But Is It Greatness Or Just A Bad Dream?

I won free tix to a local radio station’s “Mixed Lounge” with a band out of the U.K. that I’ve been hopelessly hung up on in the past. I even reviewed their debut album, Hopes & Fears and eagerly attended their show in Boston in 2004 when they were first touring the U.S. In case you’re wondering who the band is I’m speaking so mysteriously about it’s Keane. They are British soft-Alt Pop Rock and at yesterday afternoon’s studio they performed four songs in their set and fielded questions from the DJ. I was sitting about 12 ft away from the band’s lead singer, losing a battle with the sweltering heat and humidity that’s currently sweeping over Boston, and in awe of how much he’d changed.

In the three years since they debuted Keane has become the critics’ darling, garnered acclaim in the form of accolades, and enjoyed relatively huge commercial success. They no longer give off the vibe of the pasty band of “brothers” out of England who grew up playing tunes in their parents’ garage and were hungry for success. They’ve arrived. And there’s always some level of self-indulgence when that occurs. Sure the guys are likable and they strike me as a professional “class” act for the most part, but something has seeped into their core. I’m not sure if it’s affected their music so much (although undoubtedly their first album was their best) but it has left its stain on their energy as a group.

Hollywood has gotten to them. The guys still speak with that trademark British/Sussex accent as homage to their roots (and sure works well on the ladies), but everything else about them, from their polished answers at yesterday’s studio interview with the DJ to the clothes they adorn themselves in (Urban Outfitters style) to the fact the lead singer has now shed a significant amount of weight and become bronze, seems like it was manufactured out of some LA music production factory.

I don’t know. Maybe I’ve been influenced by my Classic Rock/Grunge husband and now think that the prerequisite for all great musicians is that they be tortured, riddled with drug abuse, and can’t get their sh*t together. Kurt Cobain anyone?

Walking out of the studio set after the Keane concert, I automatically put on my iPod and started listening to Chris Cornell. I started to wonder if to be a truly great musician (and moreover one that was worthy of me skipping out on work) required an element of cacophony in the form of experimentation. What if what sounds unchartered and perhaps even a little displeasing to my ears initially is me learning how to expand my appreciation for what innovative sound and musical genius is really like. I wished for something else yesterday too. I didn’t need Keane to be egomaniacs like Oasis, but couldn’t they have tried out a new sound/song, and/or played it a little unsafe? Helped redefine a genre all in one Mixed Lounge studio set? A little unlikely I suppose.

But I’m still left lingering with this one unsettling question.

Did Keane’s Hopes & Fears give way to complacency?