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The Big Takeover > reviews

The Fruit Guys - "Blue"

by Steve Holtje
1 August 2006

After I wrote my Top 10 list focusing on music in commercials, along came another series that would have placed high in my ranking: the Fruit of the Loom commercials that parody music videos. There’s an R&B/hip-hop one that’s amusing, and a country one that’s heavily featured on the company website, but my favorite is Blue, in the moody ballad style the Brits have been cranking out in recent years.

COLDPLAY’s made a fortune off this genre, and Coldplay was already a dumbing-down of RADIOHEAD. The latter has much more imagination and variety, needless to say, but THOM YORKE’s not what you’d call good-looking, and CHRIS MARTIN is, I suppose—in an aptly generic way. But even schlubby guys like KEANE singer TOM CHAPLIN can get over in this format. Actually, though the lyrics of “Somewhere Only We Know” are muddle-headed if you’re feeling charitable and moronic if you’re not, I’ll take it over anything I’ve heard Coldplay do. I recently called MUSE “an evil scientist crossing Radiohead with Coldplay” because they take the generic balladry of the latter and muck it up with hideous keyboard timbres—another point in Keane’s favor (not to say I’m a fan) [With all these points in its favor, why not? -ed. (and Keane fan)] is that TIM RICE-OXLEY sticks with the simple but elegant piano sound.

Anyway, getting back to “Blue,” the Fruit of the Loom parody is so dead-on that it reveals the utterly formulaic nature of the style, capturing especially well the necessity for a high, plaintive, angst-ridden, frankly wimpy vocal. In terms of production, it’s actually better than Coldplay because it avoids conspicuous excess.

This started me thinking about the lack of respect critics and serious music lovers have for this quite popular sound. Could it be the production? For awhile now, I’ve felt that musical taste is largely based on production sound. How often have you heard a song by a group you dislike covered by a band with a different sound and enjoyed that song more? Or take the LIZ PHAIR example: Her songwriting style didn’t change, just her production. The switch helped her sell vastly more records, but turned off lots of her old fans, and I don’t think that was all due to the familiar indie phenomenon of “if you’re not a cult secret anymore then I won’t like you because then liking you doesn’t make me cool.” If Radiohead played Coldplay songs, would they sound better? If Coldplay played Radiohead songs, would that ruin them? For a lot of people, the answer is probably “a little” to the first question and “definitely” to the second.

But I have a pretty open mind about production (Liz Phair is my second-favorite album of hers, after Exile in Guyville of course), so that doesn’t explain it all for me. I think it’s also that it just seems like these ballads are so formulaic that anybody with a modicum of musical talent could write one. Is this true? I sat down at my piano this afternoon and in slightly under an hour wrote the music for a generic ballad. I could be fooling myself, obviously, but I think it’s as good as, or better than, most of the ones I’ve heard. Will I ever attempt to prove this by recording it and putting it on the market? Doubtful; now that I’ve done a little soundtrack work with my classical composing, I don’t want to find myself not being taken seriously because something I wrote as an experiment to prove a point, but also as sort of a joke, warps my reputation. Then again, I’m on record here declaring it a joke, so that could save me.

Knowing me, I’ll be too lazy to do anything with it, even fitting lyrics to it. But it’s getting so easy, between home studios and MySpace, to make music and get it out to the public, that even laziness may not be a valid excuse anymore. So I promise that if I do anything further with my little musical poop other than flush it, you’ll read about it here.

The last step so far was that, feeling the need to musically cleanse myself, I put on MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA’s Birds of Fire. You know what? It’s kind of formulaic too. Meanwhile, I eagerly await a Fruit of the Loom album, or at least an expanded “Blue.” C’mon guys, put this one on your website too. Don’t let someone on YouTube beat you to it.

Filed under music videos song review

Comments

To clarify, I’m not a Keane fan because the lyrics are crap and 45 minutes of this one-trick pony becomes monotonous…but “Somewhere Only We Know” was enjoyable for a while.


— Steve Holtje    2006-08-01 03:53    #

I strongly disagree with the notion that Liz didn’t change her songwriting style, though I believe it’s a more gradual change than straight from the style of Exile in Guyville to that of the 2003, s/t album.

However, I believe that the 2003 Lp is dumbed-down Liz for the masses, both in terms of its production (which I hate), and also in its songwriting style (much more identifiable choruses and what not along with mentioning the title in the song) and its lyrics, some of which are downright awful (“Little Digger” anyone not to mention an ode to her underwear and that abominable lyric about “playing X-box on your floor”; ugh).


— Matthew Berlyant    2006-08-01 21:56    #

Production might be more of an issue with ballad-heavy, post-Radiohead bands if there was a greater disparity in their production sounds. They generally seem far more similar than dissimilar. As for testing your song, just release it under a pseudonym.

A couple of small bones to pick:
1) While Muse shares similarities with both Radiohead and Coldplay, it is hardly a combination of the two. If anything, it blasts the “wimpiness” of both with a much larger, guitar-based sound, complete with heroic, virtuosic solos. A much heavier and rock-minded band than its more ballad-heavy peers.

2) How is Birds of Fire formulaic? It’s not quite as ripping as Inner Mounting Flame, but you’d be hard pressed to come up with any records that sounded like it in 1972/73 and you’d be just as hard pressed to find more than three or four fusion records since then that can even approach it.


— ari abramowitz    2006-08-03 16:24    #

Malbec sings Blue. They are currently tearin up the music scene in LA. Check them out. One listen, and you’re hooked! www.malbectheband.com or iTunes music store search malbec


— jk5er    2006-08-04 02:51    #

It should also be mentioned that Radiohead abandoned the sound that Coldplay, Muse, Ours, Travis and countless other lesser bands have been influenced by all the way back in the mid ‘90s after The Bends. From OK Computer on and especially from Kid A on, they’ve relied a lot more on electronics and repetition.

I agree with Ari somewhat, though, regarding Muse. They have more of an overt Queen influence than any of the other bands mentioned, thus the heroic, guitar-rock based sound and what not.

Also I wouldn’t lump Keane in with those other bands. Keane always sounded more like Ben Folds Five with a Chris Martin-style singer to me rather than Coldplay. They don’t even have a guitar player for starters and their stuff is piano-based like BFF.


— Matthew Berlyant    2006-08-04 18:00    #

OK, where should I start…. First, thanks jk5er for identifying the band behind “Blue.”

Matthew, thanks for mentioning that Radiohead ditched this genre. I believe Yorke et al. wanted more of a challenge and this ballad style wasn’t providing it. But I’m not totally opposed to it – it’s kind of a love-hate relationship where I go back and forth across a very thin line.

I’ll deal with the Liz Phair tangent in a separate comment.

I didn’t mean to say Muse is nothing but a Radiohead/Coldplay clone. I’m talking specifically about their ballad style. The track that drew the comparison from me is #2 on their current album. When they’re not doing ballads, they are quite different from the rest of these bands (although not my cup of tea).

I was already thinking about the pseudonym thing; MySpace is perfect for this sort of project. I’ve even picked the perfect fake band name: Fish Bicycle. Anybody in NYC with ProTools want to help me out with this? I can handle piano and vocals and I have a bassist who could also add some rhythm guitar to fill out the textures. Anybody want to contribute on drums? BTW, I’ve written some aggressively mediocre, mopey loser lyrics to go with the music.

And Birds of Fire is formulaic not compared to what other bands were doing back then, only compared to what Mahavishnu had done already. But then, when you debut with Inner Mounting Flame, it’s pretty darn hard to take it even higher! Anyway, part of my point in making that aside is that formulas aren’t automatically bad, it’s what you do with them, whether you can transcend them and make them more than just a formula. Plenty of people have done amazing things with “Rhythm” changes.

The formulaic nature of the ballad genre that I’m talking about is chord progressions, melodic style, and a vocal tone, less a matter of production or instrumentation, although I admit that the presence of keyboards is part of it. I have a suspicion that these ballads tend to be written on piano, BTW; I feel like the chord progressions fall naturally under the fingers on piano, less so on guitar. But I could be wrong about that; certainly I’m one of the worst guitarists in the world.


— Steve Holtje    2006-08-10 04:35    #

As far as Liz, well, consistency and quality control have never been strong points for her. There are some crappy songs on the self-titled album, but also some of her best. I think “Red Light Fever” is brilliant. “Take a Look” and And because they’re produced by The Matrix, I bet you can’t stand “Extraordinary” or “Why Can’t I?” but to me they are fascinating looks into the mind of someone who suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder. (Is that Liz? Probably. Does she mean them to be examinations of BPD? Maybe not. But they still fascinate me.) Do I wish Michael Penn had produced the whole album? Yes. “Little Digger” is kinda creepy, but for examining the results of her behavior not just in terms of sex but also her being a mother, it’s sadly moving. “Love/Hate” is an interesting perspective as she finally pulls away from the micro to the macro. “Good Love Never Dies” is a terrible title/phrase, but in a very Mamet way: she’s quoting a guy who thinks he’s being profound, not speaking for herself. And the “ode to her underwear” is metaphorical, and actually kind of sweet in a typically messed-up Liz way.

Songs on Exile that have their titles in the refrain: “F*** and Run,” “6’1”,” “Explain It to Me,” “Glory,” “Gunshy,” “Johnny Sunshine,” “Mesmerizing,” “Never Said.”

I love “Flower” from Exile, but a lyrical tour de force it’s not (“I just want your fresh, young jimmy / jamming, slamming, ramming in me / Everytime I see your face / I think of things not pure or chaste”). She’s always had songs that are more about attitude than good writing.


— Steve Holtje    2006-08-10 05:19    #

I have to challenge a few of your points here. Although I don’t own the s/t album Liz Phair, I did listen to it when it came out and like you, I wish that it was either totally self-produced or that Michael Penn had handled most of the production work. The songs I like on it (there are only 3 or 4 from what I remember, but I think “Red Light Fever” was one of them) are the ones that weren’t produced by the Matrix, so yes I really dislike “Why Can’t I?” and “Extraordinary”. I think I would like the latter song much more were it not for the way-too-slick production since it’s a pretty good otherwise, but as for “Why Can’t I?”, ugh. If you just change “f&*^ed” to “kissed” in one of the verses leading up to the chorus, it would be an Avril Lavigne song/lyric. And yes, I realize that it was a conscious choice on her part, but I just don’t think it’s very good nor do I think the world needs more songs of that sort, especially when it isn’t really her strength.

As for “Flower”, you miss the point. The song is hilariously over-the-top and makes me laugh every time and not just for its intentionally sophomoric humor. Also, you cited 8 songs on an 18 song album that have their title in the refrain. As far as I can remember, most or even all of the other 10 songs don’t. That means that this trait isn’t present in more than half of the album. This is a minor point, but it should be noted as I think not only production-wise, but songwriting-wise, Liz Phair was a dumbing down for the masses (and she admitted it, too), which was one of my original points.

As for “Little Digger”, I like that she has the guts to tackle the subject of dating as a single mother, but the end result is still creepy, as you correctly noted above. Same goes for “My Favorite Underwear”. It tries for the dirty/sweet thing she’s so good at, but fails miserably because of awful lyrics. And don’t even get me started on “Rock Hard”. Not only the “play x-box on your floor” lyric, but no one should title a song like that unless you’re an ‘80s hair metal band.

Well I’ll probably never like this album, so I don’t know why I’m arguing with you, but I just wanted to add a few points and reply to you.


— Matthew Berlyant    2006-08-10 16:10    #

wow…it’s time to get a life….


— blog    2006-08-13 21:32    #

um can some1 put the lyrics of the song on here?! thankss!
love.. ANGIE LIKE DUHH!!


— ANGIE LIKE DUHH    2006-09-17 03:58    #