Judging a CD by it’s Band-Name
We’ve all heard the old adage, you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, to the point that it’s become cliched (probably the most overused word on my blog), and yet it’s the most universally ignored proverb out of all the ones that come to my head. Possibly this could be due to the fact that a piece of wisdom is only wisdom if not many people take it on board. Christianity’s greatest theological mind, Christ himself puts it best when he quotes the prophet Isaiah, “they have eyes but they will not see, they have ears but they will not hear”. In other words, knowledge is fundamentally different to understanding. However, I am digressing badly here, so to take it back to topic…
Despite all the messages bombarded at us from childhood along the lines of “true beauty is on the inside” (effectively the same saying applied to a person instead of an object), we actively ignore the meanings and continually judge everything by image. The strength of the fashion industry is testament to this as well as the tragic pressures on women and men alike to become this beautiful stereotyped artificial image. The message even becomes actively resented and parodied. The prevailing attitude, indeed, seems to be ”that’s just something ugly people say”.
The world of media is also affected by this. Despite some very good “male” chick-flicks such as Definitely Maybe and What Women Want, some men will still reject a film based on it’s genre or intended audience. Alternatively, the adrenaline rushes of Vantage Point and Predator are just discarded by some in the opposite gender. Moreover, age certificates seem to have a large impact on how a film is perceived. Any film with an age rating lower than 12 seems to be asking for trouble. As a result, gratuitous violence and sexual scenes seem to be inserted into most films, seemingly just to avoid the dreaded PG rating, worse than a 1 star review. This just does not follow sometimes though: My fiancee and I, being fans of Winnie the Pooh, watched Piglet’s Big Movie the other day and were frankly not expecting it to be that good. In honesty, I cried the whole way through. No film has connected with me in such a powerful way before that and as a result I feel only shame. In basic terms, the plot itself centred around Piglet’s friends learning how much they took him and his role in the group for granted. Describing it in such a way doesn’t sum up the film adequetely though. Piglet is a character who has a good heart to serve his friends regardless of whether he is appreciated or not, though he does yearn for acknowledgement sometimes, but he can never receive it because his small size is that isn’t noticed. The message is simple and similar to the classic It’s a Wonderful Life: that the small things matter and our real achievements are the things that are under the surface. The country sounds of Carly Simon, who wrote much of the soundtrack, did nothing but add to the emotion of the film watching experience. In retrospect it was a really special film, but we came very close to not watching it on the grounds that it would be too simple and boring.
Music too is less about musical or lyrical prowess, and seemingly dominated by image. Now you may predict that I am going to launch into a tirade about Popular music, but if anything this is the music which is criminally underrated, whilst bands who are more amateur in abilities tend to get heaps of undeserved praise. McFly is an excellent example of the first of these. Sure, McFly enjoy success that people resent, having already achieved 10 No. 1 singles and a few chart-topping albums, but because of their status as a boy-band that are similar in image to Busted, a much worse band musically, they do not get the respect they deserve as artists.
No one will agree with me just on this argument alone, but please try to put prejudice aside and look objectively at the evidence. Unlike many boy-bands and pop-artists, McFly write all their own music and lyrics. Someone making a snide comment might smirk “It shows”, but again this is a show of resentment against their image. Their lyrics do not merely spout cringy cliches, but tackle unusual and diverse themes in their music, including old age (The Ballad of Paul K), humility in fame (Room on the 3rd Floor) and Halloween (Transylvania), as well as different aspects of love such as being reunited with an old flame (Memory Lane) and the bread and butter apology song (Sorry’s not good enough). Their music is heavily influenced by the Beatles, Queen and the Beach Boys (who are all streets ahead in credibility) and it can easily be heard. Moreover, it invariably reflects the mood of the song in a powerful way. Star-girl, whilst a bit corny (though no more corny than Jamiroquai’s excellent Cosmic Girl), has a space-theme which is reflected in the music strongly, whilst Ultraviolet is tranquil as a beach and Please, Please is more typically upbeat and rocking.
Compare the music, lyrics and artistry of McFly to more popular and more respected bands like the awful Scouting for girls, Oasis, Blur, Franz Ferdinand and a number of others and it’s mystifying how the latter bands are so much more popular. Scouting for Girls are among the worst bands I have ever heard. I’m sorry, but a song that has the lyrics “she’s flirty and thirty, isn’t that the age when they get dirty”, is just not credible. Juvenile is a far better word. You’d think that with no lower bar to how bad their lyrics can be that they’d have no need to repeat some of them endlessly. Just think “She’s so loverly”, which they seem to keep saying until they remember what lyrics come next. It’s not just their lyrics, their songs are so endlessly repetitive to the extent that you would question whether they can play more than four guitar chords. It’s hard to see what the band have apart from image and a penchant for vulgarity, which unfortunately seem to go hand in hand. Franz Ferdinand lack the ability to write anything, so rely either on covers or write one-dimensionally about how “evil” they are. Oasis and Blur’s lyrics don’t make sense either, though to their credit they at least make up for that with some brilliant melodies. This hardly means that their music is higher calibre however, though I am a fan.
Even our Rhythm and Poetry masters in the field of Rap can’t seem to muster more than one theme, namely how good they are, how rich they are, how they get all the chicks and how they and their homies are going to bust you up. Okay, make that four. I find it ridiculous how these guys can be respected by so many people and other acts that work hard on their lyrics such as McFly and Will Young are just discarded as chart-topping trash.
Ultimately, I am convinced that image plays as large a part in this world as anything else. It’s a shame, but it overall it is a natural attribute of human nature. However, if you are able to put prejudices aside and look under the surface and “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”, you’ll be doing something very abnormal. You’ll be sharing an attribute with one of God’s own. It’s supernatural.
