"Hate to Say I Told You So"

The Hives - "Hate to Say I Told You So" (2000)

Shares some similar chord changes with "All Day and All of the Night"  by The Kinks, a song conspicuously missing from the book, even though they did include a total of five other songs by the English rock band.



In the later half of 2001 an old style of rock music swept across the American landscape. Lo-fi was king again as garage rock had a revival. Bands that had been paying their dues for years, touring and recording finally got national acclaim. The White Stripes released White Blood Cells in July, and at the same time The Vines were recording Highly Evolved. The Strokes released Is This It later that year. All three bands had some regional success, but the new stuff that they recorded and released in 2001 was often heralded in the press as 'the saviors of rock' or something like it. But the most convoluted rise to the top of the charts of the so called "The" bands has to be The Hives and their album Veni Vidi Vicious. It was recorded in their native Sweden in 1999 and released in 2000. No one in America noticed. They released a greatest hits album in 2001/2002 which contained this track and rock fans who were eating up anything that sounded like garage rock went back and started buying their 2000 album.

Kicks off with a little Stereo fun, with the opening guitar only coming in the right channel and the whole song taking a few seconds to find both channels. The song intentionally has a lot in common with early Rolling Stones howlers like " I Just Want to Make Love to You" "It's All Over Now". Two guitars, simple drums and a charismatic front man who jumps around the stage and shouts. Plus they all wear suits. On the other hand, the bass is very different, providing a heavier bottom sound and even getting a chance in the spotlight around two minutes in. He doesn't do much with it, but at least it shines on him.  Also different is the spacey swooshing sounds going on through the sound that actually distract from the whole and make it less Lo-fi than hits from the other "The" bands, but damn if a easy to remember and sing along with chorus didn't make up for any little shortcomings.

"I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor"

Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor (2005)

"...I'm me and nobody else, whatever people say I am, that's what I'm not, because they don't know a bloody thing about me..." Sillitoe, Alan. Saturday Night, and Sunday Morning. United Kingdom, W. H. Allen Ltd.,1958



Fast and angry sounding, the song is actually kind of a modern love song. They vocals sound angry but he's actually wooing a woman without actually trying to sound like he's wooing a woman. If you see what I'm getting at. Maybe it would help if you knew that lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter Alex Turner was 19 when the song came out. He mentions the year1984 and the Duran Duran song Rio, which are both from before he was before. Before the whole band was born. Of course he also references Romeo and Juliet, which is before all of us were born. Musically I love the speed of the drums, the infrequent yelled harmony and the intensity of everything. They're not virtuosos on this debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, though there is a good guitar solo at the beginning; all four members of the band did not play instruments when they decided to start a band. Two years after that they had there first full length album. After the guitar solo it's very basic playing, but they play with such enthusiasm and the lyrics are smart, so it's hard to to give them a chance.

"Mr. Brightside"

The Killers - Mr. Brightside (2003)

A Vegas band that had to go to an English indie label to get a record deal.

The first notes are a guitar that has some filter on it, but it really rings out nicely. While the drums start off making you think it's going to be a repetitive dance hall kind of sound, they really change through the whole song. There is a lot of reliance on the high hat though. Most of the bass lines during the verses are short simple and heading down. The keyboards were totally unexpected to me. A fairly straightforward rock song about misplaced love, while a little overly dramatic and then BAM! 80's style synth right there in the breakdown. The vocals make use of a megaphone sound at the beginning and a few times during the song but they are mostly high and plaintive.

That is the overwhelmingly powerful piece of the song. While I like the rest of it, it is the vocals of Brandon flowers that are so heartfelt. When you find out that the story and some of the lyrics are based on an actual girlfriend of Flowers, it all makes sense. Instrument wise my favorite part of the song is at 2:55 when the second breakdown kicks off. Four measures that are clearly meant to remind us of Beethoven's Ode to Joy in his 9th Symphony, followed by the same four measures again, this time with a increasingly loud snare drum marching us into the final bit of the song. My favorite part of the song overall though is the subverted rhyme Flowers delivers at 1:58:

Now they're going to bed,
And my stomach is sick,
And it's all in my head,
But she's touching his chest