All Killer, No Filler

I was having a bit of a text marathon with a musically learned mate of mine last week (don’t worry, it was nothing bent). We were talking about under rated albums, and it got me thinking about the bands that have quality by the bucket load, bands who have never released a shit album. Controversy, I hear? Now, I know everyone has different tastes when it comes to music and one man’s shit is another man’s perfection. I even know some people who own S Club 7 Albums! I also had a conversation the other day with some bird about how shit she reckons Franz Ferdinand are. This same person also thinks Razorlight are a superb band. We all know where I stand on that issue so you probably don’t need to know what my reply was. So this only proves the myth that everyone does have different tastes. I have an old saying: If we all liked the same thing I’m sure it would be a pretty dull place to live. I’ll always stand by this, but this Blog is also about personal opinion. That’s the main reason I write it. Now, we all know most bands have a ‘Tin Machine’ moment, but the bands that do usually release the quality records are the ones that take their time writing, producing and releasing them at the exact right moment (usually when their competition are winding up their last album/tour cycle). They are usually the bands who aren’t too scared to put two fingers up to the pushy records executives and say “fuck you! We’ll record and release this in our own time” – That, I greatly admire in any band. Maybe it is the time difference between each of their albums or maybe it is down to that fact that they are immensely talented musicians and very clever songwriters who know the difference between all killer and no filler. Or is there a lack of bands who are genuinely interested in writing quality music that they actually do care about or are there far too many bands interested in the life style of a rock star and the celebrity that comes with it as most people might agree here that the possibility of throwing one up Kate Moss is pretty great if you become a member of a vaguely successful band? And an appealing one as well. But, the sad fact is that there are a lot of shit bands who will write anything to appeal to the masses and write and album full of pub sing a long songs (The Fratelis, The Enemy, Kaiser Chiefs, Oasis, etc, etc – just a few examples in my opinion) and will not use their possible short time in music to treat what they are releasing and writing with respect but spend it on doing long tours and far too many festival appearances to fill their coffers. I did make a point before about personal taste, but in my opinion I would say there are maybe four bands that have never made a bad album during their time in music, they are: The Killers (Hot Fuss, Sam’s Town, Day & Age)

Arcade fire (Funeral, Neon Bible)

Queens of the Stone Age (Rated R, Songs for the Deaf, Lullabies to Paralyze, Era Vulgaris)

Pavement (Slanted and Enchanted, Crooked Rain Crooked Rain, Wowee Zowee, Brighten the Corners, Terror Twilight) Many of the above bands will not seem recognisable or even relevant to many of the people reading this Blog, but if you think about it, many of them are considered hugely influential in the many genres of music they represent in the present day and at the time of their circulation. Pavement are one of the greatest American alternative bands to come out of the nineteen nineties ‘left of the dial’ era, Queens on the Stone Age represent the crème de la crème of the so called Nu-Metal scene (I still prefer to call it Rock Music though), The Killers are the modern day Pet Shop boys with guitars who have fans right across the board and Arcade Fire are considered in many quarters of the music press to be the greatest band on the planet. If you come round to my house at any given day I’m sure you’ll find one of the above albums being played. Just make sure you give us a bell first as I might have my Speedos on while sitting in the garden with the missus. Now, I know a lot of you reading this will probably be shaking your head in disarray now and saying “he’s forgot about these” or “he’s forgot about them” or “what about my favourite band blah blah”, I can totally understand. Honestly I can, but I’m not an agony aunt, so go and take your moaning to someone who gives a shit! haha, kidding. But, seriously, there are another type of band that have never released a bad album, they are the one hit wonders. And I know what a certain G Roberts of Skelmersdale, Merseyside (haha) will be thinking: the La’s. The La’s are the most notable of bands that fall into the category of one hot wonders (don’t worry, that will be the last time I say that as I find the term extremely annoying as well). The making and release of their album (The La’s) was shrouded in mystery and was the stuff of urban myths. It was eventually ‘forced out’ by their label Go Discs in the early 90’s after they allegedly finally ran out of patience with Lee Mavers’ after many years of recording demos and his bizarre insistence of having ‘60’s dust’ inside his Vox amp! (again; allegedly) Mavers, though, was a very talented songwriter, but sadly bordered on being a floored genius with an obsession with perfectionism which eventually resulted in The La’s never releasing anything ever again. Damn shame if you ask me as I grew up listening to The La’s and, being from Huyton, getting to know some of them (ouch my foot!)* The same could be said about Guns N Roses’ most recent release Chinese Democracy even though it was not a debut they did take a hell of a long time to release an album. The Sex Pistols are another band that fall into this category after releasing Never Mind the Bollocks in 1978. Of course they had no choice as to release a follow up as they had a couple of small issues such as fighting, drugs, contractual issues, major implosion and the suicide of Sid Vicious to deal with. However ‘Bollocks’ is still the benchmark for many up and coming punk rock bands even today. As is The La’s debut with many Indie bands and Appetite for Destruction was without doubt one of the finest rock albums of all time. *name dropping can sometimes hurt your foot. So, if you have no patience for bands who release an album with two good singles and a load of filler tracks and you wanna take some musical advice from yours truly (go on, just this once, please), get onto some of the above list and use them vouchers you got for crimbo that are still burning a hole in you sky rocket. Mol