The Needle Drop's review score of this is 8/10, despite starting out by acknowledging the fairness of people saying their music is sloganeering and virtue signalling. He also mentioned the criticisms of class appropriation and calls these comments "bone-headed and short-sighted", which is funny because that's a phrase I'd use to precisely describe IDLES' music and overall outward demeanour.
His review brought another new song of theirs to my attention:
Ne Touche Pas Moi, whose lyrics are:
This is a sawn-off for the cat-callers
This is a pistol for the wolf whistle
'Cause your body is your body
And it belongs to nobody but you
Ne touche pas moi
This is my dance space
Ne touche pas moi
This is your dance space
Ne touche pas moi
This is my dance space
Ne touche pas moi
Consent!
Consent!
Consent!
Bypassing the blunt and ugly lyrical form, I don't see how this song could be seen as anything
but virtue signalling in this day and age. If anything, getting Jehnny Beth in on guest vocals for the chorus only serves to reinforce that notion. "Men are bastards. Well, not all men. We're fucking great, here's a badge we made to prove it". I know IDLES' fanbase must contain more than its fair share of traditional punks and knuckle-dragging moshpit-seekers who could do with being taught a thing or two about respecting women, but men in Joe Talbot's position should be using their platform to point the finger back at themselves as much as anyone else if they don't want to be seen as blinkered white knights, which is precisely what they are at this point.
I got a bit of a knocking on here in my 2018 thread against IDLES for comparing them to the Pissed Jeans, but given IDLES' recent associations with The Jesus Lizard and the clear influence they also had on Pissed Jeans, I think it's worth bringing up again. PJ are similar to IDLES in that they both use blunt force and sardonic lyricism to lambast societal issues, but the thing that sets PJ leagues ahead is their mirror-punching self-awareness. A key example to set against
Ne Touche Pas Moi would be their 2013 song
Male Gaze:
It's when a smile becomes a stare and it starts to burn
It's when you ask him to knock it off and he doesn't learn
The sad routine doesn't change if he's broke or a millionaire
There's no getting through, that's how it is, he's never had to care
It's when you're judged before you even get to speak a word
It's when you make the smartest point and it goes unheard
I'm not innocent - I'm guilty
I'm not innocent - but I'm sorry
It's just the male gaze - it's in me I know it
I feel it all around me - I wish I could destroy it
Yeah it's the male gaze - I've had it forever
And I know I'm no angel, but I'm trying to kill it
It's when you're judged in every way before you have arrived
It's pounded down every day since you've been alive
You quiet down and bite your lip in the face of total fools
It's never worth the punishment of breaking social rules
I'm not innocent - I'm guilty
I'm not innocent - but I'm sorry
I'm not innocent - I plead guilty
I'm not innocent - but I'm trying
There are a number of ways that I think Pissed Jeans are a superior punk/noise rock band to IDLES but I don't think it's worth going into, but using these two songs as comparison pieces felt like a noteworthy thing to do.