Entertainment For Lively Minds
Who is the ultimate muso band?
Ok, so we've had nominations for the coolest band. Who does the massive believe to be the ultimate muso (or hipster) band?
The following needs to be applicable:
1. A limited amount of success
2. Always gets a good live write up (particularly harmonies)
3. A tendency towards facial hair
4. An "interesting" back story
5. They remain more critically acclaimed than the record-buying public can understand
Apply these and you have the muso band.
(For a hipster band, they need to have a strong presence on Pitchfork and assorted blogs as well)
My nomination goes to Bon Iver. I'm sorry to say I don't understand them. They're good, but I can't see why there were so lauded when they emerged. Beards are present. Hardly triple platinum sales. Justin Vernon recorded by himself in a log cabin. When you mention their name, most people shrug. Ergo, muso band.
Anyone care to comment?
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Got to be..
The Band.
I thought I was the only one
You're a brave man saying that round here.
I'm sure I'm wrong and I do *quite* like them, but I don't see what all the fuss is about. A couple of great songs but many, many more average ones. 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down' is particularly hard work.
I actually like the 'Big Pink' album and I think I made the mistake of getting 'The Band' first, which may have been the wrong place to start. I'm sure the penny will drop eventually. It's put me off watching the Last Waltz - at least until I really get it.
On the other hand, Big Star I 'got' straight-away - they're much more accessible
I know
exacly what you are saying. They are a perfectly fine band but for some reason have become untouchable.
Nothing wrong with them but can't understand the adulation. I've got the Last Waltz and again find it ok,but hardly the best concert film ever.
Richard Thompson? Don't get me started.
Big Star
Tick a lot of the boxes. Not sure about the beards, though. Effusive 70's hair, however.
The Soundtrack of Our Lives
from Sweden must be the ultimate muso band...
1. Limited success - had a near hit with "Sister Surround" and "Big Time" was used on Sky Sports but blew it all with a mixture of punk rock contrariness, cynicism and stubborness not to "play the game".
2. The best live band I have ever seen - a mix of prime Who and Clash, flying V's, leaps into crowd and full-on rock posturing all with a glint in the eye and a tongue in the cheek and a hint of danger and unpredictability.
Songs and harmonies that even on first hearing stick in your brain for ever.
3. Vocalist Ebbot Lundberg sports the best facial hair in rock, not to mention the coolest kaftans.
4. Definitely have an interesting history, evolved from the greatest Stooges style punk rock band that no-one in England has ever heard of, Union Carbide Productions, beloved of Kurt Cobain and Thurston Moore. Each band member is a serious muso in their own right either through production, bassist Kalle runs the Svenska Grammofon Studion, TV and movie soundtracks, side projects and guest appearances and session work.
Have worked with most of Sweden's best bands and musicians from A Camp, Cardigans, Hellacopters, Nicolai Dunger, Mattias Hellberg etc.
5. Critical acclaim over fame and sales - definitely! Even the cynical British music press supportd the band and they are loved by other musicians and musos far more than the record buying public. Oasis couldn't get enough, Primal Scream, Little Steven, Robert Plant...even Jay Leno, Jack Black, Kate Hudson and our very David Quantick have been under their spell!
They still can't sell any records though...
Nope
The Band is a strong candidate. But I have to vote for Little Feat. Far to good for common riff raff to appreciate. Also, unlike the Band, they were fantastic players...the Band were a great, err, band, but not I think anything more than adequate individual instrumentalists.
Garth Hudson
only an adequate individual instrumentalist? Get outta here! More like the single greatest musician in a popular band of the 20th century.
Fair point
Yes he was good, though greatest ever I am less sure.
Yo
La Tengo
I'd second them
And maybe add Wilco... but I'm not sure if they are too commercially successful.
Hipster?
Yo La Tengo are more a hipster than muso band given the adulation afforded them by Pitchfork, surely?
Steely Dan
'Muso band'?
Not sure I agree with all the criteria (i.e. 'interesting') but I've always considered that Steely Dan touched all the bases.
Came in at just the time that rock criticism started taking itself far too seriously (i.e. post-1969), clearly an LP act rather than a 45s group, aren't much to look at, bad name, dreadful sleeve design, American.......and rubbish!
yes they're so bad
that people still discuss their music 40 years later....terrible.
Apart from the bit about them being rubbish
I agree re the Dan as muso band extraordinaire. Can't see how beards relevant to the subject, shurely more about noodliness and precision on instruments. (wouldn't've thought Bon Iver exactly the new Toto...)
Do you mean who are the ultimate CULT band?
Different concept entirely...
good excuse to repost this masterpiece (imo)
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/donald_fagen_defends_steely_dan_to
In my day (and in my part of the biz)
a 'muso' was someone who had fantastic chops and was obsessed with his instrument. Popularity, success and appearance were irrelevant.
So, Steely Dan - musos; Frank Zappa - muso; Mark King - muso
but a true muso would obsess about his playing; to a nerdish degree so...
Jimmy Page - muso because he has total mastery of his instrument to the exclusion of all else
Jeff Beck - not a muso because, in spite of his ability, he had outside interests and seemed like a well-balanced individual.
Brian May - a fine guitarist but too grounded and with too much perspective to be a muso.
Remember, the phrase 'muso' originated as shorthand for a session musician who was skilled enough to nail the part first take but didn't have any small talk. Real musos aren't in bands; they still play sessions.
the band
were massive, and thanks to scorcese and robbie robertson's vision of future history, became even bigger. So they don't really count as a muso band.
Whilst
still reeling from the use of Steely Dan and "rubbish" in the same sentence - I would nominate Love. Yes "Forever Changes" is a good song and yes I'm pretty sure Hendrix may have *borrowed* one or two ideas from Arthur Lee - but let's be plain - they're not very good. Are they?
forever changes is not a bad album either........
but they never matched it. plus arthurly pilfered the best hooks from bryan maclean. best ever use of mariachis tho. and shame on you calexico for hijacking it so badly....
Yes Love
Never got them. Musicians' band for sure.
Love
are rightly lauded for "Forever Changes" but really for not much else..their reputation is really about Lee's druggy wayward character..but "Forever Changes " is rightly hailed as a masterpiece and its not because of the musicianship, it's the songs man..the songs!
The Band
Fifteen years ago - when I walked into Our Price in Chiswick and asked for the album Jericho by The Band, only to have endless retorts of "Which band?" "Then Jerico, did you say?" - but not now. The Band are far too well known. I'd go for Big Star. Less obscure than you may demand, but I think they fit the bill.
Traffic?
I've always lumped (half-bearded) supergroup Traffic together with the likes of The Band and Love. And I'm the only person I know who likes them, which arouses my suspicion that they are a Musos only outfit.
BIG Traffic fan here
but I agree they're a muso outfit - fearsome chops, a tendency to noodle and a complete lack of stagecraft
I like Traffic too
probably quite a few round these parts - bit of a discovery in my Fields of Old perambulations.
"Feelin Alright", "Dear Mr Fantasy" and "Low Spark". Better than Cream but not as good as Free would be my categorization amongst Brit contemporaries
And talking of Cream - surely - a bit muso?
Velvet Underground
Take away the facial hair and harmonies, add that almost everyone who has listened to them has gone out and formed a band, and you have the ultimate 'muso' band.
Apart from the fact they didn't really have the chops
to be musos.
OK, maybe Cale did but a true muso wants to show off his chops :-)
Todd Rundgren
Flirted with pop stardom in the early days but too much of an individual (or eccentric) to be embraced by the mainstream. Ploughs his own crazed furrow.
Very
good call
yes
very.
Although - his own work aside - he has racked up production credits on some biggish acts.
yes but
dont mention his name to Andy Partridge
Autechre
And their ilk. No-one apart from musos likes glitch techno. Or free jazz.
Add Tortoise
to that list,CSC.
That's more like it - a dork's band par excellence
Squarepusher, too.
There's no free jazz
in Autechre. And they don't have an ilk.
And I could take you to a fair few places
where you'll see anyone BUT musos enjoying glitch techno.
Little Village
Most non-muso types will look at you with that curious vacant stare that only happens when you have totally lost them.
XTC
Yes, I know many Wordistas will go into a flat spin - and yes I do like bits and pieces - but overall they don't really do it for me
Muso?
How about this lot?
Definitely a bunch of musos
Far too much talent for one band :-)
Yep
I think they pretty much nail your (perfect) definition above
Wilco
As briefly mentioned above, they must be contenders. As much as I love them I have to agree that this is partly because I'm a muso.
1. A limited amount of success
- Jeff Tweedy has always commented that they make more money on the road than they do from records.
2. Always gets a good live write up (particularly harmonies)
- yes and no. Their early UK performances were slated for their out-of-their-heads lack of commitment. However these days, they are considered to be a force to be reckoned with. Harmonies are not always mentioned in reviews though Stirratt and Sansone do a fine job.
3. A tendency towards facial hair
- Tweedy has a beard, and even wrote a song called Bob Dylan's 49th Beard. Bob Egan was briefly a member, he looked like Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter.
4. An "interesting" back story
- their evolution out of Uncle Tupelo, the whole Yankee Hotel Foxtrot episode, the falling out with Jay Bennett (all subject of an indie film) and his untimely death, Tweedy's rehab, working with avant garde musos, odd collaborations, etc...
5. They remain more critically acclaimed than the record-buying public can understand
- the man on the street has never heard them but may have read about them.
Perversely, Uncle Tupelo also qualify, but Wilco get the vote. They scream Pitchfork. They are signed to Nonesuch.
Good one...
their documentary "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" should be compulsory viewing for any self-respecting muso.
Agreed,
saw them last night in Leeds and they were awesome, took to the stage like men possessed, Nils Cline (serious muso) impressed particularly. They played for at least two and a quarter hours, two encores and thoroughly enjoyed themselves, as did the crowd.
For the record, Tweedy is currently sans beard, but would no doubt procure one for a Word cover.
DVDs
The concert DVD Ashes of American Flags captures the current lineup in intense action. An interesting flipside to that is Tweedy's solo concert DVD, where he reveals himself to be very funny, spontaneous, and most entertainingly, a touch petulant. I think rehab has given him a true sense of perspective, he didn't seem to be this likeable before.
Wilco could have been REM, but it just didn't work out that way. They were a few years too late.
I agree
definitely a band that appeals to the muso sensibility. Do they also appeal to hipsters? Are musos, in fact, hipsters? Hipsters strike me as close relatives of Kerouac's Beats - they appreciate music, art, life and so on, but I'm not sure if they actually practice it. Musos do practice their art. Oh dear!
And how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, anyway?
King Crimson
Surely?
no harmonies
except for on some of the 80s LPs.
Harmonies??
Real bands of musos don't have any vocals at all - "singers aren't musicians, don'tcha know"
Well said that man
Was going to suggest King Crimson too.
Guitarist has had all types of facial hair arrangement and
sits on a stool when playing.
Someone in the band plays a "Stick"
Queue at the bar disappears when drum solo starts
Have released triple album live sets
Never had a song covered by anyone else (probably)
Often described as influential yet no radio play,chart success.
Attitude
They are, and always have been, at odds with the world at large. They do not want to be your friend.
Interestingly I think they are beginning to see critical re-evaluation. About time too.
The pained expression
Watching that clip and the three drummers all have that pained expression of someone 'into' the playing of the music. One of them is just hitting a snare drum with one hand. Bloody 'ell.
This is an essential criterion for a musu band - the pained expression, pursed lips preferable.
Ain't been mentioned in this parish for a while...
... but Fleet Foxes seem pretty blooming muso.
Can I also nominate my own favorite muso type (who I'm seeing on Saturday) James Yorkson? No beard but everything else is a big old tick. And I suspect the only reason he's beardless is because he's ginger...
Not sure about the interesting back story mind, apart from being plucked from obscurity by John Martyn...
Phish?
Trey Anastasio seems to have serious muso credentials (a la Phil Lesh), Don't know about the beards though.
Hardly Mainstream - labelled as a 'poor man's Dead' - had a big cult following in US.
Teenage Fanclub
They tick all the boxes. Great songwriters , great harmonies . They've definitely sported beards in the past and for all their excellent tunes they never really had hits coz they were never a daytime radio band which is a shame because if this had been played on the radio ...well , who knows
You realise that there is a whole festival for these bands?
All Tomorrow's Parties. Its the ultimte haven for people with greasy hair and beards who get derided for their music tastes.
Pah! Far too indie
Real musos rarely venture outside the studio. I would suggest that the amount of practice required to attain muso-level proficiency on one's instruments mitigates against anyone under 35 being a muso.
Love Love
Crucially, Love were as much a singles as albums group.....and they were good looking; two factors which distance them from Steely Dan etc. (i.e. musos) surely?
My favourite LP of theirs is 'Da Capo', my Love-loving mate prefers the debut. 'Forever Changes' isn't their only contribution by a long way.
So women can't be musos?
Apart from the facial criteria in the OP, which would seem to automatically disqualify them, not a single woman has been mentioned in this thread. So can I nominate Joni Mitchell, despite her lack of beard?
She paints AND sings
therefore isn't obsessive and single-minded enough about her playing to be a muso :-)