The Real Forced Jollity

Two years ago the NME delivered a review of the Guillemots second album Red. The lead single from it was Get Over It, which they accused of being an exercise in "forced jollity". Now i've always thought it was rather unfair and since lead singer Fyfe Dangerfield has released his solo material, it has gone some way to proving that the jollity was genuine.

Anyway, this review was recently brought back to my memory when i heard the new single by grime goons Roll Deep. Up to this point, Roll Deep's previous chart success had been two singles - The Avenue and Shake A Leg, both released in 2005 and neither of which set the world alight. Nevertheless, Roll Deep member Wiley was quite happy to quote them both as past achievements in his December 2009 single Take That.

Now obviously the grime scene has become massively commercialised since Dizzee Rascal realised he could make some serious cash from it and Roll Deep have been the latest act to capitalise with their weak-as-piss offering Good Times. Songs about clubbing and partying are two-a-penny at the moment, each seemingly less genuine than the last. If Kesha isn't telling us about how she parties until the "Po Po" shuts her down, then its the Black Eyed Peas are sounding bored whilst promoting alcoholism as a lifestyle.

Perhaps its because i'm more tuned in to British productions, but Roll Deep sound as if they're just milking this craze for all its worth. Any session music writer could manufacture this sort of junk, just throw in a few lines about clubbing, some about drinking, a few more about girls looking well fine, a chorus about having a great party and you've got a hit record. Any idiot can do it, and for the moment it looks like they are.