The Hives played a part in my life at two very distinct points in time. At the end of 2001 they made a splash on MTV with the single Hate to Say I Told You So and the brilliantly named compilation album Your New Favourite Band. They played the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth the following January and a bunch of us went and had a great time. Then I kinda forgot about them almost as quickly as I'd got into them. I can't put my finger on why; I think I was just getting into other genres and their slightly over-the-top rock 'n' roll wasn't my thing. In fact, I've always had a fairly short tolerance for bands who dabble in rock 'n' roll - it's fun for a bit, but there's no longevity in it for me.
In 2007 I was Budapest the same time as the annual Sziget Festival and, moreover, was there the day that Nine Inch Nails were playing. At that point I'd only seen them once and was incredibly excited to see them again (it wouldn't be the only time I'd see them at a foreign festival, as I went to Southside in Germany mainly to see them on what was billed as their last-ever tour). Earlier in the day, The Hives played on the main stage and I figured I'd watch them again. To my surprise, I really, really enjoyed them, much more than I remembered doing so six years before and much more than I was expecting. They did a bit that I'm sure they do at every gig, where they pause in the middle of a song and hold their positions for far longer than is actually funny (and then even longer still). It was fun.
The following spring I found this 10" single in my local HMV whilst in town with my housemate. It was only £3 and I was still impressed by how much I enjoyed them the previous summer. At the time I knew it was a fairly unnecessary purchase - I wasn't ever going to be a collector of their music and three of the songs were remixes - but I went with it anyway. The single itself is fine, but has far more in common with New York electro-punk than The Hives ever did (think !!! or Q And Not U). It's not what I listened to The Hives to hear, but has some good moments and that slight arrogance that had appealed to me back in the day. The Pharrell Williams production credit should have been a warning sign that it wasn't going to be entirely my bag, but I didn't see that in the shop. My opinion of the remixes, as regular readers will have come to expect, are low. The two remixes of We Rule the World are similar to the point of being basically indistinguishable. The remix of Tick Tick Boom has a bit more going for it, but I suspect it was a better song to start off with - the vocals are more familiar, and the singers voice was always one of the highlights of the band.
After buying this record, The Hives fell off my radar again. If I saw they were playing a festival again, I'd definitely go along and watch, but I doubt it'd reignite my enjoyment of them as much as it did at Sziget.
Format: 10"
Tracks: 4
Cost: £3 new
Bought: Virgin Records, Cardiff
When: 09/03/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
