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Originally Posted by TheBig3KilledMyRainDog
Quintessential useless MB post. Thanks for your contribution.
I was actually surprised to see the high praise for this act since I’d only heard one song and it was “cash machine” coming out in the wake of the white rapper/nu-metal hog wash and I foolishly concluded they were a cash in on a trashy movement.
Since they came up on Last.fm with a random pop up after I choose to listen to artists that sounded like “yeah yeah yeahs.”
I have to imagine their much bigger in the U.K. than here though given that I read something on them in Q and I don’t think RS or Spin know their alive.
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They are pretty big in the UK. They chart well and I believe both their albums (definitely their second) went to number one. This is an example, though, of a band who are interested simply in being big and virtually nothing else. They aren't even abashed to admit to it. Richard Archer declares that he wants to make it in the USA: he's in "competition with Eminem". Praise to Archer for his grand ambitions and ability to make catchy (albeit in an extremely irritating sense) pop that pleases the sh
ite out of the general public.
However, the fact is that he lacks the verbal dexterity of your Alex Turner
s and your Pete Doherty
s and whatnot. It's clear to see from the lyrics.
Jackhammer, who's also heard the album as rigorously as I have, will be only too pleased to confirm that Archer's lyricisms show less skill and depth than those of a late primary school kid with star aspirations (examples on previous page). Couple that with the excruciatingly bland redundancy of the music, particularly as exhibited on Album No.II, and essentially what you've got is band who've got themselves stuck in a niche pretty early on, with little sign of a light at the end of the tunnel.
Hard-Fi will continue making records, but even their mainstream popularity will dwindle. You have to have had as many big early hits as Oasis to reach the point of being able to do the same thing over and over again without the general masses deciding to dispense with you. Forget Eminem, Richard. You're gonna be havin' trouble keeping up with Lethal B.