On the lyrical similarities to Suede, no, I didn’t go into it in any more detail than that, partially because it’s been less and less apparent as time has passed. I think it’s there in each of the first three singles, and then, as I said, the title (if not so much the rest of) “Androgynous Girls”, but not really since then. Plus I’m not sure I’d’ve been able to come up with much of an argument beyond quoting lyrics and going ‘See?’. If I was going to try and do better than that, I guess it would be something to do with having some similar themes - a celebration of short-attention-span, brand-name-obssessed (etc.) youth culture, and the part music plays in that. But, certainly, "The girls get down to the sound of the radio" or "We smoke as we choke as we sink another coke" would fit perfectly into "The Beautiful Ones". Incidentally, Popjustice have been running a competition recently where the prize is the chance to work with Xenomania, and, tragically enough, at least half of the reason I’ve entered is that, in the unlikely event of winning, I’d (hopefully) get the opportunity to bug Miranda Cooper with endless questions about the lyrics to ‘Chemistry’ (lots of which I’m still chewing over, nearly a year after release. “Biology” in particular - I think I know what’s going on, but there are bits that don’t quite fit, and I wouldn’t be too surprised to discover that there are other people with entirely different readings, or that in fact there’s no real answer. Hey! Forget Suede, Girls Aloud lyrics=’Mulholland Drive’!)
I have the same reaction to the Kaiser Chiefs and Arctic Monkeys covers as I did to Kylie’s indie phase (if three tracks can really be called a ‘phase’), which is predominantly a feeling of disappointment. Clearly at least part of this is a result of baggage that I bring to the table - I don’t recall any of the groups in question ever pledging to be champions of my own personal Pop vs. Indie dichotomy - but seeing the Sugababes doing “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor” at the NME awards looked to me like pandering, like attempting to play by the NME’s rules. When they’re so much better than needing to do that. Or maybe that’s just how it seems to me when I don’t like the record in question. I have none of these issues with All Saints’ “Under The Bridge”, because I like it enough not to care. (Incidentally, all this is brought something like full circle by the Arctic Monkeys having done “Love Machine” for Jo Whiley a few months ago. It sounded like The Fall. I couldn’t tell whether on not they were taking the piss. It was odd).
With regards to individual members of Girls Aloud, I was thinking about this recently, in response to the “Off The Record” documentary, and a re-reading of the Kylie Minogue=Best Band Ever??? thread, where I got the impression that people were arguing that Kylie herself deserved most of the credit for the quality of her records. I realised that, actually, I don’t necessarily think of it that way. It’s an intriguing position to find myself in, because I have consistently argued the ‘It doesn’t matter whether they write the songs’ position in the past - and still do - but I found myself watching the documentary - if that’s not too grand a word - and finding that my jury’s still out on the matter of exactly how much of a connection I feel between the members of the band and the records I’ve been playing. (Nicola maybe less so than the others, since “It’s Magic” is the only track with a group co-writing credit which I really like, and I’m assuming it’s all her, since it’s a solo vocal). Or, to clarify: Girls Aloud are my Favourite Band (and it’s been a long while - Kenickie would be the last time, I think - since there’s been anyone I’ve felt fanboy enough to say that about). And yet if they split from Xenomania tomorrow, and I had to choose between a new GA album produced by someone else or a new Xenomania album sung by somebody different, I think I’d be more excited about the latter. Although, to return, however briefly, to the topic in hand, Kimberley is great, not least because her thanks in the ‘Chemistry’ booklet are impeccably punctuated, which is rarer than you’d think. (Assuming, of course, that you’d given it any thought at all). |
