10 Bands Who Justifiably Should Have Been Huge

2. The Vines

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAL-1o7-bKc When The Vines released their first album, 'Highly Evolved', they seemingly had the world at their feet. To start with, everything seemed to go to plan, 'Get Free' and 'Outtathaway' were songs that got the world talking, the press and public alike were falling over themselves to proclaim that this wasn't just a Nirvana-indebted band, John Lennon was reborn in singer-songwriter Craig Nicholls' writing. The boy seemed to have it all; anger and melancholy, ambition and melody. So far so good but when their second record 'Winning Days' was released, the wheels started to come off; Nicholls increasingly erratic behaviour started to alienate band members and media alike, with all the assumptions that here was another spoiled rockstar smashing up guitars and interviewers' Dictaphones because he could. What were previously seen as charmingly shambolic live performances were now unprofessional and sloppy. The Vines were pilloried for not being the slick rock act they never were and were never intended to be. But there was a deeper underlying problem, and when Nicholls was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, the reasons for his behaviour became clearer. So 'Winning Days' wasn't the 'Automatic for the people' it was expected to be, which is a crying shame, as their songs matured beautifully, the title track was arguably the best song he ever wrote, and what makes it even more poignant is that it actually tells the story of what's going to happen to the band. The Vines knocked out some more records, but never hit the heights of what they produced at the start of their career. What makes the story so sad is that it wasn't rockstar indulgence that was their undoing, but illness. Nicholls keeps writing and recording and you hope that he will pull a rabbit out of the hat, but the tragedy is that so many bands become yesterday's newspaper, and there's always today's story to keep us occupied. But don't forget that The Vines produced a back catalogue of songs to fall in love with; they had an energy, an ear for melody and an attitude that sets them apart.