The Silver Lining of Made In Chelsea

I don’t watch Made In Chelsea. After watching a couple of episodes at the request of friends I decided it wasn’t for me; a typical realty show pumped full of impossible characters that have the same appeal of going to a zoo as a child and watching the chimps throw their own faeces. The same friend then attacked me for always being so cynical – I riposted by bringing up the recent Jamie Laing interview, but he simply whined that I couldn’t find the good in anything. I saw this as a challenge, and have since found, with the help of Louis Du Sauzay, a silver lining to MIC – the music.

MIC contains one of the freshest and most consistent soundtracks of any TV show, and this really confused me. Of course having a generally well received soundtrack is critical to making those special moments between Mr. and Mrs. MIC Pretentious, but the breadth of the soundtrack is remarkable. The inclusion of bands like Young Kato, Cloud Control and Little Comets causes the series to give a thorough grounding in up and coming electro indie-pop artists along the likes of the more established CHVRCHES and Two Door Cinema Club.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAouUEeqKr4

Little Comets – Little Italy

This is the first reason why the music of MIC attempts to save its turgid existence. The MIC “badge” is fast becoming a recognised target for the up and coming in a way for their music to reach the masses. The E4 Spotify playlists boast well over 10,000 dedicated followers, which alongside the growing appreciation for the soundtrack, can really boost the chances of artists making that all too difficult jump to the big time.

I certainly had never heard of M83 before MIC existed, and now most know them as the guys behind the MIC theme tune. Anthony Gonzalez of M83 certainly appreciates this power that the show has, and has in the past explained how “it’s an opportunity for people to hear my music who’d never listen to it otherwise”.

People have known about this M83 from 1752.

But this is just one side to the musical MIC silver lining. Alongside this, fans have the opportunity to suggest music they’d want to hear on MIC via the E4 website, which together helps to break away from the conventional UK40 album soundtracks of many other shows (someone should sell this to Cindies – we suggest a soundtrack each week for the DJs to incorporate, and they could finally shut up assholes like myself complaining about the music).

On top of this, the show manages to sneak in songs from less mainstream genres compared to the relatively “safe” indie-pop genre. Bands hailing from the more alt-punk/rock world like Deaf Havana and Don Broco manage to sneak some air time. Admittedly the lyrics to Don Broco’s “Whole Truth”, depicting the advantages of keeping quiet about cheating on your girlfriend, perhaps suit the “plot” of MIC, but nevertheless I would never have expected Don Broco to feature on the MIC soundtrack.

Don Broco – Whole Truth

So thanks to the genius of the MIC music consultant Andrea Madden, I was able to go back to my friend and tell him I had finally found something good about MIC. He still stubbornly tried to insist that he enjoyed the storyline, but he had to admit that the soundtrack perfectly suited the visual display of faeces flying from one chimp to another.

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I don’t care about your opinions of the actual show, but let me know if you’ve also noticed the wicked MIC soundtrack.