How The 1975 went from a school covers band to modern pop icons
By Rhian Daly, 1 June 2018
There was a time when The 1975 were just like the rest of us - four school friends covering their favourite songs to bypass the boredom of suburban teen life. Unlike most school bands though, they've stuck together for 16 years - and counting - to become one of the biggest bands in the world right now, as well as one of the most fascinating and divisive modern pop acts around.
Give Yourself A Try, which premiered as Annie Mac's Hottest Record on Thursday (31st May), sees the band shed their former selves and continue to shape-shift. It's an urgent and immediate indicator of what to expect from their next album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, as frontman Matty Healy sings: "What would you say to your younger self? Growing a beard's quite hard, and whiskey never starts to taste nice".
As fans prepare themselves for album number three, this is how The 1975 got to this point...
The 1975 play their new single for the first time, and reveal they're releasing TWO ALBUMS in the next year!
The 1975 - Give Yourself A Try is Annie Mac's Hottest Record for Thursday 31st May 2018.
The 1975 looked very different when they formed back in 2002. Matty Healy might now be shaping up to be one of the most iconic frontmen of his generation, but he was originally behind the drums for the group. It was only when original singer Elliot left the band (allegedly reckoning they weren't any good) that Healy took his place front and centre. George Daniel replaced Healy on drums and, along with bassist Ross MacDonald and guitarist Adam Hann, they began rolling through a catalogue of punk covers at gigs organised by a local council worker.
Roughly two years after forming, the fourpiece began writing their own songs. Operating under an ever-changing list of names including Talkhouse, The Slowdown, Bigsleep, and Drive Like I Do, the band eventually settled on The 1975, inspired by a phrase scrawled on the back page of a Jack Kerouac book given to Healy by a man he met on holiday in Majorca. "1st June - The 1975," read the note. And so, The 1975 were born.
From the "worst band" with a huge fandom...
Eventually, The 1975 found their place on Dirty Hit, a label essentially created to share their music with the world. They might not have known it then, but it was the beginnings of a pop empire - not just for them, but for acts they later would mentor, produce and A&R.
What qualifies a boy band? If it’s hysteria, being surrounded in hotels and doing sell-out shows, then we’re a boy bandMatty Healy
After four EPs on the label, the band released their self-titled debut album in 2013 - a record Healy has likened to an early "greatest hits" - and really began to take over the world in a blast of ambitious, infectious pop dressed up in a monochrome aesthetic.
'The 1975' scored the band their first UK number one and kicked off a phenomenon and fandom that made them an indie equivalent to One Direction. "What qualifies a boy band, though? If it’s hysteria and a female-led population of fans and being surrounded in hotels by those fans and doing sell-out shows, then we’re a boy band," Healy said in 2014.
Not everyone was a fan at the time, though. In 2014, The 1975 received the dubious honour of the Worst Band prize at the NME Awards, joining the likes of Nickelback, Insane Clown Posse and, strangely enough, Oasis. This split opinion between fan adoration and critical shunning only seemed to spur them on. Whether they like to admit it or not, it gave them something to prove.
Relive The 1975's First Ever Radio 1 Session
It's incredible to think how much has happened since this interview in 2012!
To a phoenix-like rebirth...
Then, in May 2015, it seemed like it could all be over. A comic strip appeared on the band's social media accounts that made the hearts of fans to skip a beat. "The hardest part of any relationship is to say 'goodbye'," it read. Was this the band saying they were done? A day later, their Instagram and Twitter accounts disappeared. It soon emerged that this was simply a cleaning of the slate, introducing fans to the next era of the group. Gone were the monochrome vibes, and in their place ones washed in pink and white neon.
The lithe funk-pop of Love Me signalled the launch of the absurdly-titled I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It, a confident and swagger-filled second album that showed a band whose interest in sonic exploration hadn't waned with their success. The record featured pop bangers (The Sound) sat side-by-side with post-rock instrumentals (Please Be Naked) and totalled 75 minutes in length. It wasn't long before words like "masterpiece" and "magnum opus" were being thrown about in the press.
If the success that greeted the first record was remarkable, it had nothing on what was to come. I Like It When You Sleep... saw the band join an exclusive group of British artists to reach number one in the UK and US simultaneously (a list of just 16 that also includes The Beatles, Radiohead and, er, Susan Boyle).
To building their legacy...
In 2017, the band embarked on their first headline arena tour, also topping a festival bill for the first time at Latitude. It was during this later live appearance that Healy revealed the title for his band's third album: Music For Cars, curiously the same name as their third EP, released in 2013. The record, Healy said, would close the trilogy of records he'd conceived in his head. The band would then revert to their old name Drive Like I Do, he explained. This showed Healy to be a rare kind of artist, one that meticulously plans every next move and career step.
I’m not going to stop The 1975 next year – no way. I don’t want to do thatMatty Healy
However, despite the grand schemes, Healy is also not afraid to change his mind, it seems. Speaking to Annie Mac on Radio 1 this week, Healy explained that the primary reason he makes music - because it makes him happy - "kicked in at such a rate" that he thought: "I'm not gonna do three albums - I'm gonna do loads of albums."
"When I started making this record I realised I was just being naive. I was lying to myself," he explained. "I’m not going to stop The 1975 next year – no way. I don’t want to do that." Healy also stated that he's "never ashamed of changing my mind in public".
As such, the band's third record, due in October, will go by the name A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, with Music For Cars now the term given to this new era of the group. That's not all either, there's a fourth album on the way next May, which Healy has already given the name Notes On A Conditional Form. He really does have this all figured out.
Before then though, The 1975 have given fans the first teaser from their third full-length with new single Give Yourself A Try. If it's anything to go by, we're in for a treat with A Brief Inquiry...
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And starting a dynasty
If that wasn't enough for the band to concentrate on, they've also got the business of continuing to build that aforementioned pop empire. They've already produced, directed videos for, and introduced to the world labelmates The Japanese House and Pale Waves, and now they're doing the same for the likes of newcomers like Filipino RnB artist No Rome and Manchester rapper Just Banco. Where The 1975's burgeoning dynasty goes next is anyone's guess, but there's no doubt it'll be equally unpredictable.