"The Guns 'N' Roses it's OK to like"

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"the guns 'n' roses it's ok to like" - the NME on Nirvana, early nineties.

1. Why did NME think that it was NOT OK to like G'n'R?/ Why did NME think that it WAS OK to like Nirvana?

2. Today, what band would be x in the equation "the x it's ok like"? (or has the music press given up on telling us who not to like?)(maybe this is a bad thing?)

― fritz, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

This is ripped off from Fargo Rock City, so sue me. Klosterman thinks that the NME quote probably has more to do with their perception of all American rock bands as versions of the same thing, but he goes on to point out something like this: kurt and axl = 2 diminutive dyed- blonde areo-fans, hicks from the sticks who ambushed the early 90's headbanger's ballers from opposite ends of the playing field. the liberal press loves the PC self-hating Cobain - he's OK to like! - and hates the sexist, racist, self-contradicting Axl. Axl loves Nirvana, asks them to tour with them etc but is publicly snubbed by KC and his punkrock-cred girlfriend. Axl who always wanted to be a star is sidelined by the new sensitive and self-aware hippy- revivalist grunge movement. KC who never/always wanted to be a star is pushed kicking and screaming into the spotlight, despite his belly- aching [ha ha]. both descend into drug-fueled paranoid twilights from which only one will ever return.

― fritz, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Sigur Ros could be the shoegazers its ok to like. For shoegazers you could insert name of now naff shoegazing group (Ride, Slowdive, Chapterhouse). Andrew WK could be the Meat Loaf/Bon Jovi its ok to like. For the record I like Sigur Ros, but only when I'm in a certain mood. I liked Party Hard, but can only take so much of Andrew WK.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Hasn't it always been OK to like shoe-gazers though, at least more so than it was to like hair metal?

your andrew wk point seems pretty on the money.

oh, so to clarify question 2: what are the y and the x in the "y is the x that it's OK to like" in 2002?

― fritz, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

yeah that clarifies things (groan)

― fritz, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Hasn't it always been OK to like shoe-gazers though, at least more so than it was to like hair metal?"

Certainly its ok to like MBV, but the more generic shoegazers (mentioned above) have become a little derided in many quarters, just like the more generic purveyors of baggy (see the Farm). Possibly it is not as naff as hair-metal, though.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

slowdives stock is probably higher over the last couple of years than it has ever been (and certainly higher than at the time, when, bizarrely they were press-pushed and press-derided simultaneously). their influence seems a lot higher now (particularly in america i think?). yr right about chapterhouse tho...

― gareth, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

OK sure, but the Guns 'n' Roses/Nirvana example is 2 bands that were current and contemporaries (g'n'r a bit senior). NME is saying that one is the acceptable version of the unacceptable other.

Saying some band is "The Chapterhouse it's OK to like" isn't quite so loaded, if you follow me.

hw's this: "The Streets is the So Solid Crew It's OK to Like"?

― fritz, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I thought Streets was the Eminem it was OK to like

― dave q, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I thought you were the Eminem it's ok to like, Q.

― fritz, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

"OK sure, but the Guns 'n' Roses/Nirvana example is 2 bands that were current and contemporaries (g'n'r a bit senior). NME is saying that one is the acceptable version of the unacceptable other. Saying some band is "The Chapterhouse it's OK to like" isn't quite so loaded, if you follow me.

hw's this: "The Streets is the So Solid Crew It's OK to Like"?"

I take your point. Most of those generic shoegazers are now defunct, so I cant think of a good name to insert. I dont agree with your streets-so solid crew example, though. Too many intrinsic differences - in music, attitude, and lyrical style. Streets embrace the grit, so solid aspire to the Gangsta glamour. Also, I dont think So Solid are naff enough to be a group its not "ok to like". They are shit, though.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Streets embrace the grit, so solid aspire to the Gangsta glamour.

right - just like (as they were portrayed in the music press anyway) Nirvana embraced the grit and GnR aspired to Gangsta glamour.

― gritz, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

"right - just like (as they were portrayed in the music press anyway) Nirvana embraced the grit and GnR aspired to Gangsta glamour"

True, as a comparison it does mirror the one made with Nirvana and G'n'r. I dont agree with that comparison, either, though. I take your point, all the same.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

ILX is the AOL chatroom it's OKAY to like.

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

New Guns'n'Roses are the old Guns'n'Roses its even less ok to like. Get me?

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

no.

but that doesn't mean it needs further explanation.

― jess, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

i think it's ok to like everything mentioned so far (except the farm obv)

btw the streets are incredibly NOT LIKE so solid crew soundwise etc so this is a bit of a non-starter surely

― mark s, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

yeh, but soundwise isn't that important to music is it? (yes yes, i know what i just said...)

― gareth, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

This question is completely unsound.

The "g'n'r that it's ok to like" comment kind of acknowledges that everybody liked g'n'r anyway, doesn't it? just that they had a bit of the "hate myself for loving you" guilt about it.

― fritz, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

do streets sound less like ssc than nirvana sound like gnr?

the whole NME initial point is bit nuts once you think about it hard, but it sounds true. which makes it interesting.

anyway the idea of 2 bands being different versions of one another somehow appeals to me.

― fritz, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

anyway it's really meant as an insult toward Nirvana, right? "not only are they OK to like (ie no threat to anyone), you're actually just like from the hair-metal bands they're meant to replace."

― fritz, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I meant to type: "they're actually just like the hair-metal bands they're meant to replace."

― fritz, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Jimmy Eat World is the Blink 182 it's ok to like.

― A Nairn, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Television and Wire are the Strokes it's OK to like

― dave q, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Blink 182 + Weezer = Jimmy Eat World.

― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Jessica Simpson is the Britney it's ok to dislike.

― fritz, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Moby is the Moby it's OK to harpoon.

― Curt, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

When it was just beginning to explode, I remember my older brother saying "Smells Like Teen Spirit" reminded him of Metallica...

― Joe, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

i'm still waiting for the chapterhouse metal album that was promised before they dropped that turd 'blood music'.

― keith, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Kate Winslet is the Moby Dick it's OK to harpoon!

― dave q, Thursday, 9 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I can only think of old ones:
The Gin Blossoms are the Babys it's OK to like.
Pearl Jam is the Bachman Turner Overdrive it's OK to like.

― Dave225, Thursday, 9 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

todd edwards is the spiritualized its ok to like

― gareth, Saturday, 11 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

dave you're going to hell. gareth you are on crack.

cannibal ox is the wu tang it's okay to like (in 2002.)

― jess, Saturday, 11 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

one year passes...

WHA SUP! You guys are my favorit band. Hell I'm only 10 but who gives A @#$%^*! I dont. Well I was wandoring if you guys can play in Virgina state? But if you cant fine with me. See ya.

― Mark Delisle JR, Friday, 5 December 2003 01:53 (twenty years ago) link

No can do.

― Axl (Gear!), Friday, 5 December 2003 02:07 (twenty years ago) link

Radiohead is the Coldplay it's OK to like HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHA

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Friday, 5 December 2003 02:36 (twenty years ago) link

Andrew WK and Darkness. Only, for sane people it is not OK to like any of those either. Let hair metal rest in peace!

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 5 December 2003 12:29 (twenty years ago) link

I hear the "Deftones and System of a Down are the Korn it's OK to like" line way too often. It's wrong, too.

― Siegbran (eofor), Friday, 5 December 2003 14:22 (twenty years ago) link

This thread proves a point I made ages ago abt Nirvana being like GnR, or something, so nerr to Dave Q, basically.

― N-Ri-K (Enrique), Friday, 5 December 2003 14:26 (twenty years ago) link

WTF? Nirvana doesn't even sound like GNR!!

― Cacaman Flores, Friday, 5 December 2003 22:23 (twenty years ago) link

i was expecting "radiohead, the prog it's ok to like" before any coldplay reference, but...

― Felcher (Felcher), Friday, 5 December 2003 22:46 (twenty years ago) link

I am not saying there are lots of similarities, but both GnR and Nirvana were hard rock bands.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:16 (twenty years ago) link

god i'm listening to Don't Cry right now and early-90's nme can fuck right off cuz it ROOLZ

― jones (actual), Friday, 5 December 2003 23:25 (twenty years ago) link

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