This week marks the tenth anniversary of ‘Up the Bracket’ and it clearly couldn't be hyped up any more. My twitter feed seems to have been filled up
with ‘NME’ constantly screaming THE LIBERTINES!! down my ear, but in my opinion
it’s not a bad thing.
So this album is something I never got to really experience as a kid, I was
really just too young, still being naïve singing ‘Boyzone’ tracks whilst
running round the house. But I think it’s near impossible to not know the names
of Pete Doherty and Carl Barat these days, maybe for the wrong reasons and that’s
why we have appreciation days like this (not forgetting it is actually a
sublime album). ‘Up the Bracket’ is now a staple of British guitar music. It
highlights what we miss in the music industry; some clunky, gritty guitar music
that we all enjoy with 2000 sweaty people in a just as sweaty room.
The Libertines are labelled as one of them floor-filling,
shoulder-bashing, deafening bands that leave you with an annoying ring in your
ear the next morning and in most cases, a bad hangover. One of the first
memories I have of hearing The Libertines was at a gig a few years back, I remember
the floor erupting as the DJ built up the crowd before the headline band came
on. All I got was fully grown men’s sweaty armpits pushed up against the back
of my head, and me thinking, ‘WHAT THE F*** IS GOING ON? THIS ISN'T EVEN THEM’;
but I grabbed my mates arm, them equally as confused as me, and both just
danced and moved to the music so we didn't suffocate. With that and the mighty XFM
playing them here and there I got to know them quite well and now they are one
of my favourite bands, quite respectably in this case.
In the terms of status, I don’t think ‘Up the Bracket’ quite has the
same credibility as Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’, and any of The Beatles albums in
that retrospect, but I think it’s half on its way (maybe a quarter). It lives
up to any people’s reviews, and any word-of-mouth, with grave satisfaction. In my
view it can’t be beaten, its one of them albums that constantly gets played and
will be one of them records I pass onto my kids.
Now, the news we’re all waiting to hear is, ‘The Libertines are back’. There
have been hints; there have been rumours but no certain word has emerged. The
only thing us fans have to linger on is the stunning one-off slot they did at
Reading and Leeds a few years back.
It’s depressing, but things look
hopeful. I've seen words of Pete and Carl writing new material and both of them
saying that a reunion is not off the cards, so a boy can hope ey. I’m just
waiting to see them on the top of that big yellow poster come summer (please be
Leeds and not Glastonbury). Vaguely
Charles.
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