They arrived in the summer of 2002, as fully formed as they’d ever be, a haze of sweat and cheap narcotics with pasty white chests poking out of skip salvaged jackets. With their tall tales of pension drawing drummers, rent boy pasts and idealistic visions of a mythical England, if you’re under thirty it’s entirely possible that The Libertines changed your world; they really were that important. That they were also a hefty kick in the bollocks to the bland Coldsailors and Stereotravises holding sway at the time was merely an added bonus. Of course, the return to youthful rock’n’roll had started with the imported Strokes, but The Libertines idealistic visions of a mythical England opened youthful eyes to a freewheeling, fancy free side of life most never knew existed. The nation suddenly became overrun by urchin rock laureates in skinny jeans and thrift store trilby’s.
Despite their huge influence, The Libertines failed to generate any real movement. Following the last party of Britpop, that was near impossible anyway, as tastes had frayed into myriad sub genres and no-one really gave a fuck about anything except money. Inevitably, The Libertines proved to be that most British of phenomena’s, the glorious failure, but they did drag along a bunch of others for their own five minutes of fame. Many, like Franz Ferdinand, Razorlight, Bloc Party and Kasabian were labelled ‘post punk revival’ as they picked one idea from post punk to baggy and beyond, and clung onto it for dear life. The sorrowful Kaiser Chiefs even latched onto Britpop, or more specifically, Blur B-Sides. The Libertines easily remained the most revered until Doherty and Barat imploded, and along came a group from Sheffield who easily became the greatest of them all.
The Arctic Monkeys even surprised themselves by how quickly they filled the gaping hole left by The Libertines blow up. Almost immediately they were declared Their Generations Most Important Band, maybe because, in essence they made stripped down punk records with every touchstone of Great British music covered: The Englishness of The Kinks, the melodic nous of The Beatles, the sneer of the Sex Pistols, the wit of The Smiths, the groove of the Stone Roses and the clatter of The Libertines. Not bad for a bunch of kids who’d spent their teens listening to hip-hop. Where that really showed was in Alex Turners lyrics and frenetic delivery. Forgetting the flowery fancies conjured up by Dickensian Doherty, his were tales of the scum-ridden streets as they were in the 21st Century not the 19th.
Unfortunately, The Libertines brief blaze and the well-deserved success of the Arctic Monkeys brought its own Britpop effect. Circa 2006, the nation was suddenly awash with a multitude of skinny jeaned strummers, slavishly copying the originators every move. By 2007, those purveyors of bland, crowd pleasing sing-along’s were being wooed by a generation of media nobodies desperate to be cool. Even the mighty NME, once the absolute arbiter of taste, became a corporate entity with much talk of ‘growing the brand’ and award shows sponsored by an international hair product. Being in a band became a viable career option as attitude and any sense of reality faded. UK indie was renamed landfill indie, and there was nothing cool about it at all. Or at least so we all thought.
Weirdly, while many of the groups here proved to be little more than bedsit Libertine rip offs who wrote startlingly similar songs to each other, barely a year after they had fallen from grace, they were replaced by a slew of shockingly shit, raggle taggle folk outfits with a worrying amount of facial hair and names like Mumford & Sons and Noah & The Whale. Sometimes you should be careful what you wish for!
01. THE LIBERTINES ‘What A Waster’ (A Side June 2002)
02. THE CORAL ‘Shadows Fall’ (The Coral LP July 2002
03. THE LIBERTINES ‘Up The Bracket’ (Up The Bracket LP October 2002)
04. FRANZ FERDINAND ‘Darts Of Pleasure’ (Darts Of Pleasure EP August 2003)
05. RAZORLIGHT ‘Action!’ (Rock’n’Roll Lies EP August 2003)
06. EASTERN LANE ‘Feed Your Addiction’ (A Side November 2003)
07. FRANZ FERDINAND ‘Take Me Out’ (Franz Ferdinand LP February 2004)
08. BLOC PARTY ‘She’s Hearing Voices’ (A Side February 2004)
09. ART BRUT ‘Formed A Band’ (A Side March 2004)
10. RAZORLIGHT ‘Don’t Go Back To Dalston’ (Up All Night LP June 2004)
11. THE LIBERTINES ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ (The Libertines LP August 2004)
12. THE FURUREHEADS ‘Hounds Of Love’ (The Futureheads LP September 2004)
13. KASABIAN ‘L.S.F.’ (Kasabian LP September 2004)
14. BLOC PARTY ‘Helicopter’ (A Side October 2004)
15. BABYSHAMBLES ‘Killamangiro’ (A Side November 2004)
16. KAISER CHIEFS ‘Everyday I Love You Less And Less’ (Employment LP March 2005)
17. THE CRIBS ‘Hey Scenesters!’ (A Side April 2005)
18. ARCTIC MONKEYS ‘Fake Tales Of San Francisco’ (Five Minutes With EP May 2005)
19. THE RAKES ‘Work Work Work (Pub Club Sleep)’ (A Side July 2005)
20. MOTHER AND THE ADDICTS ‘Oh Yeah You Look Quite Nice’ (A Side July 2005)
21. THE KOOKS ‘Eddie’s Gun’ (A Side July 2005)
22. ARCTIC MONKEYS ‘Mardy Bum’ (Whatever People Say I Am LP January 2006)
23. LARRIKIN LOVE ‘Edwould’ (A Side March 2006)
24. DIRTY PRETTY THINGS ‘You Fucking Love It’ (Waterloo To Anywhere LP May 2006)
25. KASABIAN ‘Me Plus One’ (Empire LP August 2006)
26. RAZORLIGHT ‘Los Angeles Waltz’ (Razorlight LP August 2006)
27. THE FRATELLIS ‘Got Ma Nuts From A Hippie’ (Costello Music LP September 2006)
28. KLAXONS ‘Magick’ (A Side October 2006)
29. THE HORRORS ‘Count In Fives’ (Count In Fives EP October 2006)
30. BROMHEADS JACKET ‘What Ifs And Maybes’ (Dits From The Commuter Belt LP November 2006)
31. THE NOISETTES ‘Don’t Give Up’ (A Side November 2006)
32. FOALS ‘Hummer’ (A Side March 2007)
33. MAXIMO PARK ‘Girls Who Play Guitars’ (Our Earthly Pleasures LP April 2007)
34. ARCTIC MONKEYS ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’ (Favourite Worst Nightmare LP April 2007)
35. BLOOD RED SHOES ‘It’s Getting Boring By The Sea’ (A Side June 2007)
36. BABYSHAMBLES ‘UnBilotitled’ (Shotter’s Nation LP October 2007)
37. THE COURTEENERS ‘Acrylic’ (A Side October 2007)
38. JOHNNY FOREIGNER ‘Champagne Girls I Have Known’ (Arcs Across The City LP November 2007)
39. THESE NEW PURITANS ‘Elvis’ (Beat Pyramid LP January 2008)
40. TWISTED WHEEL ‘You Stole The Sun’ (A Side July 2008)