The Manchester based band The 1975, currently touring the world on their acclaimed and successful I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It tour in support of the album of the same name (which we reviewed here), have taken to Twitter to express their disappointment and anger after a Government funded video urging the people of Britain to take part in the upcoming European Union referendum seemed to have taken a great deal of inspiration from the bands artwork and music videos for their second album, with lead singer Matty Healy claiming the UK government were attempting to “imbue [his] identity”.
The campaign video in question contains similarities to the neon-themed artwork of the bands second album, which sees song titles as Neon signs each positioned in a different locations, like below;
The Government video, which the bands manager Jaime Oborne confirmed was directed by the same individual and video production company who directed The 1975’s own Settle Down music video, bears an undeniable resemblance;
wow EU Referendum maybe @ @the1975 next time you rip off their entire album campaign pic.twitter.com/8kshm5FKff
— tarynn ? | TWICE in LA, SF, CHI (@tarynnjanine) May 22, 2016
In fact, the images are so similar that on first glance we thought that maybe “The 2016 EU Referendum Voting Guide” was a song off The 1975’s latest album, until we remembered that we’ve listened to it about 1000 times and would’ve recognised a title like that before!
Matty was vocal in his displeasure, even tagging Prime Minister David Cameron in a string of angry tweets, some of which can be seen below.
https://twitter.com/Truman_Black/status/734477236422742017
https://twitter.com/Truman_Black/status/734479908123119616
https://twitter.com/Truman_Black/status/734481196877512704
Naturally, the UK government have yet to respond, nor have the director/production company the band are accusing of stealing their identity, and the Prime Minister David Cameron has yet to @ reply to the shade Matty Healy threw his way!
Matty, who is the son of British Actors and TV presenters Tim Healy and Denise Welch, ended his rant lamenting how he had never truly felt “F*cked over” by the Government thanks to his status as a white, middle class man, until now.
What do you think…have The British Government really stole from The 1975? We can certainly see the similarities! Let us know your opinion on Twitter @CelebMix, or in the comments below!