Rock & Roll Is Dead Atlanta GA

Rock & Roll Is Dead

The Hellacopters

Universal Music, 2005

REVIEW BY: Chris Harlow

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 08/02/2005

So rock & roll is dead, huh? I thought that was the caseback in 2000. I really did. I never would have guessed this to bethe case today.

Back in 2000, I was a relatively naïve music fan that gotintroduced to this little band from Stockholm, Sweden that aurallyraped my senses and kicked my rear for actually thinking that rockn' roll was dead. It took only one listen to High Visibility to send me racing to the Internet to snap upwhat, at the time, was the unheard (to me) back catalog of theHellacopters at full price retail, including import tariffs andwack-ass shipping charges.

Admittedly, I have to say that this impulse was, hands down, thebest thing I ever did as it relates to music. I haven't seriouslylistened to FM radio since then and even find that satellite radiothese days is a crippling exercise in keeping sustained interest.Why? The Hellacopters rocked in those days, plain and simple, andthe band's lead guitarist/vocalist, Nicke Andersson, successfullyturned me on to every other obscure action rock band in Scandinaviawith his constant wearing of ball caps and T-shirts referencingtheir names.

Fast forward to today and my repeated listens of Rock n' Roll Is Dead have me cringing at the sight of such awonderful rock band withering in front of me. Long gone are thewonderfully distorted rock anthems from the days of my Hellacoptersdiscovery, as they are now replaced by crap such as the thoroughlycleansed honky tonk riffs found on "Before The Fall" and "I MightCome See You Tonight."