So why is The Hives’ The Black and White Album on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
A strange thought occurred to me when I sat down to write about this incredible Hives album – it’s with regard to the album title itself: The Black and White Album.
There’s Metallica’s unnamed album that’s referred to as The Black Album, and The Beatles’ unnamed album that’s referred to as The White Album. Could it be that these clever and quirky garage punk rockers from Sweden are alluding to both with The Black and White Album?
In any event, The Black and White Album is (punk) rock solid through and through – the quality level on any Hives album is always on point, and this one boasts many high-octane high points.
There’s no doubting what The Hives are up to right from the jump with the first track, “Tick Tick Boom.” The Hives are one of my all-time favorite punk bands because they’re able to consistently lace together punk with garage rock, rockabilly, pop and strong songwriting sensibilities.
And on a more primal level, The Hives typically tend to kick ass with super catchy songs.
“Well All Right!” is my favorite track on The Black and White Album, with its really fun repetition of “whoa OH!” And like most great Hives songs, the tempo is both frantic and yet tightly controlled at the same time (a description I also use with select bands like the Voodoo Glow Skulls, though much about their sound is otherwise different, of course).
Songs like “T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.” and “A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors” push the band’s sound considerably versus past albums. “T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.” is super fun while dabbling in funk and even disco territory, while “A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors” is more of an oddball haunted ice skating rink-type interstitial track.
“Try It Again” and “You Got It All… Wrong” are much more wheelhouse Hives produced with expert finesse: straight ahead garage punk that never fails to please me.
Some stats & info about The Hives’ The Black and White Album
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Punk Rock, Garage Punk, Garage Punk Revival, Retro Rock, Swedish Bands
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 3.5 out of 5 stars
- When was The Black and White Album released? 2007
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #165 out of 1,000
The Hives’ The Black and White Album on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Hives’ The Black and White Album that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Yeah, I done it before and I can do it some more, so what you waiting for?
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.