Cardiacs - Legacy

Legacy

While the critical status of Cardiacs is wildly mixed (the band tends to attract extreme responses with some critics hailing them while others violently condemn them to the point of pariahhood), Cardiacs are renowned for their unique performing and songwriting styles and their poetically cryptic, philosophical and abstract lyrics, as well as for their ability to produce a unique, complex and innovative sound with all their musical ventures over and over again throughout their long career. Tim Smith regularly attracts fulsome praise: he has been described in the music press as the "Mozart" or "Beethoven" of rock and pop music for his complex and innovative compositional skills, as well as being hailed as a genius (albeit sometimes a "deranged" one). The snooker player Steve Davis is also a big fan of the band and attended many of their live gigs.

Cardiacs have had a profound underground influence on over three decades of musicians, including the pioneers of the nu-metal and avant-garde metal genres. The band has also influenced math rock artists such as The Monsoon Bassoon and Battles. The band are sometimes credited as having been the inventors of the "pronk" (progressive punk) music genre; Tim Smith has rejected the term from the off, stating that Cardiacs are better described as a pop group or a psychedelic rock band.

I love it when a celeb is on our side. It's not as if their opinions are any more important than anyone else's, I just like it. Who wouldn't? Imagine if a great big celeb lived next door to you and they said they liked your slippers, you'd tell everyone. I would.

Musicians who have cited Tim Smith's work as a major influence include Mike Vennart of Oceansize, Mike Patton of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle, Tool, Korn and Thom Yorke of Radiohead. During the 1980s, Cardiacs were a professed influence or inspiration for Marillion, It Bites and British psychedelic acts such as Ring; during the 1990s, emerging bands and musicians who were Cardiacs fans included Blur, Radiohead, Supergrass Shane Embury of Napalm Death, Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, The Scaramanga Six, The Monsoon Bassoon and The Wildhearts (who would later pay direct tribute via their track "Tim Smith" on 2009's Chutzpah!). In recent years Cardiacs has been influencing a new generation of underground bands such as Rocketgoldstar, Little Trophy, The Display Team, Liberty Ships and Silvery.