We here in the Opinions corner of the Alligator have a profound respect for music. However, our love for the medium is generally not enough to overcome the realities of a daily student newspaper, where the witty commentary and strong emotions of the lone editorial are generally reserved for that day’s top stories, NOT the passions of music obsessives. So it was to our surprise and excitement that the reformation of LCD Soundsystem not only generated headlines but did so in several prominent publications: Hey, if it’s good enough for Time magazine, the L.A. Times and The Guardian, it’s good enough for us.
There is a strong likelihood that many of our readers have no idea who or what an LCD Soundsystem is, much less why their reunion would generate nearly 900 news headlines (not a hyperbole — Google it). With that in mind, we’ll try to break down their appeal as simply as possible: Do you like rock music, specifically that which borrows heavily from Berlin-era David Bowie and post-punk? Do you like to dance, preferably by abandoning all pretenses of finesse and instead indulging in your most awkward impulses? Do you enjoy lyrics that delicately toe the line between overly self-absorbed and movingly populist? Then you’ll like LCD Soundsystem, who over the course of the aughts successfully convinced the rock kids that it was okay to like Daft Punk and showed the dance kids the appeal of rocking out in a dirty basement.
“This is all well and good,” you may find yourself saying, “but why the hell do they warrant the honor and privilege that come with being the subject of an Alligator editorial?” Stick with us.
The band has gained widespread recognition for three (widely simplified) reasons. One, they’re great. Two, they essentially paved the path for the dance-rock revival that is currently dominating North American musical discourse. If you need evidence, look no further than 2015’s smash hits (“Uptown Funk,” which requires no introduction) and indie darlings (Tame Impala’s “Currents”) alike.
Finally, the band’s self-imposed end, now-subsequent reunion and musical stylings speak to where we find ourselves as a culture. Let’s be honest with ourselves: Musically, at least as far as pop is concerned, there isn’t much unexplored territory left. The same axiom is equally applicable to “the great rock band narrative” that has been firmly encoded over the last 50 years. Band bursts onto the scene, changes thousands of lives, breaks up and reemerges when the critical consensus has been reached and the mortgages need to be paid off. It’s a beautiful, unoriginal story that has been, and will be, told time and again across several genres.
What’s more, the proliferation of the Internet and social media has produced a culture wherein nothing ever really dies, and everything happens all at once. Take your pick of recently regurgitated pop cultural staples, whether they be blockbusters like “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” or the upcoming revival of “Full House” (ugh). LCD Soundsystem knew this and produced songs that resembled what might happen if you forced the Kraftwerk robots, The Whispers and The Stooges in a room together, in the process creating THE American 21st-century band.
LCD Soundsystem showed the world that a band could be stupidly self-aware of their place in culture and still produce compelling music. You can be as self-aware as you want, but sometimes you need to shut up and play the hits. We’re glad to have them back.
