![]() ![]() The 20th anniversaries of their instant-classic self-titled debut album and less consistent but still hit-filled ("The Fallen," anyone?) follow-up You Could Have It So Much Better are only two and three years away, respectively, and while they're bound to yield the inevitable reissues, thinkpieces and commemorative tours, Franz jumped the gun, going full-speed into nostalgia mode for a broader array of bangers. ![]() Their full-throated, earnest take on the rock music dominating the underground gave them mainstream commercial appeal, with two Billboard-charting singles ("Take Me Out" and "Do You Want To," of course), both of which charted higher than the Strokes' lone contender, "Juicebox." Meanwhile, Franz took a showy, often silly, new-wavey approach, with meaningless refrains that only served to give listeners something catchy to sing along to (yes, meaningless - as far as I'm concerned, "doot doo, doot-doo doo-da doo-doo" are official lyrics from "Do You Want To," to say nothing of the German gibberish that closes out debut single "Darts of Pleasure"). When the band first formed in Glasgow in 2001, their North American counterparts were pretending not to care, delivering memorable riffs and acerbic vocals with an effortlessly cool, laidback shrug. Someone has unironically designated these artists as for "the olds." We have become what we most fear: "retro."įor me, Franz Ferdinand's Hits to the Head tour tipped the scales. At some point in every rock fan's life, you must ask yourself a horrifying question: "What is the music from my childhood doing on the classic rock station?!"Īs the greatest hits compilations and deluxe anniversary reissues from '00s artists - and tweets manufacturing outrage over the Killers' "classic rock" designation - get more and more frequent, it's starting to dawn on many millennials that our time has finally come: the music we grew up with now bears more in common with the increasingly vast canon of "influences" than the defining artefacts of today's cultural moment.
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