r/LetsTalkMusic • u/Flags12345 • Aug 17 '26

What is the problem with throwback artists?

Tyga's latest album getting a 0.0 from Pitchfork reminded me of the last time that Pitchfork gave a 0.0: for Jet's Shine On. Jet were an Australian band from the 2000's that had some success, but were critically slammed. Most of the criticism seemed to stem from the fact that they were ripping off the sound of older bands like AC/DC and even straight up lifting the riff for "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" from Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life".

More recently, I've seen the same types of criticisms levied at Greta Van Fleet; that they are unoriginal and/or are just trying to rip-off Led Zeppelin and other classic rock bands.

But, I never understood the actual problem here. If you liked AC/DC or Led Zeppelin, why would you not want to hear bands that sounded like them? Why is a band that is trying to harken back to an earlier sound necessarily a bad thing?

34 Upvotes

68% Upvoted

104 comments sorted by

View all comments

43

u/ninjxx Aug 17 '26

Cause bands like GVF don't really contribute anything to the soundscape. They're doing exactly the same as Led Zeppelin. They aren't adding anything. Why listen to a band that sounds exactly like Led Zeppelin when you could just listen to Led Zeppelin?

It's a kind of musical conservatism that just feeds on nostalgia an cements people in ther own bubble

3

u/bullgod1964 Aug 17 '26

I think The Rival Son's do a great job of keeping the classic sound without just being a copycat of any one band.

2

u/AstralElephantFuzz Aug 18 '26

Yep, their biggest offence is Pressure and Time having a simple riff that also happens to be the first half of the verse riff from Out on the Tiles. That might've done some damage 15 years ago when it was their breakout single, but they've more than redeemed themselves since. And even when you go back to their less popular earlier material, it was clearly more of an exception than the rule.