Muppet in car crash

Number 22

'Antics' by Interpol

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 1 in 2004

UK Chart high : 21 in 2004

It's not that I now think I made a terrible mistake back in 2004, more that it was an absolute suck of a year proving the theory that the best art is always produced at the start and end of the decade.  (I think I just made that up, but it's probably true!) Soooo, we hit the first of my 'number one for their year' albums on this countdown, which I suppose had to happen sooner or later as the decade's top ten couldn't just be made up of the ten number one cd's from each year could it?  2004's other top ten albums included the likes of the Von Bondies, Secret Machines, Razorlight and Hope of the States..........exactly.  So 2004's contribution to this fifty officially ends here.  However, 'Antics' is still a fine album worthy of its spot.  In fact, those of you who know me fairly well were probably starting to think 'how can he have forgotten Interpol, considering he's borderline-obsessive about them?'  And to demonstrate that view witness a 32 year old queuing up in San Francisco in 2004 to get this cd signed.  On 'Antics' Interpol continued being very...well, Interpol-like.  Detached, stark, unapologetic rock delivered in that 'we're so cool we don't have to try to please you' manner whilst also managing to be exciting, mysterious, engaging and full of love for their artform.  My favourite track was never a single but 'Take You on a Cruise' as performed live is added below for you to marvel at (including a very un-Interpol drum solo!).  Their vids for the singles are also bang on too - no moreso than 'Evil' with its unsettling weird 'muppet in car crash' visuals - and there's a sentence I never thought I'd type.  I could go on and on about this wonderful band, including how fantastic it is to start a lead single ('Slow Hands') with the words 'Yeah but...' as if you'd been partway through a conversation with them when they disappeared after their last album, but I'll have more time to do that later....

Look at Take You on a Cruise ; C'mere ; Evil ; Slow Hands
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version