History Music / FranzFerdinand

* CallBack: the ending of "Swallow, Smile" echoes the lyrics from "Well That Was Easy".

* EndingTheme: Surprisingly, "Do You Want To" is the ending theme to ParadiseKiss.

* AlliterativeTitle: ''Swallow, Smile''.

* BlitheSpirit: Lynsey Wells (of ''L. Wells''), particularly as depicted in the video. Worth nothing that she is a real person the band knew (though not the girl in the video).
* BreakupSong: ''Walk Away''.
* CaptainObvious: This extract from ''This Fire'': "Now there is a fire in me, a fire that burns".
* ConceptAlbum: ''Tonight'', the tale of a long, hard-partying night of drunken debauchery (most likely in Glasgow).
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The videos for ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3zzTXNS4Aw L. Wells]]'' and ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc6l3XeA_94 Jeremy Fraser]]'', and a lot of promotional pictures.
* EndingTheme: Surprisingly, ''Do You Want To'' is the ending theme to ParadiseKiss.

* GratuitousGerman: the ending of ''Darts of Pleasure''
** ''Auf Achse'' is a title-only example.
** And then [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGcLODDy9Uw the German version]] of ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-SFac3GpxY Tell Her Tonight]]''
* IntercourseWithYou: ''Do You Want To''.
* KidsAreCruel: ''Jeremy Fraser'', which may also double with a MurderBallad.
* MindScrew: The album version of ''Lucid Dreams''.
* NamesTheSame: the song ''This Boy'', which is not a cover of [[Music/TheBeatles the Fab Four]]. The band is also named after a racing horse called The Archduke, which was named after the original Franz Ferdinand, as note above.
* NewSoundAlbum: ''Tonight''.
* NotChristianRock: 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).
* OdeToIntoxication: ''Ulysses''.
* OneWomanSong: ''Jacqueline''.

* PerspectiveFlip: at the end of "No You Girls'', the lyrics are sung from a girl's point of view.
* RealLifeRelative: The strange woman in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbTAFqnZkL0 the video]] to their cover of LCDSoundsystem's ''All My Friends'' is Anna [=McCarthy=], Nick's sister. She also directed the video.
* RecycledLyrics: Taken to its logical extreme; ''No You Girls'' and ''Katherine Kiss Me'' are ''the same song'', on the same album, with a different melody. In fact, the demo version of ''No You Girls'' is named ''Catherine Kiss me'', as seen in Alex's Soundcloud.
* ReligionRantSong: ''The Fallen.'' As Alex would have it, JesusWasWayCool, and were he alive today, would be hanging with the poor and downtrodden, and not the self-declared Christians drinking champagne and riding in limousines. (In other words, [[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche the last Christian died on the Cross]], and [[MahatmaGandhi Christ is so unlike the Christians]]).

* ShoutOut: In the lyrics booklet, the line "come and dance with me" in ''Michael'' is preceded by a crossed-out "[[RollingStones come all over me]]."

** ''Love and Destroy'' is based on the plot of ''TheMasterAndMargarita''.
** [[TheOdyssey ''Ulysses'', natch]].
** From ''Outsiders'': "In seventeen years / Will you still be Camille, / Lee Miller, Gala or whatever".
** ''Walk Away'' is rife with references (to Radio 4 and various historical figures).

* StepUpToTheMicrophone: some of the songs (e.g. ''Jeremy Fraser'', ''Fabulously Lazy'' and ''Van Tango'') are sung by Nick, and the German version of ''Tell Her Tonight'' is sung by Paul.
* SurrealMusicVideo: what the hell happened again in ''Take Me Out''?

* ''WalkAway'' is rife with references (to Radio 4 and various historical figures).

* StepUpToTheMicrophone: some of the songs (e.g. ''Jeremy Fraser'', ''FabulouslyLazy'' and ''Van Tango'') are sung by Nick, and the German version of ''Tell Her Tonight'' is sung by Paul.

* StepUpToTheMicrophone: some of the songs (e.g. ''Jeremy Fraser'' and ''Van Tango'') are sung by Nick, and the German version of ''Tell Her Tonight'' is sung by Paul.

Franz Ferdinand is a Scottish [[AlternativeRock indie rock]] band formed in 2002. Their band name is named both after the Austrian archduke whose assassination sparked WorldWarOne, as well as a racehorse named Archduke Ferdinand (which was [[NamesTheSame named after the archduke]]).

* TheBackwardsR: In, at minimum, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haW_ruZ_Be8 the video for "This Fire"]].

* SignatureSong: ''TakeMeOut''.

* OneWomanSong: Jacqueline.

** "Love and Destroy" is based on the plot of ''TheMasterAndMargarita''.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/franz-ferdinand.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:L to R: Nick, Paul, Bob, and Alex]]
Franz Ferdinand is a Scottish indie rock band formed in 2002. Their band name is named both after the Austrian archduke whose assassination sparked WorldWarOne, as well as a racehorse named Archduke Ferdinand (which was [[NamesTheSame named after the archduke]]).

* 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:

They have announced that their fourth album will be released in 2013.

!!!!This band contains examples of:

* BlitheSpirit: Lynsey Wells (of "L. Wells"), particularly as depicted in the video.

* CaptainObvious: This extract from This Fire: "Now there is a fire in me, a fire that burns".

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The videos for "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3zzTXNS4Aw L. Wells]]" and "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc6l3XeA_94 Jeremy Fraser]]"

** ''"Auf Achse"'' is a title-only example.
** And then [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGcLODDy9Uw the German version]] of "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-SFac3GpxY Tell Her Tonight]]"
* MindScrew: The album version of "Lucid Dreams."
* NamesTheSame: the song "This Boy," which is not a cover of [[Music/TheBeatles the Fab Four]].

* NotChristianRock: 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).

* RealLifeRelative: The strange woman in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbTAFqnZkL0 the video]] to their cover of LCDSoundsystem's "All My Friends" is Anna [=McCarthy=], Nick's sister. She also directed the video.
* RecycledLyrics: Taken to its logical extreme; "No You Girls" and "Katherine Kiss Me" are ''the same song'', on the same album, with a different melody.
* ReligionRantSong: "The Fallen." As Alex would have it, JesusWasWayCool, and were he alive today, would be hanging with the poor and downtrodden, and not the self-declared Christians drinking champagne and riding in limousines. (In other words, [[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche the last Christian died on the Cross]], and [[MahatmaGandhi Christ is so unlike the Christians]]).

* ShownTheirWork: 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.
* ShoutOut: In the lyrics booklet, the line "come and dance with me" in "Michael" is preceeded by a crossed-out "[[RollingStones come all over me]]."
** "I'm on [[TheBBC BBC Two]] now/Telling TerryWogan how/I made it and/What I made is not clear now/But his laughter is and his deference is..."

* ViolentGlaswegian: 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.

* NamesTheSame: the song "This Boy," which is not a cover of [[TheBeatles the Fab Four]].

* OopNorth: Other than Paul (who is Glasgow born and raised), the whole band originally hails from here. Alex spent his first eight years in Tyne and Wear,[[note]]Partially in the small city of Washington. As in [[GeorgeWashington George]]; it's where his ancestors came from. So Alex can claim to be "from Washington" and not be lying.[[/note]] Nick was born in Blackpool (and then grew up in Germany), and Bob is from West Yorkshire (Bradford to be precise).

* HoYay: I have only one thing to say: ''Michael''
** Further adding to ''Michael'''s HoYay 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 FoeYay 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"?

* CaptainObvious: This extract from This Fire: "Now there is a fire in me, a fire that burns".

* SequelDisplacement: "Take Me Out" was the video that put them on the map, no doubt to the memorable avant garde style. It was actually their second video; their first was "Darts of Pleasure", which was a more typical music video.
* SharpDressedMan: All four of them. Look at the page picture. Just look at it. Alternately, look at [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haW_ruZ_Be8 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 collage technique is probably also a ShoutOut to Creator/TerryGilliam's animations for MontyPython...

** So... white, white, white and half-white (with the other half being white).

* ReligionRantSong: "The Fallen." As Alex would have it, JesusWasWayCool, and were he alive today, would be hanging with the poor and downtrodden, and not the self-declared Christians drinking champagne and riding in limousines. (In other words, [[FriedrichNietzsche the last Christian died on the Cross]], and [[MahatmaGandhi Christ is so unlike the Christians]]).

*** The collage technique is probably also a ShoutOut to TerryGilliam's animations for MontyPython...

* ViolentGlaswegian: 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 originally played the guitar)? It turned out he really couldn't, but they switched things around, and a band was born.

* ViolentGlaswegian: Subverted by how the band started. Bob (or was it Nick?) drunkenly stole Alex's bottle of vodka at a drunken party in (where else?) Glasgow. On the edge of a fight, Alex asks Bob (or Nick, who cares): "Can you play the drums"? It turned out he really couldn't, but they switched things around, and a band was born.
** It was Nick. This was the same fight that was rumored to have segued into a makeout.