We are truly gobsmacked. It's fantastic. We feel very chuffed, ...

[XNASA]

So says Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand after accepting the Nationwide Mercury Prize in this article from the Guardian.

"The slow death of punk" or "The well-adjusted, polite, politically inert, prize-winning Franz Ferdinand is the ultimate bland band"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1300413,00.html

Is is true? Is Punk really dead? Must we endure the second coming of Duran Duran and all of the banality that comes with it?

[Screaming Lord Byron]

1. They're just Orange Juice.

[XNASA]

3. Edwyn Collins is in Franz Ferdinand?

Why wasn't I informed!!

[Screaming Lord Byron]

4. That guy has stolen Edwyn's personal and voice point blank.

My brother sings 'Rip It Up' over 'Take Me Out'. It's scary.

[GOPisEvil]

2. Franz Ferdinand is a nice band.

I don't understand all the hubbub about them. They're not terrible, not great. I can certainly listen to them without feeling the need to rip my ears off. But, I don't feel the need to HAVE to listen to them either.

I don't know that punk is dead, but now that punk has gone more mainstream, you'll have to look harder to find the real thing.

[XNASA]

5. I think that's exactly the point of the article.

Nice, noninvasive, bland band wins album of the year in UK? What a snore.

[GOPisEvil]

6. What is scary is that this is the UK.

If the Brits go bland, what's in store for us? :scared:

[XNASA]

7. Exactly.

I, for one, would not be chuffed. Though I might be gobsmacked.

[GOPisEvil]

8. Here's a scary sentence:

"Coverage of the Mercury Prize,as with the current discourse of what remains of the music press, was couched in terms of a British musical renaissance: a belated return to the glory days of Blur and Oasis, and a revival of the national myth, whose source lies in the story of those four young godheads from Liverpool."

Bold added by me.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

9. 'Glory days of Blur and Oasis?'

:scared:

[tigereye]

10. He compares them to Gang of Four and Wire

as conservative and bland - am I missing something?

[XNASA]

12. I guess that you and me both are missing something.

[tigereye]

16. I did see a vid by these guys

it was okay... I get them confused with the Modest Mouse? guys and some other band... a lot of them seem kind of the same to me. Not highly interesting.

[XNASA]

11. Glory Days?

Neither Blur nor Oasis ever won a Mercury. I quite like Blur and though I consider Oasis to be plagiarizing simpletons, at least they have some attitude. Or had.

PS - the '92 Mercury Prize Winner you ask? Why it's Primal Scream ~ Screamadelica, of course.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

17. Sometimes they get it right.

Mind you, the Primals took the massive critical acclaim and commercial success of Screamadelica as the go-ahead to make a bad Faces record.

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. Wasn;t there anyone better to give it to?

Looking at the past winners, I see PJ Harvey, Talvin Singh, Portishead, Roni Size, Pulp, Suede, and Badly Drawn Boy...all of whom are, in my opinion anyway, quite good...and about ten times better than Franz Ferdinand, who are just one of a dozen or so bland, vaguely retro soundalike bands both here and in the UK...seems the decline I've perceived in popular music is transatlantic. Sad.

[XNASA]

14. The Nominees

Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash
Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Jamelia - Thank You
Keane - Hopes and Fears
Snow Patrol - Final Straw
Joss Stone - The Soul Sessions
The Streets - A Grand Don't Come for Free
Ty - Upwards
Amy Winehouse - Frank
Robert Wyatt - Cuckooland
The Zutons - Who Killed The Zutons

[Spider Jerusalem]

15. Of those...

I probably would have to go with The Streets or Belle and Sebastian...and either would've been a better choice.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

18. I'd have given it to Basement Jaxx, The Streets or Robert Wyatt.