Yes it’s true, Vampire Weekend have ascended to Ivy League greatness, not unlike Rivers Cuomo and Matt Damon (Harvard men, almost). Why is it always the most successful graduates of Ivy League schools are entertainers? Because they’re smarter. Duh. Vampire Weekend have clawed their way into the hearts and minds of even the most precocious middle school gossip circles as early as last summer. Even people who digest indie music faster than L. Lo goes through sexual preferences have paused for a moment to enjoy their debut (and still current album) of the same name.
Their featherlight pop stylings have caused a new craze in America: jumping on indie rock band wagons as soon as Stereogum covers them in a sentence-long blurb. But the Weekend has got the chops to back it all up. Just the other day I was watching MTV’s Woodie Awards on Palladia and I got the chance to see the Vamps plowing through “The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance” with the help of Chromeo! They really are the most successful alumni Columbia has ever produced (I hadn’t heard of any of these no-names, WTF). But what’s the secret behind VW’s domination? Just ask Lifting Fog Editor-in-Chief what they’re smoking over at Columbia and maybe you too can gave a band hyped-to-success by Stereogum and Pitchfork.
Tags: Columbia University, New York Minute, Sexual Preferences, Vampire Weekend
Lifting Fog 
November 24, 2008 at 6:41 pm |
it was the best collaboration of the night. loved them with Chromeo!!
you can grab and embed all the woodies performances from http://woodies.mtvu.com
November 25, 2008 at 7:23 am |
what about garfunkel? and without his partner, paul simon, there would be no upper west side soweto, which is vw’s supposed style of music.
i do have to admit that vw’s mainstream success is tremendous. “cape cod kwassa kwassa” is one of the best songs of the year, and it’s hard not to enjoy it. it’s unfortunate that there are so many people who violently dislike vw, not because they particularly hate the music, but because they hate vw’s image and the frat/mainstream crowd they tend to draw to their shows. are they overrated? possibly. would i ever go to another vampire weekend show? not if they keep playing venues like terminal 5. but, what is indeniable is how happy their music makes me. and what’s wrong with that?
i can’t even think of any other mildly successful all-CU bands. the walkmen (a band that has more “indie cred” although they’ve been on the o.c.) put out a great record this year, but only one member is a CU alum…
oh, and rivers cuomo did finally graduate.
December 1, 2008 at 10:54 am |
Oh shit – I’m seeing them at Terminal 5 on Wednesday. Bad venue, Mimi?
With regard to the central thesis here proclaiming VW the most successful Columbia alumni EVER… have we all forgotten Ryder Strong of Boy Meets World fame? Though he was actually more successful before plopping himself in Morningside Heights. So was I, come to think of it. Hard to believe that 5th grade “Number the Stars” book report was over ten years ago…
December 3, 2008 at 2:52 pm |
T5 is very big and all ages. There will be a huge crowd of tweenies there. But at least the Teenagers are opening? Their songs are funny.
hahah SHAWN HUNTER.
January 21, 2010 at 4:50 pm |
[…] it, there was a time a few years ago when Vampire Weekend was nothing more than a whisper of Columbia University English majors, buzzing with an excitement not felt since word spread about whatever bullshit band […]
March 29, 2012 at 1:50 pm |
[…] DJ Steve who bleeds Columbia Blue — he’s written two more posts on the CU-born group Vampire Weekend than I ever […]
July 21, 2013 at 3:28 pm |
Uh, most successful Columbia alums ever?!! How about President Obama, current AG Eric Holder, George Stephenaupolis, Jack Kerouac? Any of those ring a bell?