Interpol are the New York band who made it cool to be miserable. And 'Evil', from their second album 'Antics' was their biggest hit of the decade (#18 in the UK singles chart), the sound of a band truly achieving the potential that they had already demonstrated on their debut album, 'Turn On The Bright Lights'.
Make no mistake, 'Evil' is a thoroughly depressing song. It opens with the haunting picked guitars and Paul Banks' pained vocal. "Rosemary, heaven restores you in life". His voice is mostly devoid of emotion, until it comes alive as he asks "but hey, who's on trial?" To me, the song as a whole speaks of the loneliness of lost love, with the perfect chorus line "I spent a life span with no cellmate" as the song's centrepiece. The drums are barely noticeable aside from the chorus, where they set the tone.
Interpol started the trend (which then became seen as something of a Joy Division revival, despite the lack of any similarities between the two groups), but Editors, White Lies and countless others have followed suit. It's never been so hip to be blue.
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