As I’m on a continuous look out for new artists and good music, I went on last.fm and found out about a band with a really long – and wanna-be witty – name called Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong.

You know that feeling when you drink a lot and you want to throw up but you can’t? I had exactly the same feeling when I saw their video for the song “Lonely Buoy” due to its amalgamated nature. It felt like someone put in the same pot The Beatles, Serge Gainsbourg, black and white movies from the 60s and mixed them with a band of blasé youngsters.

I have a problem with The Last Shadow Puppets, too. It’s a band created by the singer from The Rascals and the one from Arctic Monkeys. They have a true Beatles-ish sound and someone who’s not “trained in the art of listening” and listened only a few times The Beatles, might think they’re listening to some songs created by the legendary band.

I know these bands are loved by the masses of teens who are influenced by anything with good marketing support. To be honest, any band needs some marketing, but that should be only 5% of their success, the rest of 95% being hard work and talent.

The good thing about indie bands that sound the same and copy successful bands is that they make other artists, who are sick of the same sounds, create something unique. If we take a look back in time, we will notice that grunge appeared as a move against glam rock. One of the best grunge bands was Nirvana. Its members didn’t need fancy hairdos and expensive clothing to become one of the most influential bands in the rock music scene. They had their huge share in creating grunge, along with bands like Alice in Chains, Daisy Chainsaw or Pearl Jam.

Another good example of a great band is Placebo, although their latest album makes me wonder if Bono wrote the lyrics and coached Molko to “see the light”. They have an unique sound and you can easily recognize any of their songs on the radio thanks to Brian Molko’s voice. I can say the same about Nirvana’s music.

If you want to know how real indie pop feels like, listen to The Smiths and Morrissey. If you have a look through their lyrics, you will notice that the songs can be transformed easily into poems. You can sing them and you can recite them. When your band will be like Nirvana, Placebo or The Smiths, you can consider yourself an artist. Until then, work as hard as you can and forget about the looks. Music matters.