Released: January 2009 on the album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
Video: On YouTube
Franz Ferdinand has actually been around for a little while, getting started in Scotland in 2002. FF is also the opposite of Grande, in a sense. Where "Grande" sounds like the name of a group, but is really an individual, "Franz Ferdinand" sounds like the name of an individual, but is actually a group (sorta like "Lynard Skynard", I guess!). More on the name in just a moment!
The band is four-member group (a drummer, and three guitarists...though the drummer can play guitar as well) and they hit their stride in 2004 when their self-titled album was named the best in Britain, and they won the Mercury Music Prize (more on that at Wikipedia is here). The following year they also snared two BRIT Awards for being the best British group and the best British rock act. Since that time, they've produced two more albums (with another presently in production), had a number of songs reach Top-40 status in Britain, and are starting to find success in the US and other locales, such as Japan. They haven't pulled out a Grammy Award win as of yet, but have been nominated for several.
To me - particularly this song - they invoke a sound somewhat like a fusion between Talking Heads and Loverboy. Sort of a punk rock meets arena rock connection, but with a dash of reggae thrown in. The song itself is from FF's most recent album, which is decribed as a concept album based on the idea of "partying all night and dealing with the affects afterward". That concept probably explains why the lyrics of this song could easily have been part of a conversation between two people arguing (discussing?!) guy/girl relationships after having a few! The band also described the album as something of a more thought-out effort than the one that had preceded it. That can be seen by the fact that this album had been worked on for about two years before it was released. Maybe not quite to the "standards" for cerebralness that bands like Boston have set, but in the "Crank-em-out-before-someone-else-gets-popular-to-milk-this-act-for-all-its-worth" thinkset that sometimes seems to pervade any music industry, regardless of the continent they're on, two years is a long time!
Now, on to the name. If anyone in the family is presently studying WW I, or is a WW I history buff, they'll probably recognize the band's name as belonging to Austria's Archduke who's assasination was the catalyst that ignited the First World War. The band first gave consideration for the name after watching a racehorse named Archduke Ferdinand. The band has said that if the name is taken with a deep intellectual viewpoint, one could say that, like the Archduke, the band could be a point of major change in music and the world. But, they are quick to mention that the meaning of the name shouldn't really be taken all that deeply. They really just liked the way the name sounded!
Oh, and the album cover. This will be like a Photography Class flashback, so be ready: It's part of a series of "crime scene" photos that the band has done when they visit a city. It's done in the style of Arthur Fellig, who became famous for his crime scene photography in the 20's and 30's in New York City, and also famous for how quickly he got to such scenes, which led to his nickname, "Weegee" (more on him at Wikipedia, here). The photo on the album cover is from an alley in Glascow, Scotland sometime after midnight. I was hoping to track down other photos in the series - which are described as activities in the night being happened upon bya photographer like Weegee - but had no luck. Did run across a good interview article here however!
Other songs by the band that you might like (with links to available video): Take Me Out, Can't Stop Feeling, Ulysses
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