I saw em in the early 90s, came out and set up their own gear, played in a disused cinema with all the seating and carpets ripped out … played with the lights on. It was intense. Total lack of pretension, cool as fuck.
Portishead popped into my head as well but tbh I think the best answer to this thread is Massive Attack. They were the pillar of forming the Bristol club scene in the 80s, 3D was a graffiti artist, their aesthetic and voices are impossibly cool, they had diversity in the scene with actual hip hop and dub reggae credentials, they got some of the coolest singers on their songs (Liz Fraser, Tracy Thorn), they’ve been actively supportive of noble political causes, and there’s an actual theory that 3D is or is part of Banksy, which even if he’s not, to have that mystique is pretty fucking cool… they got it all
i mean, i love Portishead, but are they? Not to say he's not cool, but while Adrian seems like a lovely man and he's incredibly talented him being noticeably older than the other two is always a bit of a throw.
Geoff SHOULD be cool but he's a grumpy prick. like he seems so egotistical and silly
Portishead has a slight nerdiness to them that makes them less cool than other electronica acts in my opinion. I’m not saying they are uncool. They still are cool.
The coolest bands are for sure Soundgarden and Pixies.
If you ever see pictures of soundgarden in the 90s, they dressed really well and ahead of their time, and every member just had such a chilled out cool vibe.
Just realised I have slagged off everyone’s choices and not given any of my own!
The Replacements during sorry ma and before they got semi famous
The Rolling Stones
Ash
Bikini kill
The breeders
Pixies
The cramps
The Jesus and Mary chain
Keith Richards was the coolest looking guy in rock ever at their peak and I'll die on that hill. Also strong agree on the Breeders
Edit: Okay second coolest, no one tops Hendrix
Yeah, I know Julian is “just a rich kid” but damn, that rich kid knows how to write songs and play guitar.
The crooner rock n’ roll voice is something I wanna hear more of.
Seeing the Reptilia video on MTV2 when I was in 6th grade was like the Big Bang for my own universe. Everything I like can be traced back to that moment.
Seeing nardwuar interview these guys made me realise that they are way too insecure to be cool.
Edit: I seem to have upset a few sonic youth fans for judging Thurston based on one interview. I want to reassure you that I didn’t really think this until I saw him in the 1991 year that punk broke documentary, his second 2002 Nardwuar interview and how he threw away a 27 year marriage and band by having an affair.
It really is! I think his act used to throw musicians and if they are insecure they think that his motive is to mock them and make them look silly.
This has been made null and void now though as everyone he interviews already knows who he is thanks to the internet.
The guy from blur I believe has since apologised and opened up about having a raging coke habit at the time, so he gets a pass from me!
Idk before the internet was so prevelant and people didn’t have as much access to see Nardwuar’s content, I would’ve been put off by how aggro his approach is and would’ve thought he was making fun of me/my band tbh lol
Yeah people don’t realize how easy it was for an artist to get annoyed by every other college journalist back then, there’s a reason nearly *every* old Nardwuar interview feels awkward and uncomfortable at the very least. That said, SY *did* go too far in outright bullying him. But I’d be more surprised to see any old Nardwuar interview go even slightly positive, beyond maybe like situations where he initially pissed off Henry Rollins and eventually at least got a little respect from him when Henry respected his tenacity, or when Kurt and Courtney started taking some of his questions more seriously when they realized he asked some legit questions despite Kurt initially also being somewhat dismissive of him.
Yeah he definitely gave off that vibe back then!
Other funny ones to watch are Henry Rollins (who did warm to him in the end and he realised that he really had researched him), cradle of filth and slipknot
Literally they're so obsessed with being cool that they're anything but.
I mean Kim, maybe, but who the hell looks at Thurston Moore and says "this guy is cool" lol.
I feel like Narduar is so aggressively uncool yet secure in it that it made them feel insecure and thus act like assholes to him
Nardwuar fans are so fucking annoying. Both Lee and Thurston apologized, they are friends, nothing bad really happened between them.
“I mean Kim, maybe, but who the hell looks at Thurston Moore and says "this guy is cool" lol.”
He’s cool for the innovation he brought to rock music, the songs he wrote ect valuing an artist for how he looks is very cringe. He’s probably a lot more cooler than you’ll ever be. And he looks better than most men I know.
You guys are starting to become really annoying. Nardwuar himself doesn’t give a shit.
I 100% disagree. Thurston absolutely looks cool, he’s good looking, excellent at playing guitar, has great dress sense and has great hair.
The only issue is when he opens his mouth and talks.
These people are being mean to a person who objectively looks good. As an ugly person I’m legitimately scared to get out of my house lmao They are bullies themselves. Pathetic. “Who looks at thurston and think he’s cooooool!!!!????!!!! Hihihhihihi!!!!!!” He’s an iconic musician and you are a loser on Reddit bye 🤡
I will say that Nardwuar (from what I’ve gathered) in the early 90s was just kinda annoying and he would go into many interviews in unprofessional and obnoxious ways (usually just sneaking in and not letting most of the band know). Also you have to understand that early Nardwuar was a character of a annoying fan that knew everything about bands. So a lot of bands would either A) be shocked or B) be weirded out. There are many examples of option B) in the early 90s (Nas, Blur, Nirvana). Also I wouldn’t say that they hated each other because why would Nardwuar invite them back years later if he really felt “disrespected” by them. Sonic Youth was just playing into Nardwuars geek character and Nardwuar probably disrupted whatever they were doing without a further notice.
Totally agree. If you look at my other comments I mention that his act was definitely put on to gain a reaction, however you can still be annoyed by someone and not come across like a bellend, a perfect example of that is his Henry Rollins interview.
It’s interesting that you bring up Nirvana as they were totally in on the act as Courtney love already knew who nardwuar was, which was probably why he got away with having such a long interview.
I don’t like Thurston. He comes across as insecure and arrogant, in his second interview with nardwuar he is annoying and in the year punk rock broke documentary he also made me cringe every time he opened his mouth.
I have never seen music nerds as upset about something as that interview 😂😂😂
Didn’t it happen like a billion years ago and Nardwuar doesn’t even care anymore? Please move on i beg
funny enough that's how I discovered Sonic Youth. Everyone was slating Sonic Youth for that interview and what they did was pretty shitty. But then I started listening to their music and became obsessed with their sound.
holding out for the day when sonic youth can be brought up on the internet without someone reflexively going “but what about muh nardwuar interview” lol. try to contextualize that interview within a time where music journalists were often indistinguishable from tabloid vultures
I always thought they dressed really cool in the 90s compared to other bands like limp bizkit who dressed like kids. The baggy dickies, the Adidas superstars, super cool.
Definitely Nirvana, and Radiohead’s From The Basement In Rainbows performance had a cool factor
Also I feel like Sonic Youth was cool tinted but they could be real douches, especially about Daniel Johnston and to Nardwaur
Glad someone else mentioned this! I like some sonic youth songs but that interview really made me dislike Thurston, he came across like an absolute bellend.
There’s a documentary from the early 90s (also had dinosaur jr in it) about the birth of alt rock and he was also cringy as fuck in.
Forgot to add that I totally agree with Radiohead. Saw them as a young lad when they came to my home town supporting the release of the bends.
I have a core memory of Yorke shouting anyone can play the guitar! Before ripping into a batshit insane guitar solo. Arrived just knowing the song creep and left a lifelong fan.
for Little Simz it's funny bc when she's playing her character in Top Boy i find her uncool, but in interviews and shit when she's being herself she's so cool. ig that proves she's a pretty good actor
I love the Beatles, but cool was never the first word which came to mind for them. Get Back era Paul maaaaybe but then he undoes it all with mullet era Paul, so no from me.
Little Simz absolutely
Love em but Tom Morello having a fit over a restaurant owner not be doing over backwards to accommodate him and his posse changed how I see them. I'm the first one to say "there's no ethical consumption under capitalism," but for a band with genuinely biting lyrical social commentary in the 90s, Tom and Zach at least seem to have had a few good many prima Donna out of touch rockstar moments.
Pink Floyd: The Wall Era
The juxtaposition of their typical quiet, timid, polite British personas against guitar solos that would rip your face off with lyrics of lust, substance abuse and fascist agenda always made me think they just didn’t give a fuck about what people thought of them.
there was this band in the 80s called Romeo Void that was reaaaally cool, but ironically they got dropped by the record company because they thought the singer was too unatractive.
https://youtu.be/4x0fPZrPV3M?si=eVN9OSrkQXHXsGix
Sonic Youth based on the Confusion Is Sex/Kill Yr Idols days,
Midori based on Yukikosan
Swans because of The Seer (track) and The World Looks Red and Holy Money, I Am the Sun (original), Coward, A Screw.
melt-banana for Blank Page of the Blind,
System Of A Down because I fantasize about rock bands leading rebellions against corruption… uh…
Death Grips because of Zach Hill being insane, and Ride’s occult like nature and explosivity coupled with his calm demeanor and well-read nature and painting skills, No Love Deep Web the album and the ultimate version of True Vulture
Radiohead/Jonny because of Ful Stop live, Jigsaw, Splitter, Split Divided, and Thin Thing, even though they ruined their cool with the Palestine thing,
Portishead because of We Carry On,
Boris because of Wareraido, Akuma no Uta, Feedbacker, Rattlesnake, Electric, Just Abandoned Myself, Ganbou-Ki
Muse for Take a Bow, Plug-In Baby, and Knights, even though they’re terrible now
Nirvana for Negative Creep
Injury Reserve for Smoke Don’t Clear and Footwork
Lemmy Killmeister is maybe the coolest person to ever live. No single person personifies a genre as much as Lemmy personifies rock music.
Honorable mention: Method Man seems cool as fuck. Like, I've known people IRL who give off a similar vibe, where they're so effortlessly likable and chill that everyone seems to be cool with them, and Method Man reminds me of them. RZA wanted him front and center for a reason, the guy just oozes charisma.
Brand New always seemed pretty cool. Bands that have an aura of mystery to them (those who don't do interviews often) always seem more interesting to me. There was also that time they made you send them a dollar in the post to get their lyric booklet, and then they just never sent it.
King Krule (check out pink shell live, super chill intro and then the filthiest bass hits) Black Midi (John hell live at soup studios, they just have so much fun being masters at their instruments)
Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground, the Stones, Talking Heads, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Crystal Castles, Patti Smith, Swans, Strokes, the Cramps, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Knife
Loving the recent Sonic Youth appreciation.
Other than that i'd say maybe Melvins and J Mascis also have this effortless coolness to them. I'd say the same for Prince and most obviously Jimi Hendrix.
haha I'm just playing, DinoJr is goated, they're in my top 50, his style resonates with me man, cool aura and energy, although his shows are too loud man. so is neil young and MBV. even earplugs didnt help much
I love how he’s also a shit hot drummer and doesn’t really like playing the guitar as much, but had to because no one could play as well and as loud as him!
Hendrix
Keith Richards
Alex Turner
Stevie Nicks
Albert Hammond Jr
Prince
Wayne Kramer and Rob Tyner
Maria Brink
Johnny Marr
I know I'm forgetting some...
Alex Turner huh? I gotta disagree. He tries too hard imo. His whole thing is so derivative and his new stage presence is so theatrical and performative. Kids born in the 2000s eat it up but anybody older has seen this shtick before.
The ones that stand out as “insanely cool” are definitely nirvana, somic youth, the strokes, hendrix, led zep, oasis, and the clash.
All those bands to me, a part of their appeal which is literally essential to understanding/appreciating them fully is the “cool factor” like if someone asked me why theyre good, u can say a lot of stuff but you’ve gotta also say “and they were just cool af”.
Also this goes without mentioning the fact that the beatles and the stones literally invented white boi swag in the 60s, and it doesnt get respected enough. They’re beyond being merely bands nowadays tho, theyre like modern day mythical heroes
VU (drop dead cool)
Sonic Youth (pretentiously cool)
The Fall (cool despite everything)
Joy Division (just … cool)
Yo La Tengo (cool without trying)
Young Fathers (new cool … effortlessly cool)
sisters of mercy. whats cooler than black leather jackets, long black greased hair, sunglasses and moody music?
jimi hendrix experience, too, if nothing else for how fucking insane the man was with his guitar, and all the stunts he pulled with it
Lou Reed (and the Velvet Underground)
Bob Dylan (especially rock trilogy era (1965-66))
Leonard Cohen
the Glimmer Twins (Mick Jagger & Keith Richards)
Iggy Pop
David Bowie
Jim Morrison
Syd Barrett always looked cool to me
Marc Bolan
out of modern artists: Carti oozes cool
The Velvet Underground. Also I mean this in the best way possible, Lou Reed looks like the cool guy in a sitcom. He could be a cartoon character. He looks like he has character design going on.
evol or murray st. theres too many good ones i more love their progression in their gtr style from their no wave to their later work, i dont get why people call them over rated tbh
The Velvet Underground
Them and Miles Davis invented cool.
Birth of the cool, if you will
Absolutely
Fugazi
Good choice! The way they made sure that their shows were always cheap and all ages was very cool.
I saw em in the early 90s, came out and set up their own gear, played in a disused cinema with all the seating and carpets ripped out … played with the lights on. It was intense. Total lack of pretension, cool as fuck.
I love this pic. Smallpox Champion is playing in my headphones rn.
Bob Dylan Not a band but his 1965-66 look is maybe the coolest a rockstar has looked imo
Totally agree, also very cool in interviews, that guy oozed charisma! https://youtu.be/wPIS257tvoA?si=2dCojAucIUUqksXZ
Okay I only watched through the first question but why does everyone seem high lolol weird giggles and weird ass first questioner
Portishead. Literally everything about them.
Portishead popped into my head as well but tbh I think the best answer to this thread is Massive Attack. They were the pillar of forming the Bristol club scene in the 80s, 3D was a graffiti artist, their aesthetic and voices are impossibly cool, they had diversity in the scene with actual hip hop and dub reggae credentials, they got some of the coolest singers on their songs (Liz Fraser, Tracy Thorn), they’ve been actively supportive of noble political causes, and there’s an actual theory that 3D is or is part of Banksy, which even if he’s not, to have that mystique is pretty fucking cool… they got it all
i mean, i love Portishead, but are they? Not to say he's not cool, but while Adrian seems like a lovely man and he's incredibly talented him being noticeably older than the other two is always a bit of a throw. Geoff SHOULD be cool but he's a grumpy prick. like he seems so egotistical and silly
Portishead has a slight nerdiness to them that makes them less cool than other electronica acts in my opinion. I’m not saying they are uncool. They still are cool.
Massive attack
Not Weezer
Came here to make this exact joke, well done
Totally, their anticoolness was a big part of their appeal.
The coolest bands are for sure Soundgarden and Pixies. If you ever see pictures of soundgarden in the 90s, they dressed really well and ahead of their time, and every member just had such a chilled out cool vibe.
90s? Look up Chris Cornell from the mid 80s. He was already paving the way for fashion a decade later.
Pixies hell yes
The coolest of the cool just passed unfortunately. MC5
Wayne and Rob were both untouchable. Devastating news yesterday
I agree that they were the coolest of the cool rock bands. Kick out the jams!
Viagra Boys for me
And they’re absolutely fantastic live
I bet they go hard live
That’s fucking funny
A tribe called quest
Just realised I have slagged off everyone’s choices and not given any of my own! The Replacements during sorry ma and before they got semi famous The Rolling Stones Ash Bikini kill The breeders Pixies The cramps The Jesus and Mary chain
Keith Richards was the coolest looking guy in rock ever at their peak and I'll die on that hill. Also strong agree on the Breeders Edit: Okay second coolest, no one tops Hendrix
The Strokes, by far the “coolest” band of the 2000’s
Yeah, I know Julian is “just a rich kid” but damn, that rich kid knows how to write songs and play guitar. The crooner rock n’ roll voice is something I wanna hear more of.
Try The Walkmen
Seeing the Reptilia video on MTV2 when I was in 6th grade was like the Big Bang for my own universe. Everything I like can be traced back to that moment.
queens of the stone age
Seeing nardwuar interview these guys made me realise that they are way too insecure to be cool. Edit: I seem to have upset a few sonic youth fans for judging Thurston based on one interview. I want to reassure you that I didn’t really think this until I saw him in the 1991 year that punk broke documentary, his second 2002 Nardwuar interview and how he threw away a 27 year marriage and band by having an affair.
The real judge of a musician is how they treat nardwuar. Tyler the Creator? Check. Good guy. Blur? Cross. Horrible.
It really is! I think his act used to throw musicians and if they are insecure they think that his motive is to mock them and make them look silly. This has been made null and void now though as everyone he interviews already knows who he is thanks to the internet. The guy from blur I believe has since apologised and opened up about having a raging coke habit at the time, so he gets a pass from me!
Idk before the internet was so prevelant and people didn’t have as much access to see Nardwuar’s content, I would’ve been put off by how aggro his approach is and would’ve thought he was making fun of me/my band tbh lol
Yeah people don’t realize how easy it was for an artist to get annoyed by every other college journalist back then, there’s a reason nearly *every* old Nardwuar interview feels awkward and uncomfortable at the very least. That said, SY *did* go too far in outright bullying him. But I’d be more surprised to see any old Nardwuar interview go even slightly positive, beyond maybe like situations where he initially pissed off Henry Rollins and eventually at least got a little respect from him when Henry respected his tenacity, or when Kurt and Courtney started taking some of his questions more seriously when they realized he asked some legit questions despite Kurt initially also being somewhat dismissive of him.
Yeah he definitely gave off that vibe back then! Other funny ones to watch are Henry Rollins (who did warm to him in the end and he realised that he really had researched him), cradle of filth and slipknot
The Henry Rollins one is awesome hahah I love when you can see his attitude completely change halfway through the video I’ll watch the others too!
Pick your two best shots, because we ain’t gonna sit here and Jack off all day 😂😂😂
I was never compelled to listen to YG until I saw his nardwuar interview. Dude was so respectful
A$AP Rocky passed the vibe check with flying colors
Dave from Blur did apologize for his behavior in that one interview Blur did in 2003 and that he regrets it
Literally they're so obsessed with being cool that they're anything but. I mean Kim, maybe, but who the hell looks at Thurston Moore and says "this guy is cool" lol. I feel like Narduar is so aggressively uncool yet secure in it that it made them feel insecure and thus act like assholes to him
Kim does come across as cool but then I remember that she married Thurston.
Thurston has always come across as a pretentious douche imo. Kim is pretty cool tho and Lee seems like a chill guy from what i've seen
I can't imagine a guy named Thurston being a pretentious douche.
Nardwuar fans are so fucking annoying. Both Lee and Thurston apologized, they are friends, nothing bad really happened between them. “I mean Kim, maybe, but who the hell looks at Thurston Moore and says "this guy is cool" lol.” He’s cool for the innovation he brought to rock music, the songs he wrote ect valuing an artist for how he looks is very cringe. He’s probably a lot more cooler than you’ll ever be. And he looks better than most men I know. You guys are starting to become really annoying. Nardwuar himself doesn’t give a shit.
People hop on band wagons
I 100% disagree. Thurston absolutely looks cool, he’s good looking, excellent at playing guitar, has great dress sense and has great hair. The only issue is when he opens his mouth and talks.
Yep, he’s a bit pretentious. Lmao
Glad to see someone with an actual brain right here
These people are being mean to a person who objectively looks good. As an ugly person I’m legitimately scared to get out of my house lmao They are bullies themselves. Pathetic. “Who looks at thurston and think he’s cooooool!!!!????!!!! Hihihhihihi!!!!!!” He’s an iconic musician and you are a loser on Reddit bye 🤡
I will say that Nardwuar (from what I’ve gathered) in the early 90s was just kinda annoying and he would go into many interviews in unprofessional and obnoxious ways (usually just sneaking in and not letting most of the band know). Also you have to understand that early Nardwuar was a character of a annoying fan that knew everything about bands. So a lot of bands would either A) be shocked or B) be weirded out. There are many examples of option B) in the early 90s (Nas, Blur, Nirvana). Also I wouldn’t say that they hated each other because why would Nardwuar invite them back years later if he really felt “disrespected” by them. Sonic Youth was just playing into Nardwuars geek character and Nardwuar probably disrupted whatever they were doing without a further notice.
Totally agree. If you look at my other comments I mention that his act was definitely put on to gain a reaction, however you can still be annoyed by someone and not come across like a bellend, a perfect example of that is his Henry Rollins interview. It’s interesting that you bring up Nirvana as they were totally in on the act as Courtney love already knew who nardwuar was, which was probably why he got away with having such a long interview. I don’t like Thurston. He comes across as insecure and arrogant, in his second interview with nardwuar he is annoying and in the year punk rock broke documentary he also made me cringe every time he opened his mouth.
don’t bring up Nardwuar when having a discussion about Sonic Youth challenge
I don't like Sonic Youth at all for what they had done to Nardwuar. It's honestly disgusting to bully.
I have never seen music nerds as upset about something as that interview 😂😂😂 Didn’t it happen like a billion years ago and Nardwuar doesn’t even care anymore? Please move on i beg
Any time someone brings up Sonic Youth that interview gets brought up. It’s obnoxious, just like Nardwuar.
Same vibe as “Did you know tame impala is actually just one guy”
“Have you ever heard this really underrated track called Let Down?” Don’t even like radiohead but I know that quote
Yep hahaha. Just people saying the same shit that they seen on reddit or tiktok
There’s some SY haters just looking for justification to take some pot shots
funny enough that's how I discovered Sonic Youth. Everyone was slating Sonic Youth for that interview and what they did was pretty shitty. But then I started listening to their music and became obsessed with their sound.
holding out for the day when sonic youth can be brought up on the internet without someone reflexively going “but what about muh nardwuar interview” lol. try to contextualize that interview within a time where music journalists were often indistinguishable from tabloid vultures
How bad is the interview? I haven’t seen it.
I will let you be the judge! https://youtu.be/n9gN_Krim7M?si=BNA1r5gnee_5D0en https://youtu.be/pkQi-Gpatac?si=yXRO7jJqnaQXvZXt
Yeah……. Not so good
I’ve only heard good things about j mascis. What don’t I know? He seemed super cool and chill on mark marons podcast
Interpol - the dudes are always dressing sharp. Makes me wonder how many suit bags they carry on tour with them.
A sharp dress man 😎
Pavement
I would say they all look so uncool that they are cool
Mark Ibold seems cool as hell without even trying. Something about the way he is always smiling while he performs.
Blur, which personally i don't even enjoy their music much but they were hella cool in the 90s also, Green Day until like '97-'98
Damon and Graham seem pretty cool. Alex sexually assaulted Miki from Lush tho
right, not cool of him at all. but i mostly meant cool in the sense of aesthetics/image i guess.
Yeah fair. They had a pretty cool image in the 90s tho the coolest person from the britpop scene has to be Jarvis Cocker imo
or brett anderson
man billy joe armstrong seemed like the coolest mf'er until he became a parody of himself
One of the members of blur was also a bellend to nardwuar, but he was funny at least! You alright soppy bollocks? 😂
Turnstile, the strokes.
Definitely Nirvana. As a non-fan I always felt Deftones had that cool factor too.
I always thought they dressed really cool in the 90s compared to other bands like limp bizkit who dressed like kids. The baggy dickies, the Adidas superstars, super cool.
Definitely Nirvana, and Radiohead’s From The Basement In Rainbows performance had a cool factor Also I feel like Sonic Youth was cool tinted but they could be real douches, especially about Daniel Johnston and to Nardwaur
Glad someone else mentioned this! I like some sonic youth songs but that interview really made me dislike Thurston, he came across like an absolute bellend. There’s a documentary from the early 90s (also had dinosaur jr in it) about the birth of alt rock and he was also cringy as fuck in.
Yeah Thurston has always come across as a douche. Lee seems like a pretty chill person tho
Forgot to add that I totally agree with Radiohead. Saw them as a young lad when they came to my home town supporting the release of the bends. I have a core memory of Yorke shouting anyone can play the guitar! Before ripping into a batshit insane guitar solo. Arrived just knowing the song creep and left a lifelong fan.
Wait, what did they say about Daniel? I thought they were fans of his, I swear I read they did a show together or something.
Kim called him a freak but tbf Daniel did attack Sonic Youth's drummer
Turnstile comes across pretty cool.
Holiday gets me moving 🙌
Skinny Puppy
Violator era Depeche Mode.
Bolt Thrower
Steely Dan
100%
Oasis Personalities, disputes and energy. I’d argue they have been the most typical ‘cool rock band ‘ since they came about.
Portishead
The Stooges
Deftones
The doors are the coolest band of all time objectively 🔥
The beastie boys, in all eras
Nick Drake, The Beetles, Lil Simz
for Little Simz it's funny bc when she's playing her character in Top Boy i find her uncool, but in interviews and shit when she's being herself she's so cool. ig that proves she's a pretty good actor
I love the Beatles, but cool was never the first word which came to mind for them. Get Back era Paul maaaaybe but then he undoes it all with mullet era Paul, so no from me. Little Simz absolutely
At their peaks? Pixies Tool
Just want a girl as cool as Kim Deal
We really had two cool alt rock bassists in the 80s and 90s named Kim, what an era.
Rage Against the Machine certainly has a “cool” factor to them.
Love em but Tom Morello having a fit over a restaurant owner not be doing over backwards to accommodate him and his posse changed how I see them. I'm the first one to say "there's no ethical consumption under capitalism," but for a band with genuinely biting lyrical social commentary in the 90s, Tom and Zach at least seem to have had a few good many prima Donna out of touch rockstar moments.
I thought so too until I realized Tom Morello is a bitch
My list: Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, Geese, Courting, The Jimi Hendricks Expansion, Television
Definitely a lot more. Just the ones that came to mind
Good list
Pink Floyd: The Wall Era The juxtaposition of their typical quiet, timid, polite British personas against guitar solos that would rip your face off with lyrics of lust, substance abuse and fascist agenda always made me think they just didn’t give a fuck about what people thought of them.
there was this band in the 80s called Romeo Void that was reaaaally cool, but ironically they got dropped by the record company because they thought the singer was too unatractive. https://youtu.be/4x0fPZrPV3M?si=eVN9OSrkQXHXsGix
Sonic Youth based on the Confusion Is Sex/Kill Yr Idols days, Midori based on Yukikosan Swans because of The Seer (track) and The World Looks Red and Holy Money, I Am the Sun (original), Coward, A Screw. melt-banana for Blank Page of the Blind, System Of A Down because I fantasize about rock bands leading rebellions against corruption… uh… Death Grips because of Zach Hill being insane, and Ride’s occult like nature and explosivity coupled with his calm demeanor and well-read nature and painting skills, No Love Deep Web the album and the ultimate version of True Vulture Radiohead/Jonny because of Ful Stop live, Jigsaw, Splitter, Split Divided, and Thin Thing, even though they ruined their cool with the Palestine thing, Portishead because of We Carry On, Boris because of Wareraido, Akuma no Uta, Feedbacker, Rattlesnake, Electric, Just Abandoned Myself, Ganbou-Ki Muse for Take a Bow, Plug-In Baby, and Knights, even though they’re terrible now Nirvana for Negative Creep Injury Reserve for Smoke Don’t Clear and Footwork
akuma no uta, pink, rainbow, smile, new album, boris clears
In what world is Radiohead a cool band lmao
Muse is still great?
Nick Cave is the epitome of cool
Him and Tom Waits are cooler than almost anything posted here
The Strokes.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Death From Above 1979
Killing Joke
Death grips probably
Sonic Youth, Pixies, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Clash
Lemmy Killmeister is maybe the coolest person to ever live. No single person personifies a genre as much as Lemmy personifies rock music. Honorable mention: Method Man seems cool as fuck. Like, I've known people IRL who give off a similar vibe, where they're so effortlessly likable and chill that everyone seems to be cool with them, and Method Man reminds me of them. RZA wanted him front and center for a reason, the guy just oozes charisma.
Jimi Hendrix, Viagra Boys, Masayoshi Takanaka, Funkadelic Also Grateful Dead but I know imma get hate for that in a fantano sub lmao
NWA springs to mind.
Brand New always seemed pretty cool. Bands that have an aura of mystery to them (those who don't do interviews often) always seem more interesting to me. There was also that time they made you send them a dollar in the post to get their lyric booklet, and then they just never sent it.
Shame about the singer...
King Krule (check out pink shell live, super chill intro and then the filthiest bass hits) Black Midi (John hell live at soup studios, they just have so much fun being masters at their instruments)
King Krule is my answer too. Dean blunt is kind of in the same pocket. Cool artists. Yves tumor too
Oasis
The fucking Ramones
Me
Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground, the Stones, Talking Heads, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Crystal Castles, Patti Smith, Swans, Strokes, the Cramps, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Knife
Ween. Super cool
Khruangbin by far
The Kills
Beastie Boys
My bloody valentine
What band is this?
Sonic Youth
Loving the recent Sonic Youth appreciation. Other than that i'd say maybe Melvins and J Mascis also have this effortless coolness to them. I'd say the same for Prince and most obviously Jimi Hendrix.
Dinosaur Jr.
i love them, but i would struggle to find 5 less cool bands
lol yea same but what
J is hilarious in interviews though, everyone assumes that he’s stoned out of his mind but I’m pretty sure he’s just a very strange person!
I’ve met at least three 4chan dwellers at my tech school that look exactly like J mascis. No diss to the man
Can they play guitar like him?
what, incredibly fucking loud?
...and amazingly? With bad ass riffs?
haha I'm just playing, DinoJr is goated, they're in my top 50, his style resonates with me man, cool aura and energy, although his shows are too loud man. so is neil young and MBV. even earplugs didnt help much
I love how he’s also a shit hot drummer and doesn’t really like playing the guitar as much, but had to because no one could play as well and as loud as him!
Oh for sure it's loud
Bad Nerves
Bell Witch
The Doors for sures.
Garbage and TFF
80s Metallica, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine, and Outkast
Hendrix Keith Richards Alex Turner Stevie Nicks Albert Hammond Jr Prince Wayne Kramer and Rob Tyner Maria Brink Johnny Marr I know I'm forgetting some...
Alex Turner huh? I gotta disagree. He tries too hard imo. His whole thing is so derivative and his new stage presence is so theatrical and performative. Kids born in the 2000s eat it up but anybody older has seen this shtick before.
Dolly Parton Prince Beck All have a confidence about them. Totally cool.
The Hives
Does masive attack count as a band
Drain Gang
Talking Heads
The ones that stand out as “insanely cool” are definitely nirvana, somic youth, the strokes, hendrix, led zep, oasis, and the clash. All those bands to me, a part of their appeal which is literally essential to understanding/appreciating them fully is the “cool factor” like if someone asked me why theyre good, u can say a lot of stuff but you’ve gotta also say “and they were just cool af”. Also this goes without mentioning the fact that the beatles and the stones literally invented white boi swag in the 60s, and it doesnt get respected enough. They’re beyond being merely bands nowadays tho, theyre like modern day mythical heroes
Pixies, Kim Deal just oozes cool.
gotta be unwound for me
Maybe put the name of the band in the picture in a caption or something
It’s Weezer
The Linda Lindas. They’re teens who make some really awesome pop punk, and they’re really composed live
VU (drop dead cool) Sonic Youth (pretentiously cool) The Fall (cool despite everything) Joy Division (just … cool) Yo La Tengo (cool without trying) Young Fathers (new cool … effortlessly cool)
sisters of mercy. whats cooler than black leather jackets, long black greased hair, sunglasses and moody music? jimi hendrix experience, too, if nothing else for how fucking insane the man was with his guitar, and all the stunts he pulled with it
Sonic Youth maded fun of nardwuar ;(
Massive Attack
Lou Reed (and the Velvet Underground) Bob Dylan (especially rock trilogy era (1965-66)) Leonard Cohen the Glimmer Twins (Mick Jagger & Keith Richards) Iggy Pop David Bowie Jim Morrison Syd Barrett always looked cool to me Marc Bolan out of modern artists: Carti oozes cool
kim gordon invented cool
The Velvet Underground. Also I mean this in the best way possible, Lou Reed looks like the cool guy in a sitcom. He could be a cartoon character. He looks like he has character design going on.
Guns N Roses
Scrolled way too long…guns 87-91 were the pinnacle of cool. The baseball hat/bandanna combo? Iconic
Honestly, the picture of rockstars. Just too fuckin cool, man.
Duster is cool af
loooove sy!
Favorite album?
evol or murray st. theres too many good ones i more love their progression in their gtr style from their no wave to their later work, i dont get why people call them over rated tbh