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Denver 4-piece The Fray are one of the biggest bands of the moment in the U.S. and are fast becoming huge in the U.K. too thanks to their debut single 'How To Save A Life' - a soaring, heavyweight, guitar-driven pop gem... The band toured with The Feeling in February/March 2007 and are set to headline a massive show in London at the end of March."Heavyweight"? "Guitar-driven"? Have they even listened to the record? I'm not saying I could blame them if they hadn't, mind you, but it's not exactly 'Ace Of Spades' is it? Little did I realise when I started writing about this album that when I started this particular post, the song in question would actually be back in the Top 40: luckily, in the time I've been putting off finishing it, it's slipped back and now sits at 51. Possibly for this reason, I post a wasn't exactly looking forward to in the first place has turned into even more of a chore. In fact repeated hearings have soured me on this song so much I even clicked the "dislike" button on YouTube, and I never do that.
I'm prepared, on my most generous days, to accept that this song might be meaningful to some people. To me, though, it's the worst kind of self-consciously earnest North American rock, as made by people who have heard R.E.M. but don't get them, and it's obvious that this particular song owes a good deal of its success to being tailor-made for hospital-based TV drama. I also find Isaac Slade's voice frankly grating. And that's even before I read this depressing sentence on Wikipedia:
"During Season 8 of American Idol 2009, "How To Save A Life" was played when finalist Danny Gokey exited the auditioning room and celebrated the passing of his first audition with his family and friends, in reference to Gokey's wife passing away of complications from congenital heart disease."
That just seems terribly wrong somehow.
Also appearing on: Now 67
Available on: How To Save A Life
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