I very much dislike the role image plays in popular music. The idea that a bunch of glorified strippers like The Pussycat Dolls can get a record deal while some less telegenic artist labors in obscurity is just repugnant.
That said, I will admit that my first impression of Keane was based entirely on the appearance of lead singer Tom Chaplin in the video for their first hit, ‘Somewhere Only We Know.’ And it wasn’t a good one.
Alex brought this up the other day and I told her I’d put it on my blog, so here I am being true to my word.
It’s funny how some British artists completely mask their accents in song while others sing it like they speak it. Is this a deliberate choice in either direction? Or is it the luck of the draw? And if it is a deliberate choice, in which direction?
In other words, do the non-accented singers (like, say, Bono) go out of their way to sound “American,” perhaps in the interest of U.S. sales? Or do the accented singers (like today’s choice, Lily Allen) play up their natural accents in song for effect?
Squeeze, like Mark Knopfler, (and isn’t it a good bet that this is the first time those four words have appeared in that order?) is a group I should know better than I do.
I’ve owned three of their albums (East Side Story, Play and a greatest hits collection). I have a strong bias against hits albums, so I sold that one back (even though I liked all the songs). But I’ve never rushed out to pick up their other albums.
I believe every high school boy goes through a Pink Floyd phase. Maybe that’s not the case anymore, but when I was in high school (late 80s) they were all the rage.
I listened to The Wall on headphones over and over again, marveling at the way the groupie moved from one side of my head to the other as she walked through Pink’s hotel room (“Wanna take a baaath?”). I listened to monotonous 17-minute epics like ‘Echoes’ and ‘Dogs’ with a straight face. I set my CD player to wake me up with the cacophony of alarm clocks at the beginning of Dark Side of the Moon‘s ‘Time.’
I started renting the Mad Men DVDs several weeks ago after reading so much “Best show on TV!” praise that I finally couldn’t ignore it any longer. Often that kind of praise winds up being a turn-off… it’s easier to dismiss the hype and pride yourself on standing apart from the “cool kids.” I’m reminded of a B.J. Novak blog entry titled “I will watch The Wire when I watch The Wire!” that was aimed at all his friends who kept goading him about that show.
Meet Me In Montauk 