Farin Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 Cobain: #1 rock star (Thursday May 11, 2006 10:39 AM) yahoo.co.uk Kurt Cobain has been voted the greatest rock star of all-time in a new poll. The Nirvana frontman came out ahead of Pete Doherty and Morrissey in the survey, which appears in this week's NME. Around 2,000 music fans are understood to have voted for their rock'n'roll idols, with the top five also featuring Liam Gallagher and Doherty's former Libertines band mate Carl Barat. However, the NME has questioned the relevance of Doherty, who finds himself in the Top 5 at a time when his problems with drugs and the law are far more relevant that his music. The magazine dismissed his selection as a rock icon, suggesting: "Surely he's just a worn-out drug addict who needs help if he's ever going to make decent music again?" The full Top 10 is as follows: 01 Kurt Cobain 02 Pete Doherty 03 Morrissey 04 Liam Gallaagher 05 Carl Barat 06 Thom Yorke 07 Noel Gallagher 08 David Bowie 09 Ian Brown 10 Ian Curtis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blind-fitter Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 Yet again, the NME readership establishes its credentials as the "creme de la creme" of musical knowledge, intellect and judgement. To be fair, they may begin to exercise greater wisdom and discernment once they reach puberty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Seeker Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 Very true, blind-fitter...I just wish I had as much music knowledge and taste as them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonJonSurfer Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 How did Bowie break onto that list? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted May 12, 2006 Report Share Posted May 12, 2006 I'm not anti-Nirvana or anything... actually, I quite like them... but that is the FUNNIEST thing I have ever come across. And Pete Doherty in second place... and so on and so forth. get Bowie out of there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted May 12, 2006 Report Share Posted May 12, 2006 Levis ! You are a looney ! If this was a proper list , Bowie would be there , but, as others have pointed out , the source makes one sceptical at best ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted May 12, 2006 Report Share Posted May 12, 2006 Ha ha! I like being called a looney! But since it doesn't SEEM to be a proper list, Bowie should not be there. (I'm not a looney anymore, tsk) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisible_r Posted May 12, 2006 Report Share Posted May 12, 2006 pete doherty and carl barat are on that list because most nme readers were obsessed with the libertines! as for the rest of the list, i don't see anything wrong with it, does that make me a looney? bowie, thom yorke, kurt cobain, morrissey, ian curtis, what's wrong with them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted May 12, 2006 Report Share Posted May 12, 2006 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 David Bowie 09 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blind-fitter Posted May 12, 2006 Report Share Posted May 12, 2006 (edited) pete doherty and carl barat are on that list because most nme readers were obsessed with the libertines! ...a totally second-rate band, who will, in time, be remembered in history as such. Many of the voters in this poll were still swapping Pokemon cards and moshing to McFly the year before last... as for the rest of the list, i don't see anything wrong with it, does that make me a looney? bowie, thom yorke, kurt cobain, morrissey, ian curtis, what's wrong with them? In so far as concurring with my punk/alternative/indie sensibilities, I could be tempted to agree up to a point...Your choices certainly don't make you "a loony"... But we're talking GREATEST ROCK STARS IN THE WORLD (of all-time) here. Aside from Doherty and Barat, the notion that Ian Brown ranks amongst the World's greatest rock-stars of all time is just too laughable for words. The word "mediocre" is too good for him. Any hint of "genius" in his oeuvre must surely be the monkeys/typewriter/plays of Shakespeare theory at work. Also, much as I have always appreciated Joy Division, I find the inclusion of Ian Curtis in this bracket equally preposterous. Unless of course the main criteria employed by NME readers for determining "greatness" are mental illness / having a death-wish. They are? How bizarre. Many NME readers apparently persist in holding the questionable belief that drug-addiction, mental illness/suicidal tendencies are really great, cool things to have. Well, er....Surprise! On the whole, "in real life"... they're not. You're better off without them. As usual, I digress. Ian Curtis: fronted a band that quite honestly, at least while he was alive, were of a "minority interest", appears to have had a deeply-flawed personality: obsessive self-absorption, a fascination for fascism. He was also one of the crappest dancers you have ever seen in your life, for what it's worth. He may have been many admirable things too, but one of the great rock-stars of world history? BIGGER THAN ELVIS? JIMI HENDRIX? DYLAN? etc, etc. Joy Division happen to be this year's "band to be influenced by", which means there will have been a few "in a nutshell" retrospectives in the music press answering the question on everybody's lips, "So who the heck were Joy Division?". Result: a few youths erroneously bask in the shade of Curtis' ill-perceived "cool", whilst overlooking the fact that in comparison with his surviving band-mates- New Order- Curtis would appear to be a bit of a loser... Edited May 12, 2006 by Guest hadn't really finished rambling on when interrupted by child Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted May 12, 2006 Report Share Posted May 12, 2006 Many NME readers apparently persist in holding the questionable belief that drug-addiction, mental illness/suicidal tendencies are really great, cool things to have. Well, er....Surprise! On the whole, "in real life"... they're not. You're better off without them. I'm with you... like I said... nothing against Nirvana, but come on... Suicide and apparent angst are no grounds for making someone the greatest rock star in the WORLD of ALL TIME those are BAD things... bad, bad things! Stop with the glorification. Oooo Kurt Cobain killed himself. That's gotta be cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisible_r Posted May 12, 2006 Report Share Posted May 12, 2006 just because you don't agree with them, does not mean that they are wrong. music is a very subjective thing, and if i understand correctly, these people were asked who their rock idols were. just because elvis and bob dylan are huge, very influential etc etc does not mean they are everyone's rock idol! i find this attitude very patronising! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted May 13, 2006 Report Share Posted May 13, 2006 But I really don't WANT people agreeing that suicide is cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edna Posted May 13, 2006 Report Share Posted May 13, 2006 And that´s why I hate all this "No future" thing. As well as every artist who claims suicide is a poetic attitude and young kids still believe it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steel2Velvet Posted May 13, 2006 Report Share Posted May 13, 2006 For those who think suicide is honorable, I feel they should have to not only clean up after one, but also inform the family of the the killer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisible_r Posted May 13, 2006 Report Share Posted May 13, 2006 so it's not acceptable to have as rock idols people who have committed suicide like cobain or curtis, but it's ok to idolise people who overdosed on drugs like elvis? isn't that a form of suicide? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted May 13, 2006 Report Share Posted May 13, 2006 Dead rock stars are the most idolized, it doesn't matter how they die. A suicidal rock star is just as respected as a drug-addled rock star. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulGirl Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 pete doherty is famous because he'd drug-addled, got kate moss on drugs and injects unconscious female fans for kicks, pure and simple. i've argued this point before, that i believe kurt cobain earned his place in the history of rock music completely separately from the fact that he committed suicide. of course, it's a huge part of what he's remembered for but i don't think it should necessarily exclude him from these sort of lists. and rachel makes a good point. many of the most respected rock stars more or less killed themselves through drug use - hendrix, morrison, lynnott (who i would definitely include in my top ten). the fact is that celebrities who die young, whether in car crashes (james dean, grace kelly), through overdoses (monroe, garland, elvis, morrisson, lynnott), by suicide (cobain), murder (lennon), disappearance (richey edwards), whatever, often become iconic because 1) there is a mystery associated with how they died and it attracts the morbid fascination in people and 2) they don't have the chance to get old and lose their edge. i agree that there is a risk involved in young people looking up to people who have committed suicide but if someone is stupid enough to do it because they think it's cool then there's no accounting for their taste to begin with. i agree with b-f and a few others in that some people attain icon status undeservedly purely because they have psychological problems or they're on the wrong side of the tracks. but i just don't agree with someone telling me that i can't think that person was cool when they were alive because somebody somewhere might try to emulate them by doing something stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 I have to say that I do believe Kurt Cobain is more remembered for his suicide than anything else, because 'angst' was a part of most of his songs and there were so many, many, many of them talking about death, suicide and depression, so much so that even if you're idolising him solely on the basis of his music, his suicide will always be a major underline. I'd have a great deal more respect for him if I didn't see that almost every person I have come across in this lifetime knows him more for his suicide and his shoes (the red Converses) than his songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edna Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 so it's not acceptable to have as rock idols people who have committed suicide like cobain or curtis, but it's ok to idolise people who overdosed on drugs like elvis? isn't that a form of suicide? It´s the message of their music and lyrics what counts, just as the attitute towards suicide. They idolise suicide. Elvis didn´t say "Die young, stay pretty" or "No future" in his songs, self-destruction was in another way in his case. I mean people who seem to have an obssession with suicide and do it, doesn´t matter if they OD or shoot themselves or kill themselves on the road. I know, "Die young, stay pretty" is Blondie and they´re some of the most positive bands, but many bands used that idea which was there before Blondie.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisible_r Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 the "no future" attitude is however what some young people want to hear at that stage of their lives, and i definitely know it was what i wanted to hear. i don't think that people kill themselves just because they listen to the music. radiohead are the same but they are all still there btw! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 The 'no future' attitude is what every teenager wants to hear because they are all 'the world is against me', 'life sucks' etc. etc. it's a phase but depressing lyrics just reinforce it. I think Kurt Cobain is overrated. Much too very extremely undeservedly overrated. I'm not saying he wasn't talented, but he doesn't deserve so much attention. Dave Grohl is the only one in the band with any sense... the only one who seems to have been destined for fame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisible_r Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 in any case, everyone is missing my point, you might think he's overatted, but others don't, and if they choose to idolise cobain, then that's their choice, there is no law anywhere that says that people should idolise dylan or hendrix or elvis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 Overrated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisible_r Posted May 14, 2006 Report Share Posted May 14, 2006 ok Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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