RFI/D: British falsetto rock

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So my French exchange student roommate listens to all these bands with names like Placebo and Muse and JJ72 (?) and so on that sound kind of like Geddy Lee or King Diamond or Dennis deYoung singing over updated versions of Rush or Mercyful Fate or something. The Muse guy is particularly disturbing, even to someone as castrato-friendly as myself. Apparently this stuff is huge in Europe. So what's the deal with this stuff? Where does it come from? Is it good or bad? Anything really worth seeking out? I thought the British never liked this sort of thing. I'm not sure if it's mostly good or if it's just fascinatingly perverse phenomenon-wise but it does seem to contain most elements that are worth preserving in rock music (melodrama, overproduction, guitarwank, falsettos). He played some Placebo stuff that sounded good today. It was sort of like Rush crossed with early 90s Sonic Youth crossed with Smashing Pumpkins, all of which is fairly commendable.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 22 June 2003 23:28 (twenty-two years ago)

That's Placebo all right. Ain't it great?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 22 June 2003 23:30 (twenty-two years ago)

And the singer is American!

― Sean (Sean), Monday, 23 June 2003 00:42 (twenty-two years ago)

search: Muse (don't know why i like 'em but i do). Placebo (love 'em). JJ72's first album (patchy but often rather good)

other ok bands in this vein: buffseeds, easyworld

hmm. i seem to own a lot of this sort of thing

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 23 June 2003 00:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Search: Pavlov's Dog (helium-laced contemporaries of early BOC on Columbia)

Obviously, also Queen and Sparks...

― Chris Clark (Chris Clark), Monday, 23 June 2003 04:59 (twenty-two years ago)

There's a three way divide though innit - like, there's the Geddy Lee school, the Jeff Buckley school and the Jimmy Summerville school. I tend to prefer stuff in the third strand, personally.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 23 June 2003 06:05 (twenty-two years ago)

>Where does it come from?

Frankie Valli, Lou Christie, the Who (backing vocals), Tiny Tim, Yes, Klaus Nomi, Nina Hagen, Prince

― Chris Clark (Chris Clark), Monday, 23 June 2003 06:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Funny. I thought they were all trying to be Thom Yorke.

At least when Courtney Taylor goes falsetto he's just trying to be Simon LeBon.

― kate (kate), Monday, 23 June 2003 11:05 (twenty-two years ago)

of course there is always eerrr ... the darkness. a nice parody of falsetto cockrock.

― doom-e, Monday, 23 June 2003 11:07 (twenty-two years ago)

And lest we forget (try as we might), the Rolling Stones' "Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)," "Miss You" and "Emotional Rescue" (but I always loved Bill Wyman's falsetto backup vocals on the Ed Sullivan version of "Time Is On My Side").

― Chris Clark (Chris Clark), Monday, 23 June 2003 12:25 (twenty-two years ago)

DESTROY EVERYTHING NOW!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 23 June 2003 13:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Pete Wingfield, '18 with a Bullet'

― sedi-jedi, Monday, 23 June 2003 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)

"Funny. I thought they were all trying to be Thom Yorke."

Well, it always sounded more like Jeff Buckley to me. Muse and JJ72 at least. I like them though.

― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Monday, 23 June 2003 20:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I ended up seeing Placebo last night. I actually quite enjoyed it. They sometimes let loops of guitar drones and feedback ring while waiting for songs to start. They really had some nice variety of guitar textures that they used and layered in the songs - I like the sharp buzzy distortion tone. I think "Special K" is my favourite Placebo song.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 6 July 2003 18:41 (twenty-two years ago)

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