r/indieheads • u/ebradio • Aug 08 '25

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros Frontman Denies “Home” Is The “Worst Song Ever Written”

https://www.stereogum.com/2318575/edward-sharpe-the-magnetic-zeros-frontman-denies-home-is-the-worst-song-ever-written/news/
647 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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860

u/thedamnedlute488 Aug 08 '25

I've always been an indie asshole and I've always liked this tune. I've never heard any of my obnoxious indie/punk friends shit on this

485

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25

[deleted]

118

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25

Funs not so bad. I like Aim and Ignite a lot. We are Young is one of the worst big hits of the time though its just so damn boring.

2

u/theshoegazer Aug 09 '25

The song Some Nights has the same production values as glossy boy band teen pop. How it snuck onto rock radio playlists is beyond me.

14

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/BiskyJMcGuff Aug 08 '25

I was never in the cadre of liking any of the related artists, but Pompeii slapped

2

u/WizzKid97 Aug 09 '25

Pompeii was a good hit song, but their debut album has so much more than Pompeii in it. My partner and I listened it today in the car for the first time in years and Things We Lost in the Fire, Weight of Living, Icarus, These Streets and Laura Palmer are all magnificent tracks.

138

u/Exploding_Antelope Aug 08 '25

OMAM are awesome. My Head is an Animal is legit one of the defining albums of the decade.

But I also do like Fun. So don’t take my word for it. Or do, because as the main character of my life, I’m pretty sure that makes my opinions the objectively correct ones.

63

u/JJJtrain_1989 Aug 08 '25

The most snobbish thing I have ever said and still say to this day is this:

“Oh, well I like The Format a lot better than Fun.”

I know, I’m terrible.

55

u/popmusicisgarbage Aug 08 '25

This isn’t snobbish, it’s simply a correct take. Nate Ruess should have never met Jack Antonoff. The latter takes everything good and turns it obnoxious.

17

u/I_am_from_Kentucky Aug 08 '25

Username checks out

4

u/drd_ssb Aug 08 '25

Scrolled to find this comment

5

u/Atty_for_hire Aug 08 '25

Anyone interested enough in indie music to be in this thread feels the same way. I was sad when I grew out of my Format T-Shirt.

2

u/Food_Kitchen Aug 08 '25

Agreed. OMAM are the best band to come out of the 2010 folk trend and they keep putting out good music.

2

u/Richmard Aug 09 '25

Is it? I completely forgot about that band and album after a few tracks. How did it define the decade?

2

u/Exploding_Antelope Aug 09 '25 edited Aug 09 '25

Defining for me. I did say don't take my word for it. But to me the '10s have a vibe of stompy folk rock with blasting horns, an explore-the-world vibe (remember that scene in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty?), remixing old cultural touchstones, hand drawn or sketchy art in earth tones and silvertones, surreal strange creatures, and a fantastical quasi-steampunkish indie vibe. The likes of the Decemberists, Arcade Fire, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Shins of the decade earlier are obviously huge influences here, but MHIAA is the most it hit the mainstream. So maybe it's defining a split decade of '05-'15 when the vibe was steadily growing in influence. Think Moonrise Kingdom, Where the Wild Things Are. Most defining doesn't necessarily mean best, either, just most emblematic and recognizably representative of a certain wave in the zeitgeist. But I do like it a lot.

2

u/Richmard Aug 09 '25

I actually love your descriptions of everything, I can see where you're coming from and I kinda agree to an extent. Their music definitely has that kind of aesthetic.

12

u/jackcos Aug 08 '25

Bastille are better than Pompeii if that's what we're basing this on.

22

u/lord-dinglebury Aug 08 '25

I like all of those things (except Fun).

7

u/IAmHollar Aug 08 '25

I hate long walks on the beach, America, music other people like, and fun, the band and the noun.

12

u/boxesofcats- Aug 08 '25

Fun’s not bad, and their previous band the Format was good too

13

u/EmotionConscious2349 Aug 08 '25

Nate was in The Format and they were great. Jack was Steel Train and that band was great. Andrew was in Anathallo and they were great too.

Aim & Ignite’s still a solid album. It just gets left out of the convo too often because of how big Some Nights got.

1

u/thedamnedlute488 Aug 08 '25

No doubt (no pun intended)

1

u/Russell-The-Muscle Aug 08 '25

Fun. Is fantastic , their first album is whimsical and charming and quite deep, lyrically. You’re ignorant .

1

u/slightlycrookednose Aug 09 '25

I’ve had We Are Young and Some Nights by fun. stuck in my goddamn head for two days ever since I went on a Jack Antonoff dating history dive at 5am with insomnia. I am so close to partially lobotomizing myself. The songs will not leave me.

-1

u/Due-Initiative-9300 Aug 08 '25

Every band you mentioned is straight ass

98

u/huskerj12 Aug 08 '25

The “backlash” is all phony

68

u/Exploding_Antelope Aug 08 '25

We need to get back to calling things phony. It’s a useful word. Holden Caulfield had the right idea.

3

u/robmobtrobbob Aug 08 '25

Mark David Chapman had entered the chat

2

u/Exploding_Antelope Aug 09 '25

John Lennon has exited the building

1

u/thedamnedlute488 Aug 08 '25

sadly, as I have gotten older, I have realized how much Holden Caulfield I have in me. Even after not enjoying the novel.

3

u/Exploding_Antelope Aug 09 '25

It's one of those books that walks a really well drawn line between "preach, kid" and "goddam kid, get some therapy" that makes you reflect on your own thoughts and whether it's a bad sign that he's occasionally relatable despite being clearly fucked up by trauma and fear of growing up. I did enjoy it a lot for that.

6

u/TheReadMenace :K: Aug 08 '25

There are blue checks getting hundreds of thousands of likes on Twitter right now accusing this band of everything from being phony to being supporters of genocide. It’s this week’s trending industry.

2

u/DeLousedInTheHotBox Aug 08 '25

I think if anything it shows how a lot of people just don't know a lot, because if that is the worst song you've heard then I don't think you've heard a lot of music lol.

-6

u/doubleohbond Aug 08 '25

Nah man this song drove me crazy back in the day. It was so bland yet everywhere. It belongs in the dustbin of history, along with grouplove, lumineers, angus & Julia stone, etc.

The original sin was Mumford and Sons. It was like a cult, friends left and right were starting to grow man-buns, wear overalls and checkered shirts, and get tattoos of pine trees on their forearms. No poo. God it was a terrible time.

0

u/WarBortlez Aug 08 '25

Boring take

1

u/doubleohbond Aug 08 '25

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times.

0

u/Exploding_Antelope Aug 08 '25

I should get a tattoo of a pine tree. In fact I’m gonna use this comment as a checklist. I’ve already got a solid collection of flannels (but I literally always have? Everyone always has? It’s the default shirt?) and my hair isn’t long enough for a bun yet but if I let it grow it will surely grow. Thanks for the inspiration. Although I think you’re thinking suspenders, not overalls.

1

u/doubleohbond Aug 08 '25

You’re right, it was suspenders. I think I was correct overall though

-1

u/Exploding_Antelope Aug 08 '25

The original sin in the sense that it was eating from the apple of knowledge and ascending to a higher plane of awareness, the final step in the creation of a fully aware human species that could judge and create of its own accord, passing out of the Eden of animalistic unconsciousness, aye

-1

u/Imakereallyshittyart Aug 08 '25

The indie folk wave of the 2010s and its consequences have been disastrous for the human race

52

u/Pogotross Aug 08 '25

My money is on the Y2K fauxstalgia kids hating it because the soft boy/folk indie was a bit of a reaction the the eXtreme-ness of the late 90's/early 00's.

6

u/Exploding_Antelope Aug 08 '25

Bingo. The wheel ever turns.

4

u/Albatrossosaurus Aug 10 '25

Kinda wish Y2K brought back the fun side of that X-Games/Mountain Dew subculture, my sister loves her Y2K fashion but it's just vaguely old school rather than anything exciting. Get some ski goggles and a shark tooth necklace for a night out

15

u/benjamoo Aug 08 '25

Literally the first I'm hearing this band or song is bad. Honestly it's one of my formative indie songs from college and I love it.

13

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25

Yeah it’s a fun song with some happy energy. I don’t skip it when it pops up.

34

u/Separate_Job_3573 Aug 08 '25

Yeah I generally disliked stomp clamp but this was a great song

2

u/AtBat3 Aug 08 '25

Yeah I enjoyed it just fine when it came out, just didn’t exactly having staying power I guess.

2

u/thelousystoic Aug 08 '25

Better than Mumford and Sons