So is there a band....

Pharmacists have Dorien Garry (a girl) = disqualified

Only the mid 90s edition of Radiohead fits with the description otherwise.

Cotton Mather I am pretty sure that the "dadrock" haters would hate. extremely Lennon-sounding vocals and all. Only they aren't famous enough for most people to be aware of them at all.

What's not to like?

I would say they don't put the main empasis on melody and harmony over rhythm either, even though there is certainly some melodic stuff on "Speakerboxx/The Love Below"

if the answer is no, geir, then why is that a bad thing?

Nope. Chick drummer. (xpost)

A lot of hip-hop acts, at least if most means more than 50 per cent.

...why is this important? Seriously.

-- Geir Hongro (geirhon...), May 2nd, 2005. (later)

If my auntie had a dick she'd be my uncle, Geir.

as far as i'm aware you are the only person on ILM who is interested in this distiction as a qualitative one and why are you so keen on getting us like white-only bands? is there an implication of racism @ILM when, in fact, that racism resides in you?

Because some people tend to view it as a negative thing because it is "old fashioned" having white males only in a band.

"white guys with guitars" is way too often used as a negative term.

http://www.auburnmoonagency.com/music/images/Reed.jpg
http://www.auburnmoonagency.com/music/images/Reed.jpg

Why should one not like white-only bands to the same extent as everything else?

(Not to mention male-only, which is more atypical of typical post 1990 music than white only is)

xpost

"white guys with guitars" is way too often used as a negative term.

Who fucking cares, Geir? Bloc Party may not be the musical fit you're looking for, but even if they were you'd DQ them because the lead singer is BLACK (AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!). And don't try any of this "The reason they're not trad is BECAUSE he's black."

Your preoccupation with "white" pop music is weird, Geir.

I am not saying I dislike anything that does not consist of white guys with guitars. The point is that some people here tend to DQ anything that DOES consist of white guys with guitars only.

In the case of Bloc Party, their lack of good melodic songs is my main problem about them (like it was also my main problem about Joy Division and Gang Of Four)

i think this is about you not the rest of ILM, frankly.

also Tim Ellison OTM

xp

have any of them been made by black people?

Geir please link yo your list...

No, not this year. At least not so far. One of Ocean Colour Scene, one of my fave groups of the 90s, was black though. And Stevie Wonder made several wonderful albums during the 70s.

(Plus there were lots of great Motown singles in the 60s, but those acts never attempted to make cohesive albums)

Stephen Crane

(oh shit! The drummer's last name is SANDOVAL!!! I think he's HISPANIC!!!!!!)

o my godd

The Shins may be a good call btw. (But again, is there a reason why only American traditonally oriented bands tend to be accepted by most people here, and that most of them don't sell much?)

YESS. Also, am I nuts or aren't there fucking melodies in like 90% of mainstream hip hop songs, if not 95 percent? I mean, I can play Rubberband Man on guitar and piano, and Lil Jon uses tons of synths.

Awesome.

Geir, that description fits early Spoon better than the album I tipped, Girls Can Tell. You should really listen to that album. It's got hooks galore, there's no women or black dudes, and it never gets more rock than "She Said," "Helter Skelter," or "I Want You" do. What more do you want?

And by the way, this bias you're talking about is utter bullshit. I can't remember a single time someone scorned four white guys with guitars outside the context of rockism debates; even then the scorn wasn't really directed at the bands, but at people who dismiss every band who don't meet your pre-fab criteria.

(as soon as I read the question I thought Super Furry Animals and Flaming Lips. However, Geir obviously thinks differently due to, er, some pathetic desire to be proved right even though he's totally and utterly wrongheaded about this)

Not if they refuse the entire idea behind that kind of genre, no.

Would the Smiths be the correct answer to this thread?

(xpost)

How about Electronic?

They had a very weird and unusual way of writing songs though: Morrissey wrote some poem, Johnny Marr played some improvised guitar parts, and Morissey then improvised a melody over Marr's playing, based on his own poem. Hardly song-based in a traditional way.

But they were formed (and indeed broke up) way before 1990 anyway.

Stuff such as "Girlfriend In a Coma" was great though, and there's no denying "How Soon Is Now" being a classic single.

But they appeared at a time when hipsters' hatred against guitar bands wasn't so strong anyway (in fact, slightly DIY-produced guitar bands were among the hippest things you could possibly be into if you disliked New Romantics or synthpop)

It also seems that Doves and Shins don't have that many enemies here, and they don't fail any of them either.

Other bands formed post 1990 that would fit with the criteria (and that are somewhat mainstream enough that most people will know them - and these are not neccessarily acts that I like myself, mind you) are Coldplay, Travis, Keane, Starsailor, Athlete, Thirteen Senses, Electric Soft Parade, Elbow, Semisonic, Barenaked Ladies, Dandy Warhols, Manic Street Preachers, Muse, Ash, Supergrass, Blur, Oasis, Pulp, Suede, Dodgy, Supernaturals, Hot Hot Heat, Weezer, Feeder, Turin Brakes, Embrace, Cast, Stereophonics, Ocean Colour Scene, Shed Seven, Longpigs, Northern Uproar, Kaiser Chiefs, Jellyfish, Dave Matthews Band, Hootie And The Blowfish, Fountains Of Wayne, Matchbox 20, Strangelove, Seahorses and Gene

And probably lots and lots of others, but these were the ones I remembered right now.

(and some of the others may have non-singing female members that I wasn't aware of)

Here's a local band from Minneapolis that is getting alot of hype locally. I think they might fit yr "criteria" and that you might like them:

http://www.olympichopefuls.com/

Impossible for me. I would say, judging from their genre's criteria (good, sophisticated production, nice songs, great singalong choruses, great vocal harmonies), Dodgy are absolutely brilliant, even better than more established and "hip" acts within the same genre.

Coldplay, Travis and Keane may write songs as great as they want to, but they will not impress this kind of people anyway, because they have sort of decided that the entire genre Coldplay, Travis and Keane are part of is "old" and that nobody should make that kind of music anymore now in 2005.

What?

How the fuck do Hot Hot Heat sound like The Beatles? How are they melodic and The Smiths aren't?

This is not about the kids. The kids like what they are being offered. Currently it is R&B/hip-hop (but also punkpop and pop metal to an increasing extent). It is more about hipsters who have sort of just decided that the past is the past and let the past rest in peace.

Look Geir, these guys are moving the goalposts.

At what point did you realise Stevie Wonder was black?

And how can anything be "indirectly influenced" by anything to a "large extent"?

You remind me of a time of my life in 1987 when I thought the Wedding present were the best band in the world...

Keep asking you how old you are but you won't answer I suppose?

When I first heard of him, which was around "Ebony And Ivory". That is, way before I started getting into his music.

And how can anything be "indirectly influenced" by anything to a "large extent"?

As opposed to the 50s rock'n'roll influence on The Beatles, which is a lot less obvious than Elvis Costello's Beatles influence.

And I am 34 btw.

Holy crap! Totally forgot about them! Man...I used to be all OVER "Great Divide." Even sold merch at one of their shows.

Then "Feeling Strangely Fine" came out and I wanted to barf all over the place.