Most Overrated Album

What did you expect from The Vaccines? Probably not an amalgam of mediocre lyrics, irritatingly jangly guitar riffs and a front man who has as much personality as a comatose patient.

What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

After gracing the covers of The Fly and NME they were regarded as the saviours of rock and roll; the band that would kick start a new era. Before they even had chance to release a single they were splashed over NME. Funnily enough their label boss is the husband of Krissi Murison, editor of NME (surprise, surprise). So it is who you know that gets you far; friends in high places and all.

As well as  securing support slots with Arcade Fire and Arctic Monkeys to acquiring a nomination as Best New Act at this year’s Q awards; there is no end to the abundance of hype that was headed and still is heading their way. I heard their name and saw their faces more times than Stephen Fry tweets. But even the album name indicates a poor effort as if it justifies how standard and tenuous it is. Likened to The Strokes “Is this It”; that’s exactly what you find yourself asking about The Vaccines.

Opener “Wreckin’ bar” at just one minute and twenty eight seconds long appears to be thrown in as a joke. The repetition of “ra ra ra” makes me want to amputate my ears whilst ramming my skull against cobbled stones. It’s not all that horrific though. I do occasionally find myself humming along to “If You Wanna” and “Norgaard” but that just infuriates me and everyone in a close proximity to me. You wait endlessly for an explosion or a crash of drums; anything to waken it up. Even though there are upbeat tracks, they are still fairly drony and monotonous with one song blending in to the next. “A lack of understanding” does surpass the other tracks purely because it has an injection of Morrissey styled lyrics. Whereas Wolfpack sounds like a rip off of Generator by The Holloways but brooding rather than chirpy.  It’s certainly nothing new or exciting just a mish mash of their cited influences predominantly the Jesus and Mary Chain, however, it’s not a terrible album; it’s just not great.

Like the insipid Mumford and Sons before them, The Vaccines are too privately educated. Providing the question; are they just too posh? A pretty silly question really but there is a particular appeal of a band rising from their dead end towns with their repetitive jobs to superstar status.  But back to the music and let’s not get bogged down with the tedious issues of social class.

Undeniably they can pack out a festival tent incessantly with indie boys sporting their Bob Dylan-esque barnets, drainpipe jeans and floral shirts that wouldn’t look out of place on Noel Edmonds. They can also undoubtedly pull out festival anthems that anyone can drunkenly slur along to but there’s nothing revolutionary here. I find it difficult to believe that this is the future of guitar music. This blasé comment coming from NME is like Bruce Forsyth going through a whole episode of Strictly Come Dancing without a meagre attempt at receiving a few, and I mean a few laughs.  Change the record Bruce; sorry I mean NME.

Tarik’s HMV review states “This album is undeniably one the best debut albums since Arctic Monkeys released their debut 5 years earlier.” Ok Tarik, you’re clearly an devoted fan and  that’s a fairly colossal statement but we’ll just have to agree to disagree. The fans and the critics just can’t seem to get enough of them but on a final note; I must say The Vaccines - it’s not me it’s you.