10 Catchiest Indie Rock Songs
9. The Cribs – Men’s Needs
Go on, I dare you – try and sing that riff. After you’ve finished repeating what I can only assume amounted to a jumbled mess resembling “Ba-duh-duh-da-duh-duh-da-da-da”, please, just accept defeat, sit back, relax, and enjoy what can only be described as one of the best guitar hooks of the 2000s.
The beauty of ‘Men’s Needs’ is that the brothers Jarman give you a choice of two different melodies that can wrap themselves around your grey matter like boa constrictors. Ryan Jarman’s hectic, open-string-riddled guitar riff that strikes you from the 1-second mark is, of course, one of these choices, having been brought up in every conversation about guitar in every pub in the world. However, Gary Jarman’s chorus melody is seldom discussed, but just as infectious, sitting on the fulcrum of simplicity and ability. It sounds, for all intents and purposes, like any drunken idiot with a karaoke microphone could bang it out, but if you’ve ever tried it, you’ll know different. There are some tricky high notes to navigate in places, which separates the karaoke wheat from the karaoke chaff. That won’t stop us trying though.