Franz Ferdinand (band)

Franz Ferdinand is a Scottish rock and roll band. The band's debut self-titled album released in 2004 debuted on the UK album charts at number 3, and won the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. So far, the band has released six singles of which "Take Me Out", "The Dark of the Matinée" and "Do You Want To" were top 10 hits in the UK. They are influenced by 1980s post-punk and garage rock.

Critical and chart success

Franz Ferdinand have been quoted as saying they wanted to make "music that girls can dance to." This was combined with their art school background on their self-titled debut released in early 2004. It debuted at number 3 in the UK album charts in February 2004 and at number 12 in the Australian album charts in April 2004. While the album had only reached the bottom reaches of the Billboard 200 album charts in the US as of early 2004, it reached the top 5 of the indie rock and Heatseeker charts for debut charts. After a couple of North American tours and heavy rotation of the "Take Me Out" video on MTV, the album eventually reached No. 32 on the Billboard 200 later in 2004 and has been certified platinum in the US for sales exceeding 1,000,000. As of October 2004, there have been five singles released from the album namely:

Related Topics:
2004 - UK album chart - Indie rock

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• "Darts of Pleasure" placed on the UK Singles Chart;
• "Take Me Out" reached the #3 on the UK charts, #66 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #3 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. It also made the top 10 of the Irish and Canadian charts and the top 40 in a composite European chart as well as being voted number one in the Australian Triple J Hottest 100 for 2004.
• "The Dark of the Matinée" or "Matinée" reached #8 in the UK singles charts and the top 30 on the World Modern Rock Charts (a composite chart of US, German, UK, Swedish, Finnish, Canadian and Australian modern rock charts); and
• "Michael" reached the #17 on the UK singles charts.
• "This Fire" was released in North America in November 2004. It reached #17 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.

The song "Michael" was the first in a trend among newer bands to write songs with lyrics reflecting a more fluid sexuality. "Michael" is a frenzied dance/rock song based on a private joke among the band about a friend of theirs who got drunk and was dancing unabashedly at a club.

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The Franz Ferdinand album received a generally strong positive response from critics. The New Musical Express said that the band was the latest in the line of art school rock bands featuring The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Roxy Music, the Sex Pistols, Wire and Blur. It rated the album as 9 out of 10 and said: "This album is the latest and most intoxicating example of the wonderful pushing its way up between the ugly slabs of Pop Idol, nu metal and Britons aping American bands. What these blossoming bands have in common is the absolute conviction that rock ‘n’ roll is more than a career option."

Related Topics:
New Musical Express - The Beatles - The Rolling Stones - The Who - Roxy Music - Sex Pistols - Wire - Blur - Pop Idol - Nu metal

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The BBC's review of the album said: "At only 38 minutes long Franz Ferdinand may not be a particularly long album, but it is a masterpiece of funky, punky, suave cool from the first track to the last." The All Music Guide rated the album as four out of five stars and said "Franz Ferdinand ends up being rewarding in different ways than the band's previous work was, but it's apparent that they're still one of the more exciting groups to come out of the garage-rock / post-punk revival."

Related Topics:
BBC - All Music Guide - Garage-rock - Post-punk

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On September 7, 2004 the album was awarded the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. Take Me Out gained first place in the Australian Triple J Hottest 100 for 2004, winning more than twice the votes of the second-place entry.

Related Topics:
September 7 - 2004 - Mercury Music Prize - Triple J Hottest 100

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In 2005, "Take Me Out" was in an ad campaign for the PlayStation Portable game system. It also became associated with the YTMND fad involving a PSP ejecting its disc automatically. "Take Me Out" was also included on the kid-oriented album Kidz Bop 8. In 2004, "Take Me Out" was in the EA Sports video game NHL 2005, while "This Fire" was in ', made by EA Games and Criterion Games. Also "Michael" was featured on the soundtrack of Gran Turismo 4, made by Polyphony Digital

Related Topics:
2005 - PlayStation Portable - YTMND - Kidz Bop - 2004 - EA Sports - Video game - NHL 2005 - EA Games - Criterion Games - Gran Turismo 4 - Polyphony Digital

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