Punk, keeping it real, musical snobbery and all that B***CKS.

  • Presumably complete with piercing? :)


    Must admit the goth look can work quite well on girls. Certainly makes a change from the uniform, pouty look used by almost all of them on Instagram, etc.

    Heh heh no, no tongue piercing. An earlobe stud is the only piercing I have. I once considered ear-rim and eyebrow ones as well. A tongue-piercing on a girl can be very alluring. I do like piercings and tattoos on women. Add in dyed undercut hair and I'm drooling.


    Yes the goth look can be great, plus in my experience those who identify as goths tend to be very nice, smart, witty people. Obviously I accept there'll be some who aren't, but I generally find they are. I wonder if there's something about the personality type who's drawn to that look that makes it so.


    The 'pouty' look - I always think of it as duck-lips, which is what I'm assuming you mean. Always from the side, with the lips comically sticking out. I've never understood why anyone would think this was a good look. It's like they're being pulled by an invisible fishing line hooked through their lips.


    Lip piercings though - now you're talking.

    Abandon all reason

  • I absolutely love St Vincent. She doesn't particularly come across to me as trying to look cool but even if she is I'm not bothered as I find her one of the most consistently interesting acts at the moment.


    Yeah Bunnymen were not good. Sad when you think back to that deep sonorous voice back in the Ocean Rain days. I'll have to investigate Lemon Twigs, recommended anything in particular?

    St Vincent was lying on her back & saying “Yaaah!” a lot in an extremely mannered way. Perhaps she was trying to fit in with the “cool” ethos of Later but I’d never seen her before & it really put me off.


    Echo & the Bunnymen were terrific around 1980 but frighteningly, that’s 40 years ago(!) & Ian McCulloch has obviously been taking huge quantities of drugs ever since, which probably hasn’t helped! :/


    As for the Lemon Twigs I can honestly say I’ve loved almost everything they’ve done since the official debut album “Do Hollywood” in 2016. Nearly all of it can be found free on Youtube. “These Words” is a good accessible starter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LncJE2otRVA ), or any live version of “Small Victories” (such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ5-M-RY2Sw ) or “The Fire”. From the current album “Songs for the General Public”, try “Live in Favor of Tomorrow”, “Hog”, “The One”, “Why do lovers own each other?”. “Tailor Made” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd5yGb1A8ac ) from 2018 is perfect for driving fast along winding country lanes. And their lovely 2-minute version of “The Coventry Carol” is worth much more than the 99p it cost on Amazon Music. Currently 23 & 21, they’re still in that early top-of-their-game period that Genesis were in from Nursery Cryme through Trick of the Tail. As with Genesis, it won’t last forever - but most bands never experience it at all!


    Sorry that went really off topic, but I don't need much of an invitation to plug them! :D

  • Yeah the 'yah' song is (I think) Digital Witness which I like but totally get why the yahs might annoy some people. I don't recall her lying on her back on the show though, but anyway. As a fan I was going to say it's a pity if that alone put you off but then I thought there's so much stuff out there it can take just one annoying thing to consign an act to the bin - I'm sure I've done it myself. Stilted, mannered movements certainly form a big part of her live act for sure but I don't think of it as attempted coolness rather than an artifice in the same way flower masks and surreal stories are.


    By the way we seem to have assumed that Later has some sort of "cool ethos". Has it? Really? I can't say I've ever spotted it myself!


    Thanks for the LTs pointers, I'll check them out. But if any of them have annoyingly mannered quirks of any kind I'll be straight back to let you know about it! 8o

    Abandon all reason

  • Stilted, mannered movements certainly form a big part of her live act for sure but I don't think of it as attempted coolness rather than an artifice in the same way flower masks and surreal stories are.

    I never got the impression that St. Vincent tries to be "cool". She does like changing personas and playing with the image she presents, similar to Bowie, Madonna, etc. But I find that as an artist overall she has a lot of integrity. I don't actually like listening to everything she has done, but I do have significant respect for her work.

  • Yeah the 'yah' song is (I think) Digital Witness which I like but totally get why the yahs might annoy some people. I don't recall her lying on her back on the show though, but anyway. As a fan I was going to say it's a pity if that alone put you off but then I thought there's so much stuff out there it can take just one annoying thing to consign an act to the bin - I'm sure I've done it myself. Stilted, mannered movements certainly form a big part of her live act for sure but I don't think of it as attempted coolness rather than an artifice in the same way flower masks and surreal stories are.


    By the way we seem to have assumed that Later has some sort of "cool ethos". Has it? Really? I can't say I've ever spotted it myself!


    Thanks for the LTs pointers, I'll check them out. But if any of them have annoyingly mannered quirks of any kind I'll be straight back to let you know about it! 8o

    Sorry, I should clarify I don’t think 'Later' is cool - the “cool” ethos mentioned was something foxfeeder pointed out:


    "Referring back to the thread title, keeping it real and musical snobbery, I tend to find Jools Holland's show on BBC2 is a bit too "cool", ie/ if you aren't one of "us" you won't be on this show." (NB I've just found out this site gets confused if you try to quote something from a previous page in mid-reply!)


    Hence it seems to me that some of the non-top-billed acts try to act “cool” to justify their place on the show, & end up being irritating.


    Since the non-top-billed acts only get one song apiece per episode, if you don’t much like that particular song you’re more likely to notice annoying mannerisms or appearance & be put off the act. But then a 1973 film clip of an oddly-dressed man pretending to be a lawnmower on stage might annoy people who don’t like the accompanying song, while the others end up on this fansite ;)


    Anyway, after finding “Digital Witness” on Youtube now I know the title, it’s better than I remembered & those irritating “yahs” seem quieter. So yes, negative impressions based solely on 'Later' performances can be misleading.

  • Hence it seems to me that some of the non-top-billed acts try to act “cool” to justify their place on the show, & end up being irritating.


    Anyway, after finding “Digital Witness” on Youtube now I know the title, it’s better than I remembered & those irritating “yahs” seem quieter. So yes, negative impressions based solely on 'Later' performances can be misleading.

    I reckon if newer acts are getting their one-song shot at being noticed on national TV they may well affect or amplify visual/stylistic quirks to be more memorable, rather then it being a bid for coolness. Which might well backfire as you say.


    Good for you for your St Vincent follow-up. Glad to hear it softened your perception! Another one off the same album worth hearing is Bring Me Your Loves which is a favourite of mine.

    Abandon all reason

  • a 1973 film clip of an oddly-dressed man pretending to be a lawnmower on stage might annoy people who don’t like the accompanying song, while the others end up on this fansite

    On a tangent, this reminds me of an amusing thing. You know how the band's history sometimes gets garbled, a common one being "the band famously wore outlandish costumes". On their entry on the Official Charts website the summary history says "Peter Gabriel used to perform with a lawnmower on his head".


    I suppose now someone's going to point out that he did indeed occasionally wear a big lawnmower-shaped hat.

    Abandon all reason