The Top 50 Greatest Landfill Indie Songs of All Time (2020)

Editors had one truly great single in “An End Has a Start”, but everything else is completely forgettable

quite fond of 'bullets' by editors tbh

i got tix for glastonbury '05, and this stuff was a massive part of that mudfest weekend.
i saw the rakes, art brut, maximo park, babyshambles, the others, and heard morning runner from afar,
there were probably more of these bands on the line ups,
but i was too busy elsewhere.
i dare not look at the full line up now as i just know i probably wasted my weekend.
that said, art brut and the rakes were a lot of fun, and that first maximo park album still makes me grin.

the maximo park song is really good, i think i like “our velocity” more tho

Were Hard-Fi not good enough for this list or were they not really landfill indie?

I hate the angular choppy post punk side of this (figureheads, Maximo park etc) much prefer the stuff that rips of the strokes or has a romantic atmosphere.

“Munich” is the second or third best interpol song

I agree that “two doors down” is swell, I get a “come on Eileen” vibe from it.

re hard-fi : good call,
they totally should have been in the list.
i actually liked their thing for a while.
mainly the wrongtom dubbed up versions of course, but still ..

God what a nightmare. This is the reason poptimism exists.

"Two Doors Down" really sucks. At the time I really liked "Scarecrows In the Rain," and listening now I guess the hook isn't the worst I've ever heard. But I just don't have the patience for vocals or production that resemble this.

I blame ILM for convincing me to like the "Hounds Of Love" cover.

would be good to compile some of the actually good UK indie from the landfill years 2004-2008

I was about to say, "An Honest Mistake" might be the only track from this era that holds up, but turns out The Bravery are from NYC.

Xxxpost sorry not zines, magazines/blogs

my vote is for "apply some pressure" which is legitimately great!! the whole first maximo park album still really holds up, i revisited it not too long ago

let's listen to "the coast is always changing"

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

"our velocity" is also great tho i won't go hard for much else they did

i do have a soft spot for some of those razorlight songs... "golden touch" isn't on here but is prob their best. "somewhere else" is pretty good tho

the rakes debut album is also pretty good imo. catchy little post punk record. "22 grand job" is a good mission statement but "work work work (pub club sleep)" is still awesome .... perhaps hits harder for me now than when i was 15 since i've been to a wetherspoons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXdO3ojPfTY

"strasbourg" is also a banger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yXRCxrT83k

i also may have been tempted to vote for the cribs - "mirror kissers" if it was on here. great song! you could actually sing about "the hipster type(s)" in 2005 with a straight face...

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

i was working at tower records when all this stuff was in full swing (2003-2006), especially libertines/doherty shit talk. we stocked all the brit music papers and moka otm; they all went in full bore on this scene. fold out posters of the kooks, codes for arctic monkeys ring tone downloads, and i seem to recall a briefly ran serial column specifically for fan aacounts of pete doherty sightings.

i checked out babyshambles and just figured it was me that "didn't get it." most of the bands mentioned here passed me by. there was a local alternative station that really started to push razorlight for some reason. in hindsight, the whole thing strikes me as (and this might not be a very polite take, sry) the british press trying to "compete" with the american scene. like, "oh sure you have the strokes but we have (insert whatever hype band they were behind that month)."

is it unfair of me to laugh at most of this stuff now?

not unfair at all, it's one of the points of the thread.

Well I dunno, the Brit music press were also all in on the Strokes too and speaking of them in insanely hyperbolic terms, they were a better band than most of these chancers yes but Strokes, Libertines and subsequent bands were all viewed through the same "rock is BACK" filter.

xpost

Apply Some Pressure is the only legit answer here

It's funny how so many of these basically exist now as 240p Youtube videos from 16 years ago

re other genres I guess business techno would be an equivalent xps

every action having an equal and opposite reaction might explain the rise of the xx in 2009, ruining UK indie from the other direction

Galli-curci is good, as are many on that list, I can even appreciate Alessandro Moreschi. But the majority of the cylinders are of a much lower quality in terms of performance, technology and preservation.

― the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length)

the phenomenon moreschi represents is, unsurprisingly, an interesting one to me... the whole thing was just super messed up. and the most messed up thing of all was that it was all just misogyny. as far as i'm aware prepubescent boys don't have any special vocal qualities girls don't. there was no reason for it.

I don't feel like Guillemots really count ITT. They were more like a less annoying UK(ISH) Arcade Fire than these swaggering schmindie blokes. I still have a big soft spot for 'Trains to Brazil'

I don't feel like Guillemots really count ITT. They were more like a less annoying UK(ISH) Arcade Fire than these swaggering schmindie blokes. I still have a big soft spot for 'Trains to Brazil'

― Do I look like I know what a jpeg is? (dog latin)

Trains To Brazil is such a great single. There's some good stuff on the debut album too. The second album was career suicide and they never recovered.

Oh not heard anything past the first album. How was it career suicide?

It was just a weird mix of styles, most of which didn't work. The hooks weren't as strong and it just seemed really unfocused and underwritten at times. The lead single, Get Over It gave them their biggest hit, but it's really jarring and miles away from Trains To Brazil and Made Up Love Song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJNe0AjNXrs

There's a handful of songs on there I'd save like the opener Kriss Kross and the second single, Falling Out Of Reach which was lovely.

the phenomenon moreschi represents is, unsurprisingly, an interesting one to me... the whole thing was just super messed up. and the most messed up thing of all was that it was all just misogyny. as far as i'm aware prepubescent boys don't have any special vocal qualities girls don't. there was no reason for it.

― Kate (rushomancy), Sunday, May 21, 2023 8:14 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

fwiw I think his voice does have a different quality about it - though perhaps much of this is due to the head voice he uses (which was standard at the time for opera singers.) Undoubtedly a great motivator for the continued existence of castrati was the culture/traditions of the vatican, moreschi was the maestro pro tempore of the sistine chapel choir, and his only recordings were made in the vatican.

okay finally went to dive into the playlist and fucking lol--- some of these aren't even available on us spotify! oh boy.

anyway, here we go...

guillemots are terrible, but i appreciate them for their shameless coldplay aspirations.

les incompetents sounds like someone successfully making fun of these kinds of bands. dreadful.

had to go over to youtube for the paddingtons and i regret every second. jfc.

(i'm not making it all the way through most of these btw. getting the cliche out of the way: THEY ALL SOUND THE SAME)

okay, i get what ya'll mean re: maximo park. "our velocity" sounds like they had an actual producer working with them. still not all the way my thing, but it at least sticks out (in a good way).

lol the editors. "riyl interpol"

"hounds of love" cover is vile.

I HATE PETE DOHERTY I HATE PETE DOHERTY I HATE PETE DOHERTY I HATE PETE DOHERTY I HATE PETE DOHERTY I HATE PETE DOHERTY I HATE PETE DOHERTY I HATE PETE DOHERTY

may regret this but: two door cinema club isn't that bad - one of the better things on here so far!

bromheads jacket are fucking awful. that is all.

"we'll live and die in these towns" is downright hilarious. i like it. "so bad it's good"

this mystery jets is admittedly terrible, but i like how it goes full twee: twinkly synths, big stupid chorus, and hey even some sax. maybe it's just that it has some variety in the arrangement and that's why it sticks out, but i don't mind it.

lol the cribs - "dude, johnny marr's new band!" oh dear. on the better side of this stuff, but still. sigh of disappointment.

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH THE SINGER IN BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB?? STOP THAT, FRIEND!!!

...sheesh, this stuff must be awful because "mardy bum" came on and i was like "oh that's not too bad!"

i remember reading a review of this kooks album (inside in / inside out) where the reviewer was really going to bat for them; "these lads are bringing something truly different to the scene and are surely the future of rock music" (paraphrasing). hoo boy, they sure do suck in retrospect.

aaahahahahahaha!! "fuck forever"!!! it's.... so, so terrible. still very tempted to vote for it. good times.

finally, the fratellis- meh, they suck. what's new?

really undecided on what to vote for. do i genuinely enjoy any of these songs? no. any enjoyment in this stuff always involves a bit of sardonic humor; even with the ones that aren't 'so bad it's good' i'm still enjoying it with a smirk.

Generator by the Holloways should have made the list. I remember Radio 1 calling it a song that it is impossible not to be lifted up by. Hehehe, one might say, but then it had the last laugh by semi-inventing Vampire Weekend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bIC4V_DIrg

Yoooo

I like the 5 songs here I'm able to remember

good god, that interview. was that supposed to be cheeky!?

"did you ever call her katie manure?" ffs, how do you interview the kooks and come off the cuntiest cunt of the lot??

voted two cinema club btw.

two door cinema club soz

fwiw I think his voice does have a different quality about it - though perhaps much of this is due to the head voice he uses (which was standard at the time for opera singers.) Undoubtedly a great motivator for the continued existence of castrati was the culture/traditions of the vatican, moreschi was the maestro pro tempore of the sistine chapel choir, and his only recordings were made in the vatican.

― the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length)

that's the damnedest thing, it's so fucking DARVO. we get called groomers but it's always been christian authorities who are the actual groomers.

sorry, i know we're supposed to be talking about how shit babyshambles are.

it's true that moreschi's voice is unusual. i can't think of any _physiological_ reason why this should be the case, though. my suspicion is that nobody sounds like moreschi today because, well, nobody really wants to!

I liked “Dakota” by Stereophonics. That doesn’t count as landfill indie?

Some more discussion on this list from a couple years ago:

the landfill that time forgot: crap uk bands of 00s/10s

good god, that interview. was that supposed to be cheeky!?

Yeah that was the Popworld style. This one arguably still crosses a line when it gets to the Melua stuff but it's one of Simon's more famous ones.

Landfill indie is just not a genre though....it's a pejorative term meaning "shitty example of a genre in which much shitty music was produced"--50 Shittiest Landfill Indie Songs makes some sense; 50 Best is just completely incoherent.

I suppose maybe 50 Least Shitty Landfill Indie Songs was deemed a little too uninspiring?

Oh, and _Up the Bracket_ is better than anything by the Strokes.

Oh, and _Up the Bracket_ is better than anything by the Strokes.

― gucci meme (theStalePrince)

I don’t even like the strokes but this is not even worth the discussion.

co-sign. libertines were always terrible. they make the strokes sound good.

(and i f'kn hate the strokes)

We did a 1000-post thread on this two years ago? Fucking hell lol

Oh wait, most of it was not from two years ago

Wow, there's a Boaby G skit on that thread I'd completely forgotten about.

As others have said I think "Mardy Bum" is a little out of place here. I voted for that but I have reluctant affection for the Mystery Jets and Two Door Cinema Club songs.

I recall liking a Glasvegas song that sounded a bit like Mazzy Star, but it's not the one on this list. Shout out to Jack Peñate who's done some writing for SAULT recently and is a big part of why Jessie Ware started her own musical career.

Incomplete list of actually-good UK guitar indie bands who began in the 00's:

Clearlake, Late Of The Pier, The Chap, My Computer, Youthmovies, Working For A Nuclear Free City, Electrelane, British Sea Power, Electric Soft Parade (their new album that came out 3 days ago = they've still got it!), The Cooper Temple Clause, Engineers, The Display Team, iLiKETRAiNS, Silvery, Field Music...

It wasn't all landfill around 'ere!

McLusky & 80s Matchbox are the two others that spring to mind. I think of Clearlake and Electrelane as being very late 90s but this is probably just an artefact of abandoning the UK in 2002.

Wild Beasts, Dutch Uncles, Esben & The Witch

I thought of McLusky but decided they weren't indie so much as noise-rock, underground, punk etc. Splitting hairs I know

Clearlake and Electrelane both began in 2000/01 I think - yeah, Electrelane's first single released in January '00 haha

Ahhhh ofc NickB