Yeah I Know! You Don’t Like The 1975

Is it cool to hate the 1975?

The 1975. Matty Healy, Adam Hann,Ross MacDonald and George Daniel. A band that have been around for over a decade now and have been together for over twenty years. Forming all the way back in 2002. 

For all of their fans, and critical acclaim it’s safe to say that they’ve got their fair share of cynics. 

I think the band have been unfairly piegon holed into an almost ‘boy band genre’ and the often weird antics of their front man, (Matty Healy) have come to define the band. For example on their most recent tour, people were not talking about the show, the breathtaking stage design, the sell out crowds, or even the setlist. Every article, review, social media comment or piece of content. Referred to Matty’s stage presence and to the fact that he had decided to eat raw meat on stage! I’m not going to sit here and pretend that’s not weird. Because it is! I do think that it’s unfair to judge a band with five albums on their frontman’s strange behaviour though. 

These five albums are what should be, being talked about. Each of them is a representation of the band at that time, and none of them sound the same. The bands self titled 2013 debut. Is a collection of songs that reflect the bands youth, it combined indie, with funk and even bits of emo and pop punk. This album also gave us fan favourites such as ‘Chocolate’ (many people’s introduction to the 1975) ‘Robbers’ and ‘Sex.’

This album would receive critical acclaim and win fans over. It wasn’t over night success for The 1975 though they’d been playing and writing together for over a decade at this point. 

It truly had been a Labour of love. 

Not everyone was fans though in 2014 the NME would crown the band ‘Worst Band In The World' 

The tables were about to turn though and dramatically. A second album was released, ‘I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It’

Another mix of genres, but the band had upped their game. It had everything acoustic ballads ‘Nana’ synth pop classics ‘The Sound’ songs about drugs ‘UGH’ and one of the best songs about fame and being a celebrity ever ‘The Ballad of Me and My Brain’. It was a huge success for the band and they had begun to win over more and more people. Even the NME were fans. The 1975 won the magazines ‘Band of the Year’ in 2016 

2018 would see the band release a third album and their most complex work to date. ‘A Brief Inquiry to Online Relationships’ an album that had been delayed due to Matty Healy’s struggles with Heroin addiction. It was more than worth the wait. It saw a band take a sledgehammer to their egos, and write some of the best work to date. The band experimented with electronic beats, gospel choirs and even did some nods to the past and the artists they loved (Joy Division and Radiohead.) It was also the first time the band had written around a theme, Exploring the role of digital communication and the internet in contemporary life. 

Critics fell in love with the record and comparisons with Radiohead’s 1997 album ‘Ok Computer’ were made by several. To top things off it won ‘Album of the Year’ at the 2019 Brit Awards. This was a band operating at a different level now, ‘A Brief Inquiry’ is where Matty comes into his own as a songwriter, songs like ‘Love it if We Made It’ and ‘I Always Want to Die (Sometimes’) are complex intricate songs written for the time. They were songs for that generation.

‘Notes on A Conditional Form’ followed and it saw the band pick up where they left off. The albums opening track ‘The 1975’ (a track they had opened every album with) had been changed for this album it was a speech by climate activist Greta Thunberg. Which was then followed by a punk song ‘People.’ The rule book hadn’t just be ripped up, it had been set on fire. It was the bands most experimental album ever. Notes on a Conditional Form incorporates numerous genres, combining house, UK garageelectronic music subgenres with guitar-based acoustic folk, emo, country and multiple rock music subgenres. It’s an album that deals with human emotion on all levels and was perceived by fans and critics as another classic. 

It just happened to be released a week before the world entered a global pandemic…

2022 would be the next time we hear from The 1975. They had decided against creating another experimental masterpiece. They did something no one was expecting, they made a great pop album. Taking to the studio with Jack Antonoff armed with a collection of great pop songs, they decided to make a pop album. Think Bruce Springsteen, Hall & Oates, Peter Gabriel. This was their ‘So’ moment. It saw a band having fun, the opening track is a blatant LCD Soundsystem rip off. ‘Looking for Somebody to Love’ is Matty Healy does Springsteen! But it works. 

They’re a band who receives a lot of flack by music fans and the media. Go back through the discography and I promise you’ll find something you like from the dance orientated ‘The Sound’ or ‘Happine’ to the tear jerkers ‘Nana’ or ‘Guys’ or maybe riff heavy indie tunes are your thing ‘Robbers’ is for you. Ok you like punk ‘People.’ Post punk ‘Sex.’ 

Ok Jack I want a Piano ballad with Matty’s dad  signing. Well check out ‘Don’t Worry.’

The bands live shows are something to behold as well. I saw them earlier in the year on the ‘At Their Very Best Tour’ which saw them play a two part set, including nearly all of the latest album ‘Being Funny in A Foreign Language’ and then a blast through all of the hits. It’s one of the best gigs I’ve ever been too. 

Each member of the band is a brilliant musician, and the stage set was simply breathtaking, playing on so many cliches about rockstars and fame. It worked perfectly. 

So that brings me back to my question. Is it cool to hate The 1975. 

I think people think it is, yes Matty Healy has done and said some questionable things, but who hasn’t. Michael Jackson wasn’t an Angel. John Lennon had troubles with bandmates and was a violent man. The Britpop stars, well according to them ‘drugs were like having a cup of tea!’ 

I’m not condoning the actions of them. Or even the actions of Matty Healy! It just seems unfair to judge a band on these things and not the music. The music will not be for everyone, but at least give it a listen before you define them. 

Believe me. They aren’t a boy band! They tell you not to judge a book by its cover. Now I’m telling you don’t judge a band by it’s lead singer or it’s fan base 

Thank you for reading x