I love The Hives. They're fun. They're silly. One of the best shows I've seen was The Hives playin the Black Cat in Washington, D.C. in June 2002. The singer, Howlin' Pelle Almqvist strutted like Mick Jagger, and towards the end of the show, urging us to yell and cheer for them because, as he said, "We are your favourite Europeans." Not sure why that stuck in my head, but it did.
In 2023 they released a new album, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons. It's wonderful and has some gems, like "The Bomb" and "Rigor Mortis Radio", but my favourite is still 2004's Tyrannosaurus Hives. It's raw, high-energy and punchy. It's got enough catchy hooks you could take it fishing. It's fast-paced, tightly wound, swaggering and rebellious.
