Hey Guys. Have you heard about this rad band? Animal Collective? I hear they’re playing a show at Merriweather Post Pavillion this Saturday… which is like, so totally META since like… their album is named Merriweather Post Pavillion! I hear tickets are still available….
But seriously, AnCo at MPP. We’ve got three pairs of lawn seats and we know you want in. TO WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS: Tell us what band you think people name drop most (and why) to SOUND COOL. Winners will be notified Friday afternoon so use a real email address when you comment.
Round House Theatre Bethesda
The smash hit comedy about romantic errors and bad manners
When Suzanna sets up her best friend Max on a blind date with her husband’s co-worker Becky Shaw, she puts into motion a series of cataclysmic events that forever change all of their lives. Like the Victorian upstart Becky Sharp, this modern Becky is unsure, overdressed and socially ambitious. But she’s no shrinking violet, as the silkily cynical Max soon learns.
A Pulitzer Prize finalist and an Off-Broadway hit, Becky Shaw is a savvy, sharp comedy of romantic errors that keeps audiences on the edge of their seats guessing what will happen next.
It seems like people around hear talk about O-Town a lot.
here
The lawn at Merriweather is for lepers.
Ha, I totally agree on the O-Town, but I think Bob Dylan is a name that’s being spit by a lot of whack cats, since time immemorial.
It seems like a lot of people name drop Miami Horror but don’t realize they actually played here not too long ago and put on a sweet show! They are a pretty tight band, so I can understand why people would want to name drop them and get in on the coolness.
Vampire Weekend. You’re apparently some kind of freak if you don’t LOVE Vampire Weekend.
SIGUR ROS. If you get a dumbfounded look upon the name-drop, you get to explain why the Icelandic post-rock band is amazing. Then you get another “WTF?” and you have to explain post-rock. Or why Iceland is green and Greenland is ice. And then you talk about their songs in Vanilla Sky. Or how Jonsi plays a guitar with a bow. Or how he’s gay.
The whole thing really carries a conversation, and people sound cool and sophisticated.
then me and gus and kellie, you know, from Architecture in Helsinki, downed the shot and left through back of the club.
Neutral Milk Hotel – because the band is just verging on obscure enough that you weed out the true hipsters from the fake hipsters. Wait, is there such a think as a true hipster? I think those only existed in the 50s.
lotus because raving is supersweet
I think people will drop “Arcade Fire” in conversations about music but really be a fan of the “early stuff”. That way, they prove they were fans before the Grammy and get the street cred they so yearn for.
LCD Soundsystem, and you have to talk about how “you were there” for the last show at MSG, and then do the whole, “oh wait, you don’t get that refrence? HAHAHA! it was like one of their older songs, yeah i’ve been listening to them for a while, too bad they retired” then some blah blah blah about james murphy DJing in brooklyn, name drop some song titles, daft punk is playing at – pow pow – all my – north american scum, and how you totally relate to new york i love you but you’re bringing me down, because you’ve lived in a semi-dodgy part of the city for a few years.
ps. i was there. really!
Sleigh Bells, because they’re the sort of 80s throwback, indie duo that everyone thinks is so great right now.
Arcade Fire for sure…although they may need to come up with something more obscure to not seem like posers.
The XX, cuz my mom name dropped them to me to sound cool to her son…actually pretty sweet mom!
Matt and Kim. omg, they’re, like, so totally punk.
PS: I was there.
thievery corporation – because people want to seem cool by drinking in a place they own in dc and insinuate they somehow rub elbows with the artists… or that they are interesting enough to even reference the duo
David Bowie. or Flight of the Conchords. they are complimentary in peoples’ intent to bring up offbeat musicians.
hahah awesome. i love this lil mini monologue. winner in my opinion!
The Weeknd because if you’re talking about him then you are fucking cool
Around here? Dismemberment Plan….because everyone wants to point out the six degrees of seperation that leads them to someone in the band.
U.S. Royality. Enough said.
I think it goes beyond Neutral Milk Hotel now to “I SAW JEFF MANGUM PLAY A HEADPHONE SET ON A YAMAHA KEYBOARD FROM A FIRE ESCAPE IN WILLIAMSBURG.” The resurgence of Jeff Mangum is the droppiest name possible.
Radiohead… because, you know, they’re the most artistic, philosophical band in our lifetime. Boring as shit.
The Beatles. They have influenced TONS of bands and they have an amazing style and sound. They are THE BEATLES. They are also the most successful band ever.
Bon Iver. Mostly because if you dont pronounce it “BOHN EE-VEhhhhRRRR” you will get laughed at by every hipster in a 10 foot radius.
For the gays it’s definitely Robyn. And how you just love, love, LOVE her. and you, like, know the lyrics to every one of her songs. And you’ve seen her 10 times. And how you can’t believe how bitchy the Baltimore gays were when you took that quaint little bus up to see her. But she is kind of, so 2009 . But, really, it’s ok, because she’s like the indie gay icon of our generation.
beirut! i like beirut, but he is the archetype of a style of music that no ‘hip’ person should like, but he is way hip anyways. and he is so non-offensive that he can be recommended to anyone from age 8 to 108. he’s at the cusp of mass appeal, but can never actually get there!
wait but maybe someone should be saying animal collective
NKOTB BSB!!1!!!
Doesn’t this thread proliferate name dropping. Plus, I don’t know anyone trying that hard to impress me.
Fleet foxes. They haven’t broken mainstream enough that they are beginning to get unfair reviews from pitchfork.
But, they are big enough that 99% of hipsters will get the reference. Ie: best namedropping band ever!
Mumford and sons or avett brothers are a close 2nd and 3rd.
A. The Beatles. (duh)
B. Any time I say Beach House and Animal Collective, I get a lot of satisfied nods and a lot of “Wow, I didn’t know you liked them. Very cool!”s
mgmt!
LCD Soundsystem. They’re the best because if you mention ‘Losing My Edge’ you get to drop even more names!
Gil! Scott! Heron!
I think people tend to name drop Cults at most of the indie gigs I attend. One of the first Cults gigs I went to I encountered the hipsters. I never realized how horrible… they are. Pushing me out the way so they can get ever so closer to the front stage along with 5 of their friends and then one mentioning how he is some kind of music critic with a blog. Lets not revisit these memories.
Gotta be Animal Collective. Because then when the lamestreamer you’re talking to says “oh, my girls is so good!” your inner hipster can brag about how you were into them when strawberry jam came out but you prefer panda bear’s solo work.
Probably The Strokes.
Though Modest Mouse is a close second.
The Avalanches –
It’s clips and mash-ups that will induce full-body pleasure waves.
PHISH PHISH PHISH PHISH
*because they’re so obscure and alternative to the “norm”
Muse
None of these bands impress me.