the 1975

i listen to the album + brad's playlist of the other tracks pretty much constantly

i told a music industry friend how into this band i was and that i thought she would like them and she was APPALLED. she's been telling all her colleagues the hilarious story of how her friend thought she would like the 1975. "real rock music" people (is this a thing? idk) really hate this band!!

Heard 'girls' on the radio and finally had to get the album. Pretty good stuff... first new band I've really gotten into this year.

post that's been the reaction I've gotten too - they're dismissed as a boyband dressed up as rock.

yeah and with certain people you get the combo of boy band dressed up like rock PLUS mainstream rock

they're the skid row of their day (minus the weird homophobic flare-ups)

They did get the award for worst band of 2013 by the NME, though that's probably a plus nowadays.

I find it interesting that they seem so strongly disliked by a lot of people who, for instance, gave The Killers a free pass for so long.

isnt there a song where they explicitly reference the killers lol

i can't think of what song you're thinking of deej unless you're referring to the "all my friends" quote that introduces "sex"

which lol/otm to mistaking that song for the killers

The boyband reaction is interesting because it's partly otm -- there's definite boyband dna in Healy's vocal approach (though maybe that's because "boyband" is the most recent reference point for what is essentially blue-eyed soul singing). Not that boyband should be an insult, but it's not like people who are hearing that are imagining it.

i think there's a concision to the songwriting that scans as pop v much

its also produced very 'clean'

i'd think boyband (or at least boyband aimed at midteen rather than tween) is a totally reasonable surmise for a casual scanner, anything else would be unusual

name that sounds industry lazy + hot singer + girlhordes + jangly jaunty 'girls' and 'chocolate' radio singles etc

the unfair dismissal is perhaps that they haven't really had credit for being a really good boyband rather than for the underappreciation of the rest of their variform oeuvre (but then without instruction i doubt that penny would have dropped for me either in fairness)

personally i had a hard enough time justifying bloody paramore past guitar acquaintances last year (lol proper angry unreconstructed rockism argument like it was 2002 ✌) so the notion that a cool norm might spot the interest in this lot on their own is super absurd to me tbh

the boyband thing might also be in part due to their working with / being close with one direction

Is it possible they've gotten a lot better live the last year? I've never seen them live but their reputation in the Netherlands has been pretty much destroyed last year after some sloppy, mediocre, meh gigs, according to a unanimous press.

first time i saw them was in june 2013 opening for the neighbourhood and they were amazing then

There always seemed to be "something" underneath the critique of the live shows, but I wasn't able to put my finger on it. Came from several people who's live reviews I usually value highly though. Think it definitely has something to do with them not being 'cool' in rock circles though. But maybe they just had a bad gig or two, it happens.

It's all part of the same dynamic IMO: the amount of high-pitched screaming from fans at their shows is out of control. If you were gonna be on the fence otherwise that might tip you into "awful".

I'd be amazed if they had problems related to being sloppy live, seeing as how much is triggered/programmed. Which in itself may be a big reason why many rock fans write them off: not authentic enough to be a rock band. Which is a taxonomical mistake anyway: they're not a rock band of any atripe; they're a really smart pop group who teeter into rock on occasion, and who fool people by adopting the poses - moody, black clad, ripped clothes - of a rock band.

BTW Brad, your Haim/1975 piece made me tip off Alex in our NY office to you. Good to see you writing for us. You should get in contact with me, too.

Any "stripe" not "atripe".

I agree with the above although I think the "rock" aspects of the band are not limited to their poses and use of guitars (in both cases they're barely pushing further in this direction than OneDirection) but also encompass a lot of their more exploratory impulses - the vagueness of stuff like "anobrain" feels like it exists outside the spectrum of what pop ordinarily will allow of its exponents (exceptions to that rule, like Saint Etienne, tend to have a self-consciously conflicted r'ship with "pop").

That said you can probably dismiss the above given most people's judgments of this band will be premised on the singles rather than EP b-sides.

By the way, this group is another Healy touchstone, which I've not seen him mention in any interviews (but seeing as I'm very much the middle aged, father of two, overweight, ginger equivalent of Taylor Swift, he texted me out of the blue to point out).

You can certainly hear where the EP tracks come from here …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwcd23nURAs

nah let's pretend he said british electric foundation instead

BTW Brad, your Haim/1975 piece made me tip off Alex in our NY office to you

i was wondering how that happened. thank you so much!

Regarding the contempt rock community shows them...Well, I haven't seen Matt showing a lot of interest in the UK rock scene either. They're not really enthused about being part of any mancunian legacy; they're more interested in hanging out with One Direction rather than the Arctic Monkeys, their main influences Scritti, Blue Nile and the sophistipop scene which doesn't have that much traction neither among their contemporaries nor the current crop of rock critics. Even amidst the current 80's revival they're pretty much their own thing, and don't seem to care about the bands and the things they should be caring about in order to "belong".

my dislike of the 1975 is certainly not because they're too boyband/not rockbloke enough

They're not really enthused about being part of any mancunian legacy

heaven forfend. not really sure people would hold this against them anyway. they're all from cheshire too.

my dislike of the 1975 is certainly not because they're too boyband/not rockbloke enough

― lex pretend, Tuesday, December 9, 2014 6:04 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I doubt anyone was thinking of you when they were referring to the specific type of dislike of this band they encounter from certain circles.

Maybe lex has been advising the NME under some sort of Al Gore / Naomi Wolf style arrangement.

The 1975 are the new Beatles.

I see Prefab Sprout was mentioned a few times upthread. I remember Two Wheels Good generating buzz and consternation in the college-radio clique at the time -- the Clash fans who had followed the Jam-to-Style Council lineage approved, and the ones who had gone Dead Kennedys-Black Flag wanted nothing to do with it.

They did get the award for worst band of 2013 by the NME, though that's probably a plus nowadays.

― cpl593H, Monday, December 8, 2014 2:19 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Plus or not, it was the most OTM thing the NME had done for years.

How can I not love something that lex and turrican and nme hate. That's an unbeatable venn diagram.

did i talk about how incredible "menswear" was live

that was one point where i intensely loved the crowd bc they sang every word

The 1975 are the new Beatles.

― burbbhrbhbbhbburbbb ranks (The Reverend), Thursday, December 11, 2014 8:22 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

So hateful.

ha I was mostly pointing out that the Fabs were dismissed as a boy band for screaming teenage girls when they first came out

(I like the 1975 tho not as much as Tim or Brad do fwiw)

can someone work out a genealogy of his voice? i've never really vibed with mallpunk or screamo stuff and what he does seems like a compelling take on it; def gets to me but still remains unloveable if that makes sense

i kinda feel like frederick in amadeus holding up my hand, "too many... syllables"

imo they are fking rad & anyone on the fence needs new ears

I've only just listened to this lot for the first time, annoyed that no-one told me that they sound like Aztec Camera or I would have investigated sooner

add that to the list

My wife hates Scritti and Aztec Camera, first thing she said when she caught me listening to The 1975: "I never thought there would be shit like this again"

Haha, bless.

The above, and my own taking to 1975 earlier already but also One Direction recently: I think both bands could be heralded, in ten years time, for their emancipatory work in the field. Bridging the gap between pop and rock. For some reason it's not "cool" to like 1975. We've established the sonic comparisons between them and 1D in this thread already. Both seem to 'wash' out of their genre like waves, into other genres. Purists hate this, and there will for ever be purists. But I strongly believe both of these bands are doing lots of dirty pioneering work in blurring the lines between 'pop' and 'rock'. And I applaud this.

Special q for Tim F: when I first heard the 1975 - not knowing anything about them - I could have sworn they were from Down Under. They sound so Australian to me, and still do! I can't put my finger on it as to why. Imagine the 1975 having been around back in the day to soundtrack Heartbreak High! Would've been perfect! Do you agree, and if so, why do they sound so Australian? For they certainly are light years away from anything Manchester, either streetwise or gritwise or sound wise.

I actually think they make sense as a Manchester band (or Manchester-area band). Not that Manchester bands are any one thing, but the Factory/Madchester lineage is really pretty catholic and pop-friendly. Given a few years, it turned punk into New Order. Mick Hucknall and Shaun Ryder only grew up a few miles away from each other.

I actually think they make sense as a Manchester band (or Manchester-area band). Not that Manchester bands are any one thing, but the Factory/Madchesterlineage is really pretty catholic and pop friendly.

This is obviously true. No band is or represents a city. But I have difficulty placing the 1975 in any Manchester tradition tbh. Outskirts band really, perhaps more expected to be from Salford or the likes? There's a contrarian element of not wanting to be cool to them, which I love. Must be Salford :)

omg this show!

healy smoked and swigged champagne (or maybe just sauv blanc? who knows) the entire fucking time. i've always thought "settle down" was the ONE on the album but maybe after tonight i'm wrong and it's "chocolate"?

"medicine" was the boringest song of the set tbh

walked out into a crowd of parents waiting to pick up their kids, loool

I went on Sunday night - it was exactly the same as above (and indeed exactly the same as when I saw them last time, except for the addition of "Medicine" and "Is There Somebody Who Can Watch You" - or at least I couldn't remember the latter from the previous show). I enjoyed "Medicine" though!

Took a friend who likes them but doesn't ~follow music~ and he was really creeped out by the preponderance of 14 year old girls. It was, like, most of the crowd. He was reluctant to accept my (earnest) representations that this was at least in part a sign of the band's quality. Those girls, they know.

Though Healy taking off his shirt for several songs was just baiting.

"settle down" is maybe my fave 1975 song but it was the most disappointing live (not that it was bad). the instrumental section didn't really hit. it kind of tempered the song instead of elevating it to a level of unparalleled ecstasy like the studio version does.

still remember my world crashing down around me at the "WELL NOW THAT YOU'VE GOT YOUR GUN" part of 'robbers' <3