Would Rock Bands Be Better If They Had Their Own “Crank That”s?

Jess Harvell | February 11, 2008 11:20 am
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Soulja Boy! He’s popular. Well, he sells singles. Not so much albums. But a lot of singles! So many singles. And YouTube hits. He attracts the YouTube hits. All related to a dance. A dance you may have heard, seen, or tried to do yourself! You’d think at this point there’s not a single thing left to be said about Soulja Boy and the mini-trend of choreographed toe-tapping that he’s sparked among aspiring popular musicians, one that’s profitable for labels for the moment but not a particularly safe long term bet for reversing dipping sales. And you’d be right! Yet that fact has not stopped the Wall Street Journal from devoting many hundreds of words to recapping the tale of Soulja Boy. He’s divisive! He’s reopened the generation gap! He’s given MC Hammer a reason to go on! And yet despite its rehashery, the WSJ‘s story does raise one important, semi-new, mostly implied question: Would rock bands be improved by their own dance routines? Is there room in indie for cranking that James Murphy?

While choreographed routines are still rare among rock artists, more of them are making music to fill dance floors. Popular groups such as LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, Justice and Daft Punk feature beats, samples and electronic melodies that often overshadow lyrics.

And why can’t these guys, despite some of them not being rock bands at all, come up with their own leanings and rockings? Feist did it, sez the WSJ. Kinda! And so did OK Go! There is no reason why America’s young people shouldn’t be videotaping themselves doing the Charleston or humping ottomans or maybe some modified Oompa Loompa moves to “Waters Of Nazareth.”

But Can You Dance To It? [WSJ]