Tim: Yes, I know, another boyband, but this time there’s something INTERESTING. And it sounds slightly different, and it’s got a very fun video.
Tom: So these guys sound a bit like a discount version of the Strokes, instead of a discount version of One Direction. Got it.
Tim: You say discount, but this is a brilliant track. It went straight to number one on iTunes in 38 countries (including the UK and their native Australia) when it became available to pre-order*, and that would have been deservedly so.
Tom: It’s not a bad track, true: in a regular charts week, it’ll stand out.
Tim: Except – it wasn’t deserved. Because this was available to pre-order before this video was up. And also before the very good lyric video was up. Before, in fact, any member of the public had heard any part of it at all. And that’s odd. Isn’t it?
I suppose it’s nice that their fans have faith in them to produce a good tune, but it raises the question of how charts can stay relevant with this marketing model. It seems sales may be somewhat meaningless, or at least the pre-orders.
Tom: Now, for the official UK charts — unless things have changed very recently — pre-orders counted as purchases in the first week of release, which meant a much higher chart position in that first week. iTunes, of course, just counts them immediately.
Tim: What does a number one mean when no-one’s actually heard it? It could, let’s be honest, just be three and a half minutes of them all throwing up last night’s hangover. A worthy number one? Hell no. But a number one nonetheless.
Tom: There’s a dubstep joke there somewhere.
Tim: Oh, you. Anyway, fortunately it’s not three and a half minutes of them throwing up; it’s instead a great track and indeed worthy.