XFM May - The Summer Anthem - Place Your Bets
Futureheads àVery difficult to make a festival audience bounce in 7/8 time. (20/1)
| 16 May 2006
With any luck by the time you read this the sun will be shining and you'll be thinking about digging your wellies and shorts out in preparation for the festivals. Which has me thinking… who's going to come up with this year's 'Summer Anthem'? Now this might sound a bit sad but, like Christmas-Number-1's, there's a wee part of all of us curious about who'll capture the heart of the sunburnt public.
The qualifications? Said tune should be unremittingly upbeat and/or suitably anthemic and, although not essential, if it actually contains the word 'summer' or 'sunshine' anywhere in the song it's game over. Added points if whoever sings it is playing one or more festivals, thus ensuring ready-made memories and misty-eyed reminiscing come December.
So, with a host of big bands unleashing albums, what's the form?
Embrace – With their knack for a rousing chorus, and the backing of England's football fans, they will be inescapable. Only a radio-ban north of the border may save our sanity. That and the Germans humping them in the quarter finals… (Evens)
Snow Patrol – Could have a drunk-man crying at 200m, and write nothing but Big Tunes. A shoe-in at (2/1)
Razorlight – Standouts at T in the Park and Live8 last year, and Jonny Borrell already knows his way round an anthem. Looking good at (2/1)
Gnarls Barkley – They may have peaked too early, with Crazy likely to fizzle out before the first bout of sunstroke, but it appears that their command of The Soul is effortless and it'd be daft to bet against them (3/1)
Scissor Sisters – Not due until the tail end of the summer, but come on! Unless glitter and tight t-shirts are outlawed before September, expect a fortnight in August to be forever theirs (3/1)
Red Hot Chili Peppers – They're from California and wear shorts all year round so they're already trying too hard. Do not let them win! (5/1)
Primal Scream – With a return to good-time rock'n'roll they look a good bet… until you remember Bobby Gillespie 'charming' the Glastonbury festival crowd last year by calling them "f—cking hippies", and having to be dragged off stage. (10/1)
Keane – They may have managed to make their piano sound like a guitar on the new record but they're still just a little too precious for full-on drunken bawling. (10/1)
Sigur Ros – With "that tune off the nature programme" set to be a hit, and the fact that their songs could well be about 'sunshine', 'the sea' or indeed 'jam-jars', they look set to woo a certain Scottish festival. (16/1)
Futureheads – Very difficult to make a festival audience bounce in 7/8 time. (20/1)
Radiohead – "Unremittingly upbeat"? Ok…(33/1)
Ladies and gentlemen! Place your bets….
The qualifications? Said tune should be unremittingly upbeat and/or suitably anthemic and, although not essential, if it actually contains the word 'summer' or 'sunshine' anywhere in the song it's game over. Added points if whoever sings it is playing one or more festivals, thus ensuring ready-made memories and misty-eyed reminiscing come December.
So, with a host of big bands unleashing albums, what's the form?
Embrace – With their knack for a rousing chorus, and the backing of England's football fans, they will be inescapable. Only a radio-ban north of the border may save our sanity. That and the Germans humping them in the quarter finals… (Evens)
Snow Patrol – Could have a drunk-man crying at 200m, and write nothing but Big Tunes. A shoe-in at (2/1)
Razorlight – Standouts at T in the Park and Live8 last year, and Jonny Borrell already knows his way round an anthem. Looking good at (2/1)
Gnarls Barkley – They may have peaked too early, with Crazy likely to fizzle out before the first bout of sunstroke, but it appears that their command of The Soul is effortless and it'd be daft to bet against them (3/1)
Scissor Sisters – Not due until the tail end of the summer, but come on! Unless glitter and tight t-shirts are outlawed before September, expect a fortnight in August to be forever theirs (3/1)
Red Hot Chili Peppers – They're from California and wear shorts all year round so they're already trying too hard. Do not let them win! (5/1)
Primal Scream – With a return to good-time rock'n'roll they look a good bet… until you remember Bobby Gillespie 'charming' the Glastonbury festival crowd last year by calling them "f—cking hippies", and having to be dragged off stage. (10/1)
Keane – They may have managed to make their piano sound like a guitar on the new record but they're still just a little too precious for full-on drunken bawling. (10/1)
Sigur Ros – With "that tune off the nature programme" set to be a hit, and the fact that their songs could well be about 'sunshine', 'the sea' or indeed 'jam-jars', they look set to woo a certain Scottish festival. (16/1)
Futureheads – Very difficult to make a festival audience bounce in 7/8 time. (20/1)
Radiohead – "Unremittingly upbeat"? Ok…(33/1)
Ladies and gentlemen! Place your bets….