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BAMM.tv Rundown: So Uncool They’re Cool

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‘Coolness’ can be such a fickle concept sometimes. One minute you’re the toast of Pitchfork, the next you’re being slated on a million message boards for ‘selling out’ or mysteriously losing whatever touch you had in the first place. It’s never been quite clear who decides on what’s ‘cool’ or not (our god-like cultural overlords, perhaps, plotting the rise and fall of pop-culture from a volcano fortress somewhere in the mid-Pacific), but the rules of the game seem genuinely unfair a lot of the time. Here’s a look, then, at some of the acts whose talents have often been overlooked simply because they’re so ‘uncool’ …

5. Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers

Boring, trad-heavy, MOR dadrock, right? WRONG. Petty’s ‘Greatest Hits’ compilation is pretty much a masterclass in songwriting, and all the hip sneering in the world ain’t gonna change that.

4. Coldplay

Okay, so they’re lyrically simplistic and Chris Martin can be a bit whiny, but let’s not pretend that they don’t write great tunes.

3. U2

Bono’s constant sanctimony and messiah-complex can be wearisome, true – a fair trade-off for three decades of killer songs, one might argue, however.

2. The Pretenders

‘I’ll Stand By You’ might have been overplayed on a million romantic-drama trailers, but if you don’t like ‘Brass In Pocket’ then you may well have no soul.

1. Bruce Springsteen

One of the finest singer-songwriters in history has bizarrely found himself labelled ‘middle-of-the-road’ and ‘leaden’ by a legion of try-too-hard cool kids. Who should stop it.

OTHER BAMM.TV STORIES YOU MIGHT LIKE:

BAMM.tv Rundown: Five Criminally Underrated Albums

BAMM.tv Rundown: The 10 Craziest Album Covers

BAMM.tv Rundown: 10 More Crazy Album Covers

BAMM.tv Artist Of The Month: Thao And The Get Down Stay Down

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‘Get down, stay down’ may sound like a direct command (imagine your clichéd ‘give me fifty’ drill instructor barking it in your ear) – but such straightforward bludgeoning really isn’t the style of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, the San Francisco act who just happen to be BAMM.tv’s new Artist Of The Month.

This isn’t to say that there’s no immediacy to their music. Thao Nyugen and her mainstay cohort Adam Thompson (the band members have previous included Frank Stewart and Willis Thompson) have crafted a body of work which – while loosely fitting within umbrella terms like alt-rock and folk-rock – opens up with multiple listens to reveal rewarding intricacies, unique vocal and musical flourishes, and melodies within melodies.

You may think you’re getting everything with a surface listen – and an enjoyable surface listen it definitely is – but sentiments like ‘you are a dead man/I just have to shoot the gun’ (‘Body’) and ‘I come back because the punches always hit the same’ (‘Trouble Was For’) show off a beguiling complexity. Think of similar creative multi-taskers like Broken Social Scene, Jim Ward, Cat Power, Fiona Apple and Feist – not a bad line-up to be mentioned alongside – and you’ll be close.

Or, y’know, just listen to them. (click ‘more’ to continue)

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BAMM Rundown: 5 Weirdest Musical Collaborations

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Following the remarkable recent team-up between indie darlings Vampire Weekend and buggy-eyed acting legend Steve Buscemi, we couldn’t help but ruminate on the topic of strange musical collaborations, and thought we’d take you on a baffling trip down memory lane. So: let’s have a peek at five of the weirdest get-togethers of all time.

5. The KLF and Tammy Wynette

Woah, woah, woah – we never said that ‘weird’ meant ‘bad’. There are few stranger combinations than British electro-anarchists the KLF and old dame of country Tammy Wynette, but when they unleashed ‘Justified And Ancient’ in 1991, they produced the catchiest tune of the year.

4. Gwyneth Paltrow And Huey Lewis

Whereas this? Yep, this is bad. Vey bad.

3. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony And Phil Collins

For those of you (and I’m assuming there must be many) whose abiding memory of Phil Collins is that ‘No Jacket Required’ was the only cassette in your parents’ car, watching him bust some moves alongside the Bone Thugs is somewhat disconcerting.

2. Eminem and Elton John

Marshall tries to stave off accusations of homophobia by performing a live Grammy duet with Elton John. Then spends the next few years trying to stave off accusations of awful, awful ideas for collaborations.

1. Buzz Aldrin and Snoop Dogg

Yes, you read that right. Buzz Aldrin and Snoop Dogg.

OTHER BAMM.TV STORIES YOU MIGHT LIKE:

BAMM.tv Rundown: Five Criminally Underrated Albums

BAMM.tv Rundown: The 10 Craziest Album Covers

BAMM.tv Rundown: 10 More Crazy Album Covers

BAMM In-Depth: The Comeback Trail

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Here’s another of our in-depth articles from our London-based correspondent Zakia Uddin. This time, she looks at the increasingly prevalent modern phenomenon of the comeback artist …

Justin Timberlake announced his comeback this year – yes, JT. Put it this way, the 32-year-old’s first release was back when Dubya had been in power for less than a year and the first dot com bubble had just exploded (‘Like I Love You’, below).

The comeback has always occupied a special place in the world of music. Unlike political comebacks, musical ones rarely the same renewed vigor. You don’t humour a politician (or at least we don’t think we do) but the force of nostalgia is enough to get people excited about a singer or band’s return. We’re never quite sure whether to take it seriously – arguably, we’re even more cynical about musicians’ abilities than we are about those of politicians. Will they be as passionate as they used to be? What if they aren’t as good as we remember? What does that say about us? Worst of all, they remind of us how old we’re getting.

There was a more (or less) cynical time – depending on your point of view – when making a comeback was like doing an encore. Or comebacks were only for the kind of musicians who did encores, who couldn’t get enough, and were willing to spin out the old hits for an unimaginative audience. So what’s changed? It’s a real truism that touring is the only way to generate money – correspondingly many bands have sucked it up and gone touring together, including legendary fall-outs like the Stone Roses (below).

Generally, rock music comebacks have always seemed more dignified. It involves a different kind of struggle, as though they just didn’t want to come back until they were truly inspired. Click on ‘more’ to continue!

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BAMM.tv Rundown: The Greatest Band Logos

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See that picture above? The Rolling Stones have updated their famous ‘lips’ logo to celebrate their 50th anniversary, and – if anything – this revamp only goes to solidify its reputation as one of the all-time great band logos: instantly recognisable, effortlessly cool and simple enough to reproduce quickly on a billion T-shirts and a quadzillion bedroom posters.

So – which other band logos can proudly stand alongside those luscious red lips? Let’s construct a virtual hall of fame and take a look at some of the exhibits, shall we?

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GTA V: Musical Predictions

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Why are we writing about a video game? Because the Grand Theft Auto franchise is no mere video game – it’s a genuine pop-culture phenomenon, and, as anyone who keeps up with joypad-twiddling will tell you, music is becoming an ever-more integral part of gaming. The Rock Band/Guitar Hero franchise have flogged themselves to death, yet were undeniably a turning point for the industry. And Valve’s ‘Portal’ series has featured a couple of bespoke bona-fide pop classics (sung by an evil computer no less), not to mention a specially commissioned tune by The National.

But Grand Theft Auto … ah, Grand Theft Auto. The music that features in the game – blaring from a selection of in-car radio stations – adds to the experience on an almost indefinable level. Remember blowing up helicopters to the strains of Blondie’s ‘Atomic’ in Vice City? Cruising a motorbike through smouldering drug plantations while humming Loretta Lynn in San Andreas? Speeding away from a bank robbery to Alexander O’Neill’s ‘Criticize’ in GTA IV? Sure you do.

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BAMM.tv Rundown: Worst Songs By Great Artists

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Remember when you were a kid, and you’d done something wrong, and your parents would say: ‘I’m not angry … I’m just disappointed’? How about the music that makes you feel that way? Everyone has a moment in the catalogue of their favorite band or artist which they find indefensible – maybe a stupid quote in an interview, maybe an embarrassing TV appearance, maybe a sell-out starring role in a product commercial (we’re looking at you, Iggy Pop. And you, John Lydon).

Or – more likely – just a plain old bad song.

We’re looking at the top five worst songs by great artists … those records which sully the reputation of cultural legends and which even the hardcore fanbase find hard to stomach. Ready? Let’s go.

5. The Smiths – ‘Golden Lights’

Morrissey may have aged into a flabby, reactionary embarrassment, but it’s widely held that his four-year-stint with The Smiths was a non-stop procession of pop perfection. Right? Right? Well … kind of. There’s always one who has to spoilt it for everyone else – and that came in the form of ‘Ask’ B-Side ‘Golden Lights’, a cover of a 1965 song by Twinkle. The rest of the band hated it. It’s easy to see why:

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BAMM Playlist Special: Geographer’s Favorite BAMM Videos

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Well, it’s that time of the week when we usually select a member of the BAMM.tv Team to choose their favorite tunes of the moment … but, as we’ve installed the amazing San Francisco three-piece Geographer as our Artist Of The Month, we’ve handed the feature over to them. There’s just one slight twist – all their faves are from the BAMM.tv archive …

‘Better Way’ – The Soft White Sixties

These badasses play MUSIC, and they play it well and they play it raw. You get that “I’m listening to something good” feeling in your guts when you watch this.

‘Party Talk’ – Craft Spells

Just heard these guys, happy to have them making music in the bay.

‘If I Run’ – Voxhaul Broadcast

This video really showcases a simple and powerful talent. It’s great to see when a buzz band can sit down and blow you away with nothing but an amazing sweater, an acoustic guitar, and a beautiful voice.

‘Mickey Mantle’ – Waters

This is just some balls out, sharpen the axe rock and roll. I was very pleased when I heard this single come out of Van.

‘OG’ – Religious Girls

These guys are true artists, on and off stage, and have always deeply impressed me with their samples, use of synthesizers, and wild presentation and interpretation of what a pop song can be.

OTHER BAMM.TV STORIES YOU MIGHT LIKE:


BAMM.tv Artist Of The Month: Geographer

BAMM.tv Team Playlists: Jeff LaPenna, Media Director

BAMM.tv Team Playlists: Chris Hansen, CEO

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