Now I can read ILM in the office again it means I can rubberneck threads like this, which takes over 100 posts humming and hawing over innovation before James Blount brings up the elephant in the room, viz. nu-metal, which was clearly – in mainstream terms – modern, original, innovative rock music and was equally clearly hated and dismissed* by most of the broad alt. community which has embraced Franz Ferdinand. Having been one myself I get the sense that the people going on about ‘innovation’ are terribly sure about their own natural abilities to a) notice it and b) appreciate it if and when it finally appears. Also: being a critic (not to mention fan!) is surely about noticing the telling 1% differences as much as the huge 100% paradigm shifts. In my own experience writing stuff off as ‘retro’ was a sign of oncoming cynicism and a lack of sharpness.
*Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was pretty rubbish too.