Can someone explain what hold this band has over the media luvvies? Driving home yesterday, the radio was all over their get back together (how many times now?) gig. Some bloke from the NME gushing about how despite sounding shite for the quite a bit of the gig (trying to remember their chords??), that he could really feel it coming together at the end. There was mention of some of the other "cool" bands that were there to see them…

I did buy their first album, and while Can't Stand Me Now is a good track, the rest of it seemed average.

Enlighten me as to why the music world goes nuts when these two idiots kiss and make up.

Thanks DD you've just given me something to listen to on my ipod.

best band in the world ever. fact.

Didzy care to explain why?

Pete Doherty is a very talented chap.

He's also a junkie waster, who will probably die too young.

Can't Stand Me Now is an excellent record – the potential for another track of that quality, should get folk excited.

This always makes me smile too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYFzQpSLuVU

A song about the Liberrtines/Pete Doherty by a much, much better band.

1st album awesome, 2nd album awful, comeback as The Dirty Pretty Things have failed and Pete needs more drug/solicitor money?

It's not that I think they're shite, honestly. It's the media hype that surrounds them that I don't get. What have they done to merit it?

Its all about potential isnt it? Now whether or not it will be realised is a different matter..

Didzy a band needs more than one good (ish) album to be considered the best ever..

Just another average Indie band. Bland and boring. I can't tell most of them apart these days, there's so many bands that sound the same…..

I think they are total pish

One reasonable album, one utterly forgettable album.

People who fawn over this band must have incredibly limited record collections or be those types who suddenly discovered music in the changing rooms at Topman during Freshers Week, whilst testing out their student discount.

Didzy? WAsn't there a guy in the band called Didz? Left red7?? to join libs i think?

DUnno, they've got some good songs but i think its just a niche thing. When they were at their height it seemed that everyone had to know teem, or have been to a party with them, or dress in WW1 uniforms and be overly skinny. I guess being good looking, being well attached with your fans and putting some good songs out is enough to be put on a pedestal next to Bob Dylan and the Beatles. I'll probably go and see them at Leeds fest tomorrow, but I'm not in any rush!

deadlydarcy – Member

It's not that I think they're shite, honestly. It's the media hype that surrounds them that I don't get. What have they done to merit it?

In a world of squeaky clean Shakiras and Enrique Iglesias', the Libertines and Doherty are bringing back a bit of rock'n'roll. They're different and dangerous, Doherty is upsetting the establishment, which is no bad thing. He being used by the marketing people and record companies to make them money. He will be tossed aside when the next one comes along. He's talented and IMO has been encouraged or at least not discouraged from this lifestyle. It sells records, it sells papers and it gets people talking about him/them.
If the journalists imagine they are close enough to the danger,perhaps they too will be perceived as dangerous.

Or perhaps the Libertines really are cr** and the journalists have problems in the ar5e/elbow dept??

It's cos he had sex with someone famous.

Although why Kate Moss is famous I'm not sure.

I can't tell most of them apart these days, there's so many bands that sound the same…..

That's the start of the slippery slope. I'd give it another 15 years and you'll be sat in the corner of a rest home smelling of wee

Very good live

Some bloke from the NME gushing

Partly this I think, the NME are particularly fawning over the Libertines. It's true enough that when they first appeared it was a moment, the secret gigs, the give away demos, the pub concerts, the whole underground raw energy to it. It was exciting. Now it's all guest-lists, and separate changing rooms.

PP, you don't have look particularly hard to find bands that sound distinctly un-alike.

He's also a junkie waster, who will probably die too young.

I've somehow managed to miss what's good about them – other than their image if you like that sort of thing. I'm probably too old.

Doherty and Barat are one of those rare breeds that come together occasionally, Doherty is in fact a pretty decent lyricist/poet if you care to listen to them, and Barat sets them well to music. Partly it was destroyed by Doherty's willingness to take vast quantities of drugs, which is what destroyed the band largely.

I like them a lot and agree with much of what DonSimon says. They always remind me of The Psychadelic Furs and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing 😳

Its all about selling image.
The Libertines had/have an image the record company can sell. Their slacker/can't be @rsed image appeals to a certain demographic and is seen as a kick against the tightly controlled music industry. If that particular image appeals then chances are you will buy the music.
But then we all know that don't we?

A couple of years back I was working on a project involving Folk music, not the finger in the ear stuff, but contemporary folk music, and these musicians were simply astonishing in their ability.
They would just turn up and play, no Autotune or studio jiggery-pokery, all in tune and in time, complex harmonies and arrangements.
But they are pretty much unknown outside their locality and most of them have other full-time occupations and play for the love of the music.
Intelligent, entertaining, talented people but if they walked past you in the street you wouldn't notice them.

Everywhen – You gonna tell us who they are then? Recently bought an album by Danny & The Champions of the World… love it and souns like the musicians you speek of might fit the bill perfectly.

They would just turn up and play, no Autotune or studio jiggery-pokery, all in tune and in time, complex harmonies and arrangements.

That this is now the exception just seems insane to me. There are load of musicians who can really do the business but they are not deperate enough to be shafted by industry execs. I do my very best to avoid anything that smells of the major record labels, never has the battle for style over substance been so convincingly won.

Turn up and play pretty much describes what made the Libertines stand out in the first place

I suppose if your 1st experiences of them was live and they came across well then that might set up a deeper interest. IIRC they used to play in peoples' houses for anyone that wanted to come without any planning. Interesting but not sure that's enough to be a fan of their recorded stuff.

i dont need to elaborate to be honest, nor do i wish to argue on the matter, i simply think they are the best band ever, when i was 21 these were the dogs, i followed everything they did, first album is the best album ever to me bar none! i understand a lot of older people wont get it but they the last of the true rock n roll icon bands. They have influence loads of bands (alot of shite mind) and will continue to do so…..they are magic live and taking his junkiness to one side, carl and pete are 2 very very very intelectual guys indeed. i love everything about them, and although they burnt out young, they will still remain THE band for me…..

again i totally understand anyone who is older, and saying they have only done one album that will stand the test of time…..its all opinions isnt it?!?!?!

LIBS FOREVER!

If you look at them in the context of when they first hit the big time, they had no competition. Music generally was pretty bland at the time and the potential of the web for launching bands hadn't been realised yet.

Up The Bracket was a pretty good album and a bunch of p!ssed up oiks yelling intelligibly down a mike during regular stage invasions made everyone put on their pink specs and remember the Punk era.

They're nothing special in my opinion, they just made a big impact at right the time and arguably kicked into motion a resurgence in decent British Indie music.

older people wont get it but they the last of the true rock n roll icon bands

I think I do 'get it' although I would suspect you would be horror struck that an old fart such as myself could possibly appreciate something which you regard as the preserve of a younger generation. If you think they are the best band ever, then I would suggest you open your ears and mind and listen to some more music.

As for being the last of the true icon bands, that is probably true, but only for you.

I would like to think that something/someone else will be along shortly to give the music industry a much needed kick up the arse.

Saw a video clip of the Libertines playing a gig in someones house. Inevitably the police are called and as they come through the door the band start playing Guns of Brixton. Perfect, made me smile and redeems Doherty slightly in my eyes.

PP, you don't have look particularly hard to find bands that sound distinctly un-alike

No, very true. But there's a whole glut of bands around that all sound the same – Libertines, Snow Patrol, Keiser Chiefs, Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand, The Kooks etc and loads and loads of other less well known ones. I've actually got a couple of their albums, but for the life of me I can't think who exactly, which says it all I think.

I like new music that makes me sit up and take notice becasue I've not heard it before, not another photofit oufit, sorry.

the Libertines and Doherty are bringing back a bit of rock'n'roll. They're different and dangerous, Doherty is upsetting the establishment, which is no bad thing

Doherty is a waster and an oxygen thief of the first order.

They're different and dangerous, Doherty is upsetting the establishment

Really? I'm sure a junkie might have upset the establishment in the 60s but in this decade, we've seen more outrageous behaviour.

PP – showing your age there mate. All the bands you've named are virtually elder statesmen in music terms 😉

Hate to say it PP you're definitely showing your age if you can't distinguish between those… [edit] IM(relatively youthful)O! [edit]

'EH, WHAT WAS THAT?! Tuppenny what??!'

'I SAID DO YOU WANT A CUP OF TEA LOVE?!!

Hate to say it PP you're definitely showing your age if you can't distinguish between those…

Only in your opinion……

EDIT
Anyway, doesn't 98% of STW listen to Pink Floyd and all that 70s prog rock pish? 😉

Being known as a junkie is irrelevant to someones intellect or talent, if they have some unless it becomes too destructive.
The problem with people like the Libertines is they need things like that to make them appear "interesting" and "different", when really they are no different to most other people who need to be appealing to the masses to sell their songs. They've hardly stuck it to the man, more made him a small fortune. Different clothes, same doll.

Someone mentioned that detractors of the band may be 'too old' to get it.
Well, I'm 30 and was 21 when they were first making waves, I recognised them as generic NME-endorsed landfill indie then and nearly a decade on my opinion hasn't altered.

The 'dangerous' or 'rock n roll' tag is laughable too, they're hardly Turbonegro, Black Flag or Atari Teenage Riot, are they?!

Junkie rock has been done so much better by so many other songwriters too. Leaving aside obvious examples like Kurt Cobain, listen to the Afghan Whigs and see what Greg Dulli was capable of writing whilst off his tits on smack.

anyone who compares snow patrol or the kooks to the libertines is **** deaf.

Libertines, Snow Patrol, Keiser Chiefs, Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand, The Kooks

You think these bands sound all the same?

Wow.

Indy landfill of the first order. There is absolutely nothing about the Libertines or Docherty that is remotely 'Rock'n'roll' or 'dangerous'. And as for best band in the world, they're not even the best band in their own front room. Elbow are quite possibly one of the best bands in the UK at the moment, Guy Garvey is not only a much, much better singer than Docherty, but a vastly superior lyricist. Globally there are bands who make the Libertines look like the decidedly average bunch of slackers they actually are. If you want a band who actually are dangerous take a look at Tinariwen, Toureg tribesmen considered to be terrorists in some government quarters back home.

Tinariwen was founded by Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, who at age 4 witnessed the execution of his father (a Tuareg rebel) during a 1963 uprising in Mali. As a child he saw a western film in which a cowboy played a guitar. Ag Alhabib built his own guitar out of a tin can, a stick and bicycle brake wire. He started to play old Tuareg and modern Arabic pop tunes.[citation needed] Ag Alhabib first lived in refugee camps and later resided with other Tuareg exiles in Libya and Algeria.

In the late 1970s Ag Alhabib joined with other musicians in the Tuareg rebel community, exploring the radical chaabi protest music of Moroccan groups like Nass El Ghiwane and Jil Jilala; Algerian pop rai; and western rock and pop artists like Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, Carlos Santana, Dire Straits, Jimi Hendrix, Boney M, and Bob Marley. Ag Alhabib formed a group with Inteyeden Ag Ablil, his brother Liya, Ag Ablil, and Hassan Ag Touhami in Tamanrasset, Algeria to play at parties and weddings. They acquired their first real acoustic guitar in 1979. While the group had no official name, people began to call them Kel Tinariwen, which in the Tamashek language translates as "The People of the Deserts" or "The Desert Boys."

In 1980, Libyan ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi put out a decree inviting all young Tuareg men who were living illegally in Libya to receive full military training. Gaddafi dreamed of forming a Saharan regiment, made up of the best young Tuareg fighters, to further his territorial ambitions in Chad, Niger, and elsewhere. Ag Alhabib and his bandmates answered the call and received nine months of training. They answered a similar call in 1985, this time by leaders of the Tuareg rebel movement in Libya, and met fellow musicians Keddou Ag Ossade, Mohammed Ag Itlale (aka "Japonais"), Sweiloum, Abouhadid, and Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni. All sang and played guitar in various permutations. The musicians joined together in a collective (now known as Tinariwen) in order to create songs about the issues facing the Tuareg people, built a makeshift studio, and vowed to record music for free for anyone who supplied a blank cassette tape. The resulting homemade cassettes were traded widely throughout the Sahara region.

In 1989, the collective left Libya and moved to Ag Alhabib's home country of Mali, where he returned to his home village of Tessalit for the first time in 26 years. In 1990 the Tuareg people of Mali revolted against the government, with some members of Tinariwen participating as rebel fighters. After a peace agreement known as the Tamanrasset Accords was reached in January 1991, the musicians left the military and devoted themselves to music full time. In 1992 some of the members of Tinariwen went to Abidjan, Ivory Coast to record a cassette at JBZ studios. They played occasional gigs for far-flung Tuareg communities throughout the Sahara region, gaining word-of-mouth popularity among the Tuareg people.