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So, my much younger cousin was reading a book about old Hollywood or something and came across the phrase "the 'it' girl" and asked what it meant. I tried explaining using an analogy to music, how one band can seem to have all the buzz and an aura around them. He got really interested in this -- he gets really zoned in on specific topics at times -- and asked for examples. I gave him some but I know it would really make his day if I could give him a timeline of the "it" bands. But I could use your help to refine or fill out my timeline. Sorry for such an odd request but he's a unique kid who is mildly on the spectrum and this is the kind of thing that will make him very happy. So what I'm looking for is not the most popular band at a given time, or the best selling band, but the one who seemed to be on everyone's lips, who had all the buzz, who basically seemed like the coolest band in the world at the time. And probably over a rolling 6 month average. Sure there was a couple weeks in 1993 where 4 Non Blondes ruled the world but that kind of one hit wonder buzz isn't what I'm talking about either. So as some examples, 1964-65 - The Beatles 1966 - The Rolling Stones (?) 1967 - The Doors 1968 - Led Zeppelin (?) 1973 - Pink Floyd 1977 - Fleetwood Mac (?) 1979 - Devo (?) 1983 - U2 1985 - Duran Duran (?) 1987 - Guns n Roses 1989 - The Cure (?) 1991-92 - Nirvana 1993 - Beck 1994 - Nine Inch Nails 2002ish - The Killers 2003ish -- White Stripes I'm sure these choices can be refined down and are debatable. Anyway, any input is appreciated. Thanks!
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Feb 15, 2019 23:04
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| # ? Dec 10, 2025 14:14 |
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the coolest band for which group of people? like i don't think that black americans, for instance, were particularly excited about nine inch nails in 1994
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Feb 16, 2019 04:18
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A human heart posted:the coolest band for which group of people? like i don't think that black americans, for instance, were particularly excited about nine inch nails in 1994 White middle America edgy / hipster / underground scene kids. Write what you know, they say, and that's what I know.
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Feb 16, 2019 05:12
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The Killers? The Killers are and were fuckin' poo poo.
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Feb 17, 2019 05:57
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Cher
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Feb 17, 2019 23:03
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The Strokes were massively hyped in 2001
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Feb 18, 2019 15:00
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Pretty sure it's just The Beatles, then Michael Jackson, then The Beatles again.
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Feb 20, 2019 04:14
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Uh...Green Day is the best band ever.
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Feb 21, 2019 00:24
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1986-present: Bolt Thrower
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Feb 21, 2019 16:06
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CRIP EATIN BREAD posted:1986-present: Bolt Thrower
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Feb 21, 2019 17:01
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CRIP EATIN BREAD posted:1986-present: Bolt Thrower Actually it’s 1986-1999: Bolt Thrower 1999-Present: Santana feat. Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20
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Feb 21, 2019 23:11
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Elton John, Limp Bizkit, Enya, Warren G
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Feb 22, 2019 06:57
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The list is not white enough.
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Mar 4, 2019 18:08
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screamin and creamin posted:The list is not white enough. Jimi Hendrix Living Color Prince Chuck Berry Rage Against the Machine
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Mar 5, 2019 00:37
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I'm white and that list is pretty spot on to my recollection. Maybe add Limp Bizkit to 1999?
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Mar 5, 2019 04:22
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How dare you ignore Phish, the real “IT” band of 2003.
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Mar 5, 2019 04:25
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This is the list. These are the real musicians. Everything else is just posing.
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Mar 5, 2019 04:35
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1994 - Pip farting on a snare drum.
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Mar 5, 2019 21:22
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Every kid I talk to in their early-to-mid 20s find The Strokes to be untouchable royalty and I distinctly remember them at the time being constantly poo poo on for being both lame and rudely co-opting the "indie" label as if it were an actual definable sound and not simply a banner classification. It's whatever was on MTV at the time you were a young, impressionable child I guess.
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Mar 5, 2019 21:30
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I'd say around '69 to '71 it would be The Who, because that's when right when they were at their peak. Tommy, Live at Leeds, then Who's Next all came out in succession in that time span, the band was touring non stop selling out stadiums around the world and pretty much invented Arena Rock. Ouroboros posted:The Strokes were massively hyped in 2001 And this. Applebees Appetizer fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Mar 6, 2019 |
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Mar 6, 2019 04:59
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Yeah, you couldn’t go anywhere in 1979 without hearing somebody talk about Devo. Sure.
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Mar 8, 2019 00:41
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caligulamprey posted:Every kid I talk to in their early-to-mid 20s find The Strokes to be untouchable royalty and I distinctly remember them at the time being constantly poo poo on for being both lame and rudely co-opting the "indie" label as if it were an actual definable sound and not simply a banner classification. So, like, they really got into the Strokes when they were 3? Weird.
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Mar 8, 2019 01:01
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BigFactory posted:Yeah, you couldn’t go anywhere in 1979 without hearing somebody talk about Devo. Sure. Meanwhile little known niche albums like Bad Girls and Off the Wall sat in record store corners collecting dust.
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Mar 8, 2019 01:42
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the biggest ones that come immediately to mind are Vampire Weekend and Kendrick Lamar.
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Mar 8, 2019 02:13
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It's gotta be Michael Jackson for most of the 80s, at LEAST 1982 when Thriller came out. His music was everywhere, and people used to go NUTS at his concerts, to a level of hype only ever matched by The Beatles and Elvis. You don't really see that kind of icon anymore in music. I'd also put in David Bowie for a good portion of the 70s. Probably ABBA and/or the Bee Gees at some point in the 70s too.
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Mar 8, 2019 21:49
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Yeah in the US, 1978 WAS Saturday Night Fever. Pretty much completely.
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Mar 9, 2019 01:49
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Lorde.
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Mar 11, 2019 04:51
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Can't give much input prior to 2003 other than Garth Brooks or George Straight should probably be there during the 90s when Wal-Mart Supercenters were first being built and country music made incredible amount of money. Late 90s would have to be either Backstreet Boys or Brittany Spears. Radiohead is absolutely in there given we've had nearly 20 years of jokes about them archived on the internet. Were the Killers popular before Hot Fuss was released in 2004? I hadn't heard of them until Somebody Told Me was played twice every hour for months there at the end of 2003. The White Stripes were definitely the "it" band when Elephant dropped. I think Outkast had a 1-2 combo with Hey Ya and The Way You Move as singles and it spawned an influx of dopey white kids doing acoustic guitar hip hop covers, a trend that exists to this day. Kanye released The College Dropout around that time, too, and he was "it" until he got that Stronger money and went off on the deep end. Remember there always being news about Usher or Justin Timberlake in the mid 2000s as well. St. Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley was something that I'd learned about here on SA shortly before its release. I listened to it non-stop for a solid two or three weeks and then Crazy was a single and I struggle to find a single song I've heard more times than that on radio stations--maybe Kids by MGMT. Taylor Swift and Beyonce were both it. The Black Keys became "it" in 2010 and it was a very funny time socially because everyone I knew who was into them became ultra hipster about it with such gusto and salt that I'm still on blood pressure meds. It's a lot harder to distinguish "it" bands after that because marketing went haywire once YouTube blew up. Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, and other young acts had social media companies working overtime to pump that poo poo out and I just couldn't keep up with top 40 anymore. Every day I check out the trending page on YouTube and the top three videos are always some new pop release with >5M views in <24 hours, a video of a white dude with a surprised look on his face pointing at something, and a video about makeup.
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Mar 11, 2019 06:11
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Bloodplay it again posted:
I didn't even really notice The Killers until When You Were Young was featured in Guitar Hero 3 in like 2007 And then 2008 Human was being played everywhere, at least it really felt like that 2002 is a tough year though, I don't really remember what was the big thing back then, Wilco? Beck? Interpol?
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Mar 11, 2019 22:55
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I believe it was Genesis who did the song "it", OP.
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Mar 11, 2019 23:01
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Pennywise
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Apr 9, 2019 01:40
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A human heart posted:the coolest band for which group of people? like i don't think that black americans, for instance, were particularly excited about nine inch nails in 1994 Except for the ones who were. Black people- being people, can have different opinions!
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Apr 10, 2019 00:12
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Relayer posted:Except for the ones who were. Black people- being people, can have different opinions! of course there are some black people who like nine inch nails, but it wasn't a band that was particularly popular among black people more generally in 1994.
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Apr 10, 2019 01:21
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I'm a black guy who spent too much of my allowance trying to collect the Halos in 1995. Nine Inch Nails were never an "it"band. Aside from the standard Michael/Madonna/Prince, you need to make room for, like, the Supremes in your calculation. If you're talking about spilled ink/think pieces (regardless of commercial success), then Odd Future and Arcade Fire should be included. The Modern Leper fucked around with this message at 13:02 on Apr 11, 2019 |
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Apr 11, 2019 12:59
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There was nothing like finding the "Sin" CD single at Camelot.
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Apr 11, 2019 20:34
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Trent Reznor barely got his first #1 on billboard thanks to Old Town Road. NIN was huge and popular but probably yeah not the IT band or whatever.
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Apr 11, 2019 21:36
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Everything is fragmented now, this no longer exists.
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Apr 12, 2019 03:51
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Coil?
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Apr 15, 2019 20:42
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1600 - 2019 - Underground demo cassettes. Posers.
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Apr 16, 2019 07:32
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List is definitely missing REM, Radiohead, Sonic Youth & some punk band. Maybe the Sex Pistols, maybe the Ramones.
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Apr 16, 2019 19:38
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