Album: Veni Vedi Vicious, 2000
Justification: There aren’t many bands who can say that the events of September 11 benefitted their career, but the Hives are one – at least in Australia. Despite being virtually unknown at the time, they headlined the Falls Festival that year purely by virtue of the fact that they were game to get on a plane and fly to Australia when every other band was remaining resolutely earthbound. That gave them a huge captive audience of punters pretty keen to get their mind off things, and having a bunch of well-drilled Swedes inform said punters they were about to see their new favourite band was just the ticket.
The Adelaide-based promoter Craig Armstrong was there at the time and told me about how contemptuous he was of the band when they made their signature claim, and how completely turned around he was by the end of their set. And mad props to ‘em – any band that calls their album Tyrannosaurus Hives gets a lifetime pass from me.
THIS TIME IN 2010: Ethereal Flying Nun guitar pop from Straightjacket Fits and ‘Down In Splendour’.
