I PREDICT A RIOT

Kaiser Chiefs

I don’t care if this is a re-issue, it was a great song first time round and nothing’s changed my mind about it since then. Picture yourself walking through a really rough part of town late one night (perhaps not downtown Bow Brickhill). You’d be a bit wary, wouldn’t you? Now picture yourself listening to this song on your iPod / Walkman / Technics 1200 * (delete as appropriate) – after taking in the lyrics you’d be absolutely bricking it. This is possibly the best song the Kaiser Chiefs have done so far and it’s so bleak that, quite frankly, the writers must have had some pretty bad nights on the town to be able to pen this. “Walking through town is quite scary / Not very sensible either” – that’s from the first verse and after that it’s all downhill. The singer’s mate gets beaten up (possibly by a policeman, Claims Direct would have a field day there), then the singer himself gets into a ruck because a taxi arrives for him and some bloke in a tracksuit decides he saw it first. Blimey, the final episode of Blake’s 7 has a happier ending than this. I don’t know if this song’s meant to describe Britain’s Booze Culture (© The Daily Mail and assorted red-top tabloids) or saying that kids today don’t have any respect for their elders (the sort of phrase that sounds like it should be followed a short time later by “Of course, I remember when all this was fields”) or anything else, but it makes for one hell of a good song and as a music reviewer, that’s all I’m bothered about for now.

I'LL BE O.K.

McFly

I’ve never done too well with songs like this. Give me a song I can think about or can listen to over and over with the knowledge that I can hear something that I’d never noticed before and I’m as happy as a child that’s discovered how to make Weebles fall down. However, give me a chirpy, happy, let’s all sing along pop song and things usually turn ugly. Now, I don’t have a problem with “good” pop songs, as an example Rachel Stevens has somehow turned out a couple of good singles recently. However, there are others and they’re not so good. I hear some of these and I think to myself, “If I ever meet the songwriter, I’ll recognise him / her straight away as he / she will have a wide-eyed and happy face, one that can express anything bar intelligence”. This one isn’t as bad as that, but it still has a Saturday Morning Kids TV feel to it. It’s happy, it’s jolly, it’s jangly, but at least the lyrics have had a little bit of thought put into them. Actually, they’re pretty miserable – must be a theme this week. Bloke’s split up with his girlfriend, none of his mates can be bothered to see how he’s doing, so during the chorus he’s trying to repeatedly persuade himself he’ll be fine. Do you know, this song’s winning me over – I like the idea of the happy tune / down in the dumps lyrics combination. If you want fun and games, buy the Crazy Frog’s wares. If you want to hear a band that seems to be slowly embracing the world of doom and gloom, McFly are here for you. With a car, a locked garage and a hosepipe, if they carry on like this.

WE ARE ALL ON DRUGS

Weezer

This week, I was looking forward to some happy tunes but let’s face it, when even McFly can’t fly the flag for cheeriness it’s time for a change of plan. So here we are with Weezer, and you can tell what the subject matter’s going to be about. The tune’s quite good, actually, what with the guitars going all dark and moody, but as an anti-drugs message, it doesn’t have anything new to say – worse, the lyrics sound like a script for a Public Information Film. The Grange Hill Cast did a better job of getting the message across than this – frightening thought.