Why no French rock n roll?

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The Encyclopaedia Metallum lists 2,824 bands under France. I guess some people there do dig the Rock.

http://www.metal-archives.com

steampig67, Thursday, 26 June 2008 15:46 (fifteen years ago) link

OK:
i. Metal Urbain played at the Hundred Club Festival where Sid put a girl's eye out by throwing a beerglass = THEY ARE PUNK HURRAH = not rock'n'roll obv
ii. Jerry Lewis is GRATE
iii. Isn't the point abt Sweden that they are SO socialist that they subsidise you ANYWAY? In France you have to jump over a qualifying bar, in Sweden you can just blunder under it.
iv. I always heard N.'s lingistic theory also, tho it appears it wd apply in Belgium just as badly-uh. Helenfordsdale: punXoR or rock& roll?
v. Il y'a pas de cinq.
vi. French yoot picked up on rad-pop topsyturvy "critical theory" via film — Godard on Hawkes and Truffaut on Hitchcock = Ewing on Britney and Ned on er Tool — which is unfortunately not a medium where the audience clamber up ovah the footlights when they are fucked off with how it's done. Unless you think The Fifth Element is an answer record to Les Chinoises.
vii. Léon *is* an answer record to Jules et Jim.
viii. Jerry Lewis is GRATE but Eddy Murphy is BETTAH
xi. This is where you come in.
-- mark s,

Wow!!

the pinefox, Thursday, 26 June 2008 16:19 (fifteen years ago) link

Hand: did you end up marrying this mysterious French person?

anyway, it's a typical question for you to ask, with you virtually being FRENCH or something.

the pinefox, Thursday, 26 June 2008 16:19 (fifteen years ago) link

i. is wrong tho (xp)

Tom D., Thursday, 26 June 2008 16:23 (fifteen years ago) link

I did! I have French in-laws! My father-in-law loves the Doors.

Tracer Hand, Thursday, 26 June 2008 16:29 (fifteen years ago) link

And Dee Dee Bridgewater.

I was eating dinner with them the night James Brown died. The whole table had something to say, mainly naming James Brown songs and nodding gravely, much the way different varieties of foie gras might be discussed. "SEX MACHINE!" one would say, which would set the rest of the table off, "Ouai, ouai, 'Sex Machine'."

Tracer Hand, Thursday, 26 June 2008 16:31 (fifteen years ago) link

wow. that's beautiful. and it belongs in a deadpan french farce of a movie.

Maria :D, Thursday, 26 June 2008 16:34 (fifteen years ago) link

um, that would be me, scott, not maria.

scott seward, Thursday, 26 June 2008 16:35 (fifteen years ago) link

:D

Tracer Hand, Thursday, 26 June 2008 16:37 (fifteen years ago) link

Clair Obscur = France's answer to Joy Division - explosive post-punk coldwave

experience it:

CLAIR OBSCUR - Statues - 1983
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khPydYdNx6k
-- djmartian, Wednesday, 25 June 2008

EXPERIENCE IT

the pinefox, Thursday, 26 June 2008 16:46 (fifteen years ago) link

CLAIR OBSCUR
There's a thread in this name, which I might have tried to start a few years ago- Bands Whose Names Can Be Split Into Two Parts That Are Antonyms Of Each Other. As it is, the only other example I can think of right now is Was (Not Was).

James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 26 June 2008 17:13 (fifteen years ago) link

Yo, Francophiles, what's a good shortlist of quality French 80s pop kinda shit? Synth pop, minimal pop, electro pop, regular pop, whatever. Doesn't seem like much has ever been discussed of it.

burt_stanton, Thursday, 26 June 2008 18:57 (fifteen years ago) link

French language particularly

burt_stanton, Thursday, 26 June 2008 18:57 (fifteen years ago) link

Bands Whose Names Can Be Split Into Two Parts That Are Antonyms Of Each Other. As it is, the only other example I can think of right now is Was (Not Was).

Hello Goodbye are pretty big these days, I think (though sadly not French).

xhuxk, Thursday, 26 June 2008 19:01 (fifteen years ago) link

Also (the also not French) Biggie Smalls.

xhuxk, Thursday, 26 June 2008 19:03 (fifteen years ago) link

And Fatboy Slim -- okay, I'll save these for an actual thread from now on.

French 80s pop kinda shit? Synth pop, minimal pop, electro pop

This comp looks kinda promising:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/bippp

xhuxk, Thursday, 26 June 2008 19:07 (fifteen years ago) link

My aunt lived in France during the 80s and she forced French crap circa that period on my developing brain when she came back, so I have a weird affection for it.

burt_stanton, Thursday, 26 June 2008 19:11 (fifteen years ago) link

Yeah, that compilation sounds pretty cool

burt_stanton, Thursday, 26 June 2008 19:29 (fifteen years ago) link

get the Les Rita Mitsouko "Bestov" and take it from there

Tracer Hand, Thursday, 26 June 2008 19:53 (fifteen years ago) link

here's an awesome compilation of french rock

Edward III, Thursday, 26 June 2008 20:04 (fifteen years ago) link

France is the center of rock n roll these days. The thing is it can be summed up in two words, "Ed" and "Banger", and a lot of people here apparently don't like it.

Mackro Mackro, Thursday, 26 June 2008 20:37 (fifteen years ago) link

Burt, I made a list in the "rough guide thread" of 80's french synth poo. I'll try to dig it out

baaderonixx, Thursday, 26 June 2008 21:06 (fifteen years ago) link

But you might already wanna start with 80's Etienne Daho, Indochine and Mylene Farmer

baaderonixx, Thursday, 26 June 2008 21:07 (fifteen years ago) link

Stanton, why do you use the words 'shit' and 'crap' to denote things you like or want to hear?

the pinefox, Thursday, 26 June 2008 21:11 (fifteen years ago) link

Why does the word "bad" mean "good"? I mean really.

burt_stanton, Thursday, 26 June 2008 21:24 (fifteen years ago) link

Ah, found it:

The Rough Guide to 80's French Pop:

1. Mylene Farmer - Libertine
2. Partenaire Particulier - Partenaire Particulier
3. Etienne Daho - Week-End a Rome
4. Vanessa Paradis - Maxou
5. Alain Souchon - Quand Je Serai K.O.
6. Caroline Loeb - C'est la Ouatte
7. Alain Bashung - Gaby
8. Rita Mitsouko - Marcia Baila
9. Negresses Vertes - Sous le Soleil
10. Indochine - L'Aventurier
11. Jeanne Mas - Coeur en Stereo
12. Desireless - Voyage, Voyage
13. Guesh Patti - Etienne
14. France Gall - Debranche
15. Marc Lavoine - Les Yeux Revolver

burt_stanton, Thursday, 26 June 2008 21:27 (fifteen years ago) link

Yeah, all this stuff is perfect. Thanks

burt_stanton, Thursday, 26 June 2008 21:34 (fifteen years ago) link

i can't really stand Daho except for one song i've never been able to find again that sounded almost like Felt!!

Tracer Hand, Thursday, 26 June 2008 21:55 (fifteen years ago) link

Does French people ever want to rock?

Geir Hongro, Friday, 27 June 2008 00:44 (fifteen years ago) link

This comp looks kinda promising:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/bippp

=======

Christ on a pointed stick. Yeah, synth rock -- rock out, Claudette, rock out.

I'm listening to Illimite -- a deluxe Telephone thing that came out on EMI France in 2006. Two CDs, one a "best of," the other a live shot. Centerpiece of live stuff is a show at CBGBs in 1980, apparently in front of about a dozen, where the band tore up the floorboards. Segment of show from Montreal, one year earlier, has them sounding -- tone and attackwise -- like Metallic KO for 15 minutes of material, only more polite than Iggy. Well, they could have been impolite, but I don't know French.

Just way too early for anyone in the US to get their brains around Frenchmen, singing in French, who had a rhythm section and two guitar players who knew roots rock and hard rock better than a lot of people prowling big stages in '80. 'Course, it seems not to have been too early for their countrymen who bought their albums by the bagload, so much so the badn retired around the mid-80's.

I kick myself for having missed them at some dive in Philly.

Gorge, Friday, 27 June 2008 03:37 (fifteen years ago) link

Seconding and thirding SOGGY. Holy crap this album is great!

Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o49KyJQl-Og

Elvis Telecom, Monday, 7 July 2008 04:15 (fifteen years ago) link

^^^SERIOUSLY JUST LOOKIT THAT GUY

RabiesAngentleman, Monday, 7 July 2008 15:31 (fifteen years ago) link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_rock

Other notes: There's a French series of psych comps called Freakout Totale that are pretty good, though they're francophone (so include Quebec etc.).

Once I get home, I'll be able to drag through the huge archive I found on SLSK from some user named Docteur Stein, which was all a bunch of 7"s in French, with a good half of them rock and roll (bands like Alex et les Lizards).

Bérurier Noir are pretty fun, though they're on the goofy quasi-political new wave tip, at least as I've been able to figure out. I had a pal send me a mixtape of their stuff once and I've downloaded a bit over the years.

I eat cannibals, Monday, 7 July 2008 21:35 (fifteen years ago) link

four years pass...

2100-ish words on Les Rita Mitsouko, Niagara, Elmer Food Beat, Indochine, Les Négresses Vertes, Mylene Farmer, Noir Désir, Les Hatepinks.

http://www.spin.com/articles/french-modern-rock-essentials-phoenix-daft-punk/

xhuxk, Wednesday, 29 May 2013 07:08 (ten years ago) link


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