Revisiting The American Band Championship Belt, Part 2

Who Holds The Belt In The Last 10 Years? Let's Figure It Out.

In Part 1 of this column, I went over my quibbles with “The American Band Championship Belt” Grantland column I wrote in 2014. The problem with quibbling with yourself is that you end up having quibbles with your quibbles. It’s a never ending ball of yarn that you keep pulling and pulling (and pulling!) into you eventually descend into a Substack-sponsored fit of mania.

I’ve been living with this mania all week.

So, before we get to awarding the belt for the last 10 years, I want to add just two more quibbles to the record, because they have been legitimately haunting me like only truly stupid and inconsequential things can.

In my original list of quibbles I wanted to install The Cars in the “Biggest Challenger” category for 1978, but I thought it was maybe too nitpicky. And then someone called me out on my lack of The Cars in 1978 and it instantly made me regret leaving them off. I’m actually tempted to take away the belt from Van Halen and give it to Ric Ocasek and Co. But I’ll stick with the half-measure for now.

If I were writing this column now, I would put The Cars in the “Biggest Challenger” category for 1978.

This one really bugged me. All of these bands are worthy and I don’t want to remove any of them. But how can I not quibble with leaving off a band I came to really love in the decade since I wrote this column? I refer to the finest live act of the late ’90s, the one and only Phish. I can’t strip Outkast of the belt, and I don’t want to knock down any of the challengers. Therefore, an ad hoc compromise is in order.

If I were writing this column now, I would award Phish a special “live music belt” for 1996-2000.

Okay, enough quibbles! Let’s get to the new belt winners.

The War On Drugs, 2014-17

Key music: Lost In The Dream (2014), A Deeper Understanding (2017)

In my quibbles from last week, I retroactively awarded The War On Drugs the belt for 2011-2014. This week, I’m extending their belt reign another three years, so the stretch goes from Slave Ambient to Lost In The Dream to A Deeper Understanding. Three American rock classics, all highly influential on indie rock during that era and beyond.

The only issue here is whether The War On Drugs should be considered a full-on band, given Adam Granduciel’s one-man auteur dominance in the studio. It’s the 21st century corollary to the “and the” band issue. There aren’t that many “and the” bands anymore. But there are many bands that are basically solo artists that present as bands. And The War On Drugs is one of the defining examples of this phenomenon.

However, I’m counting them as a band for two reasons. One, The War On Drugs have a consistent lineup on stage, and they have evolved into a great live act. Two, there simply aren’t enough 21st century American bands that function as traditional band bands to not count the “solo artist” bands. It’s simply how bands have evolved in the internet era.

Biggest challenger: Another defining “solo artist” band of this period is Bon Iver, though Justin Vernon also has worked with a steady-ish lineup on stage that functions a world-class art-rock arena band. And 2016’s 22, A Million is a landmark record of the 2010s. So they belong in this slot.

Second biggest challenger: Hey, it’s another “solo artist” band with a killer tour lineup: Car Seat Headrest!

Third biggest challenger: I need at least one conventional “four people who work together on stage and off” band band, so I’m going with Diiv.

Boygenius, 2018

Key music: Boygenius

I was critical of their full-length debut, The Record, which I found to be bloated with B-list material and saddled with frankly annoying press narratives and the usual stan parasocial insanity. But I still ride for the self-titled EP, which arrived just as Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker were beginning their ascent as generation-defining singer-songwriters. Aside from the musical merits of Boygenius, there’s no denying the cultural impact this record had, from the aforementioned parasocial stardom of the resident BGs to the scores of copycats that still are being sent straight to my inbox every single day.

Biggest challenger: It’s become a running joke with me and Ian Cohen on our podcast Indiecast that the most underrated great American band of the last 10 years is Wild Pink, who could honestly be listed as a “Biggest Challenger” going back to their 2017 debut. I’m only slotting them in 2018 because it happens to align with my absolute favorite Wild Pink record, Yolk In The Fur. But all their records are worth hearing and celebrating.

Big Thief, 2019-2022

Key music: U.F.O.F. (2019), Two Hands (2019), Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You (2022)

The best American band band of the last 10 years? It’s hard for me to think of a better answer. The recent departure of bassist Max Oleartchik feels so significant precisely because Big Thief has always operated and thrived due to their very unique interpersonal chemistry. It’s easy to goof on band photos where the members of Big Thief are literally falling over themselves like they’re in the middle of a 1970s self-love hippie retreat. But then you hear them play together and the band band thing they have is undeniable. And that quality feels especially precious at a time when a lot of music these days is seemingly made in self-imposed isolation.

Biggest challenger: I’m giving a slight edge to Turnstile because 1) they are one of the legit rock band breakouts of the decade and 2) they have that band band quality I was just waxing rhapsodic about.

Second biggest challenger(s): I’m going to group two great “solo artist” bands in the same slot here: Waxahatchee and Japanese Breakfast.

Wednesday, 2023

Key music: Rat Saw God

They have the band band thing, though it’s somewhat murky whether a certain guitar player while remain in the fold given (searching for delicate language) recent interpersonal complications. But for now, Wednesday is absolutely a band that, like Big Thief, feels like they have created their own musical world. More than that, Wednesday is a figurehead for a generation of southern rock acts that write funny-sad region-specific songs imbued with boho irreverence. It’s the kind of music (I hope!) that will maintain a strong foothold for the remainder of the 2020s.

Biggest challenger: At roughly the midway point of the 2020s, it’s hard to argue against 100 Gecs being one of the era’s signature indie acts. When we tell our kids what it was like to live in this strange time, “put emojis on my grave / I’m the dumbest girl alive” seems like a fitting epitaph.

Self-Promotion Time

On Never Ending Stories, my podcast about Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour with the Jokermen guys, we talked about 1990’s Under The Red Sky, a truly mediocre and half-assed effort that I adore with my whole ass. Can’t stress enough how happy I am that I have an outlet to talk about Dylan ephemera!

On Indiecast, Ian and I gabbed about a truly packed week for news, with special focus given to two rock dude duos, Tenacious D and Japandroids. I also gave some love to Zach Top, an impressively mustachioed man who put out a very good ’80s country-style record (think Dwight Yoakam’s Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. mixed with some George Strait) earlier this year.