# So, who's the coolest band ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2002, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584 "2002-07-12T07:34:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/21 "2002-07-12T20:40:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > \*\*I guess Rush would qualify as not cool, as far as onstage presence and drug abuse go. 🙂 \*\* They may not be cool, but I saw them live last night, and they kicked some serious ass! I always thought Van Halen was the coolest, but only with David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar just didn’t cut it. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/22 "2002-07-12T21:23:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by A wizard song for thee \* > \*\*it’s hard for me to thing of a band that is _still_ cool from pre-1965. If you can, I’d love to hear it, and, in fact, that’s why I asked the question. \*\* [Here](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000007TFR/104-6721561-1664714) y’are. The Gerry Mulligan Quartet featuring Chet Baker. So cool they didn’t even use a piano. And all hopped up on China White while Lou Reed was still in short pants. ---
**Author:** ![Skewbald](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@Skewbald](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skewbald)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/23 "2002-07-12T23:53:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Jesus . . . Do _any_ of you people know that “cool” existed before 1965, too? \*\* I do! I do! The raunchy garage rock band **The Sonics** started out way back in **1963** and they were pretty damn cool. Songs like Strychnine, Boss Hoss, Have Love Will Travel and Psycho are overlooked rock classics. They predate both The Stooges and The Velvet Underground as the original godfather of punk. Now that’s cool. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/24 "2002-07-13T00:10:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gex gex \* > \*\*The nineties were had no lack of cool themselves. kicked off with possibly one of the coolest bands ever, **nirvana**. everything these guys did was cool, as much as they tried not to be. they admitted their beatles influences. cool. they wore wildly unfashinable clothes and made simple music when everyone else was wanking over axl rose and his tight pants. cool. they had a huge hit album and followed it up with a defiantly unhit album that was brilliant anyway. cool. they dressed in drag and tongue kissed each other on stage. cool. they smashed up their instruments. cool. they ended with a tragic suicide. cool, (but awful). nirvana were the epitome of motherfucking cool. > \*\* Gex Gex? Great post my friend. I really enjoyed reading that. And no offence taken regarding question my Police nomination. I enjoyed reading your Nirvana paragraph. As you probably know, Dave Grohl (their drummer and a pretty good one at that) stayed admirably discreet after Kurt’s death and showed up two years later fronting his own band playing Gibson guitars (pretty bloody well too) and singing his own tunes (pretty bloody well too). He recorded the first Foos album entirely himself. Played every instrument etc etc and did a pretty bloody good job too! (Getting repetitive now, I know!) Anyways, Dave Grohl recognises he just doesn’t have the angst and bitter qualities than made Kurt Cobain who he was, and Dave recognises he’s just an upbeat guy with a wicked sense of humour. He’s since surrounded himself with some top flight musos as bandmates and they are genuinely righteous cool - in my own considered opinion. So the Nirvana legacy lives on… Regards, Boo Boo Foo ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/25 "2002-07-13T00:14:19Z")
I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. On one of the good nights, with a friendly audience, & when Freddy Mercury got cookin’, **Queen** was the Best Band In The World. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Jojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecd19e/32.png) [@Jojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jojo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/26 "2002-07-13T00:27:15Z")
I would have to rate **Velvet Underground** as the second coolest band ever. I’m tempted to rate **Sonic Youth** as the third coolest band ever but they owe so much to the velvets in terms of their style and look that it could be argued they lose some of their coolity. Because of this, I would nominate **The Pixies** as third coolest band ever. I would probably be thinking in terms of **Black Sabbath** for the fourth coolest band ever. In the No 1 spot, the undisputed coolest band ever, in the whole of history, in the whole of the universe… … **The Butthole Surfers** ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/27 "2002-07-13T00:28:21Z")
I’d say the epitome of cool was Billie Holliday. She broke her contract to record Strange Fruit, had a drug problem and one of the best voices ever. ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/28 "2002-07-13T01:23:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by A wizard song for thee \* > \*\* > I know that some band can achieve a peak in coolness and burn out and it is more important, in my estimation, to be permanently cool than it is to be briefly, extremely cool. With this requirement, I’m sorry to say, we can safely throw out The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and the psychadelic bands of San Francisco. I’m sorry, but if your parents listened to it, it is no longer cool. Hmm, I just realized that the posters on this board have a wide variety of ages, so I’m going to revise that last statement. If the parents of the generation whose music is too loud-- That is, if the people who are complaining that modern music is too loud-- listened to it, it is no longer cool. So, well, I think I’ve defined the parameters well enough, so I’ll offer my nominees. > **The Velvet Underground** - I don’t know if they’ve done anything that’s _not_ cool. They wore all black. They wore sunglasses onstage. They could play “Sister Ray,” “Sweet Jane,” and “Pale Blue Eyes” all in the same night. Now, as if all that’s not enough, The Velvets are still the coolest band on the planet! They’ve never been popular enough to become mainstream, but every kid who decides to wear black and tells everyone it’s not because he’s depressed, it’s because “it goes with everything!” owes every CD he owns to the Velvets. Did that sentence make sense? Anyway, the point is that they were cool in 1965, they’re cool now, and they will probably always be cool. \*\* You completely and utterly blow your entire premise to teeny, teeny-tiny bits by saying “If the people who are complaing that modern music is too loud–listened to it, it is no longer cool.” That wipes Velvet Underground not only out of the race, but they aren’t even nominated for the preliminaries. Nice try. Thanks for playing. Also, if you have to have so much as a sentence of explanation/semi-pathetic justifications as to why a band is cool, then they **aren’t.** Plain and simple. Which also knocks Velvet Underground as well as all of your other “candidates” out of the primaries. Now, all of that being said, here is what cool is: Elvis Presley. Frank Sinatra. Tony Bennett. The Beatles. ---
**Author:** ![TridCloudwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TridCloudwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TridCloudwalker)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/29 "2002-07-13T02:27:33Z")
**WSLer** we’re stating our opinions, not blasting people for theirs. Kindly shut the hell up. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/30 "2002-07-13T02:49:27Z")
I dunno. Most of the people you’ve all mentioned, well, I don’t really know how to say this, but really… they’re all a bunch of white guys, aren’t they? So let’s set things straight: **The Temptations The Four Tops Sam and Dave Otis Redding Wilson Pickett** And the coolest man alive: **Ray Charles** ---
**Author:** ![A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/46a35a/32.png) [@A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_wizard_song_for_thee)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/31 "2002-07-13T07:15:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WSLer \* > > You completely and utterly blow your entire premise to teeny, teeny-tiny bits by saying “If the people who are complaing that modern music is too loud–listened to it, it is no longer cool.” > > That wipes Velvet Underground not only out of the race, but they aren’t even nominated for the preliminaries. Um, huh? Okay, yeah, 'cause the Velvet Underground was the music of the baby boomers? Please! Let me tell you from personal experience, if you play “Sister Ray,” “European Son,” or, my personal favorite, “I Heard her Call my Name” on a stereo in a house inhabited by forty-year olds, you will be favored with a chorus of “Turn that crap down! What the hell do kids listen to nowadays?!” The Velvets have always been underground (yeah, note the synergy) and, therefore, cool. I understand your objections to explaining why someone or something is cool, and, while I disagree, I considered just writing “ **The Velvet Underground** ,” because that says all it needs to say. However, I decided to write explanations because at least two of the bands I mentioned are somewhat obscure. I wanted everyone to understand why these bands are cool > [@](#): > > Nice try. > > Thanks for playing. No, no, thank _you_ for the smarminess. Now, about your nominees… > [@](#): > > Elvis Presley. > > Frank Sinatra. > > Tony Bennett. > > The Beatles. I’m sorry, teen idols will never be cool. Preteen girls screaming ‘til they’re hoarse makes for uncoolness. There goes the Beatles and Elvis. Plus, my parents listened to both. _Many_ twentysomethings’ parents listened to both. That, at least in my book, makes them both uncool. That’s not to say that they’re untalented, just to say that they lack in the coolness department. Tony Bennett has forty-five year old women throw their underwear at him. Someone who is dodging crusty D-cups and granny panties can’t be cool. Sorry. And, yeah, I kind of agree that **Sinatra** is the man, but I still say that the Velvets are cooler. Hey, **Ukelele Ike** , I agree that Chet Baker is cool. I thought of him and **Charles Mingus** after I posted the first one, but I didn’t want to throw footnotes before anyone else responded, lest I looked like a loser. More of a loser. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/32 "2002-07-13T09:22:01Z")
Hey you know who else is pretty cool? Neil Young! It seems that everyone, from teenagers thru to 60 year olds begrudgingly admit that Old Crazy Horse is totally righteous dude. But he’s not a band, is he? Down here in Australia, we have a band that some of you, my overseas cousins, might have heard of - namely, Midnight Oil. They’re pretty cool all things being considered. Tight hard fast rock mixed with some pretty politically aware lyrics - they’ve got some street cred. If I may, can I nominate one more band to my original list? You might have heard of them in the lat 80’s early 90’s - a British outfit called “The Godfathers”. They really lived up to their name let me tell ya! Peace all! No fighting! (smile) ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/33 "2002-07-13T09:26:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Alessan \* > \*\*I dunno. Most of the people you’ve all mentioned, well, I don’t really know how to say this, but really… they’re all a bunch of white guys, aren’t they? > > So let’s set things straight: > > **The Temptations > The Four Tops > Sam and Dave > Otis Redding > Wilson Pickett** > > And the coolest man alive: > > **Ray Charles** \*\* Point taken my friend. However, can take a moment to clarify something? Was the Original Post enquiring about the “Coolest Band” or the “Coolest Act”? Regardless, you have a fine point to make. You could even throw in Quincy Jones name in their too really. Or Miles Davis. But I draw the line at Whacko Jacko (with all due respect!) ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/34 "2002-07-13T09:33:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Billy Baroo \* > \*\*Don’t forget Johnny Cash and Parliament. \*\* Did Johnny Cash and Parliament ever record together? Now **that** would be the coolest, hands down. And WSLer, sorry to contradict you when you’re on a creepy roll there, but The Beatles were definitely _not_ cool. I love The Beatles, much, but you can’t call them “cool.” They were way too popular, and recorded way too many pop songs to get the cool rating; they were the band that the cool bands were jealous of. “Yellow Submarine?” “Good Day Sunshine?” The cover of “Til There Was You?” Not cool. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/35 "2002-07-13T10:33:03Z")
The Beatles weren’t trying to be cool, they were trying to be the most popular musicians in the pop world. In fact, they would have thought being cool in the modern sense of oozing sex on stage and wearing fashions that were two steps ahead of the next inane Hollywood group was silly. And I’d agree. There are just hundreds of musicians, in their day and age, given the right song, who were cool. Elvis spent a lot of time being cool. Diana Ross did. Louis Armstrong. Etc. Cool is sort of an act, isn’t it? Not music but showmanship? ---
**Author:** ![TheBip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@TheBip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBip)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/36 "2002-07-13T10:48:35Z")
My choice for the coolest band ever would have to be Aerosmith. I have followed this band for the last 25 years and they haven’t slowed down yet. If a band can stay together for that long(I know they had a couple members leave for a few years, but they are back now) they are cool !!! There are many choices that can be made and they will have alot of merit to them but for me the boys from Boston are # 1.🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/37 "2002-07-13T11:00:22Z")
I was going to start a Velvet Underground thread, but now that would be uncool ;). I think it’s almost impossible for anyone to be cool consistently over a long career - even that Velvet Underground reunion record sucked, let alone some of the more embarrassing Lou Reed records - so I think the epitome of cool, without any reservations or qualifications (damn, they weren’t even qualified to play their instruments!) were those ol’ favourites, **The Urinals** , who released three perfect punk singles, none of which sounded in the least like any of the others, let alone like anything else, and then split up, changing their whole name and concept to become 100 Flowers. As for coolest act, I think **Tom Waits** has come closest to embarrassing himself the least. ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/38 "2002-07-13T13:47:15Z")
You could argue how cool or uncool a band is and that still don’t make them cool (or uncool) to someone else, depending on yours and their points of view. On the other hand, most of the bands listed I also find cool, so maybe my point is dumb. My 3rd coolest band would be NOFX. A good portion of the population have never heard of them. cool. They are funny and dont take themselves to seriously. cool. They are multi-ethnical and make fun of that fact all the time. cool. You will never see them on MTV. very cool. Hard-core punkers find them a little to soft or popular. uncool for them. They have only mediocre musical talent. uncool for some, but they are a punk band. 2nd coolest band is Led Zeppelin (can’t believe they haven’t been mentioned yet, is there something I dont know?). They, AFAIK, invented Heavy Metal or at least were one of the Grand Fathers of. Jimmy Page ooooozed cool. Bonzo bled cool. Plant moaned cool. John Paul Jones, well he stood there looking cool and put down some mighty fine bass lines. Yeah they stole (borrowed?) many of their songs from older and blacker blues artists. uncool. They kind of went downhill their last couple of albums. uncool. 1st coolest band, well I cant think of just one. Nirvana was cool for reasons mentioned. Chilli Peppers are cool. Foo Fighters are cool. Soundgarden, Velvet Underground, Butt Hole Surfers, Fugazi, the Pixies all cool. Nerf Herder and Dead Milkmen are nerd cool. Endless numbers of bands are cool. Most any band you can think of is cool to somebody. dead0man ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/39 "2002-07-13T14:43:17Z")
Dick Dale was pre 1965 cool. Ella Fitzgerald. Stone Roses Dean Martin - the daddy of cool. The Inkspots (one for **Eve** ) Scott Walker. Isaac Hayes Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry was and still is the epitome of cool Sting for all you Brtidopers, Roland Rat superstar heeeeeyyyy!!! Al Green Marvin Gaye Louis Armstrong Nat ‘King’ Cole Lional Ritchie James Brown David Byrne Love- this lot were so cool they hardly had to bother condescending to actually make music. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584/40 "2002-07-13T16:02:11Z")
My vote’s for **elvis costello** and the Milkmen. (cooperative album approaching? 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-the-coolest-band-ever/118584.md?page=3)