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The View - '5 Rebbecca's'

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Fraser McAlpine | 09:42 UK time, Friday, 24 October 2008

The ViewThis, everybody, is Spinal Tap. This is the moment at which we all realise that The View were, after all, a sociology postgraduate's research for a thesis in which they attempted to study the affectation of 'credibility' within British popular music and the factors which are conditional to this. Except they've done their research now, are sitting on a doctorate and with research grants being cut back in the economic recession, they're just taking the mickey.

Firstly, let me clarify that the spelling and grammar of the title of the song are EXACTLY as The View spelt it. That's right, everyone, they can't even spell their own song title, THEY'RE THAT ROCK. Seriously, didn't even go to school! Spelling's for swots! Swots with DEGREES!

I was going to talk about the apostrophe. You know, that totally redundant one but then I thought possibly it was indicating the possessive and the band had, err, ahem, "been claimed by" five girls called Rebbecca in the same night, which would truly be unusual since most people spell their own names right and also I thought going on about apostrophes for very long was probably wandering a bit too far into Derridean levels of pedantry.

SERIOUSLY, though, it does not make you look cool to spell your song title wrong. There are people who can check this, you're signed to bloody Universal. Mind you, so are the Pussycat Dolls...

You can watch the video (for some reason The View have disabled embedding except using their own rubbish and tiny media player which you have to subscribe to ten things on their site to be able to use; you really must watch the video, though; it is amazing).

POLICE! NUDITY! SWEARING! It's like they're TEARING SOCIETY APART AT IT'S VERY SEAMS! Did you see them, in the hot tub, with GIRLS?! Yes, that's right, The View are now famous enough to have their very own groupies! Women have never, ever thrown themselves at acts that weren't truly credible and REAL. That's a definite fact. Then one of them DID A BOMB INTO A SWIMMING POOL. Christ, can't somebody stop this band before they kick off a global craze?!

Later in the video, the madness continues as one of the band THROWS A FISH. Yes, he actually holds what looks like it's probably a plaice or something - already dead, I might add - and THROWS IT. WILD. I don't know about you, readers but I couldn't keep up with this kind of MADNESS for longer than ten minutes!! They even play a few shows in the middle of it all!!!(!)

And what is the soundtrack to all this rock'n'roll abandon? Why it is a jangly indie tune. The sort you can imagine soundtracking an advert for... I don't know, bread, possibly. Or STD testing. Bread that tests you for STDs. Something kind of government-endorsed, anyway; it's the way the line about "and the one I love the most has turned into a junkie" gets repeated so much, it sounds like it's a tragic story of DON'T DO DRUGS, KIDS, which is possibly not actually something the View were necessarily trying to get across.

I mean... is this really a tale of glamourous rock and roll excess? No, it's not, it's a bunch of lads who you can't help thinking should probably be in college singing songs that'd be quite entertaining on the coach when you're going on a school trip to the museum and everyone starts singing. Not, you know, a song for which I would ever even consider paying actual money.

It's not even that it is actively offensive. It would amuse me if one of my friends sang it because we'd just met five girls all called Rebecca and hahahaha then we walked back from the pub and heehee, there was a pigeon, you know and then we realised that fit lass was actually on drugs! But it's, y'know, an in-joke and only enjoyable as such. So if you know the View, this is probably hilarious and brings back all those memories but if not then ...well what the hell is all this supposed to be, really?

One starDownload: Out now
CD Released: October 27th

(Hazel Robinson)

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    Ahem... (it's no good, I can't resist)...

    Sixth paragraph: "...TEARING SOCIETY APART AT IT'S VERY SEAMS!"

    "It's very seams," Hazel?

    Apostrophes *cough* totally redundant...

  • Comment number 2.

    Ah yes, but Hazel (and, as proof-reading person in chief, me) had a lot more words to get right than just the two in the View's song title.

    And I doubt very much that, had either of us spotted it, we'd have left it in.

    That said...people who complain about punctuation and spelling can hardly get chippy when their own mistakes are pointed out.

    So, y'know...STUFF OFF, LADY! ;-)

  • Comment number 3.

    Pedantic? Me?!

    (Like I said, couldn't resist!)

    The View do seem to be trying to make a virtue of the mistake at the beginning of their video... maybe that was after they realised they'd let it slip through on other things... or maybe someboy DOES think it's cool!

  • Comment number 4.

    Oops, 'someboy' above should have been 'somebody.'

    *hides head and awaits just deserts*

  • Comment number 5.

    "someboy"?

    OMG IT'S CATCHING!

  • Comment number 6.

    Argh, dammit, I thought I checked for that kind of thing. Many apologies for the sloppy grammar there, everyone. *hangs head*

    I've also just realised they're actually signed to 1965, not Universal. Still, I would have hoped someone might have a spellcheck or an English Language GCSE or something there, too.

  • Comment number 7.

    I'd just like to add that, atrocious grammar aside; you can't knock The View's song-writing ability. 'Hats off to the Buskers,' is an astounding piece of social commentary.

    I know, I know, I know there's so much about them that is very wrong. (Fans in Nottingham will know what I mean.) But there's so much that is very appealing.

    Saw them live earlier this week - they were phantasmagorical!

    p.s. Apologies if the Americanism irks, or the 'But,' at the beginning of the sentence grates; it's poetic license :-)

  • Comment number 8.

    So what if they choose to spell something the way they do, so what if you think the song is a pile of rhubarb and so what if you do not like the band or what they are about.

    For every person that does not like the song there will be somebody that does, and likewise the band.

    For you information the song is not infact about 5 people called Rebecca, it is about 5 females who are close to the writer of the song and he to chose to rename them all for purpose of the song.

    If you ever get the chance go and see them live and then you will be able to give a more unbiased opinion.

    In the mean while you can continue to sit in your chair watching University Challenge. I suggest that you have a little too much time on your hands with this nit-picking, I mean I don't like marmite but i don't feel the need write an article based on it!!!!!

  • Comment number 9.

    Not to 'nit-pick' but this is a review, so actually the point is to write an article based on whether or not I like the song.

  • Comment number 10.

    Not to 'nit-pick' but your review consists of very little about the song and more your thoughts about the band. I respect you verdict of the song but I think it lacked any real depth or research, hope your next review is a bit more well lets say well thought out and structured. Good luck!

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