Je suis un Rock Star

REWIND: JE SUIS UN ROCK STAR

Every Friday, we hit rewind to visit one of our older playlists. The following is one of our favorites from the Loudcrowd vaults.

Common wisdom about French music for the entirety of “the rock era” was that it was, at best, schmaltz. If there maybe were a few solid French punk acts — notably Metal Urbain, the first band released by legendary postpunk label Rough Trade, and the super-fun New Wave dance act Plastic Bertrand — those simply served to reinforce the prejudice.

In retrospect, of course, louche/decadent singer-songwriter dude Serge Gainsbourg’s best albums rock harder than any L.A. hair band, even that one you still like a lot. And much of that swinging yé-yé stuff seems to be super awesome; I’ve really not investigated that much yet myself. The French seemed able to recognize great music, from all the African and “world” music that labels like Disques du Monde issued, to the way they treated so many American jazz greats with open arms and mints on the pillow when back home they couldn’t get a gig.

It really wasn’t until the 1990s that the French showed themselves to be masters of dance music, with the emergence of the Source and Solid labels with artists like Air, Alex Gopher, Cassius and of course Daft Punk. Ever since that stuff hit the scene, it seems like the French can do no wrong when it comes to making your booty move around to the flashy Gallic sounds. It’s weird the way the change seemed from the outside to be so instantaneous! The Ed Banger label has been the source for a lot of the best jams of the last handful of years of course, with the awesome and showmanly work by Justice at the forefront of it all.

I wish I knew the French word for “banging,” because it would probably sound a lot more sophisticated. Alas, my knowledge of the language is pretty much encapsulated in the way that Globey talks to Pee Wee. Please note that we made our way all through this introduction without talking about berets or funny looking bread loaves or clove cigarettes or Godard or even armpits! It’s all about the music here, and we hope you dig this selection of hot modern Frenchie jams.

—DJ Yeti