NME's Cool List
"Whether it is wearing the right clothes, being magnetically charismatic or deliberately trashing their talent for the sake of it, all of the entries in [the Cool List] have one thing in common – the X factor."
[3] The American pop star Justin Timberlake topped the second Cool List in 2003, with the magazine praising his "killer career moves, genuine talent, charm and good looks".
[5] Deputy editor Alex Needham remarked: "In a world of moaning micro-celebs, Justin makes being a superstar look the most fun you could have with your clothes half off.
[13] NME described Ditto as "a true product of the underground",[14] with Needham hailing her "voice like Tina Turner gargling ball bearings" and her "megawatt stage presence".
[15] Writing for The Observer, music journalist Kitty Empire remarked that "placing Beth Ditto at the top of the Cool List is an audacious move that shows NME is finally questioning its institutional chap-ism".
[16] Recounting The Gossip's rise to success in her memoir Coal to Diamonds, Ditto cited topping the Cool List as the moment "when things got weird".
[10] The list was topped by 23-year-old Gallows frontman Frank Carter, who celebrated by planning a tattoo on his leg that proclaimed "Fuck the NME".
[21] No Cool List was published in 2009[22] – it returned the following year as an expanded Top 75, with the British folk singer Laura Marling reaching number one.
The first listing was topped by Bobby Gillespie, the lead singer of British indie band Primal Scream, for having "chickened out" over the title of his track "Bomb the Pentagon", and instead renaming it "Rise".
[40] It has since been published alongside every Cool List except 2003 – its winners have included Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, TV critic Charlie Brooker, and a pigeon.
[42][43] The two charts were consolidated into a single "Cool Places" list in 2004, which was topped by the extension housing the record collection of recently deceased DJ John Peel.
[nb 1] According to Neil Robinson, NME's publishing director, the Cool List often generated a "big reaction" from critics[33] – since its introduction in 2002, it attracted responses from several sources.
"[64] Beth Ditto of The Gossip, who had topped the list, agreed, labelling the NME journalists as "chickens" and claiming that they had "totally copped out" on the cover.
Writing for The Daily Telegraph, McCormick noted that "according to the NME, there are only seven cool black people in pop culture right now", with popular British rappers such as Tinie Tempah and Dizzee Rascal failing to make the listing.
