The Hives brought garage rock kicking and screaming back to the public’s attention. Back when NYC bands were obsessed with looking cool, The Hives were obsessed with making the experience of hearing them unforgettable. Their highly ranked albums operate on this philosophy.
It was during their all-too-long hiatus that rock fans truly began to miss them. I mean, who could replace a band like The Hives? Surely not the 1975 or Imagine Dragons.
With two new albums released just recently, it’s time to get the guitar out, get hyped out of my brain, and rank the brief, but excellent collection of albums by The Hives.
The Hives Discography – Ranking the Albums from Worst to Best
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7. “The Black and White Album” (2007)
Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist once said that bands who try to do it all end up doing nothing. That’s why “The Black and White Album” does little to stray away from what The Hives do best.
The great thing, however, is that by releasing fewer albums than their contemporaries, The Hives have kept their fun garage rock from becoming boring and unwelcome.
“Tick Tick Boom” is one of the best singles the band has ever produced. “Hey Little World” and “Try It Again” prove that The Hives are pop-rock titans with an endless desire to entertain. No wonder they worked with even Pharrell Williams on some of the songs here.
6. “Lex Hives” (2012)
The Hives take a long time to record new albums. Once they do, however, it feels like they’ve collected a dozen of their best newly written songs out of a few hundred.
“Lex Hives” is almost as entertaining as their early albums. For the most part, the band is back to producing powerful classic guitar riffs and cartoonish vocals.
“Take Back the Toys” or their reworking of Electric Light Orchestra for jubilant “Go Right Ahead” are catchy rock tunes.
But, for the very first time, in their careers The Hives dare to look back with songs like “These Spectacles Reveal the Nostalgics.” Melancholy is a risky move for a band like this!
Overall, “Lex Hives” finds the legendary group choosing to stay in the game despite having fewer great songs than usual. But the results have been known for a long time.
The Hives have won, outsmarting and producing far more consistent material than their garage-rock sparring partners. By 2012, the band was enjoying its unquestionable victory.
5. “The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons” (2023)
Should The Hives have given up on making music entirely, the band’s legacy would have remained cemented. Surely, the groups had by 2012, the time of its last release, enough top-notch material to keep touring forever. And, yes, The Hives are one of the best live bands in existence.
However, absence makes the heart grow fonder. And, while the Swedish garage-rockers have been away, many styles have come along. But, then again, in my opinion, very few have seriously challenged the group for pure excitement.
In 2023, The Hives delved back into the mythos it had created. The group chose to kill one of their founding members. And they chose to detail the deed in song. Fortunately, the band member getting the axe is the, supposedly, imaginary Randy Fitzsimmons.
The band is also back to what it does best – over-excited power-chord rock. Most of the experimentation found on “Lex Hives” is gone. The boasting remains.
The lead single, “Bogus Operandi”, is one of the best songs in the group’s discography. The guitar riff is as memorable as anything that Nicholaus Arson and Vigilante Carlstroem have ever concocted.
And, the shorter songs tend to be the best, like “Trapdoor Solution” and “Two Kinds of Trouble.”
Yes, it gets a little samey, but so what? If you love The Hives, you’ll love the fact that they’ve resisted change.
4. “Barely Legal” (1997)
Scientists have long been trying to calculate the secret to The Hives’ energy and to clone the band. Tough luck! Thus far, the band’s debut, “Barely Legal,” remains unparalleled.
What the Swedish group understands is that at the heart of pop music, there’s garage-rock. And, at the heart of garage rock, there’s a manic frenzy.
Like The Stooges before them, The Hives thrive off of chaos. Unlike Iggy Pop, Nicholaus Arson, Chris Dangerous, Dr. Matt Destruction, Vigilante Carlstroem, and Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist bring a brash but cartoonish energy. Nobody usually gets hurt!
Songs on “Barely Legal” rarely exceed the 2-minute mark. And the band never strays far away from the proto-punk/garage-rock format that they love so much.
“A.K.A. I-D-I-O-T” turned the Swedes into underground rock sensations. Meanwhile, tracks like “Hail Hail Spit N’ Drool” or “Oh Lord! When? How?” make “Barely Legal” endlessly playable all of these years later.
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3. “The Hives Forever Forever The Hives” (2025)
Two albums in the space of just over two years? Surely, The Hives are either determined to spoil fans, or the Swedes have found a new lease on life and music-making.
It’s a fine time to be in The Hives. But, hasn’t it been? Few younger bands can generate more power. The world is as ridiculous and easy to make fun of as it was back in the late 1990s. And when The Hives come to town, the townfolk pile up to see them.
It’s no secret that The Hives have a recipe. Does “The Hives Forever Forever The Hives” improve on it? No! It just adds excitement in a world starved for some good times!
Frankly, The Hives’ discography was a little light. Blame that on the fact that they hit it out of the park with “Veni Vidi Vicious.”
And while most rockers either try to stay young forever like The Rolling Stones, or lean into the fact that they’re getting old, like Franz Ferdinand, The Hives seem effortlessly trapped in time.
The shortest, fastest songs are, again, the best. “O.C.D.O.D.” is a slice of hardcore punk. The riff to “Roll Out the Carpet” is the clear winner. And on “Hooray Hooray Hooray,” The Hives get mean and happy for their rivals’ failures.
Unlike the previous album, on “The Hives Forever Forever The Hives,” the band takes a few detours. But it’s rocking territory all the way. “Enough is Enough” is the cartoonish single. “Legalize Living” sounds like 2000s NYC indie. And, “Bad Call” is built on infectious call-and-response vocals.
And what about all of the garage rock revival rivals that the Swedes fought in the 2000s? Nearly all are long gone! Long live The Hives!
2. “Veni Vidi Vicious” (2000)
The Hives arrived at the so-called “Garage Rock Revival” fully formed and ready to rumble. “Veni Vidi Vicious” made them into stars and into an unlikely jousting partner for the NYC counterparts, The Strokes.
Like The Strokes or Interpol, The Hives are known to dig up the past. Unlike their U.S. rivals, the Swedes sound like they’re having a wonderful time doing this. “Veni Vidi Vicious” is effortlessly cool, not laboured over.
The album is responsible for two of the best singles of the early 2000s, “Hate to Say I Told You So” and “Main Offender.”
The singles showed that there were still plenty of ways to reinvent the classic guitar riff and, for that matter, the tried-and-tested vocal howl.
“Veni Vidi Vicious” doesn’t let up for the entire running time. Once again, no songs are longer than 3 minutes, there are no ballads, and the band never strays from the intense garage-rock energy. Mission accomplished, I’d say!
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1. “Tyrannosaurus Hives” (2004)
Having achieved so much so early, The Hives’ assignment seemed all but complete. “Tyrannosaurus Hives,” however, perfects the formula and proves that for bare-boned, cartoonishly catchy rock, few could do it like these loud Swedes.
However, “Tyrannosaurus Hives,” unlike what the title might suggest, actually showcases traces of maturity.
Yes, the band is still all about delivering quick-paced garage-rock songs devoid of any fat. But this time around, different dynamics are introduced, a more complex orchestration and even a renewed sense of purpose.
After all, The Hives don’t release new albums every year. In fact, this was only their third release in almost 11 years as a band.
“Walk Idiot Walk” and “Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones” are instantly memorable garage-rock nuggets.
All the songs are written by Randy Fitzsimmons, the band’s mysterious, never-seen sixth member of the group, a supposed veritable Svengali of the music industry.
