Music, or oatmeal?

I’ve been hearing about a Denver band, The Fray, for well over a year now. Their rather swift climb “to the top” has been chronicled in the local press pretty extensively. If you were to show a photo of the band to me, it’s likely that I would immediately respond “oh yeah, that’s The Fray.” I’ve honestly seen that many articles about them. The music editor of the local arts weekly, Westword, has been an extremely vocal supporter. He mentions them in his column pretty much every week, and has devoted the entire column to them on several occasions. He has even gone so far as to chastise a few local radio stations for not adding The Fray to their play lists. This week, he excitedly announced that they had been nominated for two Grammy awards. At this rate, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was to arrange a parade through downtown in their honor.

Despite the hubbub, prior to this weekend I had never actually heard a song by The Fray. Not really all that surprising, seeing as I don’t listen to commercial radio, but still a bit curious. However, my blissful ignorance ended late Friday night when I saw one of their videos on VH1. First off, the title of the song was painful in itself – How to Save a Life. The song was downbeat, and incredibly whiney. Not sad, mind you, but whiney – like an annoying person who is always complaining and won’t shut the hell up. The video itself was even more painful, as it featured lots of close-ups of the band members wearing pitiful expressions. If that wasn’t enough, this was interspersed with shots of other people crying and looking really sad…I think there might have also been some hugging involved, but I can’t remember for sure. All I could do was sit there and think “So this is what all of the fuss is about?”

My friend Paul once described the band Coldplay as “the musical equivalent of the color beige.” In other words, they’re blander than bland. Riffing on that, I’d like to make the following statement: The Fray is the perfect band for people who find Coldplay a bit too raucous. You’ve been warned.