BBC’s favorite band!
Florence Welch and Isabella “Machine” Summers started working together as teenagers.
At first, they referred to themselves as Isabelle Machine and Florence Robot but soon modified it to the more catchy Florence + the Machine.
The formation of the full band happened in 2007, with the debut album Lungs out in 2008.
Lungs contained most of the tunes that made the band. The opener Dog Days Are Over still holds the most plays on Spotify 15 years later, which is surprising as this is not the band’s most popular song.
Their best-known tune is, clearly, You’ve Got The Love, a cover of Candi Staton’s You Got The Love. Changing You to You‘ve was a master stroke as whenever somebody searches for it in this spelling, Florence + the Machine will always come up first, genius!
So, Dog Days Are Over has the most plays but it didn’t chart the highest, and neither did You’ve Got The Love. The tune that charted the highest is the live version with rapper Dizzee Rascal entitled You’ve Got The Dirtee Love, reaching #2 in the U.K.
So how come this is the case? Well, I’ve done some digging and it turns out that in the U.K., one of the best ways to reach the masses is to become a favorite of the national broadcaster BBC. As it’s funded by taxpayers, the broadcaster can push through artists without looking too much at sales, just trusting their own employee’s taste.
BBC Music Introducing is the branch that has the task to find new talent and then distribute it over local and national radio stations.
They have connections with festivals and can put forward their favorites to Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, Latitude, T in the Park, South by Southwest, and many more. They also broadcast the Glastonbury festival every year it’s happening.
Basically, if you’re a U.K. artist or band, getting in with the BBC is probably the best move you could make for your career.
BBC really took to Florence + the Machine, as well as Dizzee Rascal. This is the reason that version did so well in particular and some say, Florence + the Machine in general, but maybe those who say so are just jealous.
Anyway, following the debut and all the hoo-ha surrounding it, the band goes back in the studio to make the follow-up, Ceremonials (2011). Here we find two big tunes in Shake It Out and Spectrum.
Lungs and Ceremonial have sold a combined 5 million copies. Since then, Florence + the Machine has released three more albums that have all charted well, however, no significant tunes have emerged, and consequentially, sales have declined steadily.
As a wannabe A&R man, I’d say perhaps it’s time for the band to find another cover. In 2010, at Glastonbury, they played Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain but promised to never do it again.
For the record, BBC employees still love them so Florence and her machine will most likely be fine, even if they don’t release another cover as good as You’ve Got The Love.
Florence + the Machine tunes | Related pages
You’ve Got The Love
You can learn how to play You’ve Got The Love by Florence + the Machine using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, and the original recording.
| G#m | F# |
Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air…
Florence + the Machine on the web
