10 Overrated Rock Music Albums Of The 2010s
2. The Black Keys - Brothers
If nothing else, the Ohio duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are masters of timing. Though a going concern since 2001, they built up a head of steam through self-produced records, taking their blues rock game into the mainstream just as the White Stripes broke up.
On Brothers, their delivery is slick and polished (thanks partly to Danger Mouse’s production assistance), but there’s an unoriginality that they just can’t shake. This is most egregious on big hit Howlin’ for You, which apes Jack White’s swagger (itself admittedly amalgamated from various old bluesmen) to the point that the Detroiter eventually confronted the Keys in a New York bar.
It gets worse on Everlasting Light and Next Girl - this is when you realise that The Black Keys think they are very, very cool, swaggering their way through pristine, radio ready blues funk that lacks the knowing goofiness or danger of the Stripes or John Spencer Blues Explosion.
Brothers caught the ear of some critics who were starved for modern garage blues, but it didn’t last. The music certainly has its purpose. Unfortunately, that’s mostly car commercials.