It was a mere 20 years ago but it seems like an eternity. The world was in absolute chaos. George W Bush was re-elected president, Greece won the European Championships, and a guy called Mark Zuckerberg rolled out some sort of ‘social network’ named Facebook.
Closer to home, the smoking ban was introduced, the Northern Bank was robbed and of course Bryan McFadden left Westlife. Thank God we had some decent tunes to get us through it all. Here’s my 10 albums for that year.
1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Abattoir Blues/ Lyre Of Orpheus The first album without key band member Blixa Bargeld, and it actually became two albums in one, rather than a double. Apparently, they both have a different musical concept, but apart from having a different drummer on each, there’s very little between them.
The albums saw the Bad Seeds more away from the deep guttural blues to a more gospel and soul-tinged sound. The addition of backing vocals and big choruses really fleshed out the sound. While Blixa was great, he was very limited as a guitarist and they’re obviously relishing in their newfound musical freedom.
I saw Cave touring this at Electric Picnic in 2005 and the transformation was spectacular. 2. Arcade Fire, Funeral This hit me like a breath of fresh air when it first came out.
By 2004 the term ‘indie’ had become meaningless, but Arcade Fire seemed to single-handedly revive the dying genre with an organic sound and a unique approach. On the one hand they were paying lip-se.