The Enemy - 'You're Not Alone'
One of these days I suspect I will have some sort of small coronary as a direct result of reading the comments that readers of various sites and blogs (not our fragrant readers, obviously, whose comments are always articulate and insightful and entirely welcome, natch) tend to leave. The sort that, were I an anime character, would leave me goggling "WTF?!?!" in a large, spikey-edged speech bubble, while clutching my chest and toppling backwards out of frame, possibly reaching up in the next panel and clutching vainly at the bottom of the frame, purely for comedy purposes.
While tracking down this song on teh internets for reviewing purposes, my attention was caught by a comment a user of another site left wishing the band luck. I won't repeat the exact comment here because it doesn't feel entirely sporting, but the overall sentiment was that 'real' bands have a much harder time of things making it in the music world than the sort of cheesy pop automatons produced by Simon Cowell's many television shows. And possibly in the short term, that makes a lick of sense.
But those stars burn brightly and short-out pretty fast, and have to fight tooth and nail for even the smallest jot of critical respectabilty (with Lemar, Will Young and Girls Aloud being the only acts that spring to mind as examples of those who successfully outgrew their humble reality-show beginnings), while it seems sometimes that any nitwit who wrote their own song in a garage somewhere with nothing but a GUITAR and some DREAMS can become an indie hero and critical darling forever.
Case in point: I'm not really sure The Enemy are all that beleaguered, are they? Two Top 10 singles and No.1 album would beg to differ, after all, and I'm sure I've heard the words "future of music" bandied around in their general surroundings, so I don't think commercial success and critical appreciation are their biggest problem right now.
Indeed, I could go on at length about how pop is the new underground and indie is the new pop and how you'll have a much harder time launching a pop group these days than you would launching an indie band, but that's all not really going to serve the purpose of reviewing this song so I'll save that one for a rainy winter's day.
Turning to the song in question, it's interesting, because I'd been wondering what happened to all the songs that should have been on the second Killers album, instead of most of the disappointing trot that ended up on there. In fairness to the band, it's only really the opening and post-chorus riff that has that true '80s-worshipping quality to it - and ends up being the only really noteworthy part of the song. The rest sadly never quite amounts to anything as rousing or anthemic as it clearly thinks it ought to be.
(Note: the last song I said this about was Snow Patrol's 'Chasing Cars', and look what happened there, though I still believe I was right and I will very maturely blow a big raspberry in your face if you suggest otherwise)
It might've all been saved by a killer chorus, but it just doesn't come together - I didn't feel inspired, or that any kind of revolution was on the horizon; I just felt like I'd spent three-and-three-quarter minutes listening to a fairly standard and ultimately disposable pop song. But then, they have commercial success and the critics on their side through the wonders of GUITARS and DREAMS, so I'm not sure they should exactly be fearing my disinterest just yet.
Download: Out now
CD Released: September 17th
(Steve Perkins)
Comments
3*?!?! More like 5!
my hair dresser met the singer a few weeks ago in a bar. they come from coventry which is about 20 mins away from here. i cant say im a huge fan of their stuff though..
"I won't repeat the exact comment here because it doesn't feel entirely sporting, but the overall sentiment was that 'real' bands have a much harder time of things making it in the music world than the sort of cheesy pop."
I'm sorry for these people. Yes I listen to rock music before someone points out the fact I'm a fanatic for the genra, but more importantly I love music as a whole. How can you claim to love music without listning to all genras then making your mind up. I'm sorry for the people who are too closed minded to realise that any musican deserves respect.
Here, here, Sammie...thinking that the harder the struggle for recognition, the better the music must be is just daft! I think some people are addicted to being the underdog.
That may be why people who win tv shows end up being derided - even if they're obviously good at what they're doing. I suppose there's an element of open-mindedness about even that attitude, though - we don't want to be spoonfed what we're told is good, and be unreceptive to all the hidden talent that there must be out there. You can go too far towards prejudice in either direction, can't you?