You could be forgiven for thinking we’ve been stuck in a mid-00s time warp when looking at the album release schedule for this month, with new studio efforts arriving from Editors, The Fratellis and Kate Nash.
Time has not been particularly kind to most of the bands that emerged in the UK’s last big indie boom – The Pigeon Detectives anyone?
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But, that said, the majority of those that were hailed as the next best thing by NME did have at least one bona-fide classic in their canon.
From The Automatic to The Zutons, here’s a look at 20 great tracks that will soon get you digging out that old, impossibly tight pair of skinny jeans.
The Twang: Either Way
Featuring the most heavy Birmingham-accented singer in history, The Twang were at the more laddish end of the mid-00s indie spectrum.
But this surprisingly tender love song – their one and only UK Top 10 hit – proved they had a softer side too.
The Zutons: Don’t Ever Think (Too Much)
The Zutons will forever be known as the indie band that first recorded Valerie, before Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse got their hands on it.
But the quintet had a few other aces up their sleeves, including the uplifting jangly Scouse pop of this No.15 hit.
Reverend And The Makers: Heavyweight Champion Of The World
Fronted by one of the scene’s most outspoken stars, Jon McClure, Reverend And The Makers proved they could occasionally walk the walk as well as talk the talk with this Top 10 hit.
An indie-disco staple, Heavyweight Champion Of The World referenced everything from Marlon Brando to Bruce Lee, but was actually about an underachiever from the group’s native Yorkshire.
The Futureheads: Hounds Of Love
Risking incurring the wrath of Kate Bush diehards, The Futureheads bravely decided to tackle the elusive songstress’ 1986 hit, Hounds Of Love, on their self-titled debut LP.
Although it inevitably failed to reach the heights of the original, their cover version was far from a disgrace and deservedly gave them an unlikely Top 10 hit.
Maximo Park: Our Velocity
Maximo Park are one of the few bands from the era whose music has aged well, and who are still producing solid albums, with last year’s Risk To Exist just as strong as anything from their chart-bothering heyday.
Their finest hour though remains Our Velocity, the gloriously frenetic lead single from their 2007 second LP, which is virtually guaranteed to get you pogoing.
Kaiser Chiefs: The Modern Way
As with the above, Kaiser Chiefs are still putting out decent records, albeit with a slightly different line-up and, thanks to Ricky Wilson’s prime-time stint on The Voice, possibly to a different audience too.
The band became one of the scene’s big success stories with loud and lairy anthems like I Predict A Riot, Oh My God and No. 1 hit Ruby.
But their finest hour remains this slightly more-subtle No.11 hit.
The Cribs: Men’s Needs
Also hailing from Yorkshire, brother trio The Cribs were a little spikier and a little punkier than your average indie band.
But they still knew their way around a great big pop hook, as evident on this bullish Top 20 hit produced by the frontman of the mid-00s indie heavyweight featured below.
Franz Ferdinand: Take Me Out
Proud Glaswegians Franz Ferdinand flew the flag for Scotland with their infectious but intelligent take on 80s post-punk.
Take Me Out was most people’s introduction to their talents and undoubtedly set the benchmark when it came to rousing, danceable indie-rock.
The Holloways: Generator
Of course, landfill indie wasn’t just a Northern thing.
London produced a whole wave of guitar bands who took full advantage of record companies’ desperation to create a scene as big as Britpop a decade before.
Named after the North London road they used to rehearse on, The Holloways were one of many mid-tier outfits who emerged at the time, but they did produce a singalong classic with this perky ode to the joys of listening to music.
Hard-Fi: Hard To Beat
One of the more palatable guitar bands of the era, Hard-Fi scored two number one albums with their punchy mix of post-punk, indie-rock and tales of suburban life.
Their breakthrough single, Hard To Beat, deservedly became one of the scene’s biggest anthems, and briefly saw the group usurp Ali G as Staines’ number one cultural export.
The Ordinary Boys: Boys Will Be Boys
The Ordinary Boys will always be associated with frontman Preston’s unlikely venture into reality TV.
But before Celebrity Big Brother, the marriage to and divorce from Chantelle, and that Never Mind The Buzzcocks appearance, the group produced this insanely catchy throwback to the ska of The Specials.
Bloc Party: So Here We Are
Helicopter, Banquet, Two More Years, The Prayer, Flux – we could fill this entire list with Bloc Party tracks.
But we’ve opted for one half of their 2005 double A-side, So Here We Are, a beautifully melancholic piece of angular guitar pop that slowly builds up to a whirlwind of crashing drums and Kele Okereke’s yelping vocals.
Razorlight: Somewhere Else
Razorlight became something of a laughing stock thanks to Johnny Borrell’s megalomania – he once told Zane Lowe he was the greatest songwriter in the world.
But while they never came close to reaching the heights that their frontman claimed, Razorlight still had the odd decent tune, including this Boomtown Rats-esque No.2 hit, albeit one with toe-curlingly bad lyrics (‘And I met a girl/She asked me my name/I told her what it was’).
Babyshambles: Delivery
And now for the first of three tracks featuring Pete Doherty, the scene’s most controversial character and the man absurdly deemed by the press to be something of a musical genius.
Doherty certainly failed to justify the hype with the very average Babyshambles, although this Top 10 hit proved that despite the mountainous amount of drugs, he could still write a decent pop melody.
Wolfman ft. Pete Doherty: For Lovers
Who would have expected something so tender to emerge from such tawdry circumstances?
Pete Doherty and Wolfman, aka Peter Wolfe, were both full-blown drug addicts at the time they recorded For Lovers: a simple but beautiful ballad that was later nominated for an Ivor Novello award.
The Libertines: Can’t Stand Me Now
Easily the most overrated band from the era, The Libertines were treated like the second coming by certain sections of the music press.
But their ramshackle sound did sometimes have its charms, namely on this No. 2 hit single inspired by the toxic relationship breakdown between Doherty and Carl Barat that would soon lead to the group’s split.
Thirteen Senses: Into The Fire
One of the many emotive guitar bands to emerge in the wake of Travis and Coldplay, Thirteen Senses may have enjoyed a little more success had they arrived a few years earlier.
Indeed, this epic indie ballad, which has since featured on everything from Grey’s Anatomy to Pretty Little Liars, is as good as anything that Chris Martin and company put their name to in the early 00s.
The Kooks: Naive
The Kooks looked and sounded so generic you could easily imagine they’d been generated from an indie-band production line.
But while they didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, they did have at least one great big indie-pop anthem in the shape of this 2006 Top 10 hit.
The Automatic: Raoul
Halloween novelty anthem Monster briefly put Welsh four-piece The Automatic on the map, reaching No. 4 in the summer of 2006.
But their bolshy, shouty take on the genre was best showcased on their previous single, an ode to the Cardiff sandwich shop owner who used to serve them inbetween recording sessions.
Arctic Monkeys: I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
Of course, we couldn’t complete this list without mentioning the biggest band of the era, and one of the biggest bands this century full stop.
Having utilised the power of MySpace, Arctic Monkeys stormed to the top spot seemingly from nowhere with a fast-and-furious, instant indie-disco classic that instantly rendered most of their counterparts obsolete.
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