It seems to be generally accepted amongst my demographic that the Hives are a lesser band for posers. I have never understood this mindset. What is so acceptable about the Strokes that we continue to romanticize them or the Killers that we continue to even tolerate them that we can’t seem to find in the Hives? What makes them less than these others?

According to Wikipedia, the lazy man’s source for credible research, The Hives were one of the four tent posts of the garage rock revival of the early 2000s, alongside The Vines, The Strokes and The White Stripes (though little more research shows that The Hives had a number of international hit songs a good solid year before the other three bands). Is it the fact that they are Swedish which prevents us from taking them seriously? Maybe it’s because they wear such dapper matching black and white suits? Perhaps we dislike them because The Hives are so clearly having a great time whenever they play and we simply cannot abide a band being that happy.

Whatever the case, I am here to say The Hives rock and here are some examples to prove my point:

First, the song that sold them on me in the first place, “Two Timing Touch and Broken Bones”:

The Hives first hit our collective radar with their catchy anthem “Hate To Say I Told You So.” Capitalizing on the lo-fi sound and classic aesthetic of the band, the video looked like it came right out of 1970′s public access in the best way possible:

Hitting the air just as MTV was on its last legs of relevancy as far as music was concerned, striking lo-fi videos like “Hate To Say I Told You So” as well as the Michel Gondry-helmed “Fell In Love With A Girl” for The White Stripes were attention-grabbing for their artistic merit more than their glitz and glamour.

It was their next hit video that embraced a classic Russian Revolutionary/Bauhaus style and reminded design nerds like me that these boys were from the land of the Univers type family. “Main Offender” was also featured in those Rock Band games the kids today seem to love so much:

The band’s humor and affection for the swedish art scene came to the forefront again with the 2007 video for “Tick Tick Boom”:

Yes, I know the video cuts abruptly at the end. Stupid YouTube.

Is it just me or are these guys long overdue for a team-up with The Lonely Island?

Even Timbaland likes the Hives, enough so to have collaborated on the song “Throw It On Me” with them. I don’t think I’m overstating to say that without Timbaland’s collaborative powers, significantly fewer people would care about the work of Missy Elliott or Justin Timberlake, so that man has great taste in partners.

Keeping that collaborative spirit going, The Hives teamed up with Cyndi Lauper for the charming “A Christmas Duel” in 2008 and lent their b-side “Fall is Just Something That Grown-Ups Invented” to Cartoon Network for the cable channel’s 2007 broadcast identity.

But yeah, man, look at those suits! These guys are dapper, and you’ve got to love that. The Strokes have major boutique designers dressing them, and they just can’t pull off a photo shoot like The Hives.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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