One Direction - is this a legit new threat wrt to a new boy band invasion? y/n

Louis is the only one I care about

I sat in a cafe a couple days ago watching Czech MTV and when One Direction "Kiss You" came on, in the context of Three Days Grace vids and w/e, it was like a manga come to life. Is 1D a secret K-pop band? It was very sweet.

Which one is Louis?

The gay one

Paul Morley prefers Harry Styles to Jake Bugg.

I had to google all three of those names just now

mrrrr that was an annoying article tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o63lcWu6kY

Paul Morley otm

Paul Morley's just trolling really, but that's cool. It is kind of annoying that the people most likely to whinge about One Direction hold up the likes of Jake Bugg as somehow in opposition to them. Bugg's obviously talented - or as much as a teenager in hock to a very narrow idea of the possibilities of song can be said to be talented - and might potentially one day do something interesting, though now that the Noel Gallagher crowd has its weight behind him I doubt it.

One Direction obviously have nothing to do with music as we know it, but in these times when charts don't matter and TV doesn't matter and everyone is basically following their own noses in terms of listening, who gives a shit? The only times I even notice One Direction is in Morley-style pieces and when I see their posters and calendars all over the place in high-street headphone shops that will soon be closed for good.

If I were Harry Styles - who I guess isn't seriously into any kind of music at all and doesn't dream of making the perfect 45 or anything - I'm sure any criticism that I was fake and manufactured would be easily brushed off in the context of my (presumably) making loads and loads of non-fake money and shagging loads and loads of very real lassies. (No doubt Jake Bugg is enjoying these things too, though more solemnly.)

Styles' X Factor audition, as a solo artists (the whole band auditioned as solo artists and Cowell had the masterful sense to put them together) it was as an 'authentic' 'alternative' 'rock' singer, actually.

He auditioned with Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely, which is kinda cool but hardly signifies 'authentic', 'alternative' or 'rock'.

(No doubt Jake Bugg is enjoying these things too, though more solemnly.)

Amazing

<i>If I were Harry Styles - who I guess isn't seriously into any kind of music at all...</i>

that is kind of a wildly presumptuous statement to make about almost anyone, much less someone who is actually in the music industry

He was in a band called White Eskimo before auditioning for X-Factor, IIRC. Still, I think Niall may have been the most *musically* driven before joining the band.

Cowell had the masterful sense to put them together

Or Nicole Scherzinger did, if you ask her.

Which one is Louis?

― Public Brooding Closet (cryptosicko), Saturday, March 2, 2013 10:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The gay one

― approx. david bowie (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, March 2, 2013 10:53 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Lotta rumors (and, as a consequence, slash-fic) about Louis & Harry, tbh.

I think it's an unfair assumption based on judgments about the type of music they make and where that music finds an audience to presume they themselves don't care about any kind of music at all. Also, in what way *should* they care and why? As a group whose average age is probably not even 20, I'm not sure what kinds of concerns or opinions about music any of them are supposed to have that would satisfy a guy like Morley or why they should be concerned with doing that in the first place.

Louis is easily my favourite member. Anyone who can go through the live shows on X Factor without singing a single note on stage deserves some kind of credit. His audition was the only time I actually heard him sing, his vocal was quite something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAs5Ei6Bfms

Also his grinning face when he mimes along with Harry at the judges houses is classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5UQD61Tg3E

Harry strikes me as one of those guys who *would* care about whether other people think he is authentic or not.

The group has a "egomaniac annexes four nice guys who have yet to realize what has happened" vibe to me.

If I were Harry Styles - who I guess isn't seriously into any kind of music at all...

that is kind of a wildly presumptuous statement to make about almost anyone, much less someone who is actually in the music industry

The "Harry's House" playlist on Spotify:

Jay-Z - 99 Problems
Justin Timberlake - Cry Me A River
Rolling Stones - Satisfaction
Queen - Don't Stop Me Now
Daniel Powter - Bad Day
Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling
Justin Timberlake - SexyBack
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Toploader - Dancing In The Moonlight

yes, you're right, people who like songs that are popular are not as seriously into music as you.

One Direction obviously have nothing to do with music as we know it

raised an eyebrow, thought "ooh here we go"

If I were Harry Styles - who I guess isn't seriously into any kind of music at all and doesn't dream of making the perfect 45 or anything -

BOOM - lolled a little, not as great as it could've been, entry level trollery imo

I mean I don't care whether Harry is "seriously into" music or not and it would actually be weird if he was. Most people who get seriously into music do so around university age and he hasn't had much free time since he was 16.

my eleven year-old daughter is seriously into music, as i remember being at her age.

boy bands really make a lot of people behave like complete morons huh

eyeball kicks most of all

altho tbf neither of his knew who Xenakis was at this age so credibility called into doubt i guess

like seriously read what you're saying it's just embarrassing

If I were Harry Styles - who I guess isn't seriously into any kind of music at all and doesn't dream of making the perfect 45 or anything -

BOOM - lolled a little, not as great as it could've been, entry level trollery imo

I guess. I'm not actually that bothered by people dreaming of making "the perfect 45", if they even still exist. We're all ridiculous in our own ways.

like seriously read what you're saying it's just embarrassing

Christ, here comes the nitwit brigade.

Pretty sure I'm saying the opposite of what you think I'm saying, but I'll read it again just to be sure.

you were just making assumptions about a correct way of engaging with music that doesn't stand up, i guess. hence the raillery. but, y'know, One Direction make music and some people really like it and some people don't care and they are all valid expressions of people's engagement with music.

the underlying talk of "seriously" liking music is misguided cos it implies that only "serious" music can be liked "seriously"

I used "seriously" as an intensifying adverb in a clause as carefully composed as to begin with "I guess". I understand there is always a kind of squeamishness on these threads, but the idea that I said anything about "a correct way of engaging with music" is daft and completely in your own head.

Being "seriously into" something (a colloquial phrase that itself suggests a lusty disregard of received notions of quality) doesn't at all imply that the object of interest is serious. I am seriously into muscle cars. I am seriously into my summer rhythm. I am seriously into him. Again, though, I acknowledge your right to be squeamish and I ought to have done more to anticipate it.

Whether Harry Styles is "seriously into" music or anything else at all is of no concern to me and does not affect how much I value his existence - or even his music! I idly speculated that music outwith his own career might not be a great passion of his - and his playlisting Toploader does seem to bear this out - but who knows?

w/e, mr defensive

So "he's a dilettante, but I like dilettantes", right

tbf, Daniel Powter is not music

can we just talk about Jedward instead of having this fight

I was seriously into Jedward until I saw them on Glasgow Green.

oof I tried listening to "Waterline", that was a mistake

also lol @ that Louis audition, wow

the only real bad thing about this band's continued success is seeing this embarrassing thread title keep popping up. i genuinely thought this would be another one of those groups that failed to crossover to America.

i don't think it's embarrassing, you asked the question, turned out the answer was "y".

'wrt to', tho

took me a minute even then

also lol @ that Louis audition, wow

― my super interesting Kant story (DJP)

I like how they only show ten seconds of him singing, like that was the best part of his audition. It's almost like it's supposed to be one of those terrible auditions we're supposed to laugh at but then Simon's there with his "You got three yeses" He's probably the luckiest guy alive.

He is especially lucky in the face

i genuinely thought this would be another one of those groups that failed to crossover to America.

There was a NYT article from a year ago that described how 1D was able to succeed across the pond:

Steve Barnett, the co-chairman of Columbia Records, said it was not a difficult decision to sign One Direction. “Other artists in that category had gotten a little older,” he said. “I just thought there was a void, and maybe they could seize and hold it.”

But Mr. Barnett and his team decided to reverse the usual pattern of releasing a single on radio, then bringing the band to America to do concerts. Instead the label mounted a four-month marketing campaign aimed at building a fan base through social media before a single was ever released or played on the radio here.

Then a social media campaign asked fans to sign petitions and to enter video competitions to win a concert in their town. (Dallas won, and One Direction will perform a concert there on Saturday; the group will play two dates in the New York area in May as part of a national tour.)

The strategy worked. The band’s Facebook followers in the United States rose to 400,000 from 40,000, label executives said. That One Direction topped the American chart underscores how powerful social media sites have become in marketing groups. “What Makes You Beautiful” sold more than 131,000 copies in its first week, even though it had yet to be played on the radio. Radio programmers were flooded with calls from fans.

Glad You Came >>> What Makes You Beautiful

I'd probably agree w/that.

I'm just glad I bumped this thread with an artist's rendering of ZAYN

Eh, something about the voice(s) on Glad You Came completely turns me off that song.

let me pour you a drink