Les Fatals Picards is a French rock/punk band, founded in 1996. The Fatals Picards (meaning "the fatal enfrom Picardy") are best known to general audiences because they represented France in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2007 The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following the country's victory at the with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...

with the song " L'Amour à la française" (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 Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

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 ...

: * ''L'enterrement de Derrick'' ("the burial of Derrick"), about the namesake character of the German police TV series ''

Derrick A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower, and ...

''. * ''Le jour de la mort de Johnny'' ("the day of the death of Johnny"), about French rock singer

Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited for having brought rock and roll to France. During a career spanning 57 ...

. The Fatals Picards and Johnny Hallyday were both at the same record company,

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

, 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. * ''Cure Toujours'', about Goth youth imitating the looks and appreciating the music of

The Cure The Cure are an English rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith has remained the only constant member. The band's ...

. 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 Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...

and stock traders. * ''Commandante'', parody of songs by e.g.

Noir Désir Noir Désir (, "Black Desire") was a French rock band from Bordeaux. They were active during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, and have had two albums certified double platinum in France and three certified gold. They have been an influence on n ...

, 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 Zebda is a French music group from Toulouse, France, known for its political activism and its wide variety of musical styles. The group, which was formed in 1985, consisted of seven musicians of diverse nationalities, and the themes of much of ...

. * ''Bernard Lavilliers'', satirizing the image of French singer

Bernard Lavilliers Bernard Oulion (; born 7 October 1946 in Saint-Étienne), known professionally as Bernard Lavilliers (), is a French singer-songwriter and actor. Discography Albums Studio albums * ''Premiers pas...'' (1968) * ''Les poètes'' (1972) * ''Le St� ...

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 Les Enfoirés (, 'The Tossers' or 'The Bastards') is the name given to the singers and performers in the yearly charity concert for the Restaurants du Cœur The Restaurants du Cœur (literally ''Restaurants of the Heart'' but meaning ''Restau ...

. 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 hunters, accused of being drunk too often. The title is also a jab at the fringe political party

Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition The Rurality Movement (, LMR), formerly Hunting, Fishing, Nature and Traditions (french: Chasse, pêche, nature et traditions; ; CPNT, ) is an agrarianist political party in France that aims to defend the traditional values of rural France. I ...

. * ''Boum'' parodies the songs from French rock band Superbus (accused of having lousy lyrics centering on teenage loves and parties). * ''Je viens d'ici'', satire of alleged bigotry in Corsica. * ''Et puis merde, je vote à droite'' ("Fuck it, I vote right-wing"): 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 A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic so ...

, etc.

Eurovision 2007

Les Fatals Picards represented France in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

with the bilingual French/English song " L'Amour à la française" (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 The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's ...

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 Corsican 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