Kaiser Chiefs – Everything Is Average Nowadays (Polydor)
May 23, 2007
***High level of radio play alert!*** Considering that last asterisked statement, you’d have to agree the title of this song is a tad ironic. Meh, they’re successful now, let’s do them down.
For all those still dwelling in caves and depending on carrier pigeons for both communication and sustenance (I know our core audience, don’t I), ‘Everything Is Average Nowadays’ is the clever-clever second single from the platinum-selling (geo-fact: did you know it took a ton of platinum ore to make my wedding ring – not that it’s a huge ring (oo-er)…) ‘Yours Truly, Angry Mob,’ an album almost as popular as Take That’s. Figures.
The promo features a cover I hope they keep – no frills, no logo and a baked bean collage on the CD itself. The song is pretty no frills, too. After the opening blast chord, it’s straight into the chorus, a no-nonsense tribute to ‘Teenage Kicks,’ with Ricky Wilson warbling the title in see-saw style. It’s polished punk rock for the common man, Eddie And The Hot Rods for suburbia, but you knew that already. Ah, the sweet smell of irony, an anthem against mediocrity that, by its popular nature, is mediocre. But wait, what is this, a hidden message? “All I need is a ball and a wall/ a sledge and a hill in heavy weather.” It’s the good old days, isn’t it? This is a duffer anthem, designed for the Radio 2 (I am so ashamed – I wake up to Wogan) listener, if I am not mistaken. Looks like they know their core audience too; guess that’s why they’re a platinum seller.
Bet they’re gutted Top Of The Pops folded…