1 | [[quoteright:344:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Saint-Etienne-feature_1889.jpg]] |
2 | [[caption-width-right:344:From L-to-R: Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs]] |
3 | |
4 | Saint Etienne is an IndiePop group from UsefulNotes/{{London}} who are sometimes described as making "[[AlternativeDance indie dance]]" music. The band was founded in 1991 by ex-music journalists Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, who named it after a French football team, and they originally had rotating guest singers until Sarah Cracknell joined them permanently, midway through production of their first album. |
5 | |
6 | Their most famous single is their first, a cover of the Music/NeilYoung song [[Music/AfterTheGoldRush "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"]] – which was [[BlackSheepHit not sung by Sarah]], iron given that she is generally considered the band's face otherwise. |
7 | |
8 | Most of their music can accurately be described as a love song dedicated to London, the city in which the band is based, despite one of their major influences being Northern Soul music. |
9 | |
10 | An incomplete discography: |
11 | * ''Foxbase Alpha'' (1991) |
12 | * ''So Tough'' (1993) |
13 | * ''Tiger Bay'' (1994) |
14 | * ''Good Humor'' (1998) |
15 | * ''The Misadventures of Saint Etienne'' (1999) (Soundtrack) |
16 | * ''Sound of Water'' (2000) |
17 | * ''Finisterre'' (2002) |
18 | * ''Tales from Turnpike House'' (2005) |
19 | * ''What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day?'' (2006) (Soundtrack) |
20 | * ''Foxbase Beta'' (2009) (Remix Album of their debut, ''Foxbase Alpha'') |
21 | * ''Words and Music by Saint Etienne'' (2012) |
22 | * ''Home Counties'' (2017) |
23 | |
24 | !!Tropes |
25 | * AgeProgressionSong: "Over The Border". |
26 | * AlternativeDance: often classified as "Indie Dance", which can be considered a subgenre of AlternativeDance. |
27 | * BalladOfX: "Ballade de Saint Etienne". |
28 | * ConceptAlbum: ''Tales from Turnpike House'', which features various stories about the residents in a neighbourhood somewhere in London. Also ''Words and Music by Saint Etienne'' is about music fandom. |
29 | * [[TheCoverChangesTheMeaning The Cover Changes... Almost Everything, Actually]]: "I'm Too Sexy". The story goes that when they got into the studio to record the song, they couldn't remember how it goes, so they [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments made it up on the spot]]. |
30 | * CoverVersion: Quite a few, including songs by Music/DavidBowie, Teenage Fanclub, Music/ScottWalker, and, famously, Music/NeilYoung ("Only Love Can Break Your Heart"). |
31 | * EverythingIsAnInstrument: "People Get Real" includes a jet engine (Heavenly Records boss Jeff Barrett is credited with "playing" it). Given that it appears prominently in the middle eight, it's effectively the song's lead solo. |
32 | * [[SixthRanger Fourth Ranger]]: Long-serving backing singer Debsey Wykes. |
33 | * GreatestHitsAlbum: Several, but the two-disc ''Smash The System: Singles And More'' is the best - not least because of its Neapolitan-ice-cream-colored cover. |
34 | * GrowingUpSucks: Oh god, "Teenage Winter". |
35 | * HymnToMusic: A favourite theme, most famously employed for "Join Our Club" and most of ''Words and Music by Saint Etienne''. |
36 | * IndecipherableLyrics: the repeated, distorted refrain in "Girl VII". Producer Ian Catt and remixer Richard X may be the only people outside the band who know for sure what it says - and Pete Wiggs claims he's forgotten. Lyric sites give it as "Carrie's got a boyfriend", but that may just be {{Fanon}}. |
37 | * ListingCities: In one song on ''Foxbase Alpha'' entitled ''Girl VII'', Sarah starts listing London neighbourhoods and a few other cities. |
38 | * LyricalDissonance: The relatively upbeat "Goodnight Jack" tells the story of a woman who, after her man says he only wants to be her friend, runs him over and escapes the scene of the crime. |
39 | * MurderBallad: "Like A Motorway". Also "Goodnight, Jack". |
40 | * NotAMorningPerson: The narrator in "Split Screen" says she is the one. That is, NOT a morning person. |
41 | * OneWomanSong: Erica America off ''Good Humor''. |
42 | * {{Retraux}}: They like to play with this in both the music and its packaging. |
43 | * SelfDemonstratingSong: About half way through "California Snow Story", Sarah says "I think I'll just let the music play", and that's exactly what happens, as the second half is entirely instrumental. |
44 | * SelfDeprecation: Their sleevenotes do this a lot. |
45 | * ShoutOut: Their songs are so packed with these, it took the crowdsourcing power of the internet to decipher the dense web of references. |
46 | * SiblingTriangle: "Sylvie", sung from the POV of Sarah's character towards her younger sister (the titular Sylvie). She warns Sylvie not to flirt too much: |
47 | --> "Sylvie, girl, I'm a very patient person, |
48 | --> But I'll have to shut you down, |
49 | --> If you don't give up your flirting. |
50 | --> Leave him alone, ''cause I know he loves me. |
51 | --> Leave him alone, ''cause he tells me he loves me." |
52 | * SongOfSongTitles: "Popular". |
53 | * StepUpToTheMicrophone: Pete Wiggs on "I'm Too Sexy". |
54 | * TwoDecadesBehind: Exactly this time lag is invoked for an unnamed place possibly in Idaho in regard to Los-Angeles |
55 | -->In twenty years this place will be |
56 | -->Just like L.A. today. |
57 | * WithLyrics: The previously instrumental "Stoned To Say The Least" gained lyrics twenty years later. |
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