Same Old Song

My last post yesterday evening caused some debate between myself and Tommy. Tommy took exception to this comment. “It's one of the reasons I'm not all that interested in Franz Ferdinand, Orange Juice and Josef K did the same stuff better 25 years and more ago.”

He had a go at me for not being bothered by Franz Ferdinand on the grounds that I've heard it before and being done better. This he said proved his point on a comment at Ronnie’s site a few weeks ago when the discussion then was about ska. This being the crux of his argument.
“I don't think it's so much that people have a problem with the music itself. They have a problem with the trends and fads that made it popular. Ska in the late 90s boom definitely falls into this category. Just like bands from the Strokes through to Franz Ferdinand just now still take crap for just ripping off and ruining bands from days gone by. The moral of the story is: don't fear change, embrace it.”

My point was simply I’m not going to be excited by a band who are doing something that I’ve already heard done better several years ago. My point wasn’t that Franz Ferdinand should give up; just that what they’re doing isn’t awe inspiring for me. I’m not even accusing them of ripping off Orange Juice or Josef K. It probably is more their popularity that baffles me than the music. But then again Stereophonics became massively popular despite being no better than your average pub band. Maybe I am trying to highlight the fact that most folk who love Franz Ferdinand don't know much of Orange Juice's back catalogue or have heard of Josef K. But that's musical trends for you.

Sounding like other bands is part of music. But I’m not that interested by people retreading old ground and doing nothing new with it. Same as I’m not interested in comedians doing material I’ve heard better before or artists who paint in a similar style but not as well as their heroes. Not saying there’s not a place for them, but why get excited?