Vocalist Eddie Argos (an ex-goth obsessed with Jonathan Richman and Vincent Van Gogh) had previously been in a band, The Art Goblins, in his hometown of Bournemouth. Their stage show would see him โplaying a vacuum cleanerโ and escaping from a sack. They sounded not unlike cult Glaswegians The Yummy Fur and had songs such as I Wanna Be Johnny Dean and Disco.
Another โprojectโ was The Welsh Elephant, who penned the should-be-classic Fuck The MSP (which contains the catchy refrain โNicky Wire can suck my cock!โ). Having moved to London and determined to be in another band, Argos found himself at a party in Mornington Crescent and set about hassling everyone there to join him. A webzine-editor and guitarist called Chris Chinchilla (a ska fanatic) thought this sounded like a good idea โ after all, it was a good way to impress girls. Argos was more concerned about getting on โTop Of The Popsโ. Chinchilla talked his German flatmate Freiderike Feedback (grunge fan) into playing bass, and thus they got a bass guitar for her off eBay. Argos had a friend from Bournemouth whoโd also just moved to London. Ian Catskilkin (thinks heโs in Led Zeppelin, but with better hair) used to be in a heavy rock band called Orco and he agreed to join the new band. Another friend then overheard a German man (who NME would later say looks like โhe should be in Interpolโ) on a bus telling someone how he played drums and worked in Merc, the shop on Carnaby Street selling cut-price mod clothing. Determined to hunt him down, Argos and Chinchilla went to the shop. He wasnโt working that day, so they left him a note. Mikey Breyer (listens to nothing but Weezer) would then join the band, and that was it โ May 2003, Art Brut was born.
Much like Bloc Party, Art Brutโs first gig was an independently promoted show at the Kentish Town Verge. Chinchilla had booked it before the band was ready, at which there was much complaining by his fellow bandmates. Mikeโs drumkit had yet to be imported, so he played sitting down (he usually stands up to play). After a number of other gigs round London they recorded a demo named Brutlegs, containing early versions of Formed A Band, Modern Art and Moving To LA, and made it available on their website. Formed A Band first saw the light of day on the debut Angular Records compilation album. After a journalist came across this recording, he sent an MP3 to the label Rough Trade. Within an hour of getting it, the labelโs A&R man was in touch offering to release Formed A Band as a single.
Suddenly the band were all over the music press, picking up fans and haters with ease. Many people expected it to be nothing more than a one-off novelty single. They played a triumphant Swedish festival where a guy interviewed them and got confused, thought they were from Manchester (and had all his questions based around the city), and compared them to The Sultans Of Ping. They were also offered the main tour support for Razorlight but had to turn it down due to lack of funds.
Formed A Band was released as a single at the end of March 2004. A gleeful call to arms of sorts, Argos shouts โformed a band! We formed a band! Look at us, we formed a band!โ before going on to proclaim how heโs going to โwrite a song as universal as Happy Birthdayโ and โplay it eight weeks in a row on โTop Of The Popsโโ. It reached No. 52, selling 5,000 copies, and cropped up in many end-of-year polls as the one of the best singles of the year, including โBlenderโ โ the USAโs second biggest music mag after โRolling Stoneโ - who proclaimed them the best unsigned band in the UK.
The rest of 2004 saw them playing numerous gigs from Brighton to Manchester, as well as a first anniversary show at the Tate Modern where they were joined by a couple of a Argosโ heroes โ The Vessel (David Devant and His Spirit Wife) and Les โFruitbatโ Carter (Carter USM). As a stop-gap between singles, they offered the new, shaky Brutlegs 2004, this time containing versions of Good Weekend (the one that goes โgot myself a brand new girlfriendโฆ Iโve seen her naked TWICE!โ), Bang Bang Rock And Roll and an acoustic version of Moving To LA.
The frenzied Top Of The Pops (not a Rezillos cover) was recorded with a number of bands guesting on vocals (including Ciccone, The Boyfriends, The Long Blondes, Abdoujaparov, Prozak, Rhesus and Luxembourg) for inclusion on the Angular Records compilation Rip Off Your Labels, while Moving To LA saw yet another recorded appearance, this time in live form from the Bath Moles on the compilation Bring Your Own Poison: The Rhythm Factory Sessions.
In December โ04, their second single finally saw the light. A double A-side of Modern Art and My Little Brother (with B-side These Animal Menswe@r), it was released on the Fierce Panda label and reached No. 49 โ scoring the band a bigger hit than before and, perhaps surprisingly, the highest chart position Fierce Panda has ever had. All the sleeves of the 7โ were hand-designed by the band and fans, including one messy session at a Queens Of Noize night at Camden Barfly which ended with the stage (and crowd) being covered in fluorescent pink paint.
The start of 2005 sees them having completed their debut album, pencilled in for release in March, and having picked up even more fans including Graham Coxon, British Sea Power, The Libertines, Hope Of The States and genius boy wizard Daniel Radcliffe. Even the Happy Mondaysโ Bez has tried to get onstage at one point with them at the Barfly but was so wasted at the time he didnโt manage it, despite Catskilkinโs attempts at pulling him by his arm.
Sadly, theyโve yet to appear on โTop Of The Popsโ. Perhaps โCD:UKโ will be more accommodating. Itโs better, anyway.
In Late August 2005 Chris Chinchilla decided to leave the band for personal reasons and was replaced by former Art Goblin, Jasper Future.
Art Brut performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, on April 30, 2006, at Pitchfork Music Festival in June 2006, and at the Festival Internacional de Benicร ssim and the Dour Festival in Belgium, in July 2006 and are due to headline the Two Thousand Trees Festival in July 2008. Art Brut also released a split 7" with We Are Scientists, which was only released in America. We Are Scientists returned the idea and covered Art Brut's song 'Bang Bang Rock & Roll' on the single. Their version of "Bang Bang Rock & Roll" is also available on their b-sides album Crap Attack.
The band released their second album, It's a Bit Complicated, on Mute Records produced by Dan Swift , who has also worked with artists such as Help She Can't Swim, Victorian English Gentlemens Club, Kasabian and Snow Patrol. The first single to be taken from the album, "Nag Nag Nag Nag", was released on 20 November 2006, featuring the b-side "I Found This Song in the Road" and 5 live tracks from the Eurockรฉennes de Belfort Festival 2006. The song made Single of the Week in The Guardian's "The Guide" section. In 2007 they played on the American NME Rock and Roll Riot tour with The Hold Steady. In the United States, the album reached #14 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and #32 on the Independent Albums chart.
On 1 March 2008 Argos revealed on his blog that Art Brut have amicably left EMI. In August 2008 Eddie Argos announced on his blog that the band have been recording songs for the third album. In late 2008 Art Brut returned to the studio to record their third LP Art Brut vs. Satan which was released on April 20th 2009. The album was produced by Frank Black formerly of the Pixies.
In September 2013 the band announced that long serving members Mikey Breyer and Jasper Future were retiring to be replaced with Toby Macfarlaine (guitar) and Stephen Gilchrist (drums).
2) Art Brut is a freejazz and improvisation group
Art Brut is:
Frank Wilke โ trumpet
Andrรฉ D. โ bass
Vasco Ribeiro Morais โ percussions, voices
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Art_Brut/art_brut/
Andrรฉ D. on Souncloud: http://soundcloud.com/darius-improvise/tracks?format=html&page=1
Other review: http://dariusimprovise.blogspot.fr/2013/06/art-brut.html
Bang Bang Rock & Roll
Art Brut Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Bang, bang, rock and roll
Bang, bang, rock and roll
I can't stand the sound of the Velvet Underground
(White Light! White Heat!)
I can't stand that sound the second time around
Met the sweetest girl
Sold me a pill
And it made me feel ill
Watch my body
Twist and jerk
I just wanna find a drug that works
Bang, bang, rock and roll
Bang, bang, rock and roll
Bang, bang, rock and roll
I can't stand the sound of the Velvet Underground
(White Light! White Heat!)
I can't stand that sound the second time around
I don't want a girl that's with the band
I just want a girl that's gonna hold my hand
No more songs about sex, drugs and rock and roll
It's boring!
Bang, bang, rock and roll
Bang, bang, rock and roll
Bang, bang, rock and roll
I can't stand the sound of the Velvet Underground
(White Light! White Heat!)
I can't stand that sound the second time around
Once is enough!
Once is enough!
Once is enough!
Once is enough!
The song "Bang Bang Rock & Roll" by Art Brut is a raucous, high-energy ode to rock and roll music, with biting lyrics that poke fun at the genre's clichรฉs and conventions. The repeated refrain of "Bang, bang, rock and roll" serves as a sort of manifesto for the band's attitude towards music, while the verses take aim at everything from the Velvet Underground's noisy experimentalism to the tired tropes of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
The first verse sets the tone for the song, as Art Brut's frontman Eddie Argos declares his distaste for the Velvet Underground's sound, specifically calling out their songs "White Light! White Heat!" and "the second time around." It's a bold statement, since the Velvet Underground are considered one of the most influential bands in rock history, but it's also a nod to the song's self-awareness and tongue-in-cheek humor. Later, Argos sings about a drug he bought from a girl that made him feel sick, and his search for a better high.
In the second verse, Argos declares that he's not interested in "a girl that's with the band," but rather one who will "hold my hand." It's a wry commentary on the rock star lifestyle and the often-unequal power dynamics it creates. He then dismisses the tired clichรฉs of rock and roll, claiming that "no more songs about sex, drugs and rock and roll" because they're "boring." The song ends with a repeated chant of "once is enough," as if to emphasize that Art Brut is not interested in repeating the same old formulas.
Line by Line Meaning
Bang, bang, rock and roll
Repetition of the song's title - this is a song about rock and roll
Bang, bang, rock and roll
Repetition of the song's title - this is a song about rock and roll
Bang, bang, rock and roll
Repetition of the song's title - this is a song about rock and roll
I can't stand the sound of the Velvet Underground
I don't like the Velvet Underground's music - particularly White Light! White Heat!
(White Light! White Heat!)
Reference to the Velvet Underground song White Light! White Heat!
I can't stand that sound the second time around
I don't like the Velvet Underground's music when I hear it again
Met the sweetest girl
I met a girl who was really nice
Sold me a pill
She sold me a drug in pill form
Tasted like shit
The drug tasted bad
And it made me feel ill
Taking the drug made me feel sick
Watch my body
I am watching my body
Twist and jerk
It's moving in an unpleasant way
I just wanna find a drug that works
I'm searching for a drug that doesn't make me feel sick or cause unpleasant movements
I don't want a girl that's with the band
I don't want a girl who is part of a band
I just want a girl that's gonna hold my hand
I want a girl who will simply hold my hand
No more songs about sex, drugs and rock and roll
I'm tired of hearing songs about these topics - they're boring
It's boring!
It's not interesting or exciting
Once is enough!
I only want to hear these things once - they get old quickly
Once is enough!
I only want to hear these things once - they get old quickly
Once is enough!
I only want to hear these things once - they get old quickly
Once is enough!
I only want to hear these things once - they get old quickly
Lyrics ยฉ OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@daddyspacebear
I remember downloading this off Limewire and listening on my first generic mp3 player.ย
@maxinsomniac7605
Who here suddenly remembering the best song in Saints Row?
@dr.jonesmurphy5743
BANG BANG ROCK AND ROLL
@RealCynicalGamer
Saints Row 1
@glenn_lefer7767
yep
@styledmeow
Imagine getting a reply in 2020 from a comm made in 2014
@gogolplex74
The intro sounds like Aneurysm by Nirvana
@kristianstanley6024
with less angst
@hullian1113
I take back my previous comment.
This is actually the worst song I've ever heard.
This is just pretentious whining! 'Complaint-core'! Why the hell did I like this in 2011-12?!