So The Libertines Are Officially Over. So Who Are Our Next Great British Hope?

Last week's NME ran with a front page story declaing that The Libertines were now officially over. But surely there's another British band capable of picking up their mantle?

Yes, it's true. The Libertines are no more. The most important British band since The Smiths, The Clash and The Beatles have gone their seperate ways following the imminent release of their new film; There Are No Innocent Bystanders.

But surely there's someone else to take over their throne? Someone who can define a generation, provide a soundtrack and a fashion sense to a movement.

Now your first call is surely the Arctic Monkeys, the darlings of the late noughties. Their first was the fastest selling British debut album of all time for a while and flew to the top of the charts as did their second Favourite Worst Nightmare. However with the release of the controversial (but brilliant) Humbug, which polarised fans, they left the movement behind. Perhaps their newest Suck It And See can return them to the top but they still seem like established masters, not something the youth can latch onto safe in the knowledge that their parents haven't heard of them.

The same rule applies to Kasabian. The lad rock champions are too comparable to Oasis rather than Doherty and Barat's boys and their continuing dominance of television shows and adverts (switch on any football show and expect to hear a Kasabian tune) means that they too can't be our next great hope.

Ditto Biffy Clyro. Simon Cowell's X Factor bulldozer changed everything with their use of Many Of Horror and despite being the people's champions up until then, they are now also a household name.

So, we look underground, and to new bands. My first hand, and everyone else supposedly, is The Vaccines. Wrongly dismissed as upper class snobs, in fact these guys have everything it takes to steal The Libertines crown. Cracking tunes, lyrics, guitars, appearence and live show means these guys have the credentials. Check out If You Wanna from their debut album if you don't believe me.

 

Unfortunately this seems to be it as far as new bands go. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying the current scene is bad, in fact it's the absolute opposite, it's just that all the underground bands don't have the means to cross over and revolutionise because of their divisive styles.

For example, Wild Beasts are amazing but too out there with a love-it-or-hate-it falsetto, Everything Everything need too many listens to get into, Hurts have the tunes but aren't cool enough with their suits and opera singers, Friendly Fires are too summery and tuneful and Brother are brats with guitars, they'll be massive but crucially they'll be TOO massive.

This article seems to be a mess of hypocrisy but the true music fans will know what I'm talking about. The music scene is fantastic at the moment (I haven't even mentioned overseas bands like The Drums and Warpaint) but that one band to change everything is yet to arrive. The bands I've mentioned are incredible and their respective albums are/will be five star classics but the waters need to change, the revolution needs to come.

Pack your bags, and say your goodbyes. Eventually, some day, it'll come calling.