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2002

The Hives shared a bespoke fashion sense and garage rock spirit with the Strokes, but these Swedes weren’t just riding hipster coattails. “We wanted to sound like a band playing in a room,” singer Pelle Almqvist told SPIN in 2004 — evidently a very loud band freaking out in a very small room. So much press on the band focused on their look — as the magazine noted in 2002, “If a member wants to get a haircut, the group has to hold a meeting” — but the Hives were the whole package, with sick licks, hooks, and stage aerobics ripped from the heady ’60s and ’70s.

SPIN Archive on Google

– Hives cover story (August 2004)

- Band to Watch (May 2002)

- The Little Band Revolution (January 2003)