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YMMV / Bloc Party

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  • Broken Base: Pretty much every album they've made since Silent Alarm has split their fanbase, with nobody seeming to agree if they're worthy follow-ups (sans Hymns, which was universally disliked by fans). Every time they experiment, not only does the conversation hinge around whether the evolution of their sound match up to their debut, discussions also focus on how consistent they are as their own albums.
  • Critical Dissonance: Hymns has a fairly mixed/lukewarm reception from critics, but longtime fans are much harsher towards it. Every agrees it's a much more low-key and introspective album from the band, and while the quality of their venture to this direction is debatable, many dislike it on principle for being the furthest they've ever gone from their early apex.
  • Epic Riff:
    • "I Still Remember".
    • "Helicopter".
    • A Weekend in the City has quite a few, though "Uniform", "Hunting for Witches", and "Song for Clay (Disappear Here)" are the standouts.
    • Four words: "We're Not Good People".
  • First Installment Wins: The band has always been critically acclaimed, but every album they make is inevitably compared to Silent Alarm.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Put "3x3" on at night when you're all alone, and get ready for some discomfort.
  • Signature Song: If you know only one Bloc Party song, chances are it's going to be "Helicopter" or "Flux". The former's inclusion in the game Guitar Hero III (as well as a Paper Jamz guitar toy, of all things) did not hinder this situation at all.
    • "Banquet" also seems to be this.
  • Tear Jerker: Many of their quieter songs: "Compliments" from the first album paints a picture of feeling helpless as life is wasting away, "SRXT" tells the story of someone on the verge of suicide, and then we get to Intimacy, an album specifically discussing generally tearjerking issues such as breakups and deaths of loved ones. A special mention goes to "Biko", a song about being powerless as a loved one wastes away from cancer, and "Signs", which is about being unable to fully accept that someone is gone after their death.
  • Tough Act to Follow: The band is pretty infamously hard to push out of the shadow of their universally-acclaimed debut, playing at least some part in why the band keeps experimenting and changing creative directions with each album, in turn influencing how controversial each one of them becomes.
  • What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?:
    • "Helicopter", containing lyrics such as 'stop being so American' and 'just like his dad' is frequently misinterpreted as being critical of George W. Bush and/or the American way of life. Kele Okereke has said the lyrics were directed to himself as Self-Deprecation.
    • "Hunting For Witches", meanwhile, is a critical portrait of a paranoid, reactionary Daily Mail reader.

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