LE TEMPS DE LA MORT
French music star Françoise Hardy has died aged 80. Nurtured musically by the Elvis and Cliff Richard that played on Radio Luxembourg, she rode the wave of yé-yé with the sombre “Tous les garçons et les filles”. The song, where a lonely Hardy envies the happy couples her age, struck a chord with the teenage crowd and she followed suit with similarly moody hits like “Le temps de l’amour” and “Mon amie la rose”. Soon Dylan, Jagger, and Bowie were singing her praises, she performed at Eurovision, became a fashion icon, and acted in films by Godard and Frankenheimer.
By the late 60s, the timid Hardy withdrew from live performance but remained ambitious as an artist. She expanded beyond her yé-yé roots and was never tethered to one genre, going across the decades from folk to jazz to indie while always maintaining a melancholic undercurrent. She concurrently pursued an astrology-heavy writing career, and her cultural standing remained so sturdy that 2020s Rolling Stones “best ofs” that otherwise eschewed French artists still listed her. Long ill with cancer, she signaled the end was nearing in 2021, and this DDP she was picked by 21 Hardy Boys (and Girls) including The Living End and I’m Sorry For Your Trouble.
Françoise Hardy
17 January 1944 – 11 June 2024, aged 80
21 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀💀 6 POINTS, 🃏 (x2) 12 POINTS)