# “Whitest” music you can think of that’s still cool? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2017, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666 "2017-10-24T00:12:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/61 "2017-10-24T13:58:59Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > [These guys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfoqTnsXJ20) just reek of cool. [These guys are MUCH higher on the hip scale](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMjtvSABQ3Q) ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/62 "2017-10-24T14:13:33Z")
Is Classic Country off the table? I see you said yes to Johnny Cash. Hank Williams Loretta Lynn - Fist City is a lesser known gem of a song she wrote herself Glen Campbell - nothing whiter than Wichita Lineman or By the Time I Get to Phoenix Conway Twitty - I Love to Lay You Down, anyone? And if we are going Old World, Loreena McKennitt’s early work is very Celtic. Her later stuff is more Middle Eastern influenced. If none of this is White enough, then shit…Ray Conniff Singers? ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/63 "2017-10-24T14:18:11Z")
Oh, and Mac Davis’ Hard to Be Humble should go a long way to lifting you up when you are down. 😃 I think it’s White cool, anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/64 "2017-10-24T14:23:19Z")
Last add-on, I promise! Jerry Reed - Amos Moses, She Got the Goldmine I Got the Shaft, East Bound and Down He’s so Cornbread Cool in my book! ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/65 "2017-10-24T15:01:52Z")
Weird Al when he does that one straight up polka song on each album. Lots of They Might Be Giants should count. Also I’m going to go out on a limb and say anything by Tiny Tim. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/66 "2017-10-24T15:16:40Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [Average White Band](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnH_zwVmiuE) > [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > I guess you’re trying to be funny. This band’s music isn’t “white” in the way the OP wants. Aye; it was a joke. But it also wasn’t. > [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > “I’m gonna go do the dinner dishes, and I’m going to play the WHITEST MUSIC in the world.” > [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > She said “What, Lawrence Welk? Pat Boone?” I said “NO! Some COOL white people music.” > [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > (I’m talking cultural influence here, rather than race. AWB are from Scotland. In the early 1970s. I think that could fairly be described as “white”. And the kind of music they make is far removed from their native culture and local influences, _yet they totally fucking rock_. They are better than most bands made up of people who grew up where funk and R&B _were_ the native culture. So no, their music isn’t free of jazz or blues influence (let’s face it; that’s like +/- 94% of all accessible music in the 20th and 21st centuries), but they were white people who made cool music that showed that culture has far more influence than race. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/67 "2017-10-24T15:48:08Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > NOTHING PRE 20TH CENTURY. > > I love “Come on Eileen” and “Video Killed the Radio Star,” and even “Blinded Me With Science,” but I assumed it was because I am a nerd. Do cool people like these songs? People who were cool 30-35 years ago do. Seriously, we’re a bunch of mostly older types here, who among us knows what’s cool these days? ‘Cool’ in music is pretty much defined by teens, twentysomethings, and those who cater to their tastes. But the first thing I’d do to narrow it down is change your all-caps text to NOTHING PRE **21** ST CENTURY. **ZipperJJ** mentioned Radiohead earlier on. That may be the only band mentioned in the thread so far that’s most known for songs released in the new millennium. I don’t know if Radiohead is still cool (I’m 63, how the fuck would I know?), but they _might_ still be cool. It’s hard for me to imagine that any other band or artist mentioned in this thread is still cool. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/68 "2017-10-24T15:53:48Z")
Hmmm…Cage the Elephant, the Lumineers, Florence + The Machine. All recent, all pretty white both in skin pigmentation and musical style. Need some young folks to tell us whether they’re cool or not, though. (I like them all, but that is unquestionably NOT evidence in support of their coolness. Possibly the reverse.) ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/69 "2017-10-24T16:05:47Z")
Bjork? The Velvet Underground? The Smiths? The Stone Roses? Brian Eno? Early Roxy Music? Problem is, I have the nagging suspicion that if **I** think something’s cool, it probably isn’t. ---
**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:** [October 24, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/70 "2017-10-24T16:16:03Z")
> [@Lorne\_Armstrong](#): > > Really racist OP. It’s true; I am a bad, bad man. Still pleased that, with over 60 replies, you’re the only one who’s said that, and I have no idea who you are. Everyone citing polka music, you ARE being “ironic,” aren’t you? Or did polka slide right over my head into the world of cool things? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/71 "2017-10-24T16:19:26Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > [These guys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfoqTnsXJ20) just reek of cool. Young Jeb! on lead guitar. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/72 "2017-10-24T16:28:11Z")
> [@Grumbacher\_Red](#): > > Last add-on, I promise! > > Jerry Reed - Amos Moses, She Got the Goldmine I Got the Shaft, East Bound and Down > > He’s so Cornbread Cool in my book! You don’t hear any african american in Jerry Reed? Amos Moses was like a minstrel show song. When you’re hot you’re hot? Same thing. He was working that angle like a MF. On the whole saying that country musicians aren’t black influenced is ahistorical. It was a thread that ran through the whole forming of the musical style, in one way or another. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/73 "2017-10-24T16:32:00Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > It’s hard for me to imagine that any other band or artist mentioned in this thread is still cool. I would say a good portion of the artists mentioned would still qualify as “cool.” I mean, okay, I’m 42, but tastes are definitely more diverse now, and the 20- and 30-something I know who are into music still find much of the music in this thread cool. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/74 "2017-10-24T16:33:46Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > Bjork? > > The Velvet Underground? > > The Smiths? > > The Stone Roses? > > Brian Eno? > > Early Roxy Music? > > Problem is, I have the nagging suspicion that if **I** think something’s cool, it probably isn’t. Lou Reed is kind of known for singing blackly. All those street songs didn’t come from white cultural traditions. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/75 "2017-10-24T16:42:23Z")
White and cool and 20th/21st century? Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Puccini, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Bartok, and many more such. White music rocks! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/76 "2017-10-24T16:43:39Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > White and cool and 20th/21st century? And outside the classical tradition, as clarified later in the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/77 "2017-10-24T16:48:44Z")
Karlheinz Stockhausen is my ‘for serious’ nom. **WordMan** mentioned Steve Reich, another favorite of mine. Many can’t stand Phillip Glass’s work, but I think the guy creates awesome music. Also, Rodrigo y Gabriela have had a lot of success the past few years. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/78 "2017-10-24T16:56:51Z")
Ronnie Drew and Luke Kelly and the Dubliners were cool. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/79 "2017-10-24T17:37:03Z")
Classic 70s rock. White people make good music. It’s all the mayonnaise and microbrewed beer we eat, it keeps our brains running on full throttle. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666/80 "2017-10-24T17:41:41Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Classic 70s rock. I would say most 70s rock is just _dripping_ with blue influences. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitest-music-you-can-think-of-that-s-still-cool/799666.md?page=5)