Arcade Fire - lead singer Win Butler (and major lyricist for the band) and fellow band member and brother William Butler from Texas, yet to everyone in the know they are a Montreal/Canadian band.

The National - a known 'Brooklyn/New York City' band - yet all are from Cincinnati.

Yes, it's cool in the indie scene now to be from Montreal and NYC - but why do you have to play it up when it's not the truth? Admittedly I saw the National in concert this year in Cincinnati and they definitely played up the 'being back home' aspect...but I don't see anywhere in the press where they try to correct misconceptions about their bands...The National to me does sound more 'Ohio' than New York City...but anyway wondering if anyone else sees this about other bands...

As for the Arcade Fire, of course, it's totally uncool now to admit you're from Texas...as opposed to saying you're from Montreal...is that what it takes to be a successful Indie band now is to say you're from a 'cool' city?

I wouldn't call that dissing per se, but I suppose I see what you're getting at. If I were an indie band (ugh...) I'd probably not admit being from Texas right now, but whatever. You know, it doesn't really jive with their "view and message."

The music so many of these bands produce is so interchangeable and bland that claiming you are "from" this place or that is just part of the act. Explosions in the Sky are from Texas, but I can't recall them saying anything related to that.

I don't really know where I'm going here hehe. I guess they all tend to say they are from Portland, Seattle, NYC, or somewhere in Canada. Sorry I'm just going off on some tangent, really. I've been in the middle of the whole movement for God knows how long and am just really tired of it. Not that I don't enjoy a few of them, but overall.

Man I must be tired....

Live has a song called "Shit Town".


the weavers live up the street from me
the crackheads, they live down the street from me
the tall grass makes it hard to see
beyond my property
hey man, this is criminal,
this hard line symmetry
of people and pets

we don't bother anyone
we keep to ourselves
the mailman visits each of us in turn

we don't bother anyone
we keep to ourselves
the mailman visits each of us in time

gotta live, gotta live, gotta live
in shit town
gotta live, gotta live, gotta live
in our town.

Jack White has reportedly been talking shit about Detroit of late.

I sort of get what you're saying, but Arcade Fire was formed in Montreal . . .

Another band that I know as hailing from Texas is Spoon. I'm not sure if they wave the flag of the Lone Star state, but I don't think they try to hide it. With songs like "Don't Make Me A Target", I think their views are "at odds" with their hometown.

Both Slayer and Metallica originally formed in Orange County, though their bios insist that it was Los Angeles - I guess "The OC" isn't metal enough...

Well, Spoon's from Austin, which isn't your typical Texas town - it's far more "artsy" and progressive then most other urban areas in the US.

Winnipeg's Venetian Snares has a whole album of songs about his hometown. Tracks include Winnipeg Is A Frozen Sh*thole, Winnipeg Is A Dogsh*t Dildo, and Die Winnipeg Die Die Die F*ckers Die.

Stone Temple Pilots said they were from San Diego, even though they lived in LA at the time. They used to be a local band, but then moved to LA and still claimed to be a "San Diego band". Caused quite a bit of controvery down here when they broke big. People would be wearing shirts that said "STP Is Not A San Diego Band", which was pretty elitist.

Same for Ratt. They used to be a "San Diego band", but moved to LA and never looked back.

The Bronx is an LA band.

I don't like Texas for a lot of reasons but I would never blame a band for being formed there. That's just stupid.

Vanilla Ice was from Arlington Texas but loved to rap about coming from the mean streets of Miami.

Do the Dixie Chicks count?

Yes, sometimes people move to a different town because they don't like the one they're currently in.

Should I have put that in spoiler tags? Mods, please advise.

I personally do not care where a band is from. So long as the music itself elicits some sort of emotional response from me, the place in which they originated is of little consequence.

Lynyrd Skynyrd came from Florida, yet they apparently didn't think it was such a sweet home.

Actually, the alternative scene is pretty damn good in Texas. Spoon, Blue October, Bowling For Soup, Toadies/Burden Brothers, Flyleaf...all those bands make no secret about their Texas affiliations and most brag about it (like most good Texans).

Diss? Holy early 90's Batman!

The Pretenders "My City Was Gone" (aka the Rush Limbaugh theme song )

I dunno if it's truly a "diss", but Scissor Sisters have yet to play Kentucky despite the fact that Babydaddy's family still lives here and that KY is where he and Jake Shears met and formed the band in the first place

Soul Coughing disses New York City in "The Incumbent":

New York, New York, I won't go back
an indelible reminder of the steel I lack
I gave you seven years, what did you give me back?
A jaw-grind disposition to a panic attack

Didn't Bowling for Soup have a song where they killed their hometown for not supporting them?

We're Explosions in the Sky. We're from Texas.

Yeah, but using the OP's methods, Spoon is actually from Galveston and Rhode Island and is dissing those areas for Austin.

love this band

So wait. I'm Irish, but I've lived in Chicago for years. If I make a band while I'm here, and I say we're a band from Chicago, I'm dismissing my home country?

That's just not logical.

Zach De La Roche (Rage Against The Machine) grew up in Irvine, CA, yet often mentions that he came from LA as well.