Kaiser Chiefs - Everything Is Average Nowadays (B-Unique)
UK release date: 21 May 2007
The second single from the Kaiser Chiefs' second album Yours Truly, Angry Mob is another superior slice of Britpop bubblegum punk. Not as anthemic as the number one hit Ruby, its catchy melody and bubbly energy nonetheless confirm the band's move further away from edginess into the mainstream. As the commercially acceptable face of indie rock, the Kaisers' rise to the top of the charts seems as unstoppable as their home town football team Leeds United's decline into League One obscurity.
Frontman Ricky Wilson is in good form, backed by some nice vocal harmonies from the rest of the band, while indie maestro producer Stephen Street gives the song a bright, snappy sound. And with its chantable chorus and driving beat, this perfect piece of power pop doesn't outstay its welcome in just two and a half minutes.
However, the promise of its title is not delivered in the lyrics - which are in fact distinctly average. The idea may be to suggest how the grey uniformity of comfortable mediocrity rules over middle England. But lines like "And everything is of no consequence / Cos everyone is sitting on the fence / And everything will always stay the same" merely suggest a fashionable cynicism and shallow disillusionment. Surely it's not that bad, lads, for a multi-million-selling band surfing the waves of critical approval and public adoration?
