Bleu McAuley had his first (and only) brush with the mainstream back in 2003, when his shifty ode to insecurity, “Somebody Else,” found its way onto the hugely popular soundtrack to the first Spider-Man movie. The tune was also on Bleu’s second album, Redhead, a delectable slab of power-pop bombast and one of the most unjustly overlooked albums of the early 2000s. Seven years and one falling out with Columbia Records later, Bleu knows better than to go sniffing around for scraps amidst the carnage of a dying industry. Recently, he averted any future label shenanigans altogether, appealing directly to his fans for money to make his latest CD, Four (The Major Label). They responded by forking over almost $40,000 via online funding platform Kickstarter. Over the years, Bleu has found highly entertaining ways to celebrate his knob-twiddling heroes. Alpacas Orgling is the 2006 product of his Jeff Lynne-loving collective known as L.E.O. And for LoudLion, he’s recruited Rooney’s Taylor Locke, the Donnas’ Allison Robertson and some other L.A. pals to shamelessly emulate Mutt Lange. The band’s contributions to the Balls Of Fury and The Hills Have Eyes 2 soundtracks couldn’t sound any more like circa-Hysteria Def Leppard if they had spots. Bleu will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with him.
Bleu: Fuck it. I’m putting ’em on here. Chances are, if you’re familiar with my music, you’re probably familiar with Jellyfish. But in case you’re not: Welcome to the best power-pop band ever. They’ve only got two records, and they both rule, so ya kinda can’t go wrong. Everything about it is ambitious. Still my fave.
Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-u9GB7r-d8
One reply on “What Kinda Man Bleu Is: Jellyfish”
Jellyfish was a great band that had enough chops to get away with those ridiculous outfits, which rightfully would bury a lesser band. Impossibly catchy hooks, everthing-and-the-kitchen-sink instrumentation mixed with complex vocal harmonies made me wonder why the hell Jellyfish didn’t achieve bigger and better things. Why pop radio plays absolute crap and habitually ignores great pop music is beyond me.