Success is fickle and sometimes takes longer than expected. Pissed Jeans and their hardcore punk took their sweet time to hit their stride, but once they did, the louder fanbase of punk felt sated by their raucous, seedy rock.

I can’t claim to know them from their humble beginnings in 2005, but instead, like many a great band, they came from the recommendation from a friend of a friend. Both of them heavily involved with the artistic scene in Sheffield. A graphic designer and a banjo player, both people dear to me, suggested I check out the band and the calling card was the funny/nightmarish video for Boring Girls.

I’m a sucker for videos that feel like a fever dream/nightmare. Think There There by Radiohead, Everlong by Foo Fighters, or Tripping by Robbie Williams. Boring Girls finds the stereotypical incel-esque dude (the very subject of ridicule in the song) and his womanizer expectations. It all goes topsy turvy for him, as his dream date goes from idyllic to conflagration in the space of two downstrokes of a chord.

The song is infamous for being a one chord song, but what a chord it is! Vocals screech in an almost parody of the Beastie Boys, while still being a reasonable enough tribute to bands gone.

-Sam J Valdés López