1001 Songs Challenge #886: Hate to Say I Told You So (2000)

On 11 February 2019 I set myself the challenge of reading 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery (ed.) and following the book’s advice to the letter. I’ve previously read 1001 Films… and started 1001 Albums… but felt 1001 Songs… would be a sensible place to start for what I have in mind here.

My challenge is to read about one song per day and listen to it (YouTube and Spotify, I need you tonight!) before sharing my own thoughts. Some songs I will love, others I’ll hate, and I’m sure there will be those that leave me perplexed but listen to them I shall.

I’ll also try, and most likely fail, to pinpoint the best song from the 1001 on offer but I’m nothing if not foolhardy. Instead of one song, I’m predicting I’ll have about 100 favourites by the end and may have to resort to a Top 10 so far to maintain any semblance of sanity.

So long as I post every day (including Christmas) then this challenge should come to an end on Wednesday 8 November 2021. Staying with the Barney Stinson theme I am hoping that the whole experience will prove to be… legendary!

 

The Hives – Hate to Say I Told You So (2000)

 

 

 

We’re leaving the US today, dear reader, and making our way across the Atlantic Ocean and to Europe. Once we reach the mainland we head over to Scandinavia and to Sweden. The Hives were formed in 1993 and focused on garage rock, riding the crest of a revival of this genre at the start of this century. We join them in 2000 with the release of their second album, Veni Vidi Vicious, and from there 1001 Songs have gone with the track, Hate to Say I Told You So. 

In Hate to Say I Told You So, The Hives throw up a narrator who seems to be the sort of person who does and says whatever they like and to hell with everyone else. The verses echo this self-serving, assertive, even arrogant nature while in the chorus, the narrator uses the refrain of “Hate to say I told you so” to emphasise how their approach to life and bad attitude should not come as any kind of surprise to onlookers. It seems they are prepared to remind others about who they are, whether they are listening or not. 

This guitar heavy track didn’t gain much traction upon release in 2000 but it would be re-released in 2002 to commercial success and has since become the group’s biggest and best known song, hitting the UK Top 30 and the Billboard 100 in the US. The group continue to this day and have five albums under their belts though the last of those appeared back in 2012. Sounds like fans of The Hives are long overdue for album no.6.

 

Favourite songs so far:

The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (1964)

Simon & Garfunkel – The Sounds of Silence (1965)

The Beatles – A Day in the Life (1967)

The Doors – The End (1967)

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)

Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell (1977)

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car (1988)

U2 – One (1991)

Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah (1994)

Radiohead – Paranoid Android (1997)