![]() ![]() The Beatles’ “ A Day in the Life” + Wings’s “Band on the Run” = “End of the Day” The Verve’s “ Bittersweet Symphony” + Robbie Williams’s “Millennium” = “Hey Angel”Īn early mentor and supporter of One Direction while they were just tadpoles in the X Factor pool, Robbie Williams is honored, via his 1998 anthem, in the soaring chorus of “Hey Angel.” There’s only one place that drum beat came from, though, and it’s geographically the same place as half of 1D: the Northwest of England, home of The Verve, and the Tomlinson and Styles families. With that in mind, here are the key classic rock (and more) callbacks across Made in the A.M. With one member gone and an obligation-free year ahead (their first in five years, I can ’t stress that fact enough), they ’ve stuck a flag in the sand that heralds what their sensibilities are now - and unsurprisingly, they owe a lot to the past. is the ultimate expression of this aspect of One Direction. They didn ’t sweat and struggle for years, they didn ’t play gigs in grimy clubs with nothing but their conviction, so how can they have anything to write about? How quick we are to forget that those boys on The X Factor, as young as they were, were not blank slates, as evidenced by their disparate audition song choices: Liam chose the jazz ballad “Cry Me A River” Harry went for Stevie Wonder ’s “Isn ’t She Lovely” Louis picked the zeitgeist-y “Hey There Delilah” Niall performed Ne-Yo ’s “ So Sick.” (In an indication of what we ’d come to know as his genre preference, Zayn sang Mario ’s heartfelt R&B hit “Let Me Love You.”) They were sponges for music then, and as the years have gone on, they ’ve continued to absorb inspiration from eras past taking them, twisting them, shaping them into something new. Like many boy bands and reality singing competition winners, One Direction have always struggled to establish cred as a legitimate act with songwriting chops. (The band also had writing credits on 13 of Four ’ s 16 tracks.) Four, released almost exactly a year ago, drew from the back catalogs of Fleetwood Mac, Journey, Tears for Fears, Paul Simon, and the Eagles (Niall ’s beloved favorite band) to great effect. With its opening riff that pays homage to (or rips off, depending on whom you ’re asking) The Who’s “ Baba O ’Reilly,” lead single “ Best Song Ever” showed out the gate that Midnight Memories marked a new, Rolling Stone–reading chapter of the band “Does He Know” backed up the claim with its uncanny resemblance to Rick Springfield ’s “ Jessie ’s Girl.” From there, they were ready to go hard on the ’70s and ’80s rock influences, leaning heavily on anthemic sounds to suit the worldwide stadium tours ahead. The pop record’s best moments were its songs rooted in ’70s and ’80s rock and folk, though others would give that title to the sexual innuendo that kept both smirking teens (and growns hi!) and their parental chaperones interested during 1D’s subsequent world tour. Songs on their 2011 debut, Up All Night, veered wildly from the pop perfection of “One Thing” to an unsettling banger in the form of “Stole My Heart.” As Harry, Louis, Liam, Niall and Zayn (miss you) evolved out of their bow ties and braces around the time of 2012 ’s Take Me Home, their sound grew up with them, via Ed Sheeran’s sensitive ballads (“Little Things,” “Over Again”) and the slightly edgy “Rock Me.” But like the visual signs of maturity we would watch the group go through, 1D’s sound experienced an awkward, pimply stage before suddenly sprouting chest hair on 2013’s Midnight Memories. They were a pop act, of course, but since forming at the hands of Simon Cowell on The X Factor in 2010, they spent a few years adhering to Top 40’s “ genre spaghetti” approach: throwing everything at the wall and seeing what would stick. Before the release of their third album, 2013 ’s Midnight Memories, One Direction ’s sound was difficult to define. ![]() Over the past two years, 1D has slowly established a pattern of picking up inspiration from rock history, and positioning a modern hit-making filter atop these influences before packing them up and releasing them each November like clockwork. This evolution hasn ’t happened overnight. is also significant because it boasts the greatest percentage of self-penned songs of any of 1D ’s albums yet Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson have writing credits on a combined 14 of the 17 tracks, proving their potential staying power as not just crooner heartthrobs, but pop songwriters as well. Today marks the release of Made in the A.M., One Direction ’s fifth studio album in as many years, and their first since the departure of founding member and certified honey Zayn Malik in March. ![]() Photo-Illustration: Maya Robinson and Photos by Getty Images
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