2004: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge - My Chemical Romance
Looking back at 30 years of music | Franz Ferdinand, The Libertines, Kings of Leon, Green Day, My Chemical Romance,
It’s often said that The Strokes brought rock and guitar music back to life when they first burst onto the scene.
Of course, they didn’t invent rock music. They didn’t invent any sub-genres or really push too many boundaries. They are not particularly out there or revolutionary in terms of their sound or their lyrics, but they did two very important things for their fellow rock bands, and, the music buying public.
Firstly, they made rock music fun again, and they also made it cool again. They made people want to pick up guitars and form bands of their own, and they made other people want to hear those bands; to buy the albums and singles they put out, go to their gigs and buy their merch.
Rock in the 90s had taken a back-seat to pop and hip-hop, and was continuing to do so early in the new millennium. If you were in a Boyband, it didn’t mean you were a group of guys with guitars anymore, but that you were part of a carefully selected collection of attractive early-twenty-somethings, singing songs that had been written for you by someone like Max Martin or Brian Higgins.
Meanwhile, the music being made by ‘real bands’, the Brit-pop of Blur and Oasis for instance, was self-serious and self-aggrandising whilst Grunge music was murky and moody, politically charged yet at the same time, quite insular. Enough to turn off the casual fan.
The Strokes weren’t any of those things. They just plugged in and played loud and fast and fun. They were cool but they didn’t stand for anything except making a racket and having a good time. They didn’t take themselves too seriously. They didn’t take anything too seriously. They were just a band making music.
In 2004, the influence of their first two albums can really be seen at a glance by just taking a look at the releases and touring schedules. The year was jam-packed with rock music; electric guitars, high energy and youthful abandon from the likes of The Libertines, The Killers, The Go! Team, Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian, The Arctic Monkeys, My Chemical Romance, the Kings of Leon and plenty of others.
Long live Rock and Roll.
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Great rock music throughout history is filled with great rock riffs; iconic, era and genre defining guitar parts that help to make a track stand out from all the rest. Guitar phrases that you can hear just by reading the song title. Smoke on the Water, Rebel Rebel, Johnny B. Goode, Seven Nation Army, Walk This Way. The list is endless.
We got another great rock riff in 2004 thanks to Franz Ferdinand and their eponymous debut album. The album features some brilliant songs, some brilliant playing and performances and some excellent songwriting.
Opening the album, Jacqueline ignites into life when the band lock into a rock and roll groove that is still brimming with life now; Tell Her Tonight is heavily infused with elements of Glam - it’s both incredibly camp and incredibly cool - while This Fire is a bit more Talking Heads-esque art-rock. They aren’t the only songs that recall older styles, either. Michael sounds like something that could fit in a Dr Feelgood pub rock setlist.
But we were talking about great guitar riffs. One of the greatest examples comes along here, about 50 seconds into the third song Take Me Out. The track starts out with a great energy and feels like it’s about to build to a chorus crescendo when all drops away and the guitars start vamping. When everything snaps back into focus, we’re hit with that incredible guitar part and the song takes off again in a whole new direction.
Elsewhere on the album they might have moments where they sound like other groups, but on this one they lay out exactly what the Franz Ferdinand sound is, and that is what they’ll forever be remembered for.
The Libertines - The Libertines
Another group that were forging a sound of their own out of pieces of music from the past were The Libertines. Their debut album crashes into life without warning. The first seconds of Can’t Stand Me Now sounds like the song has already been playing for a while by the time it gets to us; it’s almost mid-note as it starts, with the smash of a cymbal still ringing out.
It’s a wild, manic start to an album but the song soon settles into it’s groove and we are introduced to the front-men Carl Barât and Peter Doherty, who slur their way through the rest of the three and a half minutes with not even half the energy that it started with. It’s a wonderful contrast to the energetic and carefree music. Their vocals and the guitars - the landfill Indie meets 50s rock and roll via 70s punk guitars - and the wild harmonica in the outro are all a complete and utter mess, but combined they make for a hell of a song.
Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
Following up their great roots-rock debut in 2003, Kings of Leon wasted no time in getting their second record out. Of all the albums this year that were built up from older styles and sounds, this might just have the most authentic, classic feel. Coming out of the traps with Slow Night, So Long the group sound like a cross between Motörhead and The Allman Brothers Band.
While The Libertines slurred their words, Caleb Followill sings with such a drawl that it takes being incomprehensible to another level entirely. On King of the Rodeo he switches between dragging his syllables out and blending his words together with a rapid-fire, machine gun like delivery. All the while, the guitars are soulfully soaring and searing underneath his voice.
This is an album that means business, and is not going to let up or let anything get in its way. Building on their first release with great energy and rhythm, at times intricate and at times muddy guitar work combined with those raw, visceral vocals, there are great songs here like The Bucket and Four Kicks, and the whole way through it all feels very unique. You know you’re listening to the Kings of Leon when you hear these songs.
For a while, they were a band who were out on their own and carving out a niche for themselves. It’s a shame that after this record they never got back to that feeling, or that excitement and before long, just started to sound like any other guitar group.
Green Day - American Idiot
Green Day didn’t need any rock revival to be relevant or to break through to a new audience. In fact, they’d been at the forefront of a rock movement all by themselves, paving the way for all the pop-punk bands that came after them. After years of successful albums and tours, they’ve almost become a genre all of their own.
The group were on top of their game when they released American Idiot, their first record in four years since the mostly acoustic Warning. With that album, they had started to write more politically minded lyrics, but it was just a warm-up for what was to come.
All things considered, from start to finish this is their greatest album. It’s certainly their last great one. The record kicks off with that iconic American Idiot riff, barrels along at an urgent and frenetic pace from there and all the while, it never lets up in focus, commitment or quality. The rhythm section are always locked in, the melodies are infectious and the lyrics equal parts thought provoking, moving or ironically funny. Vocally, Billie Joe Armstrong would never sound this good again.
It’s got everything you want from a punk/pop-punk or Green Day release; biting political commentary - which is just as relevant now as it was then - mixed in with plenty of introspective soul-searching; great guitar parts on supercharged rockers, as well as ballads, theatrics and anthems.
My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
Probably much more groundbreaking and influential in their field than either Green Day or The Strokes are in theirs, are My Chemical Romance.
Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is the album where they really begin to stretch out and explore the limits of their genre in general and their sound as a band in particular; where they really announce themselves as the best and most important band working in the emo-rock sub-genre.
Musically, this record is not really different at all from their first release - 2002’s I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love - but they have clearly come on in leaps and bounds as a group in the two intervening years.
Their debut release is a fine collection of songs, but everything that was good about that record is heightened here. Everything is more vital, more dynamic and more full of energy. On the first record, it feels like they are playing the songs because that’s what a band does but here, it feels like their lives depend on every single note. When you listen to it, because of how well they sell the songs, it feels like your life depends on them, too.
This record is overwhelming. So many times it brings you to the brink of oblivion only to pull you back from the ledge at the last moment. It doesn’t give you a second to think or even breathe. Everything comes along at break-neck speed and is all consuming. It’s full of sweat and blood and life. Alongside the chunky guitars and throttling drums are huge, soaring melodies from Gerard Way, or else his rapid staccato delivery.
It’s not just the performances that are stronger than the first album, but the production elements and, crucially, the songs. Helena, Give ‘Em Hell, Kid, I’m Not Okay (I Promise), Hang ‘Em High and Cemetery Drive are all great songs and great performances.
Considering how infrequently they release music now, it is crazy to think that in 2004, their next collection of great songs was only two more years away.
Notable Album Releases:
Björk - Medulla
Brian Wilson - Smile
Destiny’s Child - Destiny Fulfilled
The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Gwen Stefani - Love. Angel. Music. Baby.
The Killers - Hot Fuss
Morrissey - You Are the Quarry
PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her
Tom Waits - Real Gone
Wilco - A Ghost is Born
Next up: Kate Bush is back with her first album since 1993’s The Red Shoes, and Fiona Apple also releases her first record since the 90s.
I have such strong affection for this year and this era of rock music. Sometimes it’s hard to say how much of that is influenced by nostalgia, but I like to think these records would still connect with me regardless.
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