Frog rock!

[Jérôme Frenchise]

There's been little rock 'n' roll, I mean real, ballsy stuff here in Frogland since the late 50s. There have been pale - if not grotesque - impersonators, pseudo-Elvises, fake Gene Vincents, improbable imitations of all sorts...

A few artists bands have done it though, made their own stuff and hit the bull's eye.

Téléphone (1977-86) managed to rock in French, which isn't easy at all. They claimed the Stones and the Who were their idols, and you could hear it in their music.

"Flipper" (=pinball) is a song about life, compared to a pinball game (first ball you're a kid, second ball a grown up, third an old fart), from start to finish, when you "fall". And you always hope for another one for free.



Maybe the best riff the Stones never recorded. :)

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Téléphone - Serrez!



Téléphone - Tu vas me manquer (I'm gonna miss you)



Téléphone - La bombe humaine



They that a Stonesy sound, while sounding pretty original at the same time. The singer was (is still, solo) a good composer/lyricist, the lead guitarist kicked ass and the drummer did too. The bass player was said to fake her playing live, as roadies were supposed to play bass for her backstage...

[Jérôme Frenchise]

I had this song playing in my head while driving to work this morning, which gave me the idea of starting this thread:

Gérard Blanchard - Rock'amadour (1982)



It was almost a one-shot, though he released other songs later, still leading with his insane voice and accordion.
I can't remember how many chicks I've danced with on this song. :)

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Rita Mitsouko - C'est comme ça



The Rita Mitsouko were a duet, Fred Chichin (composer, guitar, keyboards) and singer Catherine Ringer (a HUGE voice). Here's their famous "C'est comme ça" with Louis Bertignac, Téléphone's lead guitarist, as guest.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Niagara (1985-1992) were another (poppier) duet. They were very successful here, mostly thanks to the singer who was very catchy.



This one was more pop - but back then they stood out of the general production, even the keyboards sounded great to me (I hate them in general, but theirs were OK):

Niagara: Flammes de l'enfer



Niagara: Pendant que les champs brûlent

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Richard Gotainer, an authentic poet, has been making goddamn funny songs for almost 40 years, with kick-ass guitarist-composer Claude Engel, listen to the sublime lead guitar here:

Richard Gotainer - La Java Rock



French music adapted to rock instruments (guitar instead of accordion)

Le Youki (a national favorite) :



A ballad, here - I don't know which one to choose, there are too many:

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Robert Charlebois is a French-speaking Canadian who's been singing for 45 years. A buddy of Janis Joplin's (he toured Canada with her and Grateful Dead in 1970), he's always been one of my top fave artists ever, whatever the genre.



"Between two joints" ("you could do something, you could hurry your ass") :



"Frog song" live :



Yep, but he ain't a Frog...

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Johnny Halliday is a Belgian born singer who has been singing for as long as the Stones - but with a French-only success - he has composed none of his songs, nor written any of his lyrics. He has the reputation of being dumb, but he has a great voice. He's sold dozens of million records here (I bought one, where the song "Gabrielle" is featured).

"Gabrielle"

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Eddy Mitchell has sung for as long as Halliday. But Mitchell composed many of his songs and wrote some lyrics.

Eddy Mitchell - Pas de Boogie-Woogie en (live) par christopher59760

more to come...

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Marcel et son orchestre: "Où sont passées mes pantoufles" (starts at 0:45) - Where have my sleepers gone?

Theyd been touring for more than 25 years, and they've just announced their split. Party ska-rock. Very energetic and pure fun, I've seen them 3 times. Originally Northern French like me!

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Louise Attaque

The singer's voice singularly gets on my nerves, but the music isn't bad at all IMO.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Late Alain Bashung - he had a pretty long career, started in the 60s and died from lung cancer a few years ago.

This is one of his best tunes, "Osez Joséphine" (1994):

[Jérôme Frenchise]

"What's in a bird?" (1983)

[Mr. Vengeance]

What about Sortilege? They released their album in Canada with both English and French lyrics. We listened to them a fair bit back in 1985.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5ZCBmGgeI8

[Jérôme Frenchise]

What about Sortilege? They released their album in Canada with both English and French lyrics. We listened to them a fair bit back in 1985.

Cheers! I didn't know them yet. Singing in both languages is not that frequent.

Robert Charlebois likes to mix both in a single song.

French rock is pretty desertic actually. Apart from Telephone, Rita Mitsouko and Bashung, I never got into the little of it.

There used to be another one in the late 70s, early 80s: Trust.

They played "nervous" hard rock, the singer's voice is recognizably French - but I never liked his hammering his words.
They were friends with AC/DC in the late 70s.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

A band that's currently very popular: Skip the Use.

I saw them live at a music festival last July, and they blew all the other artists off stage (which wasn't that hard, as all the other bands had been very boring).
The singer looks and sounds a bit dumb (so do the lyrics), but the musicians really deliver on stage.
They're from the suburbs of Lille. They chose to sing in English, which isn't so good an idea IMO.



Here's the hit that got them into every teen's mp3 - and every radio station too:



Same song, live:

[Jérôme Frenchise]

It pisses me off, but I have to admit there's one band that has achieved the challenge of being a valuable rock band in France since Téléphone.

Noir Désir started in the late 80s and never stopped rising till the singer killed actress Marie Trintignant during a movie shooting she was working at, In Lithuania. They both were married with someone else. What was revolting is he beat her to death "because" he was drunk and on drugs. He's out of jail now and starting a solo career (after the guitar player sent him to hell after an attempt at starting the band again).

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Singer/guitarist Axel Bauer did this in 1983. A real guitar player, he played the solo.
Roger Daltrey covered it in a solo album, but I've never heard his version unfortunately.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Paul Personne is a quite good guitar player, not only for a Frenchman. :)



With Telephone guitarist Bertignac (a Bertignac song, "Come on guitar" if you translate) :



Bertignac/Personne in a Jumpin' Jack Flash jam on stage:

[BITEYOASS]

This song from Plastic Bertrand has been part of the soundtrack for a couple movies here in the USA. Although I don't know if this counts, since the singer is from Belgium.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsXknE8LOEI

[Jérôme Frenchise]

This song from Plastic Bertrand has been part of the soundtrack for a couple movies here in the USA. Although I don't know if this counts, since the singer is from Belgium.


:biggrin:

This song was made for fun of course - they were surfing on the Pistols' success at that time. How many bands could manufacture that goddamn riff anyway?
You'd swear it's the one and only punk riff of 77-78... :biggrin:

This was the official vid:

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Les Garçons Bouchers (late 80s, mid-90s) didn't look much smarter ( but then what is rock 'n' roll about? ;) ), but at least they played and sang (yelled) their songs themselves.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Les Sheriffs could have been a great band, but they messed up their career (mid 80s-mid 90s) too early - as punk fans will say.



La Mano Negra were way more successful in the same period, before Manu Tchao spoliated his bandmates and went solo.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

The Krackhand kick ass! Not only because they're friends of mine. :)

[Jérôme Frenchise]

There's a Stray Cat feel in there:

[katina]

Gojira, french metal titans, groove, progressive, industrial, death metal, they are a band, still hard to classify.

Gojira was formed back in 1996, they are from one of the most beautiful and enchanting places of southwest coast of France.

A quartet without a single lineup change, they sing in english, and they know how to write, their lyrics are about nature, preservation and the earth.

After all these years of Gojira´s awesome albums, extensive world touring, today they are playing in Brasil, at the Monster of Rock Festival.
Gojira, South America salutes you !! I will wait for the YT vids.

[katina]

Gojira, Flying Whales live


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiEJJc7yqrM

[katina]

Gojira, Oroborus live


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6qRFb2jisg