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I first happened upon The 1975 around 2012 when I was listening to Sirius radio in my car driving to god knows where.  The first song I heard was The 1975’s first big hit, Chocolate, and it was like hearing music straight out of a John Hughes movie from the ’80s except it was more than a decade into the new millennium.  For whatever reason, from that day forward I was hooked.  I could take you down a rabbit hole of the weird arc of this band’s career, their record label history (or lack thereof), how they blew up, their inspirations, the singer’s friendship with Taylor Swift, and just about whatever else weird anecdote you can imagine.

When I saw The 1975 for the first time in 2013, the venue was small and primarily filled with mid-30 to 50 year olds due to what I can only assume was the band’s styled that allowed this crowd to remember their golden years.  While I was “just” 28, I thankfully had a nice foundation from years of my sister showing me Sixteen Candles, Pretty Pink, and the Breakfast Club.  Now The 1975 are immensely popular, especially with high school girls, but I still love the ’80s nostalgia they drum up in my brain.

Also, add them to the ongoing Driving Range Music list we seem to be producing of bands out of Northern England.  The 1975 hails from a town just outside of Manchester – and no, they don’t like nor were they inspired by Oasis in their youth.  I had a lively debate with the guy working their merch table years ago to confirm.  He won.

Here are some of my favorite videos (beware of explicit language):

Or if you’re into it, here are a couple recent full live shows: