is it too late to moan about matt cardle?

muchos congratulations are in order for Biffy Clyro, who in the year of our Lord two thousand and ten, managed to land themselves the verily celebrated Christmas number 1 slot

except somebody else was actually singing their song, and he was at number one


so unless you've been living under a rock as big as Simon Cowell's ego, you should be well aware of Matt Cardle and his gawd-awful rendition of Many of Horror

oh, hang, it's When We Collide is it? i'm sorry, i was mistaken


not that it matters a jot but i am not happy about this

and i think it was the wrong choice for a number of reasons

first off, it sounds terrible, and to be honest i think that should have actually been the final decision made, it is a terrible version of the song, full stop. end of discussion.

except i shall discuss a little further, seriously, if Monsieur Cardle had played it straight and given us an off-the-bat acousticy version then perhaps i may have been a little more forgiving, but squeeling the song and bringing in a rather obvious attempt at a 'large' x-factor chorus was just a stretch too far and the whole thing tumbles down because of it

perhaps this cover version was supposed to bolster Cardle's 'real' credentials and work an angle not yet exhausted by x-factor winners, attempting to secure those 'real' music fans deluded and foolish enough to continuously watch week in and week out yet couldn't give a flying toss about following the eventual winner's newly launched career... if only i could believe that Dannii Minogue and Matt Cardle spent evenings in the judges house blasting out Only Revolutions, arguing whether Puzzleis superior to Infinity Landand discussing whether Living's A Problem Because Everything Dies would be a good choice for the live finals

and the most convincing argument i could possibly make for this crime against music is the entirely debauched ill-fit of the whole thing, those that know Biffy Clyro also know of their struggles and their resilience against the turgid tide of the music industry, being one of the rare breed of bands that grew naturally away from the glaring eyes of fat-cat label bosses intent on profitability and only found mainstream success with their fourth album, slowly and steadily cultivating a fanbase that has taken them from cult-favourites to an arena-visiting touring schedule.



it is this hard-working ethic that sets Biffy Clyro apart from the overnight success guaranteed by the X-factor, but at the same time it also serves as a shining example of how far the Kilmarnock boys have come through years of persistence that has some how put them on Simon Cowell's radar and seen a single that entered the charts at the low end of the top 40 when it was originally released 11 months prior to the Christmas chart battle, landing at a rather respectable number 8, in addition to penning the festive season's chart topper and netting themselves a ridiculous pile of royalty cash from the surprisingly popular x-factor atrocity

and while it is hardly the circumstances that any Biffy fan would have reasonably envisioned, i couldn't possibly begrudge Biffy Clyro this current level of success (and ridiculous wealth)

Biffy Clyro - Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies
available on the album Puzzle