So one thing that the trailer for The Kids Are All Right reminded me of is that Madness's "Our House" is a pretty great rock song:
It took me a couple of listens to put my finger on why it's always seemed so unique to me. It's a very sweet song about a family, and the pride of home ownership, and those subjects and that tone are not...standard, for rock songs. Has anyone ever used the phrase "house-proud," which I love, in a popular song since? "Penny Lane" is, of course, the masterpiece of the genre:
Estelle's "1980" has elements of this, but it's focused outwards, the house is the point from which the characters head out into the wider world and their lives, and into larger cultural engagement. I think it's one of the reasons I like the video for Take That's "Up All Night" so much. The song is a plaintive love song, but the setting is at a village fete, and Take That's basically just the local entertainment. It's quite cute:
It's odd that all the examples I'm thinking of are British. I'm sure I'm missing something. But I like the idea of a tiny subgenre of pop and rock that's about your town, your village, your home. And that's not about love, or success, or showing off, that's merely about the pleasure of knowing a place very well, and feeling very comfortable there. It's low-key and lovely. And the Brits certainly do that better at that than we Yanks do*.
*Okay, Page 3 girls. I didn't mean on everything.