So, Vampire Weekend is a pretty popular band right now. In fact, their Contra is the highest profile release of the year thus far. And I’m really seriously debating picking it up.
But I’m torn. I’m all for good music and I enjoy trends as much as the next guy, it’s just that Vampire Weekend still seems like a ton of hype and I’m not really one to buy into hype.
Plus, I feel like I’ve heard their stuff before. And I sort of have.
I can vividly remember when Paul Simon’s Graceland was released, not because I was waiting rabidly for the release, but rather because it was an immensely popular album. My mom and dad had it and played the record(!) a lot. My aunts and uncles were also fans. Plus Paul Simon hadn’t gotten rid of his toupee yet, so he was still relatively popular.
I can remember all the fuss about Paul Simon using African musicians and rhythms on the album and the proclamation of how revolutionary it was. White America had gotten a taste for Africa and they liked it.
To be fair Africa was pretty huge in the 80’s. I mean there was Apartheid in South Africa and famine in Ethiopia, so it really was the continent with a ton of buzz.
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‘ve also got younger cousins who were toddlers when Graceland came out, who swear that Vampire Weekend are better than sliced bread. I want to tell them how Paul Simon was the soundtrack to a summer that they can’t remember, but I feel like I’d be wasting my breath.
As a kid I didn’t hate Graceland. I enjoyed it, despite how omnipresent it was. Still, even as a kid I preferred Simon’s mesmerizing “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” That song was so cool. It was a list and a manual. And it had that bassline.
But because I’d experienced that mania surrounding Graceland, when I’d finally heard Vampire Weekend’s music I was sort of nonplussed. I mean I’d already heard the whole “East Coast white guy(s) discover African Rhythms” album. It was cool the first time around, but did it need to be rehashed for a new generation? Reading the fervor at which blogs slathered praise on Vampire Weekend really caused my diminished respect for the blogosphere, because it wasn’t “new” it was just “new to them.”
And everyone seems to be on the Vampire Weekend bandwagon now. They’re too trendy. I’ve got coworkers who probably couldn’t tell Van Morrison from Van Hagar who are heaping praise on the band. (To be fair, I believe them when they proclaim the band “the best I’ve ever heard,” though it’s mostly because I doubt they’ve got a wealth of musical knowledge.)
I really want to believe in Vampire Weekend and I can’t deny how catchy the tunes that I’ve heard are. They’re a good band and they make good music. I just don’t think that all of their headlines are doing them justice.
