Kaiser Chiefs
Employment

THE REVIEW

The template that many critics follow with bands like the Kaiser Chiefs is almost deadly monotonous. A renowned magazine from across the Channel (New Musical Express or Melody Maker, magazines inclined to prematurely applaud many debuting bands, only to then crucify them by the second album) highlights this or that single, when one is fortunate enough to actually have something in hand to listen to, pointing out the hapless band of the moment as a future star in the international music firmament. To complete this outright scam, other music journals, even here in Italy, slavishly align themselves with British dictates and begin to sing the praises of new ranks of beardless and cocky youngsters. Most of the time, they hide behind a diplomatic "it's nothing new, but they're good at reworking", pretending to ignore that this explanation is valid for at most only 10% of the bands created (or rather "hyped") at the drawing table by record companies.
One positive note: in the U.S. music market, what they would call a "pacco" in Naples almost never works. Not even Oasis and Blur, the true leaders of the much-talked-about "British invasion" (of which no one in America has noticed yet) have ever truly managed to break through overseas.

The Kaiser Chiefs are less interesting than the explanation behind their sudden success. A couple of catchy singles ("I Predict A Riot" and "Oh My God") are now within everyone's reach. To be generous, one could give them a scant passing grade, but in a class of copycats, as the current English music scene appears, our five lads from Leeds still have much to learn if they want to release at least another couple of records before disappearing.