Coming straight out of Fagersta, Sweden, the Hives formed in 1993 but will be forever known as members of the Class of 2002, when rock was officially declared Back. (See also White Stripes, Strokes, Vines.) On their 1997 debut full-length, Barely Legal, it's clear that high-energy '60s garage rock is the foundation idea, but they're tighter and heavier than most of their brethren, like they've absorbed as much Big Black as the Seeds. Singer Howlin' Pelle Almqvist has a knack for good put-downs and pithy social commentary sans self-righteousness. Their rock aliases (Chris Dangerous, Dr. Matt Destruction, etc.) and policy of dressing only in black-and-white slacks and button-down shirts made them memorable, but their 2002 return to the studio, Veni Vidi Vicious, further made clear they were thinking a lot about this whole allegedly party-hearty, nonthinking genre. "Die, All Right!" is anticorporate garage punk worthy of the Peanuts dance, and the singles are killers -- "Main Offender" and the MTV hit "Hate to Say I Told You So." The band's signal strength is the ferocity they bring to every single tune, as if they couldn't possibly be more psyched to be the Hives. Your New Favourite Band From 2004's
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thehives/biography
