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Cool List 2008 – Had It… Lost It!

By Luke Lewis

Posted on 04/11/08 at 03:48:52 pm

What the Cool List giveth, it also taketh away. Which means that, every year, some unfortunates find themselves marched off to the sin-bin known as 'Had It…Lost It!'.

The following people/trends are hereby stricken from the record. Disagree with our verdict? Then head to www.nme.com/coollist to have your say on this year's run-down. And remember, before you voice your outrage, it's just a bit of fun...

continued...

James Bond
What gives? 'Quantum Of Solace' takes a character who used to exhibit wit and panache and flattens him down into just another blank-faced tough guy with tedious "issues" – a spiritless cipher whose image can be used to flog Barclaycards, Omega watches, Persol sunglasses and, oh, home contents insurance probably. Massively depressing.

James Smith, Hadouken!
Any band who calls their debut album 'Music For An Accelerated Culture' has to expect their time in the spotlight to be brief. And besides, band names with exclamation marks are so 2007. Even Panic At The Disco saw that coming.

Amy Winehouse
She made Number Eight last year, but there's really nothing cool about the grim acceleration into addiction and squalor we all witnessed in 2008.

Releasing albums online
When Radiohead did it with 'In Rainbows' it felt like an innovative and generous gesture; when Bloc Party made 'Intimacy' available online (not for free, mind: "We live in a capitalist world and I do want to get paid,” explained Kele) it smacked of attention-grabbing opportunism.

Band reunions
When even the Wonder Stuff get back together (playing 'The Eight Legged Groove Machine' in its entirety on selected dates!) you know the trend has spiraled into insanity. From now on it's all about the classic bands who refuse to reform.

Brandon Flowers' moustache
In last year's Cool List it out-ranked such titans as Matt Bellamy, Caleb Followill and, indeed, Brandon himself. Will we ever see its like again?

What do you think of the NME Cool List? Vote now to decide the Readers' Top 10

NME.COM blogs contain the opinions of the individual writer and not necessarily those of NME magazine or NME.COM.

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hmm [Visitor] //November 4 2008 at 20:59

why has pete doherty been left out then?

Alex [Visitor] //November 5 2008 at 12:46

or maybe Bloc Party wanted their fans to hear their music as soon as possible without waiting 2 months for the CD to get out? And besides, anyone who seeks to quantify cool is missing the point somewhat.

... [Visitor] //November 5 2008 at 17:01

brandon flowers' moustache has never been cool in my opinion, the only men who can pull off a moustache are julian barratt and my dad (who is pretty much an embodyment of howard moon). oh and also brandon flowers himself has never been cool.. maybe its to do with a distaste that i carry for the killers somewhat bland style.. hmmm, something to mull over with myself maybe lol

one more thing [Visitor] //November 5 2008 at 17:05

pete doherty is still cool so leave it out lol

... [Visitor] //November 5 2008 at 17:30

Ryan Jarman has been left out for no reason

Ian Brown (not THE ian brown, but a different one!), Durham [Visitor] //November 5 2008 at 18:23

NME should be number 1, you had it, now you lost it (or rather through it away). Your cool list is an utter joke, Crystal Castles?? Give me a break, Jay-Z?! Most of the people you have in it, try far too hard to be cool or to fit into a specific genre. Real cool people are themselves, they are individual. People like Paul Weller, Noel and Liam Gallagher, Ian Brown, Liam Fray (latest entry) fit that profile, they just make great music and get on with it. I think you get voted into NME Cool List if you are a bit of a waster to be honest, these lads absolutely cane it, difference is they can handle it. They don't end up in some fucking rehab. They are working-class hero's, not fucking middle-class student wankers (see Crystal Castles) Thanks, doubt it will mean fuckall to you pricks though!

"Middle Class Student Wanker" [Visitor] //November 5 2008 at 19:27

The long comment below this suggests that: 1. Middle class people don't listen to the likes of Oasis and the Courteeners. 2. That Oasis and the Courteeners make innovitave music. Both of these are wrong. Oasis haven't changed what they do for ten years, and all Liam Fray and Co. have done is take that formula and mixed it up a little. Nowadays the class system means nothing, making the term "working class hero" irrelevant. Ian Brown from Durham, you are partly what is wrong with todays music industry, kindly keep the britpop nostalgia to yourself.

Chris [Visitor] //November 5 2008 at 19:39

Snap on most of em, but Bloc Party deserve summat for making the 90's cool again in their own way.

Mo Dabbler [Visitor] //November 5 2008 at 19:46

seriously though, yeah, and another thing, what about him with the vest, or her with the hair!

Sometime Reader [Visitor] //November 6 2008 at 12:10

I Agree with Crystal Castles but find the magazine a mixed bag. It seems obssessed with all the soundalike bands who actually say or mean nothing to anyone but the trendies, Though I suppose from your marketing point of view,the trendies are who buy the magazine. I have a request, talk about some underground bands, dont be a slave to the skinny jeans and curley haired ten million soundalike say nothing bands.

Aaron South [Visitor] //November 6 2008 at 13:40

Liam Fray, Ryan Jarman, Kele Okereke, Noel Fielding - Where?

rachel [Visitor] //November 6 2008 at 21:59

that better not be a low blow at panic cause there amazing and brandon flowers a douche bag go fall in a well brandon

C.Spiracy. [Visitor] //November 7 2008 at 00:20

Where on earth is April cover star Liam Fray?Well it seems he's featured in this weeks issue - and a cracking live review it is too. Why then has he been excluded from your list? You can't even vote on this website for him.

C.Spiracy. [Visitor] //November 7 2008 at 00:21

Kim [Visitor] //November 7 2008 at 16:13

WHERE ON EARTH IS PETE DOHERTY..?

Maria from Switzerland [Visitor] //November 8 2008 at 09:13

LIAM FRAY needs to be on the coollist. you can't be serious.

... [Visitor] //November 8 2008 at 16:42

P.s. Paul Weller and Liam Gallagher are hardly individuals, they seem to both be sporting the same hair style at the moment, how very un-original.

[Visitor] //November 11 2008 at 00:12

ok so where is peter doherty, why have you not even explained his exclusion from the list

... [Visitor] //November 12 2008 at 19:24

This website only ever puts up my ' P.S.' comments, not the ones i have already posted, and they are the ones which contain the essential part of my message, what am i supposed to do with that?!!! :(

... [Visitor] //November 12 2008 at 19:27

Crystal castles are not studen middle class wankers!! Did you not read NME when they were on the cover?!!! They practically grew up in a shit hole, and everyone around them was either a druggy, a murderer, a rapist or all of the above!!! If you are going to insult people who make better music than you could ever come up with ( Ian Brown, but not the real one.. Blah blah blah, no one gives a shit) then do it right, jeez.

... [Visitor] //November 12 2008 at 19:29

Hadouken are shit, they don't make real music, it's SHIT ( my deepest apologies to any fans, that is just how i feel).

[Visitor] //November 12 2008 at 19:35

I hate all of the people who have a go at NME for choosing the people to put on their cool list, it's not up to you (apart from the reader's cool list, obviously...) why don't you just lighten up, it means nothing to thses people if they are on the list anyway, if you ask me then it's cool enough to be in the music business without needing confirmation of your coolness from sad people who obviously don't love these bands and people enough to believe in the fact that they are cool without it having to be set in stone on the NME cool list. Some people just need to get a life, I have just wasted a little bit of mine telling you people to get over it, thanks alot.

me [Visitor] //November 15 2008 at 20:00

jack white from the white stripes definately should be included. end of.

[Visitor] //November 16 2008 at 00:18

I think Brandons Moustache should top the cool list

Lauren [Visitor] //November 22 2008 at 17:56

noel fielding should be at least 3 :(

jonathon [Visitor] //November 23 2008 at 21:25

too right, james bond was a lunatic in quantum of solace. it was unnecessary.

Nick [Visitor] //November 25 2008 at 01:14

i suppose after much thought about the james bond thing but not about hadouken in my opinion they came from shit to good

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