Tag: The Vaccines

The Vaccines – All My Friends Are Falling In Love

“I should hate this song, Tim.”

Tom: I should hate this song, Tim.

Tim: Erm…

Tim: Yep. I can think of a high number of things there that would land right on your list of irritants.

Tom: So first of all: I’ve never really ‘got’ the Vaccines. I can’t say I’ve really liked any of their songs. And I’ve complained about so many tracks like this before, where all the melody work is being done by the bassline. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the average different-notes-per-line was less than two. It’s repetitive, it’s trite, it’s all been done before. They missed out apostrophes in the lyric video.

Tim: While I was too busy enjoying it to even notice that.

Tom: And yet. And yet. I was singing the chorus by the time we got to the middle eight, and I wanted to hear it again immediately. It reminds me of Scouting For Girls, back when they were a thing, which is both a compliment and an insult. Yes, their songs were irritating, but I’ll bet you could still sing about three of their choruses if they ever get played on the radio again.

Tim: True. Fact is, they were successful because they made loud songs with catchy hooks. And this is that exact same thing, and it really works if it’s done right, like this.

Tom: Well done, the Vaccines. Well done.

The Vaccines – Post Break-Up Sex

Like Pulp, but a bit crap.

Tom: I think “like Pulp, but a bit crap” basically sums this up. Or alternatively “the London Pulp”, which basically says the same thing.

Tim: I don’t know, I don’t mind it – the music I can take or leave, but part of me likes the the lyrics, which are basically ‘yeah, we had sex, now sod off,’ even though I’d often just hate them. Somehow the barefacedness of it seems to work – maybe with the music – and doesn’t just make the singer seem like a misogynistic twat.

Tom: The Vaccines won third place in the BBC’s Sound of 2011 competition, which really doesn’t make me hold out music hope for the British music scene this year. And the single’s competent, I suppose, but it’s just whiny 90s Britpop – and without Jarvis Cocker at the helm, is it really worth bringing that back?

Tim: Depends if it’s better than what else is around. And looking at a couple of the songs we’ve reviewed previously, I would say yes. Although it would be nice if there were other options around that they could choose instead. Oh, wait. There are.

Tom: And all of them from Scandinavia.

Tim: Problem?