Why are the White Stripes more marketable than the Dirtbombs?

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I ask this because there is all sorts of press surrounding the White Stripes but the Dirtbombs are so far off the radar I didn't even know they had released an album this year, Ultraglide in Black (I finally got to listen to it and it's easily the best album I heard in 2001). The first I ever heard of the White Stripes they were the b-side of a split 7" single with the Dirtbombs given away with some particular issue of Multiball (a pinball) magazine!

― Kris, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I can answer my own question pretty easily, Mick Collins doesn't seem to treat the Dirtbombs as a full time band at all (they've never played anywhere near me) while the White Stripes are always touring. Any other Mick Collins fans out there? I got to interview him once, he talked for hours. Interesting guy, as you might imagine a black mod punk from Detroit would be. He said he'd be a techno artist, except no-one would release his records.

― Kris, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Fuck, you've already my attention. So what do you recommend for good listening? Is there only the one album?

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

the gories albums are great. haven't heard a thing otherwise. i know from interviews mick's got some pretty outre ideas re. music: hates hiphop, wants to form bands that are alternately a. a combination of the slits and sweet honey in the rock b. free jazz garage c. his "own take" on hiphop whatever that would be.

― jess, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I would have thought the marketablility of the White Stripes was blindlingly obvious. It's got a lot less to do with any perceived relative quality of the music, and everything to do with their matching uniforms, good looks, are-they-or-aren't-they-exes tabloid- style gossipability, etc bloody etc..

Question: What criteria do you think makes a band more marketable than another?

― electric sound of jim, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I don't know about "marketability" but my love for the White Stripes has everything to do with songwriting. The last time I checked there were lots of good looking bands with mathcing uniforms, but I haven't heard anything lately with songs as good as "We're Going To Be Friends" or "The Same Boy You've Always Known". The White Stripes are a blindingly, staggeringly, obviously great band, regardless of their sporty outfits.

― dan, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

obviously great band

Indeed?

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Their records are good.

― Kris, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

all the stuff i've heard w. mick collins is great. the king sound quartet album on in the red & all the blacktop stuff are hot too. yeah tons tons tons better than the white stripes (who i think are OK).

― , Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

if i had to choose between two equally good acts, i'd pick the one with the better image (matching outfits = good)

― michael, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Strictly marketing-wise, the problem with Mick Collins is that he can't seem to commit to just one project and milk it for what it's worth. Decidedly so, it seems. Last year he simultaneously put out records with both The Skrews and The Dirtbombs and he's got people in both projects that are also committed to other bands (for instance: the current - 11th or so - Dirtbombs line-up consists of producer Jim Diamond, Tom Potter of Bantam Rooster and Pat Pantano of the The Come Ons, both bands had - pretty good - albums out in 2001. Drummer Ben Blackwell is the White Stripes' webmaster). So everybody's agenda's already way too full to commit to the kind of schedule The White Stripes have. And to make things worse Collins keeps on being associated with the Gories, as if anything he made after that couldn't hold a candle to the - comparatively very little - they did.

But in the end it should be about the quality of his output and by and large it's quite good. I for one loved 'Ultraglide'. I also interviewed Collins last year and the thing that struck me the most is the fact that in Detroit there's NOT as much contact and support between those bands as one would think. Also, locally, there's just one very small label (Italy) putting out that kind of stuff. SFRI and In The Red are both based in California.

― Alacran, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

The cover of the White Stripes album is terrific and as someone said up above all the image stuff goes some way to enhance the music. But the music's not my cup of tea - not that sort of garage, thanks. Actually if I do want to listen to that sort of garage - and believe it or not there are rare occasions - then I prefer it scuzzy and anonymous.

― Tom, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

the white stripes are - for all their blues grit, their feigned/actual authenticity (choose yr sides), their full-on rawk show live brilliance - a great, great pop band. jack is a strong songwriter, and it doesn't hurt that they're a fine 'package' [ewwww - that HURT to type].

mick collins is a great garage rock figurehead. he's a great live performer. 'ultraglide in black' is a fabulous record (that's had plenty of press in the UK). BUT he's forty-something. he's not conventionally 'good-looking', doesn't fit the mould of what received wisdom perceives as good looking (that he is black still hurts in a blinkered media climate like ours). he's not marketable in that sense, but also the Dirtbombs' album was a COVERS album (and i won't mention that he should be put on a rack for that appalling take on 'living in the city') (and then instantly pardoned for 'underdog' and the sublime 'ode to a blackman'). the previous Dirtbombs lp is REEEEALLY PATCHY and REALLLY GARAGE, not pop/crossover at all.

― stevie, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Isn't it quite unusual to get any sort of hype (and there is low-watt NME/Peel hype here) for a COVERS ALBUM particularly after the first Dirtbombs LP (which is classic!) was completely ignored?

― joel, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Bah.

― joel, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I mentioned the dirtbombs a couple of times on this board but no one seemed to pay attention, at last someone took notice of them :- ) "ultraglide in black" is by far the best album I bought last year, possibly on par only with ted leo's "the tyranny of distance". The white stripes on the other hand...bah, too stripped donwn to be enjoyable... Actually I regretted purchasing their album.

Maybe you should check out the following bands:

the detroit cobras the come ons (they have an album out called "hip check" which got lot of hype on Insound...)

― Simone, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Am I the only one who thought White Blood Cells was a completely over-rated piece of shit? It's like cock rock for the new millennium in a garage or something. Er that's not the best insult I could think of I doubt but you get the idea.

Also those vocal histrionics are a little tired, and in general the album doesn't sound particularly new or fresh to me. I didn't even live through whatever era it's meant to be copying, but it seems tired to me anyway.

― Ronan, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Hmmm, why less marketable?

Old fat black guy versus cute skinny white kids? Hmmmmmmmmm...

Besides which, The Dirtbombs are pretty unfocused. The line-up is constantly changing and they hardly ever tour and Collins - talented guy that he is - has put out a lot of crap records in too many different bands.

― fritz, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

boobs.

― your null fame, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Mick Collins is a plushie.

― Samantha, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I think there's an article on the Dirtbombs in the new "Careless Talk Costs Lives", Everett True's brand new Brighton-based zine... anyone seen it? Looks like the best British publication going, both layout and content-wise. The UK has needed a mag like this for a long, long time.

― Andy, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Mick Collins is a plushie.

I've heard this too. Rumour has it that he got kicked off of Sympathy For The Record Industry for blowing an entire album's budget on plushie porn!

― fritz, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

i have to say, i really like that come-ons record. it ain't earth- shaking, but it's certainly butt-wiggling.

― maura, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

from the sftri guestbook:

"rock-a-day johnny replies: when you interviewed mick the musical genius did he happen to mention he proposed a project for sympathy about 4 years ago and received money, but never recorded the record because he got mixed up and spent the money on sexy animal comics instead ?"

― fritz, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

fritz: ha ha! I heard this from a friend who's played in a couple of his bands. if true it's endearing and would propel me more towards dirtbombs than white stripes by itself. but then i'm a freak.

― Samantha, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

oh it's true - even one of the dirtbomb's album covers (Horndog somethingorother) has sexy animal cartoon art.

― fritz, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Everett True's brand new Brighton-based zine... anyone seen it?

Er...surely you've seen the other threads on this, Andy. I think half the ILx bunch has written for it -- check the writer credits. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Well, we just got the 'debut' issue here at work... I don't know how long it's been out in the UK, but the actual finished product just arrived in CA.

― Andy, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Are the Dirtbombs as good as the Gories? From the conversation it seems like Mick doesn't think they are. I think Houserockin, I Know You Fine But How You Doin, and Outta Here are three of the most visceral and haunting rock albums ever made.

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

He said he'd be a techno artist, except no-one would release his records.

He did a str8 ahead techno remix of "Blues Explosion Attack" on one of the JSBX's UK singles (the blue one with the drawing of the book on the cover. "Heavy"?). The subtitle was "(Detroit)" to the "Attack" remix.

Tracks off that Dirtbombs LP were the last things I got before Napster shut down.

― Vic Funk, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Have you tried Audiogalaxy?

― maryann, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I like the new Dirtbombs album better than the Gories; Mick seems to be a much better singer than he used to be and the covers approach reels in some of his perverse songwriting tendencies (his best work has always been on covers, I think). The other Dirtbombs stuff I've heard isn't as good, but there have been so many versions of the band it's really hard to compare. The first album was really schizophrenic, one second you had a punk soul thing and the next some kind of Silver Apples tribute.

― Kris, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

anyone hear of the Deadly Snakes? Really good garage rock as well.

― Brock K, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

same label as Dirt Bombs i just found out. Little bit more of a dirty sound than those guys. more horn action as well. and they are Nucks too. har.

― Brock K, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Love the Deadly Snakes. My boyfriend's band Feast of Snakes played with them a few months ago. It was a snakefest! and they bought us breakfast which was nice.

Really though, they're great. and they're not all canucks since Greg Oblivian is now a member. Their first album came out on Sympathy.

― Samantha, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I've said it before and I'll say it again: The Deadly Snakes are the best and most under-rated band in the whole soul-punk scene.

― fritz, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

i think i agree. their newest cd is freggin great. i heard them in a record shop in burlington, vermont and was blown away. bought it on the spot.

― Brock K, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Yes. The Deadly Snakes are awesome. Pretty much anything Greg Oblivian has to do with is great. The White Stripes are pretty good, but there's more image than content. try the SOLEDAD BROTHERS on ESTRUS, they are very very powerful in this genre sans all the cutsie props. The DirtBombs are great, but if anyone has heard the Screws then you'll know the DirtBombs are far from astones throw to thier greatness. Blacktop and King Sound were awesome as well. Try the NOW TIME DELEGATION, Mick was supposed to sing on this but he was going in another direction so Lisa Kekuala from the BellRays took his spot and she has got a truckload of soul. if you like soul/punk/blues, aka Pussy Galore/Jack-O-Fire, then you might dig Feast of Snakes..shameless...Dropkick single and one coming on In The Red. I'm terrible.

― Hank, Wednesday, 9 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

the new Greg Oblivian/Cartwright group The Reigning Sound LP "Break Up Break Down" is great too. One of my favourites of last year. Not like much else on this thread (it's all heartbroke tender ballads in a soft country-rock vein) but I think most folks who like the bands mentioned above would really dig it. I think it could have done really well but unfortunately, it's on Sympathy, which is basically as good as burying it in your backyard as far as getting any press goes. God love SFTRI, but it's a shame to see so many great records wither on the vine with no promo (the white stripes being the only exception I can think of).

― fritz, Wednesday, 9 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I can't wait to hear the Dirtbombs; I'll buy the album on my next Amoeba run.

― Sean, Wednesday, 9 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

(and i won't mention that he should be put on a rack for that appalling take on 'living in the city')

I think it's awesome; doing the third verse in Spanish is especially inspired ("No quieren la rrrraza!").

― Kris, Wednesday, 9 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

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