Matty Healy has said that he doesn’t want The 1975 to be as big as Foo Fighters.
During a recent interview with Music Week, the ’75 frontman spoke about not feeling the need to achieve a hit single. “If I started caring about that now it would fucking stink,” he told the outlet.
“I said this ages ago, everyone wants us to become a huge rock band and we want to become a small emo band.”
Healy continued: “If we become Burial, I’m way happier with that than [becoming as big as] fucking Foo Fighters, do you know what I mean? I love the Foo Fighters, but I couldn’t do that.
“It’s funny, there’s something about me that is very poppy and the stuff that comes out is poppy, but the references never are.”
Later in the conversation Healy said that The 1975 had “been offered all the wrong things for the right money” (he recently spoke of his decision to turn down a lucrative deal to support Ed Sheeran).
“I’ve never taken [those offers], and it’s not that I’m proud of myself, but that part of me has been tested,” the singer told Music Week. “I’m not particularly concerned about growing old as a band and continuing to put out records, because we’re not remotely commercially minded.
“Which inherently keeps us, I don’t want to say credible… We’re just four nerds who are obsessed with alternative music and pop culture, it’s no deeper than that. I’m not worried about us being like, ‘Oh shit, we need do a fucking remix with Marshmello‘.”
The 1975 are due to release their fifth album ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’ on October 14 via Dirty Hit.
Healy and co. have already shared four singles from the record: ‘Part Of The Band’, ‘Happiness’, ‘I’m In Love With You’ and most recently ‘All I Need To Hear’.
Speaking about the latter cut, Healy explained: “It feels like one of those songs where it’s like I’ve stepped out of the Matty-ness of everything.
“And it’s something that Adele could sing… it would make total sense, and she wouldn’t have to talk about jacking off or what [The 1975’s] usual subject matter is.”
The 1975 are set to embark on a UK and Ireland headline tour in January 2023 following a string of North American concerts this November/December. You can find any remaining tickets here (UK) and here (North America).
Last month saw The 1975 play a pair of hits-filled headline sets at Reading & Leeds 2022 – check out NME‘s four-star review of their Reading show here.