April 9, 2014 ()
Black Keys Turn Blue Without The Blues
Late last month rock and roll fans awoke on a chilly March day to the news of the Black Keys forthcoming 8th studio album, Turn Blue, along with a sneak peak at what will likely be among the most repeated songs on rock radio this summer, Fever.
Upon reading the announcement, which occupied much of my newsfeed that morning, one question immediately popped into my mind: Which direction will this new album take them? Will it be another pop rock hit with the masses like 2013’s Lonely Boy? Or will the band make a surprising move backwards, not unlike others who have reached legendary status before them like the Red Hot Chilly Peppers and Muse, the ones who ventured off into the world of mainstream music for a number of albums, building a mass following before returning to the style of music they played as amateurs.
I clicked on the link to the Black Key’s website, scrolled through the mesmerizing spirals of blue and white now occupying their home page in anticipation of the new album, and clicked play on the YouTube file.
Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat before people start emailing me with complaints: It’s a good song. Maybe even a great song. Certainly one that grows on you, getting a little more appealing with each listen. And for most bands that would be more than sufficient, maybe even the best they could hope for, but I hold the Black Keys to a higher standard, having first fallen in love with the band when they were a more heavily blues inspired duo playing songs like Heavy Soul, Have Love Will Travel, and Thickfreakness.
The Black Keys of today, however, are a mere remnant of their past. I don’t criticize the band for seeking a wider audience and more commercial success, in fact I think it’s the very point of getting into the music industry in the first place, second only to the love of music. On the other hand I believe that certain bands earn the right to travel back to their roots, having reached a certain level of critical success before bringing the audience right back to the style of music that started it all. In The Black Keys case that would mean going back to being a duo instead of a 6 piece band, coming up with riffs more unique than a minor variant of their last hit, and depending less on that catchy, ‘stuck in your head’ factor.
When I interviewed Ryan Gullen a couple of years ago, bassist of Canadian rock quarter The Sheepdogs, shortly after getting back from a studio session with Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney, he told me just about everything I needed to know about how the Black Keys viewed their evolution towards mainstream radio airplay:
There are several brands the medicine is useful in curing you cheap viagra purchasing this and making your life full of bliss and happiness. But it is not easy to collect the herbs cialis price Find Out More from the nature. This is very light to digest and relieves colic pain. 7.Abdominal Massage viagra 10mg also helps to relieve indigestion. Recent studies suggest 25mg barato viagra that there are around 30% to 70% of erection problems have been attributed to high levels of prolactin. “He had some great ideas for us as to how to maybe make our music a little bit more accessible to some people, but remain true to our roots. Which is exactly what they’ve done, and exactly what we want to do,” he told me while sitting in front of a piano during 2012 Canadian Music Week, improvising a soundtrack to our conversation as he spoke.
In that one sentence Gullen had just revealed to me exactly how the Black Keys viewed themselves. Sure they’re trying to stay true to their roots, and beneath the catchy choruses and upbeat hooks are some elements of that bluesy rock that set them on their initial path towards greatness, but their goal then and now appears to be more heavily weighted towards the idea of “accessibility,” IE attracting a wider audience with more universally appealing music.
I can’t criticize the Black Keys for taking the path towards ‘accessibility’ some years ago, when their tracks went from deep blues to light pop rock, but as a band that’s received dozens of awards, headlined every festival from Bonnaroo to SXSW, and reached a level of commercial success they could have only dreamed about in their garage in Akron Ohio, I believe they have earned the right to return to their roots, as countless successful rock bands had done before, brining their new legion of mainstream followers along with them.
Again, Fever is a good song, and Turn Blue will likely be a good album, or at least a commercially successful one, but I am now forced to continue holding out hope that perhaps their 9th album will finally mark a return to style of rock that made me fall in love with the band in the first place.