They're very cool

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For no good reason at all the other day I was wondering who I thought the coolest looking bands evah were. I quickly came up with Blondie, the Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Pixies and the White Stripes. Yeah yeah, very narrow minded choices I know but I think I had a more specific understanding of the word 'cool' in my head than I usually do. So, apart from all being American and mostly from New York, what else do they all have in common? One female member.

― N., Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sonic Youth look like Sonic Youth ---> Sonic Youth are rubbish ---> Sonic Youth do not look cool.

― the pinefox, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

the pixies? they looked like hicks.

― keith, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yes, but cool hicks. There was something that Kim Deal added. Maybe just 'smart'. OK, scrub Pixies. I admit they don't really fit in with the rest.

― N., Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'Sonic Youth look like Sonic Youth ---> Sonic Youth are rubbish ---> Sonic Youth do not look cool.'

SY are old, which doesn't help in them looking cool. And they are not as good a band as they used to be.

― Julio DeSouza, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nirvana? Beastie Boys? Mind you they went out of their ways to be cool (or in nirvana's case uncool, which is cool) which is not that cool.

― dog latin, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i guess hick could be chic. i remember the first time i saw the 'here comes your man' video and being impressed at how un-rock star they were and wondering how exactly they got on mtv. their lack of image was probably more anti-cool whice might equal cool, whereas sonic youth seem deeply concerned about whether they are still considered hip with thurston moore starring as the eternal teenager.

― keith, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

didn't kim gordon and kim deal both rock the secretary in glasses look in the early days of their bands?

― fritz, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Any funk band from the '70s looked much cooler than any of these people. Hellllll -- Sigue Sigue Sputnik looked cooler than Lee Ranaldo on his best days.

― Andy K, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The coolest band is the Fall. I don't know how many times I have to say that.

― Dave225, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeah, the Fall are/were maybe one of the coolest looking English bands. They often had one female member too.

Nirvana? absolutely not

70s funk bands? That's different

Well I know what I mean anyway.

― N., Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Coolest looking British band ever: Specials

Coolest looking American band ever: Miles Davis' 2nd quintet

Honorable Mention: Spacemen 3, Beatles in Hamburg

― Curt, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Rolling Stones-65/66
Alice Cooper-69/70
New York Dolls-72/74
Cramps-77/81

― Arthur, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Anti Pop Consortium. no one looks better than they.

― Bob Zemko, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Cramps click with Nick's chick pick.

― fritz, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Birthday Party. Rowland and Tracy were the coolest looking guitar/bass pair evah.

― dan, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

the strokes - hahahaha.

― Poops Mcgee, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

all the coolest looking bands come out of NYC. Mooney Suzuki, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol. All of them are pretty darn hip.

― Brock K., Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

DEVO

― vantasma, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Specials did not look cool. They looked like an unemployment line.

― Judd Nelson, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sparks. Both Maels are very effortlessly cool.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If looking cool means not caring whether you look 'cool' or not. Then Gonzales..... he can carry off a pink safari suit and sideburns. Or anyone wearing a suit who's music doesn't sound like it should have been made by someone in a suit. Or perhaps U.R. wearing those protective masks.

― nick.K, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Freddie Hubbard late 70s, Sun Ra, Ramones, Guitar Wolf, Til' Tuesday, and a bunch of other new wavers as well.

― A Nairn, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Arthur is OTM.
I would like to second Blondie, as well.

― Sean, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I second the Birthday Party. Rowland and Tracey. Tremendous.

― electric sound of jim, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Emperor!

― adam, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

BRICK! On Best of Brick cover, they are all in suits with a flashy wheelbarrow, mortaring together smooth glass bricks. On Good High back cover they are all dressed in wight looking up at a floating girl...all you can see is her shoes. But then, it might not be a girl! It might be singer Jimmy Lord, as in the Lord ascending from heaven? BRICK!

― 1 1 2 3 5, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

the foot on the monitor fast paced medeval monkey action of IRON MAIDEN

― chaki, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Have you guys seen early pictures of Can, for Godsake? (NB: I am quite aware that this does not help one bit in erasing the suspicion of some around these parts that I am a hippy.)

― Clarke B., Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Brainiac was pretty damn cool looking

― mark, Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

michael jackson.

― geeta, Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

In the mid 70s, Steeleye Span looked very cool. Funnily enough, they too had one female member.

― Rich Nilss, Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

any band with me in it

― duane, Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

except the Brother Love band

― duane, Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Amon Duul circa Psychdelic Underground...check out the booklet and you'll see what I mean. You might argue that hippies can't be cool, but there is no denying they're at least very beautiful.

― Mark, Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

or fucking King Loser

― , Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

serious asnwer : Magic Band on the cover of Trout Mask, the Stooges

― , Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"they looked as if they put the whole world down"

― , Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think the White Stripes are cool now, but only because they use Legos in their video. Anyone who has anything to do with Legos is cool by association.

― Nicole, Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Altern8 - no women, not from New York, not American.
Yes - dustmasks, boilersuits and silly dancing.

― jacob, Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

the Primitives, 1988

the Sundays, 1989

Lush, 1991

― the pinefox, Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Strokes look like idiots! The Boredoms are a pretty cool looking band. Boston, too.

― Kris, Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Mooney Suzuki don't look cool. They played at my college this week and ended up coming back to my house to hang out or get laid or something (not my doing, I didn't see them and couldn't tell you what they sound like). Very nice guys, but a little pudgy and most definitely not cool-looking. They were easily the least fashionable people here, and I'm pretty sadly dressed most of the time. God I sound like such a pathetic name-dropping indie jackass.

― Chris H., Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Rezillos were pretty cool. So were Suicide.

― Chris H., Friday, 22 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

aw. the mooney suzuki totally has the cool look going. and they rock. and they're hot.

― geeta, Saturday, 23 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Very skinny singers given to posing look cool...think Bad Seeds, Suede, Verve, Pulp, Black Crowes. Something to do with heroin and secondhand shops. They may well all be nerds, but rock is about veneer, innit? -jeff

― mxyzptlk, Saturday, 23 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Many J-poppers look cool. Think Pizzicato 5, Himawari, Masami Tsuchiya, Towa Tei... -jeff

― mxyzptlk, Sunday, 24 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

but fat is the new cool

― mark s, Sunday, 24 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

How about? --

Love, circa '66 & '67. They ruled the Sunset Strip. Nobody in LA was cooler than Arthur Lee.

Flying Burrito Brothers, circa 69. Those nudie suits for Gilded Palace of Sin. Too cool for school.

― bryan, Sunday, 24 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Any reggae band from the late 60s, early 70s.

― cybele, Sunday, 24 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Add N To (X)

― electric sound of jim, Sunday, 24 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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