Franz Ferdinand is a Scottish indie rock band formed in 2002. Their band name is named both after the Austrian archduke whose assassination sparked World War One, as well as a racehorse named Archduke Ferdinand (which was named after the archduke).The musicians are:
Alex Kapranos-lead vocals, guitar
Nick McCarthy-backing vocals, keyboard, rhythm guitar
Bob Hardy-bass guitar
Paul Thomson-drums, backing vocals, other percussion
As of 2009 they have three albums:
Franz Ferdinand (2004)
You Could Have It So Much Better (2005)
Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (2009)
This band contains examples of:
Blithe Spirit: Lynsey Wells (of "L. Wells"), particularly as depicted in the video.
Five-Token Band: Sort of. Paul is the only one that's purely Scottish. Bob is English, Nick was raised in Germany, and Alex is half-Greek. Note that they don't really play this up, certain...ahem, fangirls do.
So... white, white, white and half-white (with the other half being white).
Further adding to Michael's Ho Yay is that occasionally, in live shows, the line 'so come and dance with me Michael' is changed to 'so come all over me Michael' and the line 'stubble on my sticky lips' to 'stubble on my sticky hips'.
And the line 'your famous friend, well I blew him before you' from Do You Want To
Not to mention rumors that when Alex Kapranos and Nick McCarthy first met, the fight they got into ended with them snogging.
And This Boy takes on a whole new meaning when you know it was originally sung by a woman.
"I'm Your Villain" adds some lovely Foe Yay to the mix. The title is just the beginning... "If I could laugh...we'd be laughing lovers."
Just what are they doing in "The Dark of the Matinee"?
Not Christian Rock: Nobody would ever accuse Franz Ferdinand of being a Christian band, but given "Auf Achse," "The Fallen," and a few other songs, it's pretty obvious that if nothing else, Alex's year of Theology at the University of Glasgow gave him a firm grip on Christian imagery (and a distinct vision of Christ, to boot).
Captain Obvious: This extract from This Fire: "Now there is a fire in me, a fire that burns".
Retraux: The band loves all kinds of tasteful blast-from-the-past fashions, to say nothing of all the vintage equipment they use.
Sharp Dressed Man: All four of them. Look at the page picture. Just look at it. Alternately, look at the video for "This Fire". It goes with everything they've done, too, from the Soviet Constructivist look of their first album to whatever you call they're doing now.
The Roaring Twenties: Their first album runneth over with the references to the '20s—especially in the videos, which are obviously influenced by Dada and Vkhutemas/Soviet Constructivism.
Shown Their Work: Sure, they may have been named for a horse rather than the assassinated archduke, but "All For You Sophia" shows they aren't ignorant of the latter.
Shout Out: In the lyrics booklet, the line "come and dance with me" in "Michael" is preceeded by a crossed-out "come all over me."
The deliberate use of collage techniques is reminiscent of Dada "art". Dada is a movement primarily associated with taking place during World War One, and the lyrics can be interpreted as being about the real Franz Ferdinand (although not as explicitly as "All For You, Sophia").
Violent Glaswegian: Subverted by how the band started. Nick drunkenly stole Alex's bottle of vodka at a drunken party in (where else?) Glasgow. On the edge of a fight, Alex asks Nick : "Can you play the drums?" (as Paul as the one who originally played the guitar). It turned out he really couldn't, but they switched things around, and a band was born.
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