Idolator
(Ed. note: Once again, we present "Indecent Exposure," a ranking of the artists who are receiving the most dangerously high levels of popular-culture exposure. It's an anecdotal chart that takes into account such factors as media appearances, blog hype, playing-in-the-background bar music, and overheard subway conversations, and it is 100 percent statistically sound.)
| INDECENT EXPOSURE CHART: 4/30/07 | |||
| ARTIST | WEEKS ON CHART | LAST WEEK | DAYS UNTIL BACKLASH |
| 1. THE WHITE STRIPES | RE-ENTRY | N/A | N/A |
| 2. PATRICK WOLF 1 | 2 | 428 | 16 |
| 3. HAVE U SEEN THAT CAT!!? SHE LOOKS LIKE SHE PLAY'S PIANO!! | 1 | 234 | — |
| 4. ARCTIC MONKEYS | 113 | 8 | 5 |
| 5. FEIST | 73 | 1 | 0 |
| 6. BJORK | 72,387 | 19 | 1998 |
| 7. RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE 2 | — | N/A | BRO! |
| 8. AVRIL LAVIGNE | 20 | 5 | -1 |
| 9. THE STILL-GRUMPY GHOST OF KURT VONNEGUT 2 | N/A | N/A | SOON, IF HE DOESN'T KNOCK OFF THAT RACKET |
| 10. FRANZ FERDINAND 3 | RE-ENTRY | 1,256 | 2 |
KEY
1 = Are you shitting us?
2 = Still unstuck.
3 = Second album actually better than you remember.
This was a big week for re-entries: THE WHITE STRIPES' "Icky Thump" sent Jack and Meg all the way to the top, making it the duo's best week since last September; meanwhile, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE benefited from Coachella exposure, not to mention Nancy Pelosi blasting "Take The Power Back" during last week's White House Correspondents' Dinner. AVRIL and ARCTIC MONKEYS ride their new-release buzz some more, but the real surprise here is the zipping ascent of PATRICK WOLF, who in the past two weeks garnered attention for his crazed live shows and online rants, despite no more than two people even knowing who he is.
Comments
I'm pretty sure at least twice that many know who Patrick Wolf is... I mean he Was on that Charlotte Church show. That and his music is pretty good.
Who is Patrick Wolf?
About that Franz album: No, it's really not.
What about Amy Winehouse? Although she's very talented, she's simultaneously conquered the Manhattan gay bar scene and seems to be on MTV at the end of every show... That with famous drinking, the snarky blogpost ready last name of Winehouse (Amy Wino, etc...), and a recent dramatic weight loss/possible eating disorder, she's the darling of our voyeuristic popular culture. How could she not make this list?
Even Patrick Wolf seems to be sick of Patrick Wolf already, if the recent announcements of his impending retirement (at age 23!) are any indication...
he'll return after his nordic island tour for animals, having happily aquired three magical instruments from the lady in the lake.
then he will re-create death metal......with heart.
@Xenu: No, really. It is.
@MConnor: I keep going back to it, trying to find some diamonds in the coal, to no avail. Between the I'm-writing-with-my-encyclopedia-open lyrics - I dare anyone to sing along to the garbled "The Fallen" - and the forced tempo changes ("The kids loved this is 'Take Me Out,' so we have to do this in every track!"), the album is too self-conscious and studied to have the tossed-off abandon of their debut.
@Xenu: I dunno, I can't fault a band that named itself after a Serbian Black Hand member and Habsburg assassin for writing lyrics that are somewhat intelligent and/or contain historical or literary references. I have no more trouble singing along to "The Fallen" than I have singing along to Mike D garbling some forced line like "When I'm in HO-land I eat the pannenkoeken." It's got great upbeat dancey songs like the aforementioned "Fallen" (which was a great lead track, you can't deny the opening riff), "Walk Away" is underrated and could have fit in easily on their first album, "Elanor put your boots on" and "fade together" are both fantastic stripped down songs that were a bit of a departure for Franz up to then. I dunno, I think the album gets a bad rap. It was admittedly good, but not great...but it definitely didn't suck. More importantly, it stands up to subsequent listenings.
@Jack Fear: He's not retiring, he is just not going to tour anymore...
patrick wolf is the poor man's rufus wainwright or mika with unfathomably less talent.
Well I disagree, Patrick Wolf is divine and his delicious voice reminds me of David Sylvian in places ... yes he has Rufus's epic sensibility but I wish more artists did.
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