Biff-ocrisy, n.
Purposely not listening to Biffy Clyro for years because of one album, even after writing a blog post which preached trying new things.
“That Martin is a Biff-ocrit.”
I feel like I’ve missed out. For years I’ve shunned one of
Scotland’s biggest bands because I didn’t like one of their albums. However, little did
I know that while I was being fickle and not listening to Biffy Clyro they were out making some of my favourite music.
One of the first ever blog posts I wrote – and one of the
ones which really got me into writing – was a theory about cheese. I’ve written
about this in a few blog posts since, and enjoy how it occasionally elbows its
way back into my life. The theory was simple: why only eat cheddar when there are so
many other types of cheese out there? Maybe best if you read the post yourself…
When you have written over 200 blog posts, it starts to
become difficult to stay true to everything you have said. The moral of that post is one that I try to apply as much as possible but if I
enjoy listening to music – or, more specifically, rock music with a Scottish accent – why did I avoid Biffy for so long?
Well the answer is simple: Infinity Land. After hearing a
couple of songs that I quite liked from the album Puzzles I decided to go and
grab some of their music. Unfortunately I was naïve to think that they had
sounded the same since they started – they have not. Infinity Land is not the
album to ‘get into’ Biffy Clyro with and I learned this the hard way.
Anyway, I was talking to someone before they went to T in
the Park at which Biffy were headlining on the Friday night. I told her that I
wasn’t their biggest fan but was informed that they put on a great show. That
Friday night I watched the whole set on BBC Three without blinking. I’ve never
looked back - but I have blinked since.
A few weeks on and I’ve listened to Only Revolutions and
Opposites front-to-back, back-to-front and every other which way. I’ve watched
tonnes of live performances on YouTube and revisited that T in the Park set
more times that I care to admit. The biggest shock (shock) of them all has to
be my warming towards Infinity Land as well – in small doses of course.
So what have I learned? The main thing would be to stop
being so fickle. I can’t think of anything off the top of my head, but I’m
certain that there are other Biffy Clyro-esk situations where I claim to dislike
something when in fact I love it. This episode encourages me to look into other
areas like film and TV for new likes – and, indeed, properly decided dislikes!
In short, I’m glad I gave this band another chance. Here’s a
couple of my personal favourites to help you give them another chance or, if
you were more open minded than me, have a little top-up of the Biff.
Thanks for reading.
Martin
