Now I always appreciate bands that don’t take themselves too seriously (with the exception of Lovage, which would for once sound better if Patton produced it a bit more seriously,) but one thing I do not miss about the progression of music in this decade is the decline in bands that basicaly exude the vibe of “unless you appreciate us purely in a kitschy, unserious manner and work in a record store, we’ll take your money but will be laughing at you behind your back.”
Basically bands that laugh at you rather than with you.
My list – and these are all bands that if forced to pick yes/no, I’d say I liked:
Although I dearly love them, I often feel this way about Belle & Sebastian and the whole twee pop thing in general. Check out the lyrics to Legal Man or Come Into My Office Baby or even Mike Piazza, New York Catcher sometime. I mean, what’s a Scottish group doing singing about the Mets?
Same thing with Malkmus, especially after he has gone solo from Pavement. Pavement is one of my all time favorites and I really do like the Malkmus albums, even if he is singing about pirates (The Hook, which appropriately has a killer hook) or feeding the oysters (Do Not Feed the Oysters).
Badly Drawn Boy does this sometimes, but I sometimes think it is just that he thinks his lyrics are deeper than they really are. Like he has a song about feeding the fish which is trying to be allegorical about something (Have You Fed the Fish? – in fact it is the name of the whole album). But the lyrics are kind of stupid and there is no obvious allegory, and I wonder if really that it is just it – that they are stupid lyrics. If he was too cool for school in his deep-ass allegory, then I would feel akin to the OP. As it is, I think the man must have expended a good deal of his talent on “Hour of the Bewilderbeest” and now he is just out of ideas.
The Strokes I’d give you. Good Charlotte? Um, maybe, at a stretch. Sum 41?? Have you ever heard one of their songs? I’d also be interested in which “rappers” you’d put into this category, too.
Sum 41-I admit I haven’t heard much but what I have heard seems to be all about themselves. Any band that does this is obviosly full of themselves.
Any rapper that raps about themselves, constantly. and not about themselves in the funny Beastie Boys way but in the way that they are better than everybody else.
Good additions, most (even tho I am not familiar with much by Zappa, the Strokes, or Superchunk from what I hear they fit in.)
And Sonic Youth and many rappers are also hipper-than-thou, but in a different way. The few songs I’ve heard by the Youth didn’t really scream “I look down on you if you like my music on its own merits!”, but they still exude that must-work-in-a-record-store vibe.
Lots of rappers have the attitude I describe in the OP, but it doesn’t show thru even in the subtext of their songs: you have to see their interviews to understand they don’t think anyone should take them seriously.
Same goes for Chumbawamba. IIRC they said they were just trying to make a point about the industry, or society, or something.
Another addition I just thought of is Nada Cerf. While I am told their other songs are not as “novelty” as Popular, they guy who told me that was a real asshole so I don’t know if that’s true or not :). But they have potential.
I’d have to disagree with you about Cake. To me they always seemed like they were trying to include everybody in their music. Yes it’s jokey, but they don’t seem to look down on anybody.
Yeah, I’m on the fence with Cake. IIRC the leader singer has said he doesn’t do the always “detached ironic” tone on purpose.
On the other hand, people other than me have said “you know, i can’t tell if he’s being serious or joking” without me prompting them.
On yet another hand, for them the detached ironic tone works in Comfort Eagle and especially The Distance. Granted, in Comfort Eagle it seems to merely say “we’re cooler than the record industry and the hoi polloi since we’re pointing out the sheep-like nature of radio,” whereas in The Distance the tone works to get out the message that “sure, the racer thinks he can win the girl by putting his heart + energy into seeking fame/wins/success in career goal, but you and I know it won’t work.” Or maybe I’m reading too much into it
