We Could be Heros...

A few weeks ago a friend with somewhat distinguished tastes made mention that he in fact believes that the band Radiohead is the "most important rock band in the world."

Not speaking as a fan of Yorke, Greenwood and Co. (I'm not) I must admit that there was a time when that statement might have been true, when the album Kid A was released in 2000. Not trying to sound like some hippie burnout (I'm not), that album really did blow some minds. The album was really one of the most challenging albums to shoot to a #1 spot on pop charts and the band played stadium sized shows on their US tours in it's wake.

Once again, that album was released in the year 2000. Since then, it has become sort of this point of reference for people who like to make mention that they really "enjoy challenging music." Maybe I'm just a dumb Yankee (I am) but something about Radiohead always rubbed me as pretentious. Like some sort of British thing that I just really couldn't understand*. I drew my conclusion eight years ago that Radiohead was not the most important rock band in the world.

The flip-side to Radiohead is a band that had never really created challenging music (compared to the bands they were influenced by/stole from). had taken a nose dive and gone from bearable to downright awful. In October of 2000, U2 released their album All That You Can't Leave Behind and the band collectively smiled and nodded as a bunch of people shit themselves and proclaimed that once again U2 was the most important band in the world. Soon after that, frontman Bono would champion just about every single cause under the sun, making fans of just about every single human being on the planet who needed a mouthpiece for their guilty conscience. I'm sorry to say it, but I believe that anybody with taste who gives a quick listen to the above mentioned album will fast realize that the album in fact sucks and U2 is really not the best or important band in the world.

Today, the newest album by TV on The Radio shall be officially released into the public consciousness.It is my guess that within 48 hours, major publications all across the country will be hailing it as the record of the year. Critics and music fans alike will proclaim that Dear Science, is either the defining moment of the Brooklyn groups career or simply another component to a sequence of albums put out by a group that has become the most important band of their generation. Even though all the results are not yet in, I am just going to ruin the surprise and let everybody in on the secret, both statements are correct and work together to bring on that result.

TV on the Radio has put out the best album of the year for a band that is the most important one of the decade.

With all the above talk bashing U2 and Radiohead you might think that I am indeed slaughtering sacred cows for the thrill of the kill but I must make mention that I am not the biggest fan of TV on the Radio. I have only realized after one full listen to Dear Science, that the band has pulled off something that is quite rare in any day and age: they have created an album full of urgent, cohesive, and catchy songs, all done without a bit of compromise.

Really, if you want a song by song breakdown, I'd suggest Pitchfork or basically any other blog on the entire interweb. Some are written by fans, others by journalists. In some cases, reviews will be written by shills of the corporate beast known as the record industry that is slowly dying (good riddance). What I am proposing is you take my advice and purchase, steal, download (same thing?) or borrow Dear Science, by TV on the Radio and bask in the golden age where we finally live in a world that finally has a most important band on it.

*In 2000 I was in fact paying close attention to bands like Black Dice and Arab on Radar. I don't know what that says about my grasp on what is pretentious but for the sake of fairness I figured I should make mention of this fact.