Proving that nice guys can finish first
5. THE WEIRDNESS OF 'KID A'- Blowing minds up and down the nation. Excellent.
6. PRIMAL SCREAM'S CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE- Revolution, revolution! Bobby G making politics sexy.
7. EMINEM'S DIRTY MOUTH- The world's biggest star also being the most outrageous. Guy's a one-man Sex Pistols!
8. LONDON'S TRASH CLUB- Revitalising indie clubs with style and eclecticism.
9. AT THE DRIVE-IN'S HAIR- Destroying years of bland Seventies revivalism in a single blow.
10. SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR- Beating Posh Spice to Number one with easily the year's best dance track.
11.'HIGH FIDELITY'- "It can't go any louder!" Our lives make the year's funniest film.
12. ALL-AGES LIVE SHOWS- Less Than Jake and a host of punk heroes do it for the kids. Take note, Placebo et al!
13. WICHITA LABEL- The best post-Creation record label strikes gold.
14. KING ADORA GETTING LIPPY WITH IT- The so-called glam brickies talking up a storm. And the music's f***ing great too.
15. CHRIS McCORMACK - He's back! Grand Theft Audio thankfully great, former 3 Colours Red hero Chris as barmy as ever.
16.RADIO 1 LIVE IN CARDIFF- Have you seen that line-up yet? That's it, we're moving to Wales for the week!
17 FIERCE PANDA- The Lamacq of record labels, peerless A&R, indie brilliance.
18. SLIPKNOT- Scaring grannies, parents and some of us lot with their evil panto.
19. EMBRACE'S SECRET FAN GIGS- Doing it for the fans, in hush-hush locations. Nice one.
20. DOPE SMUGGLAZ' WEED WISDOM- Dance kings intent on making us laugh and groove at the same time.
21.'LITTLE KIX'- No one else likes it, but we don't care. F***ing genius, and perhaps Mansun's best record yet.
22. RADIO 4 CLUB- Alan McGee's star-studded club night making Wednesday nights cool again.
23. TOPLOADER ON THE ROAD- Joe and the lads taking rock'n'roll chaos to the streets.
24. THE PUNK REVIVAL- Blink 182, Green Day, The Vandals, Less Than Jake, MXPX. And loads more where they came from.
25. BLUR'S GREATEST HITS- Guitar pop doesn't get any better than this. The very best songs of the Nineties all on one fantastic album, coming very soon.
26. HUNDRED REASONS- Britrock kicks back, Pearl Jam start watching their backs. Ace.
27. STONER ROCK – Monster Magnet, Queens Of The Stone Age and the mighty Orange Goblin get hard'n'heavy on our asses.
28. FRESH 2000- Birmingham's brilliant hip-hop festival. Five years strong and growing.
29. CHEMIKAL UNDERGROUND- Showing that DIY labels can make the big time, even the Mercurys.
30. SIGUR ROS- The sound of the hereafter, the most beautiful noise on the planet.
31. PRESIDENT FRED DURST- The undisputed king of nu-metal's sneering charm conquering the world.
32. NAPSTER- Music for free! Nuff said.
33. MELODY MAKER'S 'BORN TO DO IT BETTER' CD- Music for free! F***ing great music, too.
34. MOSHING/CROWD-SURFING/LIVE CHAOS- You don't get that at your local UK Garage club.
35. PITCHSHIFTER- Metal you can trust.
36. THE CROCKETTS' ARMY BUS- Keeping it real on the motorways of the UK.
37. TRAVIS' DOUBLE WIN AT THE BRIT AWARDS 2000- Can you remember this lot? Coldplay owe them a bit.
38. BADLY DRAWN BOY'S 'THE HOUR OF THE BEWILDERBEAST' WINNING MERCURY MUSIC PRIZE- The triumph of intelligence, talent, individualty! And, lest we forget, that woollen hat too! Gawd bless yer, Damon.
39. THE BLOODHOUND GANG BEING BANNED FROM 'TOP OF THE POPS'- "You and me baby, ain't nuffin but mammals..."
40. NU-METAL FASHION- Subverting the Gatecrasher styles for our own perverse means. About time too!
41. THIS YEAR'S DECONSTUCTION FESTIVAL- Punk rock music in the open air. The underground breaks out and makes itself heard in the most glorious manner.
42. XFM- It's getting better and better. But we're still keeping an eye on you...
43. THE YO-YO'S ROCK AND ROLL HEDONISM- The other McCormack brother flies the flag.
44. BELLE AND SEBASTIAN'S TALENT AUCTION- The UK's sensitive eccentrics get community spirit.
45. KELIS- "I hate you so much right now!"
46. DUM DUMS- Taking the boy bands on at their own game. And winning.
47. "THE BARFLY SESSION"- Good music on the telly? What will they thing of next?
48. BLINK 182 RIPPING THE PISS OUT OF BOY BANDS IN THEIR VIDEOS- Hilarious vids, cool guys, brilliant music.
49. ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION'S WORK EXPERIENCE DJ- Face it, which other band would manage to get their workie on stage at Glasto? Cool.
50. YOU LOT- It's simple- without you, we're nothing. Gig-going, record-buying, stage-diving heroes, every last one of you. Keep it up, and let us know how you fight back.

[Enzo]

No wonder it folded

[Captain Z]

FRED DURST - Crazy name, crazy guy!!?

[imitationleather]

Can't believe I used to pay to read that stuff back then.

I was thirteen, but still.

[jobotic]

FIERCE PANDA- The Lamacq of record labels, peerless A&R, indie brilliance.

Bit harsh?

[Brundle-Fly]

It's like a semi-skimmed 'Disco Sucks' manifesto.

[turnstyle]

This is awful, obviously, but what a fascinating time capsule. Also, imagine being the poor bastard tasked with coming up with 50 (50!) points for the list. Deso.

Best bit of MM back in the day was Holly's Demo Hell. 15 year old me used to love seeing the hopes and dreams of fledgling bands torn apart with a few curt paragraphs.

[sevendaughters]

I used to like the weekly darts feature in MM

[Fambo Number Mive]

Alternative to what? Talent?

[sevendaughters]

I posted this on a friend's FB, he said "This is like falling into a hole of televisions playing different versions of the same retrospective show."

[buzby]

21.'LITTLE KIX'- No one else likes it, but we don't care. F***ing genius, and perhaps Mansun's best record yet.

Fucking. Hell.

[jobotic]

My MM days were over by 2000 - what's Belle & Sebastian's Talent Auction?

[sevendaughters]

My MM days were over by 2000 - what's Belle & Sebastian's Talent Auction?

a bunch of indie types - Gruff, Bis, etc. - auctioned off their time and labour to do a specific thing to raise money for a charity. Gruff wisely opted to bake a loaf of bread for someone. Stewart Murdoch said he'd write a song with someone.

[gilbertharding]

23. TOPLOADER ON THE ROAD- Joe and the lads taking rock'n'roll chaos to the streets.

Good Christ.

27. STONER ROCK – Monster Magnet, Queens Of The Stone Age and the mighty Orange Goblin get hard'n'heavy on our asses.

Umm... this isn't right, is it?

50. YOU LOT- It's simple- without you, we're nothing. Gig-going, record-buying, stage-diving heroes, every last one of you. Keep it up, and let us know how you fight back.

Both of you.

[Pauline Walnuts]

49. ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION'S WORK EXPERIENCE DJ- Face it, which other band would manage to get their workie on stage at Glasto? Cool.

I ain't gonna lie, I thought that said Wookie the first time I read it.

Just think, only 28 years later and they were working with Stewart Lee.


Am I doing it rite?

[Norton Canes]

Ha haaaa, 'The Lamacq of record labels'... you couldn't make it up

[Norton Canes]

No Romo?

[Jockice]

I liked JJ72's first album. I lost interest in the list after that though.

[famethrowa]

The TOPLOADER thing has to be taking the piss. Did they not listen to the awful soft music they made?

ahhh it's because they have a drugs name. Must be cool guys then

[Greg Torso]

It's like being trapped inside Jo Whiley's mind.

Great to see them sneering at UK garage though whilst championing indie rock white as a snowman's arse. I remember there being some criticism of this at the time (probably from the egually shit NME though), miserable list but I'm sure there's a few barbecue dads going "ah yeah, classic!"

[Neomod]

I'd sacked off getting the inkies regularly by 2000 so I've only heard of this via the CMP. What a desperate state of affairs to be in.

[gilbertharding]

... a few barbecue dads going "ah yeah, classic!"

Like I said - it can only be a literal few.

[The Mollusk]

No wonder it folded

I know it reads like the Ten Commandments but I think it's a bit unreasonable to expect it to be carved in stone.

[Kankurette]

Toploader? JJ72? The fucking Dum Dums? Fred Durst? Fucking hell, Fred Durst was about the most establishment nu-metal got.

To paraphrase Tori Amos, where's Neil Kulkarni when you need him?

Fucking. Hell.

It's like Six never happened.

ETA: and King Adora's singer is a fucking rapist. The lack of black musicians on there is telling too.

[the ouch cube]

Mark Sutherland innit

Although - were Blink 182 and Toploader any worse than the dreck they were covering three years earlier (Cast, Hurricane #1, Northern Uproar)? Not really.

[Pauline Walnuts]

The TOPLOADER thing has to be taking the piss. Did they not listen to the awful soft music they made?

ahhh it's because they have a drugs name. Must be cool guys then

[Rizla]

[Rizla]

6. PRIMAL SCREAM'S CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE- Revolution, revolution! Bobby G making politics sexy.

[Pauline Walnuts]

I think a question worth asking is, who the heck are half these people?

Dum Dums? Oh, the Dum Dum Girls been going for that long?

No, Dum Dums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mInErFA2z6I

[imitationleather]

I think a question worth asking is, who the heck are half these people?

Dum Dums? Oh, the Dum Dum Girls been going for that long?

No, Dum Dums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mInErFA2z6I

I remember Dum Dums so I won't be clicking on that.