Is it me, or is indie rock getting bigger? Surely we can all agree that there is a lot of it about. In naked sales terms alone, dishevelled types with guitars have been shifting very nicely of late. Snow Patrol sold the most albums in the UK last year - 1.6 million - narrowly edging out Arctic Monkeys. The year before, Coldplay's X&Y led the sales chart.
These popularity contests so often used to be the preserve of pop acts, like Robson & Jerome or the Corrs; light entertainers with nice teeth. The national mood, it seems, has grown sombre, and now requires pianos and big, melancholic singalongs about chasing cars. Even more weirdly, pop is now the preserve of adults. Kids like the Kooks. Their parents buy Take That albums and have a secret thing for Girls Aloud.
Coldplay's X&Y, for instance, was a bit like A Rush Of Blood To The Head (the band's benchmark) injected with collagen. It was plump, sure and ambitious, but not a little hollow and vapid compared to their best work. EOTSA! Brian Eno - a key player in U2's success - is said to be working on Coldplay's next one: cue very, very large whooshy noises.
Read the full article here
Recommended Comments