Sunday 13 June 2010

Geek Chic


  1. Pulp - Do You Remember The First Time
  2. Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
  3. Devo - Jocko Homo
  4. Silver Sun - Lava
  5. Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance
  6. Graham Coxon - Freakin' Out
  7. The Muffs - I'm A Dick
  8. XTC - Science Friction
  9. Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses
  10. The Rentals - The Love I'm Searching
  11. Gary Numan - Cars
  12. Kraftwerk - Pocket Calculator
  13. Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science
  14. Weezer - Buddy Holly
  15. Buddy Holly - Rave On
  16. Elvis Costello - Pump It Up
  17. The Futureheads - Le Garage
  18. The Residents - Picnic Boy
  19. OK Go - Here It Goes Again
  20. They Might be giants - Destination Moon
  21. Jonathan Coulton - I Feel Fantastic
  22. Man Or Astroman - Put Your Finger In The Socket
  23. Lemon Demon - Telekinesis
  24. Say Hi To Your Mom - As Smart As Geek Is Chic Right Now
There has always been a solid geek presence in rock 'n roll, and they've always provided much counterbalance to the jock mentality that rock 'n roll so often celebrates. Without geeks, all our pop music would have been the work of bozo school captain types like David Lee Roth and other macho idiots with planet sized egos.

They would happily have turned rock 'n roll into one big playground where they were the bullies, showing off to impress girls, bench pressing 200-pound weights, admiring each others' grotesque physiques and turning nerds upside down for their lunch money, while simultaneously playing interminable and artless guitar solos.

So, the geek rock star provides the millions of oppressed teenagers out there with a much needed role model; study hard, wear those braces, get into difficult angular music and you, too, can get up on that stage and pull the chicks.

Here's a collection of some of my favourite music nerds / geeks. Whether they are justified in making my selection is a matter of opinion, of course. But each of these artists have that certain..... look.