Band Of The Year

  Michael's Music Madness

     Review of 2011  


                  

This month I will be counting down my top 40 favourite songs of 2011.

I have decided to kick off my review of the year by announcing my 'Band Of The Year'.

For me, 2011 has been a great year for guitar bands in terms of fantastic albums and incredible live shows. There have been lots of bands this year who have made an impression on me but there is only one that I have been following and interested in from start of the year to now.

So I can announce that my band of 2011 is...

In 2011, The Vaccines rocked. After coming third in the BBC Sound of 2011 poll and having an immense amount of hype due to their 82 second debut single 'Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)', the Vaccines simply got on with it instead of bigging themselves up.

 Their debut album (What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?) was released in March to much critical acclaim.The album contained 2 minute punk songs (Under Your Thumb and Norgaard) aswell as sophisticated pop songs (Post-Break Up Sex) and slow burners (Family Friend and Someone Else's Child).


For me though the highlights of the album was radio hit If You Wanna and festival anthem Wetsuit.

Even though they made a great record, the true brilliance of The Vaccines was their live shows. In the summer, they played at Glastonbury and T in the Park where they demonstrated their knack of being able to create these 2-3 minute pop gems and being able to give an old fashioned rock n' roll show  in front large audiences. It was at Reading & Leeds festival , however, that it felt as if 2011 belonged to The Vaccines. They performed as if they'd been around for decades whilst maintaining the rawness; passion and youth. They had the audience in the palm of their hands and their performance was named the best of the entire weekend by NME Magazine.   

  If You Wanna - Reading Festival 2011

So they proved themselves to be up their with the best if no the best indie bands around. For me, they owned 2011 thanks to a great album and some fantastic live shows.

 The Vaccines are my band of the year.

Who is your band of the year?

Let me know by leaving a comment below.