Home / Releases / Review /
The Others: Lackey
by Dom Gourlay
Now lets get a few things straight.
There've been question marks about the authenticity and credibility of Dominic Masters' credibility. And that's without even mentioning the "wayward" nature of his unscrutably Jimmy Pursey style faux-barrow boy vocal.
But, consider this:-
'Lackey' basically shouts and screams about what it says on the package. Awful 9 to 5 job. Fat David Brent-like boss. Treated like a slave and paid peanuts.
C'mon folks. We've all been there, and who would you rather have shouting about the atrocities of slave labour in Blair's Britain?
Fat Tom from Keane whining about everything being 'Bedshaped' or some fucked up geezer from Somerset who's been there, done the time, bought the t-shirt and basically thrown it in the bin for something better?
Exactly.
From the archive
Sign Up to Post Comments
Reply
-
The Others - Lackey
hmm, id rather theyd all stop whining to be honest. -
The Others - Lackey
did you see him on buzzcocks last night?
surprisingly dull. -
The Others - Lackey
So, what you're saying is that they're better than Keane.
Hmm, not exactly much of a recommendation, is it?
Or much of a review come to that.
Xxxx -
The Others - Lackey
I much prefer to talk about what enthuses me than what I don't like, but I just can't stop myself here.
This really is one of the worst records I've ever heard in my life. I'm a wage slave, I don't like my job, I don't have much money and I have few material ambitions beyond a decent stereo ... but playing 'Lackey' and 'This Is For The Poor' back-to-back is enough to make me want to earn a fortune, buy an SUV and drive it through poor estates laughing out out the window.
Really. This song talks about 'The Man' in a way that would offend the sensibilities of even the most hardened sixth-form poet. And it rhymes 'today' and 'anyway' in a way that should offend the sensibilities of anyone that doesn't like Oasis. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
agreed. it's cliche-ridden crap. and the music itself is no better.
i do like 'this is for the poor' though.
if 'william' is the next single then i think i might just have to blow my own head off. -
The Others - Lackey
this is shit and this is why: the singer can't sing. the lyrics are so rudimentary, they put jet to shame. the music epitomises mediocrity. whining is annoying.
the others have absolutely nothing to offer the world of music save another mardy-faced and scarily egotistical frontman for an otherwise anonymous band.
the end. -
The Others - Lackey
"Rich people are SO bad and poor people who take crack are heroes"
They need to hurry up and realise that most of their fans are probably middle class students. -
The Others - Lackey
That'll be the sticker on the album, then...
"THEY'RE A BIT BETTER THAN KEANE ARE..."
- Drownedinsound.com
"THE BEST DEBUT ALBUM EVER MADE..."
- NME
-
The Others - Lackey
I can't say I'm that interested in what class status Masters and co were raised.
The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Joe Strummer, Radiohead, Muse, Mike Skinner, The Strokes all had more privileged backgrounds than the politics they were eschewing or the people they were supposedly preaching to.
Nevertheless, in the current climate of repackaging, rehashed, rereleases, 'Lackey' is a breath of fresh air and thats all that matters.
Dom G. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
You don't like Keane. Neither do I.
There Watermelon, we do have something in common after all.
Dom G. -
The Others - Lackey
I really don't think there's much to their sound or their songs but i like it when he goes "chiki chiki chAHkOW!". The song's okay in a BMW advert, Oasis b-side, 1994/96 free tape with the NME kinda way. -
The Others - Lackey
backing track- fine mediocre indie pop- nothing wrong with it, but not particularly good.
the lyrics make this record one of the worst I have ever heard. This guy is just a total joke, some wannabe robin hood foisting his ridiculous cliquey rants upon the indie fans of Britain. Gee, I thought babyshambles and the libertines were bad.... -
Re: The Others - Lackey
It would be ok if they had anything intelligent to say. They dont and they just shout a bunch of cliches. Whats the point.
If you want decent, shouty, political music go and buy Propagandhi records. At least they have thought about what they want to say. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
In the context of Keane, Rooster and McFly...well it is definitely something different, but lets face it, there are plenty of lesser known bands who are also 'something different', and not total talent vacuums...I mean, you can be a breath of fresh air and still write lyrics that don't make people want to gnaw their own faces off, and sing in the most radically different and new way, and still not make appalling sounds...You can both be a 'breath of fresh air' and 'good'. -
The Others - Lackey
Did Masters write that review himself, surely he is the only person in the country, apart from McGee, who believes the crap peddled about this tawdry little group.
The reason this song shouts about being in a job, is that until relatively recently he was in one, but in his case working for the "man" at a major record label and apparently on a sizeable salary to boot.
And yes I would rather have a man with a baby's head comparing "Blair's Britain" to a bed than a hype-filled former public schoolboy pretending to be something he isn't in order to fool "the kids" he claims to be so in tune with. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
Couldn't give a shit what class he comes from and all that bollocks, thats a bizarre british obsession, that somehow you're more valid if your from a particular background.
Basically the music is mediocre mid-nineties britpop, which should be fucking consigned to the eternal bin of the past, the lyrics are embarrasingly cliched, and his voice is fucking atrocious. He's in a band, bands play music, if you are getting paid to do it, you should at least be good. Theres fucking hundreds of amazing unsigned bands around the country who dont get signed because they don't spout shit in interviews which wankers like mcgee who are obssessed with the whole rock and roll myth lap up.
They, and any other hype band, can fuck off. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
"it sure beats listening to yet another Elvis re-issue"
hmm. i'd disagree there. it doesn't even beat listening to an Stock, Aitken and Waterman re-issue. it beats 'This Is For The Poor', but that's hardly difficult.
Lackey? Lacklustre more like. Stan Bowles was alright, mind. -
The Others - Lackey
I love the way The Others create all this discussion. We need more bands that provoke this kind of reaction! -
Re: The Others - Lackey
It's only getting discussion because some company has actually released it. Anyone... ANYONE... could pen something as 'sixth form' as this, and if someone was daft enough to put it out people would be wound up... -
Re: The Others - Lackey
>Nevertheless, in the current climate of repackaging, rehashed, rereleases, 'Lackey' is a breath of fresh air and thats all that matters.
And the fact that it's shit doesn't?
Normally I'm pretty reasonable. I say 'I THINK this is bad', or I liberally use the phrase 'it's my opinion'. Opinions are subjective. But this is just... just... words fail me. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
I'm biased in their favour for a couple of reasons. But I still think you shouldn't be so harsh! Me and you have very similar taste, Damian! They're not trying to release an OK Computer - that's not the point. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
Come on Damian, your profile suggests you rate the mighty Electric Six and the even mightier Keane FFS - 'Lackey' won't win any awards for objective lyricism or pioneering musicianship but it sure as hell beats the joke thats gone too far and worn thinner than John McCririck's hair that is Electric Six, and if we're talking about embarrassing, sixth form poetry...well Fat Tom, Mr Rice-Oxley - now I bet you don't find many of those on the Bestwood Estate - and the other one are surely top of the bill where that "fine art" is concerned.
Dom G. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
I don't know... I quite like 'Bedshaped'. Nice tune and all that.
The missus absolutely loves them, though. Still, it could be worse - she could like The Coral.
Oh, she does.
-
Re: The Others - Lackey
Have Keane ever claimed to be working class? What possible relevance does not finding them on an estate have??
It seems that the only way that you can say anything positive about The Others is by saying "at least they aren't... *insert easy target here*" which as someone already said isn't much of a recommendation. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
Whether they have or haven't claimed to be working class is irrelevant.
The fact that their music is pompous, overwrought and aimed at middle managers with job titles like Production Control Assistant who aspire to be something that they're not tells its own story.
And my recommendation for 'Lackey' is that its one of the best guitar driven pop songs I've heard for a while.
Sorry. -
The Others - Lackey
This thread has made my day!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha (pauses for breath) ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha (falls over). -
Re: The Others - Lackey
Electric Six made me laugh and I put that on a year ago. Like the Presidents Of The USA, one album should have been enough.
As for Keane, I stand by it. Tough! -
Re: The Others - Lackey
"if 'william' is the next single then i think i might just have to blow my own head off."
it is.
your ak47, miss nunn...
alex
xxxx -
Re: The Others - Lackey
fucking hell.
who is choosing these?? -
The Others - Lackey
Stereotypes, stereotypes, why do you all asume that ALL social housing is bad? a council tenancy is far better than a private one, there is good and bad in all classes, the working-class more often than not do get the shit end of the stick they also have as much right to air their opinion as anyone else does.
Good luck to The Others they remind me of the punk days. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
>Stereotypes, stereotypes, why do you all asume that ALL social housing is bad?
Who said that? It's not in the article. It may be in one of the posts above because I haven't read them all.
Personally, I think this single is a shining example of someone patronising the working classes. It says as much about crappy jobs as The Cranberries' Zombie said about the Northern Ireland conflict with the immortal lines 'with their tanks and their bombs and their bombs and their guns' or whatever it was... -
Re: The Others - Lackey
better than "McFly"? Hardly -
The Others - Lackey
The Others – Lackey is a cynical stab at an easy target, which was already touched upon last year by the Ordinary Boys, in a more pleasing way it has to be said, that being those people who probably constitute the majority and are thus a market to be tapped, those people in ‘regular’ 9 to 5 jobs striving to make a living to earn their way in the world.
The sobering fact is that it’s highly unlikely to be any of these people that actually buy the single, more likely it’ll be “the kids” who are not yet in employment or the middle class students who desperately want to be ‘cool’, what ever that means.
I’ve been a student, I work in a “9 to 5” job, I love music, I won’t be buying this single. I’ve seen The Others live, I’ve listened to their songs, I won’t be buying the album, heck if I can help it I wont even be touching the album.
At least it’s not cheeky cherub Tom from Keane singing? Good grief, at least the man has is background and his market targeted based upon the music he plays and not plays music based upon the market he’s targeted.
And no I’m not Keane’s biggest fan. -
The Others - Lackey
This record is so bad it warrants no discussion whatsoever.
And here am I, adding to the hapless column of opinionated schmucks, desperately trying to rephrase the 'The Others are Godawful' sentiment whilst surfing the riptide of my own dull hypocrisy.
Futile? Youbetcha. Bit like the record, really... -
The Others - Lackey
if anyone slags off dom i will personally track them down and kill* them -
Re: The Others - Lackey
it matters what class hes from because, from a lot that i hear, he is a liar.
in the same way that alan mcgee shite is bullshit. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
why? he couldn't give a fuck about you. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
I bet Mark Lamarr is shaking in his boots -
The Others - Lackey
I'd bet my ass that nobody within The Others actually knows what slave labour really is. Taunton is hardly a slum. A shitawful record by a shitawful band that's so fucking patronising, it's absurd.
And there's something hideously funny over the fact that the 'lyrics' section of their website is still 'Under construction' after so many months. -
The Others - Lackey
I'd bet my ass that nobody within The Others actually knows what slave labour really is. Taunton is hardly a slum. A shitawful record by a shitawful band that's so fucking patronising, it's absurd.
And there's something hideously funny over the fact that the 'lyrics' section of their website is still 'Under construction' after so many months. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
Oh I don't know.
I had the misfortune of breaking down near Taunton once and the locals were quite scary. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
he's not from taunton he's from Wells which is one of the most boring and poshest places in ther world and I should know having grown up there too! - and really it doesnt matter quite frankly becasue in the grand scheme of things nether do they in about a year's time -
The Others - Lackey
mind you taunton is only one step above Bridgewater and that really is somewhere to go to only to die -
The Others - Lackey
I honestly would chose Keane over that talentless crackhead/ -
Re: The Others - Lackey
Hit Bridgwater Dom, it's a hoot! One of the highlights of the ol' crickeitng days was going around some scary parts of Somerset and Bristol. Still, Taunton's nowhere near as crapyerpants-tastic as St Pauls in Bristol. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
I forgot the Taunton versus Wells arguments that will ensue... wherever and whatever, it's hardly a ghetto. Maybe he should come to Wiltshire. I'll take him for a night out in Potterne or Poulshot. Melksham bound! -
Re: The Others - Lackey
What about Clevedon?
I once stopped off there on the way back from Cornwall and pitched my tent in this old boy's field. Some strange noises going off that night I can tell you...
The booze was cheap though. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
I have friends and relatives in Taunton.
Mind you, I only ever saw one gig there (The Samurai Seven) and there were some absolute knobs in the crowd. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
Which Dom? The reviewer or the singer? -
Re: The Others - Lackey
You tell them, Old_Legend. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
'And my recommendation for 'Lackey' is that its one of the best guitar driven pop songs I've heard for a while.'
Why not mention it in the first place then? Or mention it now without appearing to still place as much or more importance in the lifestyle of those involved (be it the fans or the band) than the music? -
Re: The Others - Lackey
i fuckin will. you lot are all emo and 'indie' pussys on this site. your afraid of US -
Re: The Others - Lackey
Is that "us" as in you and your mates or the "US" where George WB and his cronies hang out? -
The Others - Lackey
Everyone I know who likes this shit is middle class.
Fuck off Masters. -
The Others - Lackey
Maybe it is crap, but i haven't heard it. I saw buzzcocks and i think Dominic Masters is quite fit. Sorry. -
Re: The Others - Lackey
ahhahahhahahhahahahhahahahha
Comments (56)
- Post a new comment on this article