Test Your Music Hipness Quotient vs. Seattlest

While passing around the final Bumbershoot artists list at last night's Seattlest meetup, we devised a little game--see how far down the list you get before you get to a band you've never heard of.

Not a band whose music you haven't heard, or who you've never seen live, but whose name you literally do not recognize.

It's a rough test of music hipness, as the list is organized with the most popular--or at least what OneReel perceives to be the most popular--bands first.

Here were scores from Seattlest staff and readers who tried it--this is, starting from the top of the list, the number of band names they recognized before running into one they didn't.

Troy 22; Justin 15; Jeremy B. 11; Audrey 11; MvB 11; David S. 10; Seth 7; Charlene 7.

And here's the list so you can try yourself. Put your scores in the comments, if you're so inclined.

The Black Eyed Peas / Sheryl Crow / Modest Mouse / Jason Mraz / The All-American Rejects / Yeah Yeah Yeahs / Katy Perry / Michael Franti & Spearhead / Franz Ferdinand / Old 97's / Cold War Kids / The Knux / De La Soul / Metric / Raphael Saadiq / Brett Dennen / Os Mutantes / Soulsavers featuring Mark Lanegan / The Long Winters / Sly & Robbie & the Taxi Gang / World Party / Keller Williams / Roy Ayers / MSTRKRFT / The Helio Sequence / Common Market / UH HUH HER / Dave Alvin and The Guilty Women / Eric Hutchinson / No Age / Matt & Kim / Dead Confederate / Janelle Monáe / The Cave Singers / Audrye Sessions / Akron/Family / Swollen Members / Vieux Farka Touré / Lenka / Gang Gang Dance / Vivian Girls / Todd Snider / The Devil Makes Three / Holy F**k / Elvis Perkins in Dearland / Iglu & Hartly / Maximo Park / Wale with UCB / OTEP / DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid / Low vs Diamond / Sera Cahoone / Eleni Mandell / Mirah / Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears / 3 Inches of Blood / Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground / U.S.E / Carrie Rodriguez / The Honey Brothers / Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head / Say Hi / Extra Golden / Mayer Hawthorne & The County / The Minus 5 / Forgive Durden performing Razia's Shadow / Cordero / Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band / Portland Cello Project / Telekinesis / Hey Marseilles / Sick Puppies / Everest / The New Mastersounds / Oren Lavie / Dyme Def / Delhi 2 Dublin / The Dusty 45s / Visqueen / Truckasauras / Head Like a Kite / Akimbo / Adrian Xavier / Paul Oscher “Alone with the Blues” / Parenthetical Girls / Massy Ferguson / The Lonely Forest / Sleepy Eyes of Death / Past Lives / Macklemore / Michael Shrieve’s Spellbinder / Wallpaper / The Whore Moans Present: The Black Atom! / Point Juncture, WA / Kim Field & The Mighty Titans of Tone / D.Black / Spaceman / Handful of Luvin’ / Champagne Champagne / Romance / Kristen Ward / Dept. of Energy / The Kindness Kind / Mark Taylor Quartet / Hotels / Black Whales / Kore Ionz / Grand Hallway / Anomie Belle / Steve Griggs Quintet / We Are Golden / Olympic Sound Collective / Tyler Bryant / Dyno Jamz / Central Services’ Board of Education / The Not-Its! / and Recess Monkey

"Otto Rocks On Broadway" by photocoyote from the Seattlest Flickr Pool.

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By Seth in Miscellaneous on July 22, 2009 1:00 PM

Comments [rss]

bilco

What pissed me off is that the Dave Alvin show has gotten crap publicity. Never mentioned in the hallowed SeaTimes.

Trust me, if you value real music, this is the show to be at. He's appearing with Seattle's own (ex-Picketts) Christy McWilson in a new all-woman roots band. Reviews from the tour are stellar. e.g.:

http://www.mercurynews.com/eyeheadlines/ci_12610036?nclick_check=1

Hipness? Well, I'm old enough I can pass on that. Going to see great music? Sign me up.

James

10. The phrase "Cold War Kids" rings a bell, but I don't think I'd have pegged it as a band, and I certainly have no idea what they're like. (Even if that counts, I don't know The Knux. But I do know Metric and De La Soul.)

Coming at it from the other direction: If I start at the end and go backwards, the first one I've heard of is Truckasauras.

sweetxsardonic

In pathetic defense of my score, there is no way that Michael Franti is better known than Franz Ferdinand or the Old 97's. And that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Tom

Agreed! Speaking as a budding academic and clueless scholar, I can most assuredly say that this quiz is based on a flawed epistemology that rests on dubious theoretical underpinnings in the way it operationalizes "popularity"! Not to get too post-modern on it, but I am tempted to ask: when faced with such a quiz, What Would Derridas Do?