Has The NME Got Good?

got a strong 'second coming of Northern Uproar' vibe from the NME's interview with that Brother band a few weeks back (not heard their music) which I'm down w/ for amusement value as long as it doesn't actually involve them being successful

http://akamai-static.nme.com/images/article/BrotherRS050111.jpg
Brother

Oh good grief, Brother look like the worst band ever. "Brother! You know what else had brothers... Oasis. Do you see????"

The lead singer is called Lee um

Gig U Missed:

Meanwhile, the Slough-based newcomers are playing the This Feeling club night at the Vibe Bar in London tonight (December 31).

Also on the bill are Life In Film, former Seahorses frontman Chris Helme and a string quartet playing songs by the likes of Oasis, Kasabian and The Verve.

Haha if those guys showed up at your party you'd be like *sigh*

oh my god they're REAL?

hahahahahahahahaha I somehow stumbled across them already but thought it was parody, may have been festively merry...

omg chris helme? the worst singer in the history of music LOLOLOLOL

Yes Brother seem unusually dire from what I somewhere read on them, somewhere that took them and the Vaccines seriously - I know, it was the Friday Guardian! I was a bit shocked.

not shocked (now)

Chris Helme basically turns up on the top floors of various London pubs to busk for money now doesn't he?

that brother photo is used (bigger version) on the other NME cover btw. Hopefully someone will find the actual cover so you can all see it in its full horror

Anyway it seems pretty obvious that the NME are hoping that 2011=2001 and The Vaccines are the new Strokes that will usher in a new era of stuff that might actually sell magazines, but the general climate doesn't feel right for that just now.

Compare the "100 albums you never heard" with Q Mag's "100 albums voted for by our readers, i.e. 100 albums you have heard"...

The NME and Q readership is not strictly the same. Q readers are probably more familiar with older stuff from the 60s-80s whereas, on the other hand, they are considerably more sceptical towards whatever NME tout as the "next big thing" (and also more faithful to it if they like it, i.e. not hating the "next big thing" half a year later when it has actually become big).

No, but upthread the point was made that NME's list was fulfilling a similar need for people too young for Q. I dispute that point, Q is just doing the comfortable "yes, we all like these records don't we?"

h8 the vaccines just because their name makes me think of the vaselines who i love and i dunno that makes me hold them to an even higher standard of contempt than the one i am already holding them to.

don't think i'm ever going to actively listen to another new british indie band again in my life.*

*most probably a lie, unfortunately. or the scene decides that the cocteau twins are the only influence worth having and i go :D

xpost The Friday Guardian piece didn't take Brother seriously, but did the Vaccines.

No, but upthread the point was made that NME's list was fulfilling a similar need for people too young for Q

I'd say it partly does. Not least because it contains hardly no recent albums at all. But sure, rebellious youngsters may not want to have a lot of Beatles albums recommended to them. Not now.

Um, does the Q list have loads of Beatles albums in it?

Actually I can answer that: The list is only of albums issued since Q first started...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/27/38450127_5b10ff1006.jpg

just popping in to lol at butthurt rap nerds itt

NME staying classy in their metal blog section

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=149&title=homophobia_in_metal_shamefully_it_still_&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

and the anti-metal posts by nme readers are predictable and lazy too

Bolshie [Visitor] //December 20 2010 at 19:06
Metal is all about the macho and the ignorant. BNP supporters and Mel Gibson fans. Is it really a surprise that they have a problem with homosexuality, as well?

Jordan [Visitor] //December 20 2010 at 16:54
It's not just the terrible grunts and ridiculous unlistenable noise that gives Metal the name "Caveman music"

Jack [Visitor] //December 20 2010 at 19:25
well think about it mate. Liking metal in itself is such an inhertently childish thing that what do you expect? If the way you like to spend your time is listening to the fucking nasty noise that is metal, then having stupid views on other things isn't a big leap is it? When a significant scene of the genre is 'white-power' or 'church bombing' then saying a band is gay is not the biggest issue about. Also, in a lot of cases, when people say something is gay, or an american says something is faggy, they don't always mean it's homosexual, just that it's lame, and why that isn't right, at least it isn't homophobic.

Who said metal was hip in indie circles? It certainly isn't in the UK

TBF, literally everything on NME.com attracts both vicious and stupid commentary.

yeah I think they're 'NME readers' like the libertarian swivelheads on CiF are 'Guardian readers' (ie they might be, but it's such a nutbar magnet it's impossible to tell)

I cant see metal fans being any worse than fans of other genres or people in general tbh. Im sure metal has come a long way since the days of sebastian bach & axl rose. That sort of behaviour wouldn't be tolerated anymore. Over on forever doomed, if anyone says something is "gay" or is "a fag" they get angry responses and a ban if they continue. Not every metal messageboard is like a pantera or ozzy/zakk wyle board. Those type of boards are always mocked by a lot of metal boards.
I doubt lairy indie gigs are a great place to go to. Oasis concerts aren't exactly full of enlightened punters. I used to go see oasis in the 90s and by the time of loch lomond every beer monster in scotland was into them, and with all the bottle fights etc it was certainly no fun. I doubt Knebworth was much better. Since Britpop, Indie has attracted a lot of assholes. NME should be dealing with that before having a go at metal or hip hop etc

And your kerrang reader might like a lot of shite bands, but i dont think they could be accused of homophobia now.

I dunno who is worse - the NME or the readers of NME on the message board.

Even Pitchfork gets metal more than the NME does.

NME writes about metal and hip-hop much more often than Kerrang or The Source write about indie though.

I'll wager that's untrue.

In the 90s Kerrang covered a lot of alt-rock and they covered white stripes and the hives etc too in the 00s. So Geir, you're wrong.

lol metal is shit

I thought metal had lots of gay or bisexual fans. I mean "metal" as opposed to "I just like to rock the fuck out" dinosaur types. Go to a metal show and you see leather and tattoos and piercings, not the kind of people to judge someone else's lifestyle.

Mass market "indie" has, IME, loads of straight people who just don't feel "comfortable" with homosexuality, not that they are prejudiced or anything because that would be illiberal and bad.

Metal has a lot of gay and bisexual fans. Not as much as like, industrial, but... well, I know a lot of metal dudes who like them some cock.

Go to a metal show and you see leather and tattoos and piercings, not the kind of people to judge someone else's lifestyle.

haven't really found that the first thing is that likely to preclude the second thing, tbh, but maybe my experience isn't the norm

In the 90s Kerrang covered a lot of alt-rock and they covered white stripes and the hives etc too in the 00s. So Geir, you're wrong.

Grunge = metal. I am speaking of proper indie, you know, Britpop!

I mean, stuff that doesn't "rock" at all in any possible way.

geir has never heard of indie rock?

Well, yep, indie rock exists. But if seems so important for some of you to open indie pop fans' ears to hip-hop and metal, why wouldn't it be equally important to open hip-hop-fans and metal-fans to highly melodic classic and smooth POP?

My point here. At least NME (although Q are probably better at it) review a lot of metal and hip-hop. Yes, maybe just the biggest acts, but at least they review them.

How many reviews of Crowded House or Blur were there in Kerrang or Source or Mixmag?

Oh, and NME review mainstream chart pop too. Do Kerrang review mainstream chart pop (and I am not speaking of typical albums acts like AC/DC or Iron Maiden here=?

Kerrang in the 80s covered U2, Prince, Kate Bush, Bryan Adams, Michael Bolton. + a whole bunch of crappy glam pop-metal acts. It's always covered pop metal bands.

Anyway Geir, NME, Q are general music magazines, they are supposed to cover all kinds of music. Mixmag, Source,Kerrang are specialist magazines.

Pop metal=metal.

But sure, Kerrang is probably a bit more openminded than specialist mags for harder metal genres, whose fans don't even consider Iron Maiden or Guns'n'Roses to be hard rock, but rather just "rock".

Not to mention magazines like The Source or Mixmag, who would never even dream of covering something that doesn't contain rap/does not work on the dancefloors of the clubs.

NME and Q cover the biggest names from metal, hard rock, hip-hop and techno/dance. Surely, it is probably a waste of space, just like it would be if Mixmag had done a powerpop special. But at least they do, and then I think it's a bit unfair to claim that NME and Q need to be more openminded when actually they are more openminded towards hip-hop, dance and metal than hip-hop, dance or metal mags will ever be towards indie rock/indie pop.

NME and Q's readers are into indie and various kinds of (non metal) "rock". And that is really what they want to read about too.

And if you are speaking of the fans I think they are on an equal level.

Rock/pop fans are not openminded towards anything else than rock and perhaps classic pop
Hip-hip fans are not openminded towards anything else than hip-hop and perhaps R&B
Dance fans are not openminded towards anything else than dance and maybe a bit of R&B or hip-hop as long as they can dance to it
Metal fans are not openminded towards anything else than metal and maybe some of the hardest non-metal rock.

Geir, I know ilx metal fans aren't atypical metal fans, but even outside of ilx i know loads who like many forms of dance music but especially IDM. Neurosis fans especially tend to be Aphex Twin fans. Many love hip hop. Many love indie rock esp 80s & 90s stuff. On metal boards ive discussed pfunk (surprise surprise) ,krautrock,classic pop & rock of the kind you love, avant garde,prog rock, the list is endless.
Possibly if you are talking about the fans of the most mainstream acts in those genres you might be right, but then, a lot of people do like basically anything that gets in the charts, whether its indie pop, pop rap, pop dance, pop rnb,popmetal etc.

Now, ILX posters are mostly openminded towards anything except for traditionally structure melodic songs written and performed by white guys with guitars after 1990.

Well, yep, indie rock exists. But if seems so important for some of you to open indie pop fans' ears to hip-hop and metal, why wouldn't it be equally important to open hip-hop-fans and metal-fans to highly melodic classic and smooth POP?

― You're Twistin' My Melody Man! (Geir Hongro), Wednesday, January 5, 2011 7:18 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

For the record, some of my favorite bands include Electric Wizard, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath AND The New Pornographers, Mates of State, Yo La Tengo, and The Eels... so its quite possible to be a fan of both metal and indie pop.

Also, I know a few dudes who listen to only hip-hop, r&b, and stoner rock/metal.

So, this dichotomy of pop vs. metal, I believe, is a false one.