You Could Have It So Much Better / Lucid Dreams

When I was 16, the four most important bands in my life were Muse, Radiohead, Interpol and Franz Ferdinand. I can't decide which band the most, but least likely is, surprisingly, Muse. Perhaps most likely is Franz Ferdinand.

I got their first two albums, Franz Ferdinand and You Could Have It So Much Better at the same time. I liked them so much that they introduced me into my favorite genre of music, Post-Punk, which encompasses the White Stripes, the Warlocks, Interpol, the Killers, She Wants Revenge and thousands of others. So in a way, they got me into music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_9GR9kdZ3o


Their first album was ok, not bad, but disorganized. Still, their music videos and album art really grabbed me because it introduced me into Dadaism, Surrealism, Russian Avant-Garde. Also, in "Outsiders", the lyrics "In seventeen years will you still be Camille, Lee Miller, Gala or whatever" are a reference to the lovers of the artists Auguste Rodin, Man Ray and Salvador Dalí. So in a way, the band got me "back" into art.

I say "back" because when I was very young I wanted to be an artist, then a cartoonist and then I had a terrible middle-school experience where a teacher told me I was worthless and so I gave up those dreams. Years later, I decided I wanted to be a writer, which, to me is the best decision of the three. Listening to Franz Ferdinand made me want to pick up art again, and so I did, but only as a hobby. I don't take my artwork very seriously (which explains why it isn't very good).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ken2Tz3h0Zs


On a side note, I've always wanted to be a photographer but I thought it would be complicated and boring. I still dreamed of National Geogrpahic quality prints. At times it is tedious, but I became an amatuer photographer anyway after taking a terrible college course in darkroom developing. So, you could say, I have become everything I ever dreamed of becoming, except a published novelist.

Franz Ferdinand's second album is better than their first, by far. Several of the songs, "The Fallen" and "Outsiders" had even religious influence on me, because their lyrics gave me a very liberal way of looking at faith.

The videos for You Could Have It So Much Better "Walk Away" and "Do You Want To" made me want to live this life of complete artistic expression and wild exuberance. They made me want to be cool, cool like Alex Kapronos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_T14vUcH8o&feature=related


Franz had a new album that was released this last month. It's spectacular. But I had to wait three years for it. In the meantime, I looked up their b-sides, which they weirdly made videos for.

"Jeremy Fraser" made me look differently at how I viewed my life and my eventual death. "L. Wells", "Eleanor Put Your Boots On", "Fade Together" and "Wine in the Afternoon" were these songs that had such incredibly beautiful, sexy, artistic women in them. In a way, they defined what I looked for in a significant other, altho on a personal note, I didn't date anyone like the girls in the videos until I met Gean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJM2iCH_XR8&feature=related


Now, their newest album, which I bought the day it dropped (AND GOT A FREE LP!) is amazing. "Ulysses" and the rest of the album make me want to party all night long. Only, the video for "Ulysses" takes the band to a new level of cool, of suave. Dancing and doing drugs in a dull laundromat? MY NEWEST DREAM. I want to be THAT fuckin' amazing.

But then, today, I realized that real life isn't like artsy fartsy music videos. It isn't like Glasgow rock ballads.

I built the person I am today, it was a lot of work on my part, but a lot, (no, a shit ton) of outside influence. If I'm any bit unique it's because I found many, many unique people to admire (Franz Ferdinand is just an extreme example. See also: Franz Kafka, Chuck Palahniuk, Hunter S. Thompson and Banksy). These heroes showed me the way and any idea that's completely my own (almost) is because I was given the eyes.

So, yeah, now I sadly realize my life can't be like a glamorous, drug-addled rock star surrounded by art and music and cheap wine. I can be cool, but not THAT cool. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdGGqScwe4w