It was about ten years in 1998 that I first heard of Snow Patrol. Some people might find it a bit of a shock that the band is more than 10 years old! I think it was either Donal Dineen or Uaneen Fitzsimons who was hosting No Disco at the time on RTE. I’m leaning more towards Uaneen as being the presenter…she introduced me to Snow Patrol’s Starfighter Pilot late one Wednesday night at about midnight. I should have been in bed getting some ZZzzz in preparation for a tough morning of double Irish and Geography for 5th year! But I wasn’t. I was watching the only music show worth watching.
Starfighter Pilot just clicked with me. It rocked out. It was rough, raw and beautiful. I picked up Snow Patrol’s debut album, Songs for Polar Bears, a few weeks later from an obscure record shop in Cork City by the name of Comet Records for about £12. I’m surprised the CD didn’t spontaneously combust during its life within my CD player. I played it nonstop for years.
Snow Patrol were my little secret. Very few people had heard of them. Tony Fenton, Ian Dempsey even Dave Fanning weren’t aware of them back in the late nighties. You’d have more a chance getting impregnated via a toilet seat than hearing any of their singles played on daytime or even nighttime radio. It felt like I had a unique personal relationship with their music.
Songs for Polar Bears contains some utterly amazing tracks.
NYC
100 Things You Should Have Done in Bed:
Mahogany Girl
Absolute Gravity
StarFighter Pilot
Downhill from Here
Little Hide
While their debut album was an unadulterated indie-rock album with experimental elements, their followup album ‘When It’s All Over We Still Have to Clean Up’ was a more sophisticated piece of love inspired balled indie-rock songs. Two totally different albums. The followup showcased the band’s diverse creativity. They weren’t frightened to show a more sensitive side in their song writing.
If I had to choose which of the two albums I prefer, I wouldn’t be able to answer. It’s an oxymoron. What’s better than the best?
When It’s All Over We Still Have to Clear Up featured the single ‘Ask Me How I Am’. This song was probably the weakest on the entire album. It’s the only one that didn’t really fit right in my mind. The rest of the album was about relationships and breakups, this song deviated from that theme judging by the lyrics. The single gave them some moderate attention but nothing too noteworthy.
Ask Me How I Am
Never Gonna Fall in Love Again
An Olive Grove Facing The Sea (probably my favourite song of theirs)
Never Gonna Fall In Love Again
Batten Down the Hatch
On/Off
I’m sure you will have noticed by now a gulf in the differences between the songs listed above and the tracks that Snow Patrol released for their 3rd and 4th albums. In some ways I am happy for Snow Patrol in the sense that they have received the acclaim they deserve. But in another way I am pissed off. They hit the mainstream and they hit it hard. They quickly got into a routine of churning out the most God awful middle of the road rock ballads song after song. I didn’t see any of the innovation that was apparent on the first two albums in their 3/4 releases.
I completely lost the unique relationship I felt I had when they re-released Spitting Games for the second time to capitalise on the success of Run. Run was their big break. I remember being shocked when I saw it played on MTV at around 5 in the evening a few years ago.
But why re-release the first song from their 3rd album, Spitting Games? Why force something that needs force in order to be a success? That’s not what music is about.You’d expect an indie band like Snow Patrol to make music for the love of making music, not to be a bitch and re-release singles.
I remember one day when I was in college in Waterford some girl in my class asked me if I heard of a new Irish band by the name of Snow Patrol. I answered that I did. She thought they were the best band she ever heard. She also likes The Revs, Relish, and whatever other nonsensical ’student music’ was making the rounds at the time. I nearly died a slow death!
I’m not trying to be a musical snob but I feel gutted that Snow Patrol sold out to the mainstream pop market. They caught a break with Run but they engineered themselves in order to optimise any forthcoming success. They even appeared on one of those pop collaborations for the Christmas number 1 single a few years ago. Good grief! Mixing it up with God knows who…Steps? Girls Aloud? That’s a bad crowd for any partially credible band.
There is a light though. Snow Patrol provided two of the best and most underrated albums ever. Gary Lightbody also founded the amazing Reindeer Section as a side project when Snow Patrol were in the wind. And finally, the new Snow Patrol single ‘Take Back This City’ is as good as the material from Songs For Polar Bears and When It’s All Over We Still Need to Clean Up.
The damage is done though. They’re a totally different band to the one I was memorised by in 1998.
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8 responses so far ↓
Well, I hadn’t heard of Snow Patrol 10 years ago…so I don’t know the above songs..I’ll take a listen in a mo. But I must say I can’t stand the Snow Patrol music of the last 5 years or so. I couldn’t believe that they were so popular..all their songs were so drab and lifeless..I guess people thought it was deep and meaningful but I was bored to death! Esp with that Chasing Cars song. And when they mixed it with the Police, it was even worse; every time if came on the radio I thought it was the police for a few seconds until I’d realise it was really Snow Patrol!
The 5 year stint you mentioned was just awful. The guys found a recipe for chart success and they polluted the air waves with the same drab tones.
There is very little to choose between a band like Snow Patrol and Westlife in my opinion. Neither band contributed a thing to music. No innovation. No desire to make a decent impact.
Not every band has to do any of those things but Snow Patrol were innovative before they hit success. That’s a bit of an injustice in my mind. They should have been a far better band without the needless fanfare.
Yup I remember really liking that Starfighter Pilot song - if I remember it correctly they had a Lego XWing in the video. I got the polar bears CD as well, but man did they go shite.
Yeah, that was the video alright. For some ’strange’ reason Snow Patrol’s official YouTube profile only has videos from their third and forth album. It’s a bit odd that none of the videos from Polar Bears and Clean Up are featured.
I remember hearing ‘Run’ for the first time and loving it, went to Golden Disc’s in Stillorgan and got the album and down the back of them all found Songs for Polar Bears and just couldn’t believe it was the same band they were phenomenal. There stuff has gradually been getting worse and worse ever since. Such a shame.
Songs for Polar Bears is probably one of the best Irish rock albums ever and it’s a shame that the majority of Snowpatrol fans have never heard it nor probably never will.
Revellino’s Broadcaster album and Kerbdog’s On The Turn are the only other contenders for best Irish rock album imo.
Thanks for the comments, Lisa.
Very similar experience to yourself, I first came across snow patrol on that very same episode of no disco. Starfighter pilot was an imminently likeable catchy piece of rock. At the time I was a massive Kerbdog fan and that affliation transfered over to their nerdier incarnation as Wilt. When I went to see Wilt play in Galway in ‘99 snowpatrol supported. Even managed to drunkenly berate G Lightbody about how great starfighter pilot was. Bought songs 4 polarbears after, became enamored and listened incessantly. I think its their strongest album. The last time I saw them was in Galway promoting Final Straw, which incidently I think is still a good album just more commercially accessible, hence the success I suppose.Must have been about 80 people at the gig. About 1-2 months later Run is everywhere and the album explodes.
Bought Eyes Open out of some misplaced sense of loyalty . . . drivel! I don’t begrude them their success at all they obviously struck on a formula that worked and is hugely popular and decided to flog it to death. Its just such a pity decided to follow that route and no longer challenge themselves. Undoubtedly a waste of talent.
And finally, Take Back the City is certainly no glorious return to form, mores the pity.
[...] remember when Snow Patrol used to be a decent indie band…. final straw was fantatic! Cormac would tell you that Final Straw was the album where it all went wrong [...]
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