LA Weekly Name Bon Iver as the ‘Worst Hipster Act’

In an article published on LA Weekly earlier today, Bon Iver was named ‘Worst Hipster Act’ amongst a list of twenty other bands, including Arcade Fire, Death Cab for Cutie and the Black Keys. The article has stirred a great deal of annoyance, not only by the general viewing public via Twitter, but also by many of the site’s readers, one of whom pointed out the irony of LA Weekly itself advertising many of the featured top 20 Worst Hipster Acts’ albums or tours.

Whether the LA Weekly piece meant to troll, or whether the article represents a genuine opnion, here’s the motivation behind the list, as featured in the article itself:

On its surface hipsterdom seems to be an individuality-grab, but most of today’s 20 and 30-something bands from Silver Lake and Williamsburg sound shockingly similar. They’re all playing variations of retro garage and soul music — or bringing glockenspiels and choirs on incestuous nationwide tours — all the while clad in vintage garb likely infested with lice. We’re not saying that they should be outlawed by, like, Congress or something. Just that they should be avoided. Here then, is our field guide to the worst offenders.

In the ensuing countdown to number one, LA Weekly described the Black Keys as “posh cracker blues rock”, Beach House as “derivative electro mush” and describing Grizzly Bear as spending “more time on expensive and fastidious arrangements than choruses, which they sound annoyed to have to throw in occasionally. Their lyrics evoke nothing you can see with your eyes, as if they assume the “beauty” of their tentative melodies will fill in the blanks.”

Here’s the list in full:

20 The Black Keys
19 TV On The Radio
18 Sleigh Bells
17 fun.
16 MGMT
15 Death Cab For Cutie
14 Wavves
13 The Decemberists
12 Pomplamoose
11 Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros
10 White Rabbits
09 Beach House
08 The Airborne Toxic Event
07 Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
06 Beirut
05 Grizzly Bear
04 Bright Eyes
03 Arcade Fire
02 tUnE-yArDs
01 Bon Iver

Tell us what you think in the comment section.

We're looking for writers and editors to join the team. Interested? Apply today!