The 1975: escaping genre-lization
Music is always expanding and welcoming new sounds that defy the stereotypical boundaries of genre-lization. For some, like the 1975, it hasn’t been difficult to cross the sound barrier.
Baltimore welcomed british sensation The 1975 on June 5th for a show to rock the masses. Before their main performance at Ram’s Head Live, The Soundgarden hosted a free acoustic showing. Lead singer, Matt Healy and guitar player Adam Hann performed three songs, including their hit single Chocolate for a crowd crammed into a small record store. For those who bought a CD before hand, they were allowed to stay after for a signing with all the band members.
Once at Ram’s Head live, the crowd was impressed by the opening act Bad Suns, a band out of Los Angeles who classifies themselves as indie rock. Songs like Cardiac Arrest and We Move Like the Ocean prepped the audience for the show about to ensue.
Without warning, black and white strobe lights lit up the small venue as the band entered the stage, barely visible in front of the white outline of a rectangle from the cover of their album. The opening chords to The City traveled as the crowd erupted into a frenzy of excitement that had been harbored for days, weeks, even months in anticipation of the concert.
The small venue was full of unique pop sounds and ballad-worthy lyrics that provoked singing along, swaying, and rocking out. Many songs like Girls and Heart Out had the audience shouting along the clever catchy lyrics, while Robbers, Me, and Fallingforyou slowed down the tempo to add a surreal effect.
As lead singer, Healy had an ability to pour every emotion possible into each and every song. Whether it was about a rebellious love ripping apart the seams of society, or a slow ballad about the struggles of adolescence, he made the audience experience memories only he went through.
Healy explains in interviews that the main goal of their debut album was to show the perspective of a teenager struggling to fit in with modern society, whether it was about love, drugs, etc. For example, Healy wrote Girls about his admiration for couples like Bonnie and Clyde, who were so dedicated to each other that the law was nothing but a pesky roadblock.
“Kids are a lot more ambiguous stylistically and genres are diluted.We are a band that represents that attitude and therefore there’s a stylistic polarity in everything we do musically. Sticking to one genre isn’t relevant to us,” said Healy in an interview with metro.com.
Overall, the 1975 can be viewed as a triple threat in terms of making the audience feel different emotions. They have the ability to get the crowd on their feet and ready to start a riot while they can slow it down and provide relatable tracks. With its pop and rock influences, it’s suitable for listeners of all genres.
