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The Guardian reaches into it's arse..


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...and pulls out another pile of shite.

The people at the Guardian have to get over themselves..can anyone tell me what Franz Ferdinand have to do with punk?

The slow death of punk

The well-adjusted, polite, politically inert, prize-winning Franz Ferdinand is the ultimate bland band

John Harris

Thursday September 9, 2004

The Guardian

Roll over Sid, and tell Joe Strummer the news: whereas the kind of British musicians who attracted words like "alternative" were once duty-bound to affect a mixture of rage, debauchery and indolence, their modern heirs are a terrifyingly well-adjusted bunch. Tuesday evening provided conclusive evidence: when Alex Kapranos, singer with the allegedly iconoclastic Franz Ferdinand and fan of the word "fantastic", accepted the Nationwide Mercury Prize, his speech proved that the last embers of punk attitude have been long since snuffed out.

"We didn't really expect to win this," he said. "We are truly gobsmacked. It's fantastic. We feel very chuffed, very honoured - particularly this year when we're surrounded by such fantastic music. The bands this year do reflect a trend in the UK towards fantastic music."

His words were rather reminiscent of another ceremonial oration, made at the 1996 Brit Awards: "It's been a great year for British music. A year of creativity, vitality, energy. British bands storming the charts; British music back once again in its right place, at the top of the world." Tony Blair said that.

The fact that Franz Ferdinand are fond of such un-rock notions as politeness, humility and a New Labour-ish sense of national renewal shouldn't be a shock. Though their music (designed, in Kapranos's words, "for girls to dance to") marks a welcome break from the kind of drab balladry that dominated the airwaves in the slipstream of Britpop, it is not as revolutionary as their champions are wont to suggest. To this slightly cynical mind, their records and videos are suggestive of a school play about the early 1980s. Scabrous guitar lines, side partings, a bit of stilted white funk, some Dadaist intellectual exotica - older listeners will find themselves back in the world once defined by the likes of Wire, Gang of Four and A Certain Ratio. That Franz Ferdinand are a pretty good group is beyond doubt, but in historical context, they're also depressingly conservative.

more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1300413,00.html

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he saying their shit and quite bloody rite...snowpatrol should've won they've struggling away for years!

So what if they've been struggling away for years? Perhaps they were pish before? I'm no Snow Patrol fan' date=' especially after having to listen to every one of the singles off their album almost every fucking day, but from all accounts I've heard that their earlier stuff is utter shite.

Saying they deserve the prize because they've been struggling away for years is basically saying the Mercury prize should be awarded for effort rather than quality. Although it's a shame it's not even awarded for that.... anyway, that's the musical equivalent of saying Paul Dickov deserves his place in the Scotland team because "he puts in a lot of effort", which doesn't hide the fact he's pish.

PS I am in no way a Franz Ferdinand fan. Although I have danced to Take Me Out a few times.

[/rant']

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Guest Jake Wifebeater
Haha true.

But i dont think they are that bad but each to their own.

Not sure what they have to do with punk tho.

About as much as the Libertines i.e. zip. Squat. Jack. Nowt. Nil. Hee-haw.

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