u/alxcia

I can't help but start this post with a recent quote by u/Resident-Hair5965 😅

>Oh yay another one of these threads!

In my defence, this post had been saved as a draft for days.

So... Am I in love with what I’ve heard so far off Anatomy, no. Have I loved everything Bloc Party have ever put out? God, no. Then, why do I always sound like an apologist? Most likely because I am; but not for the reasons most would assume. It’s pretty obvious that Bloc Party is my favourite band/artist, but they’re also a tiny fraction of all the music I listen to; and indie rock is also a fraction of the genres I enjoy, so I do have more flexibility when it comes to changes in style and substance. Contrary to the popular belief, I’ve fallen out of love with bands that I used to die for (Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, Silversun Pickups, Muse, to name a few) and I’ve started to listen to artists that I didn’t like before too, so I 100% understand what many of you are and have been feeling about Bloc and I think you have the right to express those feelings and opinions, especially if Bloc have had a significant impact in your life.

Then why do I get so defensive here? I can boil this down to a few reasons:

1. Some fans have been disliking Bloc Party for years now (especially v2.0) and still feel the need to come here to make tired points that don’t add up to anything interesting or new.
2. Some fans are being offensive and rude, and they don’t even notice it.
3. This is a space to share our opinions, experiences, information and engage in constructive discussion, not a place to put our hate only because we can.
4. I get fan input from many places other than Reddit, and some people here act that this subreddit’s opinion represent the fanbase as a whole. There’s a sense of entitlement in some of the posts and comments we get here from time to time.
5. This subreddit and other Bloc Party fan-created spaces are maintained by people who invest their spare time and energy into making this a safe and enjoyable space for people who like Bloc Party as a whole. And I’m not saying that you all must like all phases or versions of the band, I’m saying that I’d expect you to like the band even if you don’t like their latest releases. For instance, I know and respect so many fans who don’t care about anything after AWITC and they still love the band, buy merch, got to shows, etc.
6. This is a Bloc Party subreddit, not an “I hate Kele” subreddit.
7. Finally, because we really need more positivity in the world right now, and it saddens me to see people using a space like this to be hateful, discouraging, offensive, etc. as if we need more of that. And not having something positive to say doesn’t mean that all we can say has to be hateful or rude i.e. we should always find better and respectful ways of expressing our negative opinions.

I genuinely love this community, and everything I do for fellow fans and the band is out of love. And I’m sure people who love something or someone understand that loving doesn’t always equate to liking, and it makes you want to defend it. I said it in a post here no long ago: every single Bloc Party fan benefits from the band being active regardless of how much we like or dislike what they’re doing now; and that’s a fact whether we want to admit it or not. So my plead is if you love the band, you don’t have to like everything they do, just respect it and respect those who do like it.

And I know I’m biased because I have experience and understand the business side of the music industry, and I’ve met all the members and have had meaningful conversations about their process, the job, their lives, etc. so I’m in this privileged position where I don’t have to guess intent, I could simply get answers directly from the band, if I needed to. I’m also well aware that since English is not my first language, I don’t perceive Kele’s lyrics the way native speakers do, and because I’m not a musician, I don’t know how more or less complex/rich/interesting this some is compared to that other; so I may have blind spots from the point of view of many fans here, but I don’t think either is a prerequisite to enjoy somebody’s art.

See you at some gig and "God bless Bloc Party"😉

PS: My hope is that the new singles are not the best the album has to offer (which has been the case with almost all releases, but I love Pigwig and (Lagoon) Blue, so I take that over nothing.)

PS 2: I’m writing this as a member of this subreddit, not as a Mod.

Is there a story here? What am I missing? I don’t even remember the last time they played in any European country, and that’s very unlikely for a band of their size.