Les Fatals Picards is a French rock/punk band, founded in 1996. The Fatals Picards (meaning "the fatal enfrom

Picardy Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France. Hi ...

") are best known to general audiences because they represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "

L'Amour à la française France participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "L'amour à la française" written by Ivan Callot, Paul Léger and Laurent Honel. The song was performed by les Fatals Picards. The French broadcaster France Télévisions in co ...

" (Eng: "Love, French Style"), after winning the national selection.''Libération'': Les Fatals Picards défendront la France à L'Eurovision

Characteristics

The lyrics of the Fatals Picards are often of a

parodic A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...

or humoristic character, though some songs, more particularly in the recent years, are more of a militant left-wing kind. Some of their songs are

satiric Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

: * ''L'enterrement de Derrick'' ("the burial of Derrick"), about the namesake character of the German police TV series '' Derrick''. * ''Le jour de la mort de Johnny'' ("the day of the death of Johnny"), about French rock singer Johnny Hallyday. The Fatals Picards and Johnny Hallyday were both at the same record company, Warner Bros. Records, who decided not to include the song on the album * ''Les Bourgeois'' — fake left-wing militant song, probably satirizing militant bands such as

Têtes Raides Têtes Raides is a French folk rock group. Group history The group was founded in Paris during the 1980s. Originally, they played music heavily influenced by the punk movement and depended on electric instruments. Their third album featured An ...

; the title is reminiscent of a famous song by

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (, ; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, l ...

. * ''Cure Toujours'', about

Goth A Goth is a member of the Goths, a group of East Germanic tribes. Two major political entities of the Goths were: *Visigoths, prominent in Spanish history *Ostrogoths, prominent in Italian history Goth or Goths may also refer to: * Goth (surname) ...

youth imitating the looks and appreciating the music of The Cure. The guitar and vocals are reminiscent of Indochine. * ''Sauvons Vivendi'', parody of songs from e.g. Band Aid that attempt raising awareness about humanitarian causes... but in this case, calling for help for the industrial and financial group Vivendi and

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

traders. * ''Commandante'', parody of songs by e.g. Noir Désir, mixing somewhat confused but strongly expressed left-wing political messages and somewhat meaningless Spanish lyrics meant to give a South American feel (in the Fatals song, the Spanish backing vocals are actually road directions). * ''Monter le Pantalon'', parody of ''Tomber la chemise'' by Zebda. * ''Bernard Lavilliers'', satirizing the image of French singer Bernard Lavilliers as a former adventurer active in South America, who has "seen it all". * ''C'est l'histoire d'une meuf'', parody of the video for a song by humanitarian band les Enfoirés. The Fatals Picards accuse some of the singers in that band of being in there only to restart a flagging career. * ''Chasse, pêche et biture'', a jab at

hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

s, accused of being drunk too often. The title is also a jab at the fringe political party Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition. * ''Boum'' parodies the songs from French rock band

Superbus Superbus (Latin for superb, proud, arrogant) may refer to: * Superbus (band), a French pop-rock band formed in 1999 * 18596 Superbus, a Main-belt asteroid discovered on January 21, 1998 * Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (before 535 BC – 496 BC), th ...

(accused of having lousy lyrics centering on teenage loves and parties). * ''Je viens d'ici'', satire of alleged bigotry in

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

. * ''Et puis merde, je vote à droite'' ("Fuck it, I vote

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

"): a man discovers that he prefers voting right-wing, and all of a sudden appreciates right-wing artists and professes conservative social views. Musical influences range from straight rock to punk, chanson, etc.

Eurovision 2007

Les Fatals Picards represented France in Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, Finland with the bilingual French/English song "

" (meaning "Love - the French way"). They finished 22nd overall in 24 finalists.

Band members

* Laurent Honel : guitar/singing/bass (2000-) * Jean-Marc Sauvagnargues : Drums(2002-) * Paul Léger : Lead Singer (2004-) * Yves Giraud : bass (2005-) ;Former member * Ivan Callot : Lead Singer (-December 2007)

Discography

;Earlier materials * ''Amiens c'est aussi le tien'' - D.I.Y. (2000) (the title is a pun) * ''Navet Maria'' - Next Music - (2001) (the title is a pun on Ave Maria and "turnip", which is also slang for "bad film" in French) * ''Droit de véto'' - Next Music - (2003) * ''Picardia Independenza'' (2005) (the title and sleeve cover are faux

n independentist, except that Corsica is replaced by Picardy and the emblem of Corsica is replaced by a beet, one of the major crops of Picardy) ;Charting studio albums ;Live albums

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fatals Picards, Les Musical groups from Hauts-de-France Comedy musical groups French comedy musicians French satirists French parodists Parody musicians Eurovision Song Contest entrants for France Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2007