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[[caption-width-right:350:The band during their iconic ''Strange House'' era. Left to right: Joe, Rhys, Faris, Tom, Joshua.]]

The Horrors are a band of [[GenreMashup eclectic stylings]] based in Southend-on-Sea, England, and founded on their mutual fascination with vastly different genres of music and their hobbies of collecting vinyl records. Their debut album, ''Strange House'', brought them tons of media attention through their unique image, their varied and unlikely influences (from Music/JoyDivision and Music/{{Bauhaus}} to [[Music/TheStooges Iggy]] [[Music/IggyPop Pop]] to The Gun Club to Music/{{Kraftwerk}}) and the fact that they simply didn’t care as to what people thought of them. Their stressful stint as an opening act for Music/ArcticMonkeys in 2006 made apparent the potential of the frontman, Faris Badwan, for violence and general antipathy toward the audience. Notable examples include scaling everything in sight, hurling paint buckets and trash cans into the crowd, and threatening the audience with rocks and large pieces of glass.

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[[caption-width-right:350:The Horrors, present day. Note the lack of eyeshadow.]]

The band cleaned up their act both literally and figuratively with their second album, ''Primary Colours'', nominated for a Mercury Prize and generally considered their best by fans and critics alike. Their image became less overtly gothic, and their sound, while still known for its eclecticism, became heavily influenced by {{Shoegaze}} and PsychedelicRock. Tom Cowan picked up the synthesizers and Rhys Webb took his place as bassist. They followed up with the non-album single ''Whole New Way’’.

Their third album, ''Skying'', was a LighterAndSofter variant on the sound shown in ''Primary Colours''. It gained critical acclaim in the British indie and alternative scene, leading to the band winning the NME award for Album of the Year 2012 (despite the fact that 2012 had barely begun when they won it).

Faris Badwan has done numerous musical side projects, most notably Cat’s Eyes with Canadian opera singer (and possible girlfriend) Rachel Zeffira. He is also an avid visual artist and has had two art exhibits, ''Drawing A Straight Number 9'' and ''Creatures in Colour''. is also a talented soccer/football player (the latter much to people’s surprise). Bassist Rhys Webb and synth player Tom Cowan have collaborated on a side project under the name Spider and the Flies, and have released a self-titled [=EP=].

If you ever see them live, [[OldShame don't ask them to play anything from ''Strange House'']].

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Their lineup consists of: ]]

* Faris Badwan (aka Faris Rotter): vocals, lyrics
* Joshua Hayward (aka Joshua Von Grimm and Joshua Third): guitar
* Tom Furse (aka Tom Cowan): keyboards; bassist during ''Strange House'' era
* Rhys Webb (aka Spider Webb): bass/backing vocals; organist/keyboardist during ''Strange House'' era
* Joe Spurgeon (aka Coffin Joe): drums

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Album/[=EP=] Discography: ]]

* ''The Horrors'' [=EP=] (2006)
* ''Strange House'' (2007)
* ''Primary Colours'' (2009)
* ''Skying'' (2011)
* ''Luminous'' (2014)
* ''V'' (2017)
* ''Lout'' [=EP=] (2021)
* ''Against the Blade'' [=EP=] (2021)

!!This band and their songs/albums provide examples of:
* AllJustADream: Possibly what happens in [[spoiler: the video for “Changing The Rain”, if it wasn’t a drug trip.]]
* AntiLoveSong: “She Is The New Thing”, “Death At The Chapel”, “Mirror’s Image”, and “Monica Gems”.
* ArtifactTitle: The band’s very name. They’re not as theatrically gothic as they once were. It was said at one point, however, that [[SubvertedTrope the name wasn't intended to invoke horrific images.]] Rather, it was intended along the lines of a pet name (e.g. "Mummy's little horror").
* BandOfRelatives:
** In-laws, technically. Joe is engaged to Rhys' sister.
** Tom also went out with Joe's sister for some time.
* BasedOnATrueStory: “Sister Leonella” was real, and the lyrics tell [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonella_Sgorbati the story of her assassination]].
* BodyHorror:
** The “Sheena Is A Parasite” video. What is that… slimy thing coming out of Sheena’s dress and getting its juices all over the camera? [[spoiler: It’s a rotting squid.]]
** The stanza towards the end of "Gloves":
-->A hand through my ribcage / Past the choking, I saw palms and fingers grasping / shoulders, collarbone crushing / I imagined myself hacking desperately at a sea of appendages / forward and right, freeing myself like a butcher / feeling the mash of bone and sinew / slowly running down the front of my body / and I couldn't take it anymore.
* CarefulWithThatAxe: Faris did this in spades during ''Strange House''. He has since toned it down considerably.
* CoverVersion:
** “Jack The Ripper”, originally a song by Screaming Lord Sutch, covered once on their eponymous debut EP and again, differently arranged, as the opener on ''Strange House''.
** “Crawdaddy Simone”, originally by The Syndicats, also on their self-titled EP.
** Music/JoyDivision’s “No Love Lost”, live.
** "Umbrella" by Music/{{Rihanna}}.
** Music/DavidBowie's "Suffragette City" and Music/{{Beyonce}}'s "Best Thing You Never Had".
* CuteLittleFangs: Joshua’s got [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_lv52tsH4jd1qalxfho1_500_7971.jpg very noticeable dogteeth]].
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Lout'' and ''Against the Blade''.
* DreamPop: Incorporated into their sound with ''Skying''
* DrivenToSuicide:
** In “Excellent Choice”, [[ButtMonkey main character Morgan]] decides to end his fruitless life by calmly laying himself out on the train tracks and waiting for the next train to come by and kill him.
** "Dive In".
* EchoingAcoustics: Starting with ''Primary Colours'' and continuing into ''Skying'' and beyond.
* EpicRocking:
** "I Only Think Of You" - 7:09;
** “Sea Within A Sea” - 7:59;
** "Moving Further Away" - 8:34, presently the band's longest song;
** "Oceans Burning" - 7:50;
** "I See You" - 7:26;
** "Hologram" - 6:04
** "Weighed Down" - 6:31
** "Something to Remember Me By" - 6:40
* EpilepticFlashingLights: In the video for “Sheena Is A Parasite”: the reason it got banned from MTV and British television.
* ExcessiveEvilEyeshadow: An element of the band’s ''Strange House'' image. [[SubvertedTrope Not so much evil as theatrical and sinister]], but definitely excessive, and definitely eyeshadow.
%%zce* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Faris (Melancholic), Rhys (Sanguine), Tom (Choleric), Josh (Phlegmatic), Joe (Eclectic).
* GothRock:
** The entirety of ''Strange House'' mixes this with GarageRock and a bit of surf and 60's pop.
** "New Ice Age" and "I Only Think Of You" from ''Primary Colours''.
* GogglesDoNothing: In the “Whole New Way” video. They sure are cool, but no purpose is ever explicitly given to them (unless they’re [[RuleOfSymbolism a metaphor or something]]).
* HatesBeingTouched: Faris, most of the time. He also hates being photographed without permission.
* HumanoidAbomination: The girl in the "Sheena is a Parasite" video appears to be one of these.
* {{Instrumentals}}: “Gil Sleeping”.
* LighterAndSofter: ''Skying''.
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: When Joshua has long hair, this trope often comes into effect.
* LooksLikeCesare: An element of the band’s ''Strange House'' image.
* MinisculeRocking:
** “Sheena Is A Parasite” is under two minutes long, but is still one of the band’s best-known songs.
** "Death at the Chapel" is barely longer.
* MotorMouth:
** Faris Badwan occasionally during ''Strange House''.
** Rhys Webb is a notorious chatterbox.
** The narration in "Excellent Choice".
* GenreMashup:
** ''Strange House'' is a mixture of Goth rock, Deathrock and garage punk with strains of sixties pop.
** ''Primary Colours'' and ''Skying'' mix together elements of shoegaze, plain-ol’ alternative rock, {{Krautrock}}, and post-punk. Psychedelic rock becomes more prominent with ''Skying''.
** ''Luminous'' adds danceable electronics to their sound.
** ''V'' introduces synth-pop and industrial elements into their music.
** The ''Lout'' and ''Against the Blade'' [=EPs=] saw the band go full industrial.
* NewSoundAlbum: ''Primary Colours'', and to an extent ''Skying''. The ''Lout'' EP switches the band's up to full-on IndustrialMetal.
* ObsessionSong:
** “Gloves”, a creepy tune about Faris’s/the narrator’s obsession with [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin gloves]]. [[spoiler: These may or may not be actual fabric gloves, given [[BodyHorror the allusions to butchering and dissection that close out the song]].]]
** “I Can’t Control Myself”. May or may not allude to masturbation at some point.
** "Little Victories".
* OneWomanSong: "Monica Gems".
* PerformanceVideo: A great number of their videos. Twists on the concept are:
** One of the videos to “Count In Fives” [[RogerRabbitEffect mixes the live-action band members with scrawled animations]].
** “Sheena Is A Parasite” is particularly nightmarish.
** "Mirror's Image" has the band perform against a psychedelic backdrop, and the video bitrate is intentionally low.
** Done [[{{Minimalism}} minimalistically]] with “Sea Within A Sea”.
** Interspersed with stock footage and psychedelic effects for “Still Life”.
* PreppyName: Thomas Furse Fairfax Cowan and Rhys Timothy Somerset Webb.
* PsychedelicRock: Heavily influences the band as of ''Skying''.
* SceneryPorn: The “Whole New Way” video.
* SharpDressedMan: During ''Strange House'', their getup was downright Victorian Gothic at points. It still applies to their wardrobe today; Tom Cowan is consistently the suavest of the bunch.
* {{Shoegazing}}: Began with ''Primary Colours'', placing them among DarkerAndEdgier Shoegaze revivalists of the 2000s. ''Skying'' went with a LighterAndSofter, DreamPop-based Shoegazing sound.
* ShoutOut: Their career is rife with them, what with the members very invested in music from a young age. They continue to lift elements as they please from various artists and songs as a way of both enjoying themselves and paying respects to their favorite groups.
** “Sheena Is A Parasite” is a ShoutOut to Music/TheRamones' song “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker”. This makes more sense when you realize that the song is actually a short allegory of the history of punk rock.
** Faris lifts lines from the Jay and the Americans song “She Cried” for the bridge of “Who Can Say”.
** “Monica Gems” is one to Sixties PsychedelicRock.
** The band repainted their studio floor [[OrangeBlueContrast orange and blue stripes]] in homage to [[Music/PinkFloyd Syd Barret]].
* SopranoAndGravel: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiXkXz9GKoo Still Life]]", in the live version featuring [[Music/FlorenceAndTheMachine Florence Welch]].
* SoundOnlyDeath: A variant in “Excellent Choice”. [[spoiler: The train heard from a distance is implied to be the one that runs Morgan over at the end.]]
* SpokenWordInMusic: “Excellent Choice”.
* StageNames: Part of the band’s ''Strange House'' image. Back then, they were known as Faris Rotter, Joshua von Grimm (or Joshua Third), Tomethy Furse, [[PunnyName Spider Webb]], and Coffin Joe.
** Also examples of TheDanza, although Spider Webb is an [[InvertedTrope inversion]].
* SurrealMusicVideo
** “Sheena Is A Parasite”, directed by Creator/ChrisCunningham of “Come To Daddy” and “Windowlicker” fame.
** “Changing The Rain” makes use of psychedelic imagery. The band is floating heads for most of the video and there seems to be a plotline involving paying a visit to some sort of giant, bearded god. [[spoiler: [[AllJustADream It may or may not be a drug trip, as suggested by the end of the video]].]]
* TallDarkAndHandsome: And stick-legged, too. Everyone during ''Strange House'', with the possible exception of Joshua; Faris, Tom, and Joe are the closest to fitting the trope these days.
* TallDarkAndSnarky: Faris.
* TextlessAlbumCover:
** ''Strange House''
** ''Primary Colours'', although a sticker is placed in the corner to aid the ignorant.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: "Point of No Reply"
* TickTockTune: "New Ice Age".
--> In a frosted stopwatch, time is ticking.
--> Tick-tick-tick-tick DEAD.
* TrainSong: “A Train Roars”.
* WaistcoatOfStyle: Worn often during the ''Strange House'' era.
* WildHair: Faris and Joshua during the ''Strange House'' era.