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My preface to this, is that I historically have beef with Bring Me The Horizon. I’ve seen them play whilst working at the O2 Academy, I’ve seen them play Reading & Leeds, and had a disdain for the way they treated security with their faux anarchistic crowd overwhelming of the barrier. I’ve taken the piss out of someone who had one of their album covers tattooed on them (Who, these days, is in a barrel of Philly Sports Fan cum after SB LIX), and I ignored them for the longest time as the latest fad. Like Panic At The Disco / Fall Out Boy back in the Scene heyday. Issue is, just like FOB did with American Beauty and Panic with High Hopes, BMTH grew up… Into the world’s best cover band?

Do it once, it’s a beautiful mistake, as BMTH did with the Ginger Legend known as Ed Sheeran; at the Brit Awards (The UK’s piss poor version of the Grammy’s) live with his track Bad Habits, with an actual studio version of the track dropping shortly afterwards. It actually made the backing track from the original almost listenable, as the solo Ed version seemed to have this nauseating GarageBand feel to it at points. Point in the Pop Goes Punk archives, and we left it there. Then the Mancunian duo decided to earn some more money by pretending to be friends again.

I hate the way that the tickets for Oasis gigs were sold, as I’m of the era of one ticket, one price, one butt. I hate touts as much as I hate Rupert Murdoch, but I wouldn’t wish missing out on seeing a band due to dynamic pricing on my worse enemy. Music should bring us together, not have us looking at the checkout screen and wondering why Wonga / QuikQuid went into the oblivion. Everyone deserves the chance to see live music, the same way that I believe there should always be a chance for a kid to see their favourite football team (Baseball, NBA, Rugby, Curling, Handball, etc.)… I have an entire suite of thoughts on this to come down the line, as well as some actual solutions.

I’m actually happy that Spotify have started their own version of the Live Lounge with their Singles arc. It’s what music needs. I’ve not been a paid subscriber to Spotify for about 5 years, but it’s like wondering if you want a Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Disney+ or Paramount+ subscription. You won’t get everything you want, but you can tailor it to what you need or want the most. I don’t need 24/7 South Park / Bone broth infused episodes of Yoda, but I watch WWE and purchase a lot of stuff from Amazon, Apple+ means I don’t have to worry about snycing between 5 devices, and Spotify? It’s useful for podcasting, but little else to me. The joy of 2025 however is that we can still access some content off brand. YouTube is king for most things, and whilst I’m not dropping $10 just to see a music video, I can still listen to the track that BMTH did covering Wonderwall, and holy mother of shandy, it kicks.

Not in a ‘That was a good cover’, but ‘Could you imagine that being pumped out to 20,000 fans in one go?’ good. Do it once, it’s a mistake. Do it twice, it’s a habit. Two tracks for the ages, made as good (in my opinion better), by some rethinking. I always like to think about how you can use blank audio tracks to convey a message, and in both occasions, BMTH have nailed it. It’s what pisses me off with so many bands when they take the melody and think that’s it, but a true remix needs some form of reinvention. For that, Ollie et al, I thank you.

Peace, Rage & Love xx

Last Updated on 16th March 2025 by Wil Vincent