THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY (Day 11) : IT'S PUNK BLOODY POETRY

I’d be no good in A&R. If I had a hat for the number of times I’ve fallen in love with a song and thought, “if that’s not a hit, I’ll eat my hat”… then I might actually have some hats left.

That’s never been more the case than with We Hate The Kids, from my favourite album of last year: American Demo by The Indelicates. It’s everything I love about music crammed into three and a half minutes; and yet I’ve never heard it on the radio.

We Hate The Kids is an anti-teenage, anti-music business, anti-corporate anthem. It begins with an exclamation, followed by a thumping, sinister, John Carpenteresque bassline, before adding layer upon layer of soaring guitar, classically trained piano (not just chords!), handclaps, feedback, and a vocal double act that puts me in mind of a rakish devil shagging an arch-eyebrowed angel… all of which crescendos to a climax that has me throwing my fist in the air every time I play it.

And then there are the lyrics. “Every generation gets fooled again,” it begins, echoing The Who twice, before going on to call time on pop music itself with a mixture of wit, cynicism, intelligence, and scorn. It builds through a series of literate slogans that are as quotable as “libraries gave us power” or “hang the blessed DJ” or anything Luke Haines ever penned. “Absolutely anyone,” it roars – with far greater fury than Thom Yorke mustered, “can play the fucking guitar!” And then it just gets angrier…

“Pop had a beginning, it grew and was tended
Now it is rotten, let it be ended
Let every hopeless case that every drummer befriended,
Every seven-inch that every student intended
Every groupie, ligger, identity seeker
Every druggy and drinker and every loudspeaker
Be done with, piled up, tossed, set alight
No more music - thank you and goodnight!”

It’s smart, it’s passionate, it’s self-aware, it’s funny as hell – it’s punk bloody poetry. If I were still 14, I’d be carving these lyrics into my schoolbag. I guess I’m not 14 anymore… but then again…

Late last year, I joined a crowd of maybe 70 other Indelicates fans in one of the smallest clubs in Manchester for a live show that made me feel like a teenager again. I hadn’t felt so excited by any band for a decade, and though it seemed I was in the minority – I really didn’t care. (When you’re young, it’s always better to like the bands nobody else does.) I went straight home and did a very teenage thing indeed (no, not that): I went online and left a comment on the Indelicates myspace page

“Great gig in Manchester tonight, guys. My ears are still ringing. God, I hate the kids.”

The next morning, Julia Indelicate herself replied:

“That's one of the best comments I've ever seen. God, I hate the kids too ;) Thank you for coming Julia xx”

And hell, if I didn’t love them already…

mp3 : The Indelicates - We Hate The Kids

TODAY'S GUEST POSTING IS COURTESY OF ROL, OF SLAWIT IN YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND WHO TAKES CARE OF THE BLOG SUNSET OVER SLAWIT. OH AND HE'S AN EXCEPTIONALLY TALENTED CARTOON-COMIC WRITER AS WELL....