Coolest of the Cool

Ever since the last edition of The Pulse, I've been thinking about another topic that, even as I get older, is still one I love to debate.

Who are the coolest musical acts, ever?

There's a million ways to define "cool" and considering that it is relative to each and ever person; it's difficult to pin-point. So I decided to base this on how I define cool.

- A band or artist, that when you hear playing at a record store, bar, club, friend’s house, etc., you think to yourself, "wow, what didn’t I think about playing that?!";
- A band or artist whose story or career is causes them to just be cool for what they’ve been through;
- A band or artist that has a song, that makes your heart race or drop; causes instant euphoria or depression;
- A band or artist who makes you talk to your friends or post on your blog about how awesome they are – and then six months later you are still takling about how awesome they are; and finally
- A band or artist that, when being described, can only be done by using “cool” or a synonym.

Band and artist that fall into the following categories are immediately disqualified:

- The lead singer/artist committed suicide - or died as a result of self-negligence (I mean seriously ... cliche);
- Has started in a reality TV show;
- Is named Michael Jackson, because as amazing as his work was back in the day, the cat is just wrong.

With that being said, here is the beginning of a list of artists that are straight-up, effin’ cool (in no particular order):

T-Rex – Every time I hear a T-Rex song, I feel like less of a music aficionado for not owning ever T-Rex album.

Yaz – Seriously, Upstairs at Eric's, may be the best one-and-done album by a band ever; not to mention one of the best dance albums of the era.

Jesus and Mary Chain – Every time I hear “Head On” it makes me which I was a rock star.

Le Tigre – Cool like fashion and broke up before putting out derivative, glossy albums.

New Order – With Joy Division disqualified due to Ian Curtis’s suicide, New Order still crafted so many great songs, it’s just plan silly.

Garbage – Okay, this is one that I know no one expected. But in the mid-‘90’s who was a cooler-than-the-cool front-woman than Shirley Manson?

The Raveonettes – Danes that define what this story is about. They look, song and art the coolest group in the world today.

The Postal Service – I know this is a controversial choice. Not only are they a side-project, but their songs have been used for major TV ad campaigns, but album was both genre defining and changing. It will be a top-10 of the ‘00s disc on just about every blog next year.

The Smiths – Morrissey and Marr. Need I say more?

Johnny Cash/Willie Nelson/Kris Kristofferson/Waylon Jennings – Collectively, They Highwaymen, individually the greatest writers and performers of their generation in the country genre.

The Cardigans – Do you remember the video for “My Favorite Game”?

Lucero – If you don’t crave whiskey and a cigarette when listening to them, you don’t have a pulse.


So there’s a start. Agree. Disagree. When this becomes an article, it will include your feedback and recommendations.

So add more ideas to the comments section or e-mail them to me at deadjournalist at gmail dot com.