Is there such a thing? Personally, I don't think there is. I'm only wondering after some excited googling of All Time Low's new album, Dirty Work, which should be coming through my letterbox in just over a week.
To my dismay, the few early reviews haven't been the kindest. There's an overwhelming suggestion of (whisper it) selling out, now that they've scored an Interscope deal. Of trying too many new things. Of moving away from their older style. The "original" fans are clutching their copies of The Party Scene and So Wrong, It's Right, the two albums which slingshotted them onto the mainstream about four years ago, and sharpening their pitchforks to poke holes in the band's "new persona".
Okay, so they're not making exactly the same music anymore. But quite why people are bemoaning so much the more poppy, less punky element to their new releases is quite beyond me. Why people are begrudging the fact that they can imagine half the tracks being regulars on the radio is bizarre to me. Personally, and as a fan of the band from before their second album, I'm so proud of these guys. They've pushed through the swarm of similar other bands, toured like crazy, cultivated a great relationship with fans and a created a fantastic reputation just as a band of guys. Instead of bumming around as teenagers, these guys have been working hard at their music and touring since before they even graduated High School.
Personally, I can't see how that's a bad thing.
But they're not the 20 year olds they were when they wrote gems like Jasey Rae (absolutely gorgeous) and Six Feet Under the Stars and we should accept this. Instead, they are the more mature musicians who, in my opinion, are still producing some fantastic songs - and if they are inadvertantly reaching a wider audience, good for them. In fact, if I were to recommend new listeners to any of their songs, it would be Poison, from their last album, and Painting Flowers, which was written for the album to accompany Disney's new 'Alice in Wonderland'.
Yes, they've changed. Yes, it is a band that is beloved by tweens the world over. And at 19, I probably shouldn't like them as much as I do. But the fantastic thing about music is that we all have completely different tastes. Hence my belief that there is no such thing as a "guilty pleasure". I should probably call my All Time Low love a "guilty pleasure"... but why bother when I can guarentee that their music will be able to cheer me up? When they brighten up boring trips? When they are safe choices when I don't know what to listen to? They are - if absolutely nothing else - the perfect soundtrack to summer, to driving with the window open and the music blaring.
So I will happily play their new single until my housemates are sick of it, because it's definitely helping me wade through these last couple of days of revision. Briiiiiiiing it.
What's your 'not really a guilty pleasure'? xo.
No comments:
Post a Comment