#7: Silent Alarm

Bloc Party: Silent Alarm
When do bands change from rock to pop? And why? U2, REM, Weezer... and so many more. Is it fame? Is it growing up? Is it the presence of money that forces you to open with "uno, dos, tres, catorce" or have Hugh Hefner in the video? You can probably throw in The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand ("Do You Want To" is just goofy to me) of the newer breed in there.

But not Bloc Party, at least not yet. All the hooks are there, the energetic, attractive frontman, the political mumbojumbo... but Silent Alarm is not a guilty pop pleasure. The band has some edge, I think, and continues to rank very highly on the informal "f*** yeah" scale.

I really didn't think this album had the staying power it did. I saw it performed live and thought it was good, not great (their foppish guitar player, on the other hand, is outstanding). But at the moment where I would have normally shuffled it off, I kept listening to it. Everywhere. What did they release like seven singles off of it? Jesus. Catchier than bird flu.

Where other hyped bands have failed, I have confidence in the Blocs' survival, mostly stemming from their newest single, "Tulips" (not included on here), which suggests a darker, more electronic direction that could be great. But stop with the remixes and stuff boys, just keep the arena rock riffs coming, and that edge that separates the rock from the pop...