The group has released several EPs including their debut Young Liars (2003), and five studio albums: Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (2004), Return to Cookie Mountain (2006), Dear Science (2008), Nine Types of Light (2011), and Seeds (2014).
For most of the band's existence, the core TV on the Radio lineup has been Tunde Adebimpe (vocals/loops), David Andrew Sitek (guitars/keyboards/loops), Kyp Malone (vocals/guitars/bass/loops), Jaleel Bunton (drums/vocals/loops/guitars) and Gerard Smith (bass/keyboards) as official members.
The band's Bio from their website:
TV on the Radio gets to do anything. Like a small platoon whose pleasing impenetrability is their core, the band consistently confounds expectations while managing to balance respect from critics and peers alike. The result is TV on the Radio gets to do anything they want. This freedom is their engine.
“It’s about doing what feels right,” says singer Tunde Adebimpe. “I really feel like this band is something that is expansive and always changing and growing. If we wear our influences on our sleeve, it’s a pretty crowded sleeve.”
It’s no different with Seeds, the new and fifth proper studio album that Adebimpe has made along with Jaleel Bunton, Kyp Malone, and David Andrew Sitek (who also produced it). Having long outlasted that early 2000s fascination with all things Brooklyn to which the hip willfully succumbed, they continue to conquer music on their own terms. This album serves as another step in continuing to heed their reputation as “the most vital, current band in America” (Associated Press).
This go-round the songs are immediate and triumphant, textured with storytelling hooks and possibly the most honest music this band has ever composed. They’ve hit a point where they’re OK being straight-up beautiful without having to manipulate prettiness into whatever unforeseen shape.
Slate says Seeds has “TV on the Radio’s best songs in years. They are sounding sharper than ever.” And the band knows it. Adebimpe has already said this is the band’s best record. Not a boast, just an observation.
“I feel like I knew it before we were done,” he says immediately. “I was so excited by the songs while we were making them, I wanted to get more and more and more into it. The general feeling going into it was, 'We're still here. Our friendship with each other is so strong. Being in a band, at its best times, is like being... well, let’s say whenever things are going really well, we're like ‘cool, Voltron's back together.’“
The TV on the Radio guys are the type of people who go on hiatus and focus on music. They may take time between albums for their other endeavors, but they know when it’s right to come together – especially when the music comes as easily and passionately as it did with case Seeds. The band found themselves collected in David Sitek’s Los Angeles studio last year and recorded a couple of songs – “Mercy” and “Million Miles” and didn’t want to stop.
“Those were just songs that we wrote because we hadn't written songs together in a while,” says Sitek “They came out really fast and inspired us to do it again – and then ‘again’ turned into the record.”
Adebimpe and Sitek live in Los Angeles, Bunton and Malone reside in New York, but make no mistake: TV on the Radio is a quartet. To attempt to parse out exactly what each member does in the group would be to dismantle the fundamental essence of what makes TV on the Radio the monolithic anomaly they have been careful to cultivate and protect for more than a decade. They permeate beyond a wall of sound, and instead create a planetarium of music with every song. They embody many voices. Most of them can play just about anything. And sing too. They are equal partners in the creation of a type of noise that appeared seemingly out of nowhere over 10 years ago.
Throughout the years, TV on the Radio has been consistent in the standard they set for themselves. Earlier records, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes and Return To Cookie Mountain stole the hearts of fans and critics alike just the same, winning the Shortlist Music Prize and Spin's Album of the Year respectively. Their breakout release Dear Science was named best album of 2008 by Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Spin Magazine, The New York Times, The Onion AV Club, MTV, even Entertainment Weekly. An embarrassment of riches, really. Their last album, 2011's Nine Types of Light, was deemed "pure heaven" by the cherubs at Rolling Stone, and earned the band a Grammy® nomination. The band has also graced the stages of Saturday Night Live and The Colbert Report.
“The band is it’s own ‘self.’ It has to be that way,” Adebimpe says. “That's been the goal for a long time. Nobody really wants to be the focal point for the band; the band should be the focal point. Not even the band: the music. We can show up and take credit for it, but ultimately it's something that maybe we helped shape and facilitate coming into the world. But that’s all.”
They happily recruit likeminded associates to help prop up this invention of theirs in the studio and on stage. (Kelis, for instance, appears on “Lazzeray”). The band has recorded and performed with other artists who’ve conquered the music world on their own terms just as much as they have. Fellow mavericks like Trent Reznor, Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs fame, Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy, Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead, Martin Perna of Antibalas, Katrina Ford of Celebration, and David chuffing Bowie have all romped in the sandbox with TV on the Radio.
“If you share a material thing, it dissipates,” Adebimpe says, recalling a fragment of philosophy he once heard, or might be improvising on the spot. “If you share a spiritual thing, it just increases. It becomes more and more and more. I'm already thinking about the next record.”
Seeds is an expression of everything this band has been through in the last three years and more. They’re influential, in their prime, they’re TV on the Radio, and they’ve proven themselves to be one of the most important bands of this generation. It clicks, as it always does, and TV on the Radio is brand new again, again.
“No matter what you go through individually and collectively, when you step away from each other, you're kind of like, "I know that if we get together we can fire this thing," says Adebimpe. “It's definitely in the spirit of the punk rock we all grew up with. If you win, you're still a punk. If you lose, you're still a punk, and honestly, it's not about anybody else.”
http://www.tvontheradio.com/
No Future Shock
TV on the Radio Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
On a family of kids who pop your pills
And smoke your pipe
And after the war broke your piggy bank
The bastards broke the world this time
So we sleep with our guns
And no jive won't get done
Oh stuck in the middle of a
Silly little riddle
Control your dam, control
Till it blows your mind
Oh dance!
Don't stop!
Oh do the no future, do the no future shock
Don't stop!
Do the no future, do the no future
Oh you're aware, blow your top
Lord, do the no future, do the no future
Oh you're aware, blow your top
Oh do the no future, do the no future
Oh mother dear, did they really cop a feel
Before they robbed you blind?
We're all lacking nourishment
We searched around the world
Looks like a man's gonna drop
Tell it to me, baby girl
Fall into this burning world
Are you ready?
Here comes the cop to lock us up for smoking
Crack well...blow mountaintops
Are you ready?
Oh dance!
Don't stop!
Do the no future, do the no future shock
Don't stop!
Do the no future, do the no future shock
Don't stop!
Do the no future, do the no future shock
Don't stop!
Oh do the no future, do the no future
Honey and it's burning blood money
So I leave the motor running all night
Absurdities confirming me
Like want to start them up
'cause here, funny, it just doesn't seem right (so tight!)
? in the fishery
Clean water running out of sight
Come on come on
See the whores transforming
Feel it
Oh drop
And bounce
And shake it shake it like it is the end of time
Oh see that you get down
In the town
In the country in the city in the middle of a beautiful
Get-left-behind
Oh work it out
?
Get ready
?
Father to the mother:
What went wrong?
I can't say no, won't live too long
Hold it steady
Girl, it falls apart
Don't stop
Oh do the no future do the no future
Don't stop
Do the no future do the no future shock
Don't stop
Do the no future do the no future shock
No Future Shock by TV on the Radio is a dystopian song that paints a bleak picture of the future. The opening lines refer to a person who spent all their money on a family who eventually turned on them by stealing their drugs and money, leading to their financial ruin. The lyrics then describe a broken world where war seems to be a common occurrence, leading to the need for people to sleep with guns. The chorus urges the listener to "do the no future shock" and dance, seemingly as a form of escapism.
The verses continue with references to society's problems, such as the lack of nourishment and the police locking people up for smoking crack. The lyrics also mention the world's dwindling resources, with clean water running out of sight. In the final verse, the lyrics turn introspective, with the singer questioning what went wrong and acknowledging that things are falling apart.
Overall, the song confronts the listener with the harsh realities of the world and encourages them to rebel against these problems by dancing and finding a way to cope.
Line by Line Meaning
You burned up all your credit
You have exhausted all your resources
On a family of kids who pop your pills
You spent your resources on a family who consume your medicine
And smoke your pipe
The family you supported also uses drugs
And after the war broke your piggy bank
Even after war, your personal savings are still drained
The bastards broke the world this time
The world is messed up, and to blame are the malevolent individuals who run the show
So we sleep with our guns
We live in fear and insecurity
And no jive won't get done
No matter how optimistic we are, we can't seem to achieve progress
But we're heavy-hand high
We are intoxicated; we can't make the right decisions
Oh stuck in the middle of a
We are entrapped in the middle of
Silly little riddle
A meaningless problem
Control your dam, control
Manage your situation, remain in charge
Till it blows your mind
Until it drives you to madness
Oh dance!
Move your body!
Don't stop!
Keep going
Oh do the no future, do the no future shock
Embrace the future that seems inevitable and disregard the shock that comes with it
Oh you're aware, blow your top
You are conscious, and it could cause you to snap
Lord, do the no future, do the no future
Even when things seem dire, continue to embrace the future ahead
Oh mother dear, did they really cop a feel
Mother, have they taken advantage of you?
Before they robbed you blind?
Before they steal everything you have
We're all lacking nourishment
None of us can find fulfillment in our lives
We searched around the world
We tried everything we could think of
Looks like a man's gonna drop
A man seems like he's going to die
Tell it to me, baby girl
Tell me, girl
Fall into this burning world
Swim in this world that's collapsing
Are you ready?
Do you have what it takes?
Here comes the cop to lock us up for smoking
The police are coming to arrest us for substance use
Crack well...blow mountaintops
Indulge in drug use to the point that your body and mind explode
Honey and it's burning blood money
Wealth made from unethical sources
So I leave the motor running all night
I keep my engine running for security
Absurdities confirming me
Crazy thoughts seem to be the only ones that make sense
Like want to start them up
I want to confront my problems
Cause here, funny, it just doesn't seem right (so tight!)
It seems wrong that things are how they are
? in the fishery
Unknown
Clean water running out of sight
Access to clean water is disappearing
Come on come on
Hurry up, let's move
See the whores transforming
See people changing on a fundamental level
Feel it
Feel that change
Oh drop
Fall down
And bounce
And pick yourself back up
And shake it shake it like it is the end of time
Dance like there's no tomorrow
Oh see that you get down
Make sure you dance
In the town
In your community
In the country in the city in the middle of a beautiful
Everywhere
Get-left-behind
Don't get left behind
Oh work it out
Figure it out
?
Unknown
Get ready
Be prepared
?
Unknown
Father to the mother:
Father speaking to mother
What went wrong?
What caused things to go awry?
I can't say no, won't live too long
I can't resist temptation and will live an unhealthy lifestyle
Hold it steady
Stay focused
Girl, it falls apart
Everything is falling apart
Do the no future, do the no future
Embrace the future that seems inevitable
Do the no future, do the no future shock
Embrace the future's truths and disregard the shock that comes with it
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Peermusic Publishing, WORDS & MUSIC A DIV OF BIG DEAL MUSIC LLC
Written by: BABATUNDE OMOROGA ADEBIMPE, DAVID ANDREW SITEK, DAVID KYP JOEL MALONE, GERARD ANTHONY SMITH, JALEEL BUNTON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind