What the FUCK?!

I have just come away from hearing the UK Top 40, and the crazy frog song is at number 1. Coldplay, the band on which everyone's hopes were pinned, had their new single debut at number 2. None of the DJs involved in presenting the shows I was listening to bothered to conceal their opinion of the outcome, and one of them, with a veneer of humour that was only barely there, said he wanted a recount.

It beggars belief that after all the musical movements that have come to pass in the last century, shit like this still sells by the bucketload. A related contest was run by one of the Brighton radio stations, to see what would be voted 5 worst novelty tunes ever. When the results were announced, a snippet of each was played. Amongst the songs were Do The Bartman, Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls, Bob the Builder, and at number one, the admittedly dire Teletubbies theme. Yet I was struck by the fact that no matter how bad they were, the crazy frog was worse. In fact, it made Do The Bartman sound like The Smashing Pumpkins. I'm not joking. I recently read a humour piece in the Friday Thing where the author suggested that the creator of this song should be locked in a room, and forced to listen to this song 24/7, non-stop for a year, and see how he likes it then, when he emerges completely and utterly deranged. I am in complete support.

I remember when Coldplay first appeared on the scene way back when. I remember thinking the same of them as I did of Travis and the Stereophonics: Solid, but completely and utterly unremarkable, and the singles from their first album didn't nothing to change that. I think their problem at that time was that there was still quite a few superior bands around at the same time who were at their peak, and Chris Martin's lot just weren't on a level sufficent enough to compete with them. Fast forward two years though, during which Radiohead disappear off out on a left-field limb and the Smashing Pumpkins split up, the band puts out A Rush Of Blood To The Head and Chris Martin gets it together with Gwyneth Paltrow. The former I have since discovered to be a surprisingly decent album, and the latter saw them get more publicity than their songs would have had on their own.

Now I think that there isn't much else out there in the way of mainstream rock music, and they sure are getting a fair bit of attention. There's quite a bit of excitement over the new album, and apparently they're set up for an interview with Steve Lamacq tomorrow. There's also a 'Coldplay day' on one of the radio stations tomorrow too. I didn't think I'd ever see the day when I would develop an interest in this lot, but I have.

Having said that, I still think genuine talent is a bit thin on the ground at the moment. I suppose that's what I get for growing up during the early 90's. Kurt Cobain was of the opinion that genuinely good, boundary-pushing bands only appear in cycles of 10 years. I think he was right, and if that's the case, we're due something good again. You'd bloody wonder what the point is though, when arse like Axel F is the most popular song in the country. My only hope is that we've hit the bottom, because then the only way is up. Fingers crossed...