When the 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes qualified life in the state of nature as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short," who knew his words would also describe the spin cycle of your average modern It Band? Swedish pop outfit Peter Bjorn & John may have been playing together since 1999, but it’s only in the last few months that their irrepressable single with the madly perky whistle melody, "Young Folks," earwormed its way into America’s consciousness — ascending from spots in the top-10 singles lists of coolmakers like NME and Pitchfork to guest appearances on network tentpoles Gray’s Anatomy and How I Met Your Mother.
And now, the backlash: An unidentified blogger has established an anti-PB&J site, protesting the fact that their popularity rewards mediocrity. But isn’t it harmless, you ask?
Not to stoppeterbjornandjohn.blogspot.com. "As much as we would all like to just ignore the whole ‘buzz band’ phenomenon — to chalk it up (correctly) to the meaningless machinations of a press in need of a story — the fact is that those decisions matter," the blogger exclaims earnestly. "They matter in terms of what bands get played, what bands get signed, what bands get associated with indie rock as a genre. Whether we like it or not, the sound of the ‘buzz band’ gets attributed to us, in terms of what we supposedly like. We, the indie-rock fans, suffer when the buzz band is bad."
What do you think, readers? does this dude (Why do we assume "dude"? Perhaps we should examine our own prejudices over here at EW.com. But we’d bet you many Swedish krona that we’re right.) just need to get a new hobby? Or is Chicken Little on to something, making PB&J responsible for (or at least a harbinger of) the indie-rock sky’s imminent collapse? Please tell us which side you come down on…
Comments (1-15) of 15 Add your comment
He’s right on one count, the part about “the meaningless machinations of a press in need of a story.” Why waste precious blogspace with a story about one man/woman’s attempt to vilify an obscure (if you don’t visit P4k, Stereogum or the like) Swedish pop group? Unless the blogger resorts to self-immolation, (at least then we’d know they’re serious) I don’t think it’s anything worth reporting.
Maybe he/she was just annoyed by Drew Barrymore wearing a PB&J t-shirt on SNL. Unless he/she lives in a country that doesn’t get SNL…globalization…complicates everything.
The PB&J album is great – I don’t know what this joker is talking about. My guess… viral marketing. Although – the wax and wane of indie music has a symbiotic relationship with boy bands. You didn’t hear a lot of indie bands on TV when The Backstreet Boys ruled the world…
Have these people lsitened to the album? Writer’s Block (despite it’s title) is one of the most absorbing, dynamic and interesting collections to come out in years. It’s diverse in it’s musical styles, features great, fun lyrics and features something for everyone. Naysayers have nothing better to do than pick on bands they couldn’t be in.
The real problem with people who follow what has come to be known as “indy rock” (myself included) is that they have completely lost touch with the process of defining their own personality and tastes – hence this bloggers main concern is not that a bad band is getting a lot of attention (newsflash!!) but that his/her own outward, societal appearance is aversely affected as a result. I ask: How is it possible to have bad taste by association!?!?! Are you really that boring? The real problem is that people actually consider these problems to be actual problems (“newsworthy”). There’s a freakin war going on people!! Where’s the indy bands stepping up and making bold political statements??? All of the angst that drives the entire culture of indy rock is rooted in having no personality, because being a participant in that culture necessarily requires your tastes to be defined by someone else. Step 1: thank god your not being shot at everyday. Step 2: get a life of your own.
The aggravatingly hip and callously detached Downtown Vapids who have turned on this band need to live in the real world. But will not. It’s not cool to be anything but emotionally stunted and tragically image-obsessed.
‘dude’ needs some perspective. any buzz around a band that is not the pussycat dolls only helps the music industry.
Has anyone read this guy’s blog? He’s bitter about everything, not just PBJ!
Dude, lighten up! It’s just a band.
so effing indie – loved / laughed at what you had to say. can’t say it better myself.
here’s my problem with “indie rock”: it all sounds the same to me, and soulless. therefore, i don’t listen beyond what i can’t avoid on TV. gimme blues and hardcore rock. i don’t care if it ain’t cool.
The real travesty is that he spoke bad about Austin. I live here, we’re awesome. One of the best cities ever.
Hey, I love Peter Bjorn and John. There are far more mediocre indie pop bands out there to pick on.
I love PB&J! I’m so sick of blogs…
One possibility: he/she was spurned by their s.o., who LOVES PB&J. He/she has plenty of money & plenty of free time, now that they are dumped, so they contrive this ‘quest’ to follow a band whom they used to love but now hate. The ironic thing: how many people will hear of PB&J because of this? If it’s even just one person, and they end up liking the band, doesn’t that defeat the purpose? The “I’m jealous” thing: I wish I had enough resources and time to follow a band I hated. Sheesh, I can’t even do that with the bands I love!! And by the way, I think “Writers Block” is genius.
gray’s anatomy… you mean grey’s, right?
inturj ybjwdgm eqloi ojqklhimx ctdixjksw lhsi qkfvtdcm