I pit posters who know and like bands that I don't know and like!

The BBQ Pit
1

Author’s note: The following rant is satire-like,…and not meant to be taken entirely seriously.

While I do hold the actual view and opinions of this rant (so I would not call it trolling), I have attempted to put it in a lighthearted, humorous, and slightly over exaggerated way. It is not meant to be taken 100% seriously is my point. There is a little bit of satire mixed in…a sort of “stop liking things I dislike!!” aspect of it. Tongue in cheek but with tones of ways that I do actually feel sprinkled in and that leave me scratching my head.

I do not actually feel this strongly or upset or angry about it as portrayed here, but I did want to talk about a growing trend that I have noticed happening more and more throughout my life that makes me a little concerned that I am “losing touch” with today’s bands or perhaps never even knew a good 99% of them in the first place. Not sure if this topic belongs in the Pit, but I didn’t know where else to put it. If Miller wishes to close or move it, he can feel free.

This will probably backfire horribly though, turn into one of those pit threads where everybody is against the OP… But that’s fine, because I’m still going to have my say.

And now… I present to you… The rant.

Gather round kiddies. I HAVE A RANT and this one is a DOOZIE.

Today, I want to rant about FUCKING BANDS. Not the rubber kind. Not the wedding kind. The MUSICAL KIND.

But I don’t just mean ANY band… no.. this is a VERY SELECT, specific type of band. I really don’t know how to describe these bands…not sure if there IS a specific name for them, but you know, I think I may INVENT A TERM for them by the end of this rant. A term better than the one I ALREADY use for them. For now, though, I will call them…

…YUPPIE BANDS, okay?

Now…the definition of what I’m calling YUPPIE BANDS, can be tricky… because, after all, you don’t know ALL bands. Neither do I.

But, IMO, there are certain bands that exist that…just…EVERYONE… is gonna know. Ya know?

Take THE BEATLES. I’m sure you have heard of the Beatles. I’m sure your KIDS have heard of the Beatles. I’m sure your PARENTS have heard of the Beatles. I’m sure if you go up to a RANDOM, HOMELESS GUY ON THE STREET AND ASK HIM “Have you ever heard of the Beatles?” HE’S PROBABLY GONNA SAY YES…and then ask you if you can spare a dollar.

MY POINT IS… everyone knows the Beatles. Well…almost everyone.

I’m sure there are still some tribes out there in WEST AFRICA or maybe NOMADS in Australia or those MOTHERFUCKING HOSTILE BASTARD ON NORTH SENTINEL ISLAND who have never heard of the Beatles…but… BY AND LARGE.. more people in this world have PROBABLY heard of them than not.

But see, there are “tiers”. No… not “tears”. TEARS are what I get running down my face every time I hear of a damn YUPPIE BAND…

there are TIERS here of…let’s say…"recognition”

Whereas most everyone has heard of THE BEATLES…

…IS THE SAME for…ohhhhhhhhhhhh…sayyyyyyyyyyyyy…

REO SPEEDWAGON?

Welllllllllll,

Probably not.

Now.. no doubt YOU have heard of REO SPEEDWAGON… but their fame and recognition level is just not as high as, say, the Beatles.

What MAY rival the Beatles in this area, though? Any?

Well, maybe.. possibly…THE ROLLING STONES.

Or how about this one? PINK FLOYD.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm…maybe.

But Pink Floyd strikes me as maybe just a liiiiiiiiiiittle bit less than the Beatles. Rolling Stones are about the same level as them, but NOT QUITE Pink Floyd.

Course..

…the reason I said this was TRICKY (at the beginning of this, remember?) is because it’s all just opinion anyways.

Maybe YOU think Pink Floyd are more well known than the Beatles, but who is to say? Who is right? HOW CAN IT BE PROVED.

It can’t.

That’s why you just have to go with your gut. Make an estimation. Use reason. Use logic. GUESSTIMATE. Yes, I whipped out that word.

Okay so…stay with me here, I’m still trying to get to my point and talk about YUPPIE BANDS, this is a long intro,…

There are tiers.

Let me introduce say…NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK.

Ohhhh, tricky.

Now… more well known and HEARD OF, would you say, than The Beatles or Rolling Stones?

How about Nirvana?

Foo Fighters?

Nine Inch Nails? What if I wrote that band this way? NIN. How many would know it then? If I went up to a random person on the street and asked “DO YOU KNOW THE BAND NIN???” How many would know?

You see?

Starts to get less and less. Your kids and parents might not KNOW of Nine Inch Nails. Or the White Stripes. Or Korn.

Okay okay…How about… getting more WELL KNOWN AGAIN… BEYONCE? Or ARIANA GRANDE? More well known.. overall, than THE BEATLES?

Hard to say…

How abouttttttttttt DUA LIPA? Or THE WEEKND?HARD. Tricky

Getting closer to my point…

Here is my point. My rant. Here is what I HATE.

I HATE IT when you ask people to name their favorite bands or concerts they’ve been to…

…and their list is FILLED WITH BULLSHIT.

No..not bands you dislike… I mean bullshit like …

..YUPPIE BANDS.

Yuppie bands…

…BANDS THAT YOU DON’T KNOW AND NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE,despite knowing A LOT OF MUSIC.

…

Example.

Personal story.

I was reading a thread on here “Name memorable concerts you’ve been to” earlier…and okay. Styx. Great band. Grateful Dead.. Yep. Stevie Ray Vaughn. Got it. Abba. Obviously.

But then they seem to go off the FUCKING DEEP END COMPLETELY…

“…oh, and Echo and the Bunnyman”

…

…

…

…

…

…

.

what

Who the FUCK are they? Was that you sneezing or something? Are you having a stroke? Did you just mash words together for that last one?

Not only do I HATE THAT…

…I REALLY HATE IT when ALL OF THEIR LIST is YUPPIE BANDS

Oh I went to concerts of VNV Nation, The Damned, Echo and the Bunnymen, English Beat, Squeeze, Peter Hook and the Light, James. yeah, they were all good!

DA FUCK?? ARE YOU FUCKING HIGH??

WHO====THE====FUCK===HAS ----EVER---- heard of those fucking BANDS??? I mean, other than you, you Yuppie motherfucker…

Here, I’ll give you another example of a recent topic on here that has included a lot of this, in my opinion.

This one

Soul Coughing? Public Image Limited?? Bleachers??? I mean, at least that poster admitted they were an indie band…but Jake Shimabukuro??? Now you’re just making up words and sounds. Now you’re just putting together word salad. It’s like you stuck an infinite number of monkeys in an infinite number of rooms with an infinite number of typewriters and had them type out a band name consisting of three random words. “Hey, I’ve seen..…… Lambasted Nickel Humpback… In concert.”

Who the fuck has ever heard of them? Oh,. …you?

..and possibly OTHERS LIKE YOU…that brotherhood of “made up indie band names” members…

“OH yeah… they are great!”… That’s like your motto, that’s like your mating call. You hear somebody else speaking nonsense and making up a band name and you just go “Yeah! I like their sound!”

I mean you here at all the time, somebody will name a really independent band that only they think they know existed and some other ASSHOLE HIGH END, YUPPIE MOTHERFUCKER has to come chime in and give agreement “YESS… MY MUSICAL TASTE IS SO ADVANCED I KNOW THOSE BANDS TOO!!!”

Jesus, I cannot roll my eyes that far back in my head about these people.

Okay, take another example. Look, I’m not bashing it all or everyone. Take my friend @pulykamell for example

“I saw the spin Doctors" he says in that above topic.

Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

welllllllllllllllll

The Spin Doctors, see, are fine.

They are all right… because, see… I’ve ACTUALLY HEARD of the Spin Doctors, at least. Barely. They are like…A BORDERLINE CASE HERE. They are on the CUSP. They have their hands on the fence of “oh, hey, I consider them a mainstream band/singer too” and “INDEPENDENT YUPPIE BULLSHIT”

Go back to the topic I saw a couple days ago… Although it was not a topic made a couple days ago, I was reading a very old topic from a few years ago…

..New Pornografers? Sleater-Kinney? Yep, AT LEAST I have heard of them and THAT is how I base all music…JUDGE ALL MUSIC… on if it’s good or YUPPIE BULLSHIT BANDS. But again, you’re PUSHING IT MAN…

…so is the slight dumbass who mentioned COWBOY JUNKIES.. Ugh.

Hey, I’ve heard of them. Not a Yuppie Band, therefore…

…but they are close. They are SKIRTING AND TOEING THE LINE, LET ME TELL YOU. Careful now…ohh, HUH UH… careful. Don’t fall into enemy territory.

You know what I sometimes want to do when I see this BULLSHIT taking place??

Heh. well…the DEVIOUS side of my mind likes to think “I know! I’ll make up a band and make it sound real…and see if anyone takes the bait."

So I wait for my opening… and…

YUPPIE ONE: I LOVE PERE UBU

YUPPIE TWO: I LOVE THE KNITTERS

YUPPIE THREE: I LOVE HAROLDBUGSDGERGBEFF

Me: I love …,Taking Back Chairs…

All three Yuppies nod: YES, YES, THAT’S A GOOD ONE.

I’m serious… I can go to SEATTLE RIGHT NOW AND be on the street, take a person aside and be like..

Me: Hey, you hear about Toadlick? They’re gonna be live this Saturday, for free.

Random Yuppie: OH MAN.. yeah…YEAHHH! TOADLICK… I er.. saw them last month. Man, they were good. I’m so there, man. Thanks.

Me: Not a problem.

--------

So you see, this is bullshit I HATE.

Motherfuckers…STICK WITH THE REAL BANDS… THE WHO., GENESIS, JOURNEY. THE JACKSON FIVE, SMOKEY ROBINSON AND THE MIRACLES, BOOKER T AND THE MGS, KOOL AND THE GANG, LIONEL RICHIE, KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND, THE J GEILS BAND. STEELERS WHEEL EVEN! STEELY DAN. PHISH. REEL BIG FISH. HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH, COUNTRY JOE AND THE FISH, FISHBONE, BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY, THE CRANBERRIES. THE GO GOS, THE BANGLES…

THE LIST GOES ON. IT’S ALMOST ENDLESS. THERE IS

---------------------------------------NO NEED--------------------------

…to interject…

-----------------------------RANDOM BULLSHIT NOBODY HAS HEARD OF SAVE FOR YOU AND A FEW OTHERS---------------------------

…into the mix.

Save your SKINNY PUPPY and COAL CHAMBER… who the FUCK knows them??? All it does is make you seem like a PRETENTIOUS YUPPIE PRICK.

“*~~~~OOH, LOOK WHO I KNOW… I KNOW THIIIIIIIIIIS BAND~~~~~*”

Whatever… asshat.

I know.. I know.. “Yuppie band” doesn’t cut it anymore as a term. Nobody uses the word yuppie anymore. need a new term.

How about…

PRETENTIOUS INDEPENDENT CHOICE KIDS

Or PICKS for short.

Don’t be a PICKHEAD!

Rant over.

2

Careful now, this is my music. (NIN and White Stripes in particular are among my favorite bands of all time. Up there with Offspring. That upper tier of favorites just under The Smashing Pumpkins, which are my all-time favorite band, period.)

“…oh, and Echo and the Bunnyman”

But I freaking love The Killing Moon.

3

So you’re kidding on the square?

4

And I have to say, I have never in my life heard of “Booker T and the MGs”, “The J Geils Band”, or “Steelers Wheel” (not sure if I even have that last name right). Name real bands people have heard of.

:winking_face_with_tongue:

(I do like every other band you mentioned there, even if you misspelled The Bangles; how dare you! The ageless Susanna Hoffs would weep!)

5

Are YUPPIES the real target here? Young Urban Professionals were a thing in the 1980s, meaning Yuppies are more OUPIES [OLD] now. Do you mean generations rather than socio-economic groups?

6

I consider myself pretty old (almost old enough to get a senior discount in some places, at least I will be next year), and yuppies are my parents’ age.

7

I looked them up later, and their song “Green Onions” is a classic and awesome. They’ve done good music. But I had still never heard of them, even if I’ve heard and enjoyed some of their songs.

I looked them up, and yeah, I know a couple of their songs, and they suck. Generic forgettable 80s music.

Apparently this is “Stealers Wheel”. Again, never heard of them. They have one song “Stuck in the Middle With You” that I (and many people who aren’t ancient) would probably have never heard of if it hadn’t been featured in an infamous scene in Reservoir Dogs (great use of that song though).

8

Echo and the Bunnymen is hipster music

The Bleachers is music that has been listened to by everyone who has set foot in a grocery store at any point in the last 10 years.

9

I was a yuppie. Once upon a time. So was my wife at that time. We could probably have been your parents if we’d started kinda young. Barely.

Anyhow, I think what the OP means is bands of our (AKA The Yuppies’) era known to many reasonably well-informed musical consumers. Except also unknown to @Idle_Thoughts. Who has heretofore considered himself a reasonably well-informed musical consumer, until he had his ass handed to him by the collective knowledge of this amazingly varied group we call “The Dopers”.

Now I’ll cut him, and everyone else, massive slack here. The collective wisdom and knowledge of The Dopers makes anyone’s expertise on anything seem puny by comparison. Just roll with it there OP. No shame required. Just go see some more bands.


That song made it to #6 on the US Billboard charts in 1973 when it was new and I was in high school. It also made it to #8 on the UK charts. It was capital-B Big. And was played about 80 bazillion times on every countdown and top-40 radio station in our fair land. I can yet hear it in my head.

I never knew it was recycled 20(!) years later in a movie.

This was early in the era of mix tapes (on C-30 or C-60 cassettes of course), but if you made a pop mix tape that year, this song was on it.

10

Fuck, yeah, it probably is. If you think The Cure sold out, you might gravitate to it.

:laughing:

11

WHAT?! Next you’ll be saying you never heard of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown!

12

I love this rant, can absolutely get behind it (in an ironic-not-really-but-also-kinda-get-off-my-lawn kind of way), but yeah, I think this is less about Yuppies and more about folks who were alive and/or young-ish at a very particular moment.

I mean… Spin Doctors? Talk about a momentary flash in the pan that no one who wasn’t 6-25 (to be generous) in 1991 has any business knowing or remembering today (yes, I get that this is part of the joke in the first place… just that it’s not about Yuppies. I mean, did the Yuppies even ever have a hit single?)

Some on-topic observations from my life in the last few days:

  • I was in Boston last night seeing Noah Kahan. He’s no Reel Big Fish, but you know, take what you can get.
  • Driving home today, we grabbed a CD book from my wife’s childhood home and listened to some random mix CDs from her middle school through college years, and heard some fun songs, including Spin Doctors’ Two Princes.
  • I’m going to see Phish next month for the first time. I talked to my dad (early 70s) a little while ago and mentioned it, and while sort of explaining Phish’s hey-day era, he asked if they were similar to Hootie & The Blowfish (calling back to what were, in his mind, ‘bands that were big in the 90s’)
13

I know very well who the Spin Doctors are, as I was a teenager when they were popular, and I never cared for them. I loathed them then and still do. If they are forgotten by later generations, I am more than happy to see it happen.

14

So: first of all, I think whatever value may reside in this rant is potentially lost by calling an extremely diverse set of artists “Yuppie music”. As an ur-hipster from the late 80s, much of the music cited here is as far from yuppie culture as you can possible be. The idea, for example, that yuppies might be listening to Pere Ubu gives me an entirely unintended great deal of joy.

I see OP walks back from the term at the end of the rant but IMO by then it’s too late. He’s made his bed and has to lie in it.

But mostly, what I find confounding is that in this day and age, where the fullest span of artists and albums ever assembled is instantly available for free on YouTube or Spotify or whatever, that OP limits the ‘acceptable’ range of artists down to the most miniscule slice of artists with radio success in the last handful of decades. In other words, the lowest common denominators. How is that fun.

For the record, as the ur-hipster that I am, I know and love nearly every artist denigrated here. And more importantly, I knew them before you did.

15

Their hits, such as they were, are fairly forgettable IMO. Particularly the novelty songs like ‘Love Stinks’ and ‘Centerfold’. However they made their reputation off of their high-energy live shows and they were fairly entertaining as kind of a jumped-up honky-tonk bar band.

ETA:

Yeah, I’m a big fan of alternative rock of the 1980’s and 1990’s. Started dropping off in the early to mid-2000’s - the rise of nu-metal did nothing for me and as I entered my mid to late 30’s my tastes began to calcify a bit. Happens to most of us. That’s just the OP’s rant writ universal.

Yeah, one thing Pere Ubu has never been is popular :grinning:. Beloved, yes - but not popular.

16

I think maybe the word you are looking for instead of YUPPIE is HIPSTER? At least then you’d be using a term that didn’t die out by the end of the 80s.

17

I have no idea what the rant was even supposed to mean in a joking manner. People who like bands of a certain obscurity level should pretend that they don’t? It’s not like they look down their nose at you and refuse to sell you an Echo and the Bunnymen vinyl until you’ve listened to Jesus and Mary Chain. (On the other hand, I almost typed “JMC” instead, which would have been annoying in a different way.)

18

I like:

  • the Who
  • the Moody Blues

Of course I’m 72… :face_with_monocle:

19

Was Jefferson Airplane a Yippie band?

20

Squeeze is an obscure band? Hmm.