This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Five reasons why you should speed to the store and demand The Hives’ newly reissued 2000 sophomore CD Veni Vidi Vicious in a loud and insistent manner:
1) They’re from Sweden, the home of just about every cool punk / rock / garage / indie band of late;
2) On the cover, they’re wearing matching ’70s playboy outfits a la Urge Overkill, complete with ascots and white shoes;
3) They have names like Chris Dangerous, Nicholaus Arson and Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, and songs called Die, All Right!, Hate To Say I Told You So and The Hives Introduce the Metric System in Time;
4) Their caffeinated, turbocharged fusion of low-rent blues-punk frenzy and go-go grind sounds a little like Stiv Bators from the Dead Boys doing a Mick Jagger impersonation while the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion play Rocket From the Crypt tunes;
5) Every Hives CD sold is potentially one less Britney CD in the world.
