creatively bankrupt newish chillwave/post-AnCo bands whose names are just '80s ephemera

The Happy Days and Brady Bunch references seemed different in my era (I was 19 when the Buddy Holly video came out), in that everyone grew up watching the same syndicated reruns, but you didn't know that everyone all over the country was doing the exact the same thing. Referencing these things felt like a shared secret history of some sort, which seems impossible to have post-internet when even obscure stuff isn't really obscure anymore.

OK, I guess this is the problem for me because I don't feel that way at all. I was 17 when that video came out. Never watched the Brady Bunch (thought it was old/dumb/for girls), but I would have assumed that everyone across the country was watching the same stuff anyway. And I do think these new names have a bit of that "shared secret history" to them simply because they are generational signifiers. Some of this stuff I'm only vaguely aware of due to younger relatives, but older people would certainly never get some of the cartoon and video game references.

and yes, i do think a crucial diff is that the bands used more obscure references. Like they found poetry inside junk culture to exploit ie,

in the chillwave era a decent band name like Dash Rip Rock would just be called The Beverly Hillbillies. Toad The Wet Sprocket would be called Monty Pyyython and Eve's Plumb would be called Brady Bunch

these new names have a bit of that "shared secret history" to them simply because they are generational signifiers

but if you're on the internet as much as these guys, you start to LOSE the generational signifier because TMNT references start to belong to everybody, all the fucking time, constantly.

I was too old for Pokemons but I know SO MUCH ABOUT THEM just from being on the internet.

i also think it has a lot to do with the rise of internet and "remix" culture or whatever.. rather than abstract a reference from the object, they'll just opt to simply use the object i.e. photoshops

like the only true way to do it is to pick more obscure references, so people of your generation can share a joke that isn't being LOL STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE-d to death on Adult Swim

xxpost didnt see your post whiney but otm

emil.y, if you are under 30 if someone says the word "ducktails" to you there is exactly one thing you think of, and don't try to pretend otherwise

― krippendorf's trife (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, July 30, 2010 4:53 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

sex

actually whiney your new display name makes me think that "krippendorf's tribe" would be a pretty cool post-anco band time

i didn't really feel like the Buddy Holly/Eve's Plumb pop cult-referencing band names were part of anything secret or shared with people i had some bond with. i watched the Brady Bunch, but plenty of annoying people that i thought were dumb also did, though i was more dismissive of people that watched "full house." i probably felt closer to the way Whiney feels about these current "creatively bankrupt" bands.

my best friend in college - this was 1995 - bought a record by a band named Grover, because "awww Grover from Sesame Street!" - and they had a song called "Hole in my Eye" that was pretty great.

I grew up in the middle of nowhere and never traveled much so my concept of mass culture wasn't really all that mass, nor were things like the Brady Bunch really all that popular when I was ten years old - the show had been off the air for ten years and there wasn't yet movie remakes or off broadway ironic musicals about it.

Seeing references to junk culture like this in popular music felt different, because it was much harder (especially in small towns) to seek out and find other people who were into the same things that you were. You didn't know they existed or that there were so many of them, when now you can find a huge group of people devoted to stuff that was crazy obscure 15 years ago.

but if you're on the internet as much as these guys, you start to LOSE the generational signifier because TMNT references start to belong to everybody, all the fucking time, constantly.

I was too old for Pokemons but I know SO MUCH ABOUT THEM just from being on the internet.

Well, that's perhaps an interesting larger point about people trying to stay younger and clued in for longer and the internet making that easy. I mean I'm 33 and have a kid, why the hell have I even heard of any of these bands or even care?

The generational divide used to sometimes mean that older people were actively hostile to the way the kids dressed or whatever. Now we just want to copy them so we can be cool dads and stay "relevant." So maybe the only way for them to really get to us is to name their band Reading Rainbow or some shit and we get all mad and "back in my day..."

that the 90s were a very different time.

when all the poets studied rows of verse and ladies rolled their eyes, presumably

lol Shakey! Whiney wishes he were on a great big clipper ship going from this land into that (never mind the risk of scurvy)

in the chillwave era a decent band name like Dash Rip Rock would just be called The Beverly Hillbillies. Toad The Wet Sprocket would be called Monty Pyyython and Eve's Plumb would be called Brady Bunch

See, I still have a problem with this because they're all pretty terrible band names. I don't think any of those three examples are decent and your made up ones are pretty much an across the board improvement.

rows of verse

rosy verse surely? ducktails/ducktales

what if they were called Thee Bevverly Hillbillies? would that be an improvement?

See, I still have a problem with this because they're all pretty terrible band names. I don't think any of those three examples are decent and your made up ones are pretty much an across the board improvement.

nah even the made up ones are bad. but the original ones are worse, yr right about that

at this point, bands should just resort to a numbering system

dude have you heard 5887933176? MINDBLOWING

btw alternate version of that lyric = rules of verse?

Lou's pronunciation of that line is very weird

Beverly Kills Billy

not matter how many words you use, it all adds up to these band names are hilarious

So I think in the end we can all agree that the problem with kids these days is that they're not using enough puns in their band names?

at least make a rudimentary attempt at a punning

like Rudimentary Punni?

'old man yells at chillcloud'

Full Blouse, whose album cover would be John Stamos' head superimposed on a Guess Jeans add photo?

seems like there's gotta just be a band called Stamos out there, right?

is there a band named wind sprint I thought of that yesterday

but tbh I originally thought of it to be a name for some type of weed or something

at least make your art have cool shit in it like a hand drawing itself or a guy looking at his reflection in a crystal ball

would smoke some stamos tbh

O_o

chillwave band would obvs be called 'uncle jesse' u guys have no feel for this

http://dakkster.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/duck-hunt-oshi.gif

is there a noize band called Duck Cunt?

oh shit

chillwave band would obvs be called 'uncle jesse' u guys have no feel for this
i dunno, I think STAMOS kinda has more mystery to it, more of a chill vibe.

have we commented on that this chillwave has hella noise influences cause it does

apparently a lot of former LA noizers are now in chillwave bands

noise attempts to take it easy, write a song

obviously in 10 years the natural conclusion to this would be today's 10-year-olds naming their bands after memes like Tay Zonday and The Chocolate Reign and feelsgoodman and Longcat

maybe 40 year old Whiney could guest with up-and-coming lolwave band, hipsterpuppies

INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY

RON PAUL

Airwolf would be a nice mix of '80s ephemera and wolf. Add some badass helicopter pix, a little Jan Michael Vincent and a dash of Ernest Borgnine -> profit.

James Ferrari

Sky Ferrari

AIDS Panda Bear

in the future all bands will be named after ILM threads

Controversial Mod Edit will have the album of the year in 2020

Cooldogmowinglawn