donjunio

Undying, in my personal opinion, rock has long since completed its arc. The last gasp was in the early 90s with grunge, Lollapalooza, crossover, Massive Attack, industrial, and the very first post-rock. Now, there are only a few mavericks here and there like Xiu Xiu. But they obviously remain on the fringes of the mainstream. Rock has become a genre of convention, fossilized. A merchandise category to display on supermarket shelves. This standardization is visible in every detail, from the look to the lyrics. In contemporary rock, what matters is not so much what you sound like, but what you represent and how you appear.
There are still some who reinterpret it with vigor and freshness, but without organic completeness. The first single by Bloc Party, for example, was excellent. It really "sounded" modern, the result of a new stylistic hybridization (nothing like the "funky vibe" of Franz Ferdinand!). However, the rest of the album was indeed rather bland.
Moreover, today we are witnessing this revival of rock also because the electronics that carved out a crucial space in the second half of the 90s have dramatically deflated. The music industry, however, must produce, showbiz must shift up a notch, and music magazines must sell. Everything counts, as my grandmother used to say: hence a once-serious magazine like "Rumore" slapping Pete Doherty on the cover with the headline FUCK FOREVER. After all, in Rumore, many of those who today rave about a rock revolution were writing 7-8 years ago that rock was dead and idolizing Prodigy or FatBoy Slim.

I saw System of a Down in 2002 and they put on a good concert. How they perform live now, I don't know and I don't care; they were a creative band, even if they've become quite barren in terms of composition now. I certainly didn't buy "Mesmerize," I downloaded it: I'm not a die-hard fan of theirs. I've never seen Linkin Park live, but they've never created anything original, and you can feel that live. I heard them in Texas and it was truly uniquely flat, with marble-like riffs and the usual catchy choruses. You might argue that a concert is about the feeling, the ability to engage the audience: but even admitting they play with energy and vitality, I don't believe it's anything more than a muscular performance, with the usual backstreet boys moves of nu metal, amidst winks at the cameras and high-fives with fans in the front row. After all, that's what the fans expect from LP: fun and energy. Bye.

On the fact that it has revived rock, I have some doubts. If you mean bringing rock back to the top of the charts, all the bands of the so-called "rock revolution" have sold less than Linkin Park in recent years. So rock has never really left the charts. Perhaps thanks to Pete Doherty, rock even made it to the cover of Panorama alongside Kate Moss: if that’s an achievement, we'll let you decide... As for the intrinsic value of these bands, it’s clear that everyone has their own opinion. But notice this: the new single by the Arctic Monkeys is practically identical to "Jacqueline" by the FF. Clearly, the soup is always the same.
It doesn’t seem to me that NME brings people closer to a different kind of music. That genre has always been the most popular in England, and the frenzy with which the turnover occurs doesn’t seem to favor musical quality. Just like in the grunge era, when hideous little bands popped up like mushrooms in an orgy of long hair, tattered sweaters, and whiny-depressing lyrics, all of which quickly landed contracts and visibility.
England has always had a splendid imperial attitude and markets as innovative products those that are actually honest bands retracing its glorious musical tradition. Thanks also to the provincialism of those who – like in Italy – review all the press releases from NME before writing for the main industry newspapers.

Oh yes, franied, seeing Linkin Park live must be an amazing experience. You have no idea how much I envy you.

Copernicus, calm down... you mentioned the Arctic and the Domino proposals, so you talked about the future, and I felt compelled to make a comment! Hi.

here is my rating of the album, just in case it wasn't clear

Well, Copernicus, of course we'll be hearing about the monkeys... in the UK they're already replacing the Franz. This is because we are facing a phenomenon that transcends the performers, made up of fake alternative boxes to be filled with always new faces. We're confronted with the same interchangeability that characterized the most trivial phenomena of the fake alternative 90s: from Franz Ferdinand we move to Arctic Monkeys, just as from Bush we moved to Staind, or from Limp Bizkit to Linkin Park...
There's little to say about the record in question. Personally, I can't find a single article about Franz that changes my mind. "Very funky roots"? I hear only idiotic rhythms, suitable for making some hipster dance on "alternative" dance floors. And please: enough with the term "rock and roll" just because you’re spoon-fed by the NME. Rock and roll is something else; it’s a genre born on the streets, steeped in an urgency that certainly can't be shared by bands playing at fashion showcases...
At least bands like The Strokes have written some good songs. Who knows if we can ever say the same about Franz Ferdinand.

SOAD are the classic band that has lost much of its initial shine. Even so, I think it's a stretch to label a musical proposal that - however homogenized - sends out a single like "Byob" on MTV as "shit." Certainly, it's a piece that functions for many alternative-noglobal and their expectations, but it's still better than at least 95% of the stuff that airs on MTV. Sure, releasing two albums was a bit of a sell-out move, but Radiohead did it too... and no one was scandalized. This is showbiz. Of course, today SOAD don't hold the same weight as bands like Xiu Xiu - who are excluded from the mainstream - but in the category of "alternative vanity," in these grim times, they’re still among the best.

oops the votes

This album is a true cult classic. Westerberg has a spine-tingling voice and a confident, brilliant writing style. Listening to tracks like "I Will Dare" and "Unsatisfied" always sends chills down your spine. Bob Stinson, with his rough guitar work, was the soul of the Mats, and indeed, once he left the band, the decline would begin inevitably. "Let It Be" captures Stinson and Westerberg at their peak. A notch below Husker Du, but still a fundamental band of that era. Excellent review.