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Related Listening
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 Is
This It, The Strokes
With all the hype surrounding the Strokes before the release
of their debut album, it's rather apt that they chose the
title Is This It. On the strength of just five songs
released on two singles, band members were being hailed
as the saviors of rock 'n' roll. Is This It is one
of the most exciting, energetic albums to spring from New
York's long-dormant club scene.
 White
Blood Cells, The White
Stripes
The White Stripes strip down to the fundamentals
of Meg White's simple drumbeat and Jack White's garagy guitar
and pleading vocals. While the elements are sparse, the Detroit
act creates a noisy, hip-grinding batch of punk R&B.
 Veni
Vidi Vicious, The Hives
American punk rock seems to get more watered down with each
passing year. Leave it to the Swedes to remind the USA that
we were once the home of the Stooges and the MC5. The Hives'
Veni Vidi Vicious owes its very being to Detroit's
punk genesis; they may be decades too late, but the Hives
capture the zeal and fury perfectly.
 Highly
Evolved, The Vines
Hailed by a growing number as "the future of rock,"
the Vines are more a conglomeration of the best of the past.
The Sydney, Australia, quartet sounds alternately like Nirvana,
the Beatles, T. Rex, and even the Beach Boys. On Highly
Evolved, they present 12 flawlessly crafted songs, each
one living up to the album's title.
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Rockin' 'n'
Rollin' in the Garage
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How often have you heard that this
or that band is the "next big thing?" A million
times, right? But this time around, the shoe might just
fit the Strokes, the White Stripes, the Hives, and the
Vines, the latest bands to receive the title. Haven't
heard of them yet? You will.
Some call their sound "garage
punk," some just call it punk, and others just call
it plain old rock 'n' roll. Whatever it is, these
unfiltered rock bands don't need samples or synthesizers
to make great music.
•The
Strokes. The Strokes struck a collective chord
with audiences toward the end of summer 2001. And with
the release of their debut album, their fans let out a
collective roar. Rock was finally back.
Singer Julian Casablancas, with a rich voice you can't
help but love, often sounds like Lou
Reed, making many songs seem like a Velvet
Underground reunion, only better.
The biggest hits so far, "Last
Nite" and "Someday,"
have received rave reviews from music critics all over
the world.
• The
White Stripes. With just two people making up
their band, Jack and Meg White aka The Stripes create
the same unfiltered sound as the Strokes, but clearly
enjoy more of a punk influence, with a hearty helping
of blues.
Much like Led
Zeppelin did in the '70s, the White Stripes have recreated
bluesy country-music-like songs without damaging their
reputation as an indie or garage rock band. Jack's twangy
voice in "Hotel
Yorba" would sound awful if attempted by any
other contemporary rocker, but he'll have you tappin'
your Nikes like they're snakeskin boots. Listening to
their first major hit, "Fell
in Love with a Girl," is like hearing the Kinks'
Ray
Davies wailing "You
Really Got Me Now."
• The
Hives. Two years ago, the Hives released Veni
Vidi Vicious in their homeland, Sweden. Since North
America was a little slow to catch on, the Hives are just
now getting the credit they deserve for this amazing album
and sound.
A bit of a cross between the
Sex Pistols and the
Beatles, the Hives have crafted a sonic mixture unheard
since the '70s upstart of punk rock. Singer Pelle Almqvist
sounds a lot like a crazed Paul
McCartney who's not afraid to scream and squeal louder
than ever.
"Hate
To Say I Told You So," the band's hit single,
has a raw sound that grabs you and lifts you from your
seat. The song peaks when the track breaks into just Dr.
Matt Destruction's bass and Almqvist's vocal stylings.
• The
Vines. Last up, the Vines are truly the black
sheep of the garage rock scene. Known for lead singer
Craig Nicholls' on- and off-stage antics, the band produces
an edgier, more ferocious version of garage rock, while
maintaining the same unrefined rawness of its counterparts.
The Vines bring a different tone to garage rock sound,
fluctuating between angsty rock and slow-paced ballad-like
tunes. Check out their first
single, "Get
Free." You may find it liberating.
Written by Alexis Garcia
Are these bands going to "save"
rock 'n' roll? Let us know what you think. E-mail
us.
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On the Web
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The
Garage
Garage
Links
The
Return of Garage Rock
The
Wayback Machine
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What is emo?
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Ever heard of a new "style"
of music and thought, "What the heck is that?"
Perhaps this list of different
music types, and some sample bands, will help clear the
static.
Emo
Punk — "Emo," short for emotional —
music with punk roots but sometimes painfully more personal
lyrics. It's catching on, but emo is not necessarily new.
It's been around since the mid-'80s, when bands like Rites
of Spring and Embrace
emerged from the Washington punk scene with more introspective
lyrics. Terms like "pop-punk" or "emo-core"
followed. Bands: Promise
Ring, Dashboard
Confessional, Sunny
Day Real Estate, and The
Get Up Kids.
Stoner Rock — Though plenty of heavy-metal bands
have been regarded as compatible with marijuana's effects,
stoner metal is a distinctly '90s phenomenon. Stoner metal
bands updated the long, mind-bending jams and ultra-heavy
riffs of bands like Black
Sabbath and Blue
Oyster Cult by filtering their psychedelia-tinged metal
through the buzzing sound of early Sub Pop-style grunge.
Bands: Monster
Magnet, Kyuss,
Queens
of the Stone Age, and Unida.
Skate
Punk - There was a time when skate magazines reviewed
Fleetwood
Mac albums, skate parks blared Jefferson
Starship, and skaters had long hair and styled themselves
after surfers. Then came punk rock, which gave birth to
aggressive skateboarding, pool skating, and skatepunk. Now,
one of the most popular examples of the association between
punk rock and skaters is the Vans
Warped Tour, which brings together some of the world's
best punk rock artists and a portable skate park/competition.
Bands: NOFX,
Sick
of It All, Suicidal
Tendencies, and Bad
Religion.
Industrial
Metal — Often characterized by repetitive heavy
percussive rhythms, synthesized electronic melodies, and
distorted or manipulated cut-and-paste vocals, industrial
includes noise, various electronic music, and experimental
sounds. Bands: Nine
Inch Nails, Fear
Factory, Ministry,
and Gravity
Kills.
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