The Coolsie Paradox: daggy 80s top-40 (like, say, Prince or Cyndi Lauper or whoever did Eye Of The Tiger) is cooler than things like The Cure or The Smiths or the Jesus & Mary Chain; that's because everybody knows that the Smiths were cool, and so being "into" them carries little coolness points; whereas, the more daggy/trashy something is, the bigger cojones (or more highly developed sense of hipster irony) you're showing when you admit being into it.

Many years ago, I first discovered The Cure via a borrowed cassette copy of Standing On A Beach: The Singles. On its B-side, after A Night Like This, it was padded out with Phil Collins songs; a shocking faux pas.

I wonder how long until Phil Collins is officially cooler than The Cure.

Posted by: Graham | http://grudnuk.com/ | Thu Mar 25 14:03:23 2004

I knew my ship would come in re: Mike Oldfield.

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Thu Mar 25 14:20:38 2004

Though Mike Oldfield wasn't sufficiently trashily commercial to be ironically cool.

Posted by: CNWB | http://cnwb.typepad.com/cnwb | Thu Mar 25 22:05:47 2004

I hate it when you *really* like something and other people assume you're being an ironic hipster. I love a lot of 'trashy' 80s hits, but I *really* like 'em, and when people see my record collection, they think I'm having a lend.

Posted by: gjw | http://the-fix.org | Thu Mar 25 22:48:11 2004

I always knew I'd regret selling my Pink Floyd and Prince CDs to Cash Converters...Alas, even they didn't want my Mark Knopfler.

Posted by: threeze | http://neuralvoid.com | Thu Mar 25 22:57:40 2004

were New Order ever cool? am i no longer cool for being into them? should i have stuck with Tiffany?

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Fri Mar 26 00:34:10 2004

New Order are a borderline case. Joy Division were cool, and so was a lot of NO's early stuff. However, Bizarre Love Triangle is top-40 (it fits in the same category as Neneh Cherry's "Buffalo Stance"; not ultra-daggy/trashy but definitely mainstream).

Posted by: Graham | http://grudnuk.com/ | Fri Mar 26 01:58:18 2004

Funny, I was just listening to _Brotherhood_ at work. See also The Cure's "Lovecats". NO's "All Day Long"'s a better song, anyway.

Actually, Mike Oldfield did have a hit with that nature with "Moonlight Shadow", but that's about the only song of his that did so, unless you count Hall & Oates' insipid cover of "Family Man".

And he's certainly gotten a bit eurotrashy at times. The Berlin Millenium concert is one of the weirdest concert vids I've seen, since they're all in these humungous coats due to the cold.

It's a bit like GYBE! - 70s King Crimson goes indie.

Posted by: Arthur | | Fri Mar 26 03:08:07 2004

...Joy Division were cool, and so was a lot of NO's early stuff...

Nah. The Fall were cool. Is Mark E. Smith still around I wonder?

Posted by: Survivor | http:// | Fri Mar 26 10:51:07 2004

Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past You must fight just to keep them alive

Posted by: Graham | http://grudnuk.com/ | Fri Mar 26 13:02:39 2004

Mark E Smith and The Fall are still bunging out albums, as far as I recall. Cos?

Posted by: Maurice | http://mauricerickard.com/ | Fri Mar 26 22:15:13 2004

Not only are Mark and The Fall still around; they're touring in April. (Though the band's site sez that Mark fractured his hip in January or February, and has been recuperating.) Fit and working again, perhaps?

Posted by: cos | http://polydistortion.net/ | Sat Mar 27 10:43:57 2004

Oh yeah, Mark E's still at it. One of his more famous quotes is "if it's me and yer granny playing bongos, it's The Fall".

not only that, but the most recent album ain't arf bad, too. fluxblog had "theme from sparta f.c." up a while back, it's a great track.

Posted by: Nostradamus | http:// | Sat Mar 27 22:15:57 2004

You guys are out of your minds! New Order is great. "Temptation" is a classic song, so is "Blue Monday." Pink Floyd is god's gift to music -- why anyone would sell their floyd CDs is beyond me. Mark Knopfler was cool w/ Dire Straits but his solo shit was definitely questionable. Oh man, Joy Division is classic. Love will tear us apart! What a fucking song.

Posted by: Graham | http://grudnuk.com/ | Sun Mar 28 13:17:14 2004

I'd sell Ummagumma and The Final Cut if I could find someone who'd buy them.

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Sun Mar 28 15:20:09 2004

They have Smack^WCash Converters in Albury, don't they?

Posted by: Nostradamus | http:// | Sun Mar 28 18:34:17 2004

lol yeah you're right. ummagumma is pretty much just two discs worth of bizarre animal noises and guitar feedback.

Posted by: Graham | http://grudnuk.com/ | Mon Mar 29 01:55:21 2004

We don't, actually.

Posted by: cos | http://polydistortion.net/monkey/ | Wed Mar 31 03:19:02 2004

maybe you oughta sell it to kevin shields for the next MBV album then ? ;P

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