The beginning of the noughties saw the emergence of what was called the ‘New Rock Revolution’ or the ‘Garage Rock Revival’. Whatever it was called it was an exciting time that put mostly unknown sixties influenced garage rock bands in the spotlight. They repackaged the old sound and spirit of proto-punk bands in a new and exhillirating way. The ‘movement’ was fronted by such wonderful bands like The Strokes, The White Stripes and The Libertines, and a whole slew of what were known as ‘The’ bands followed. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (still known to us as the loudest live band ever) was one of the few bands related to that time that didn’t start with ‘The’.
Though my personal favorite album of theirs is the significantly more Americana-sounding Howl, I have to admit that their droning, reverb-heavy, feedbacky debut B.R.M.C. had the biggest impact when it first came out in 2001. Especially the two stand out tracks “Whatever Happened To My Rock ‘N Roll” and “Spread Your Love” became big belt-out anthems that still capture the scintillatingly rebellious essence of the so-called revolution. The first song epitomizes the frustration some of us had with the chart topping bands of the late nineties when there seemed to be nothing to choose from other than smooth pretty pop bands and post-grunge-y Nickelback type bands. “Spread Your Love” is just a big throbbing ball of sensual fuzz with a hippie message. Both songs announced themselves with such passion and fervor that they could not be ignored.
