Make me like The Libertines

[The Decemberists 0]

I've got the two Libertines album and they are good... but I'm not quite getting the whole "generation defining" awesomeness that the NME and everyone I know seems to think I should be getting.

 

So what exactly am I missing?

[Myxamatosis 0]

More so than anything, these mags are looking for some band to pin that title upon. They tried to pitch it upon Oasis and they fell under. They threw it on Nirvana and we all know what happened there.

 

The Libertines are great, but they'll fall apart before they can make the amazing, standout album.

 

Try listening to them like this: Put on the record and go do something else besides listening attentively. File folders, build legos, shave your chest, whatever. Try using it as background music, almost a soundtrack to your day. It works quite well and can make one's once boring day seem...less boring.

[DCMaximo 0]

Surely that fact that the singer was voted the joint coolest man in music (along with the tosser who left the band) in the NME is all you need to "get" the Libertines. It seems that no matter how substandard your music (and I certainly haven't heard any of their songs I'd rate as being above average), if you look the part and do things to make you appear semi-interesting, you can become the hottest new band in the country, allowing you to produce songs as gut-wrenchingly dull as "What Became Of The Likely Lads" and still sell loads of records.

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

NME is worse now than ever, and their Libertines obessesion has driven me away after 15 years of loyal buying. I've heard a good proportion of their stuff and its the kind of thing that would have been forgotten during the Britpop era.

 

Yeah, I don't like them.

[Dr. Zoidberg 0]

DC - The singer was the one who left the band. And I would hardly call "What became of the likely lads" 'gut-wrenchingly dull.' It's a song of forgiveness from Carl Barat (the lead guitarist) to Pete Doherty (the singer/rythym guitarist), as sappy as that sounds. A majority of the self-titled album is about Doherty's drug addiction and the tear that it made in the band. The opening song, "Can't Stand Me Now" is Carl and Pete blaming each other for Pete's condition, and the album closes with "What became of the likely lads." It's actually quite a brilliant record. But, to each his own, I guess. To tell you the truth, I hated their self-titled album until I heard "What Became of The Likely Lads." Weird? Maybay...

 

Morrisey - It took me awhile to really get into them, too, but you kinda need to be in the mood for them. The Libertines aren't for everyone, and NME is dead-wrong in saying they're "generation defining" (THAT'S The Strokes!), but all in all, they're a good all-around band. Try giving extra listens to "Vertigo", "Boys in the Band", and "I Get Along" off of Up the Bracket. Those are the songs that got me into them.

 

jailbait - They already did fall apart...damn Pete and his drug addiction.

 

 

Interesting tidbit: Pete Doherty is actually a very distant cousin of mine. Odd, no?

 

Yeah...that was my two cents. Like them, don't like them...they're done now, so it doesn't really matter if they have a larger fanbase or not.

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

Meh.

 

I saw them at Reading in 2002, before Up The Bracket was released and they blew me away. They were a band to fall in love with. They just had this energy and belief that carried you through the set. The first album is a great pop album, while the second is a ot more cohesive, but with less amazing songs. They're both great albums that are both played and written brilliantly.

 

Their band of a generation label is more to do with their cultural level than anything alse. They're a proper interesting soap opera. Pete's in and out of jail and rehab and they're the perfect London (even English) band. They're this generations Clash. The songs are great, and they've formed a proper scene around them, which was needed at a time when British guitar music was sorely in need of characters. They're like avery genre defining band. There are better bands around, but they're the ones with the characters and the stories to fall in love with and sell magazines.

 

For finding the true core of the band, listen to the first Babyshambles sessions. A triple CD of demos played by the band, including many of the songs off the second album. It does what Nirvana unplugged did. Strip the songs down to a miimum and install real intamacy to them. It's absolutely brilliant and shows the genius of the two songwriters. If the two albums don't show ou that, try the acoustic stuff.

 

Plus they broke the door down for London bands like Bloc Party to come through, and that's a good thing.

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

I prefer Razorlight.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

The Libertines are a gimmick in America. Just like Oasis. But Oasis made two remarkable albums. Libertines didn't.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

I prefer Razorlight.

I'd have to say razorlight were worse. Probably the worst band in Britain.

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

Keane

[The Decemberists 0]

They're this generations Clash.

That;s GOT to be a joke!?

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

They're this generations Clash.

That;s GOT to be a joke!?

Not really. They're the definitive London band at the moment, singing about the rough points of inner-city life in an articulate way. Not to mention the stylistic influence and the presence of Mick Jones.