The Kaiser Chiefs are a bit like Jean-Claude Van Damme or Steve Seagal – all of them tasted great success early on, got a little lazy because of it, and became a bit of an embarrassment later on, as far as previously devoted fans were concerned. But I’ll have none of that negativity. Kaiser Chiefs are one of the greatest indie rock bands of all time.

This list isn’t so much meant to exonerate this post-Britpop, pre-Brexit band, but to help us understand, and, possibly, to forgive, all of the NME writers who championed it so furiously.

These are the 10 greatest songs by Kaiser Chiefs.

The 10 Greatest Songs by Kaiser Chiefs

10. “Born to Be a Dancer”

Music writers (remember those?) said it all sounded like U2. But not the U2 that you heard on the radio. This sounded like cool, punk-influenced early U2 that nobody besides music critics and Bono‘s mom ever bothered listening to.

The hype was on, and the heat wasn’t about to die down for a while. But once you turned all of that off, what you were left with was, indeed, a convincingly rambunctious indie-rock group.

“Born to Be a Dancer” had some swagger and a strange groove to the lyrics. It felt like the music made by English kids who end up in London and, somehow, get invited to the cool parties, so they start believing they are also ubercool. It was all enough to make you believe.

9. “How 2 Dance”

Is that lot still knocking about? Actually, forget that. The fact that Kaiser Chiefs have created a long-lasting career should fill our souls with hope.

It turns out that they weren’t shameless careerists after all. Turns out they couldn’t live without the music. And, yes, it turns out, by listening to “How 2 Dance,” that they were always destined for laidback nu-disco grooves. I predict a dance off!

8. “Love’s Not a Competition (But I’m Winning)”

There’s a very thin line between being catchy and being dumb. Some bands, like The Hives, use humour to bridge the gap. Other groups, like Oasis, use the power of bravado. Kaiser Chiefs use their hooks like a dealer appealing to defenceless victims.

“Love’s Not a Competition (But I’m Winning)” is, of course, a better song title than an actual song.

And while it filled the quota for acoustic songs that, coincidentally, none of the indie rock crowds felt they needed, it also kept the “Yours Truly, Angry Mob” in the public eye. How angry were the Chiefs at this point? Not quite enough as the promising debut would have suggested.

7. “The Factory Gates”

There’s great pressure on bands from Britain to say something meaningful about the working classes. This presents a challenge, especially since most of these groups are bankrolled by the band members’ wealthy parents.

But Kaiser Chiefs, salt of the Earth lads from Leeds, tried their hands at precisely this with the “Education, Education, Education & War” album.

As it turns out, the working classes just wanted more danceable choruses instead. But “The Factory Gates” is a good song. It proves that Kaiser Chiefs are at their best when they’re angry, or, at least, pretend to be.

6. “Never Miss a Beat”

Shameless, aren’t they? Remember me comparing this English band to muscled tough guy Van Damme a minute earlier? Another thing that the two had in common is that once the hits dried up, both retreated into doing the work that they thought fans expected of them.

Yes, “Never Miss a Beat” is a chorus. It’s unclear to me if anything else is glued to the song. I must pass out each time I hear it.

“Never Miss a Beat” was a minor hit. But not even the NME writers who still held a job could defend this when sober and in broad daylight. Still, think the song ties the whole list together.

5. “Everyday I Love You Less and Less”

The thing about 2000s indie rock is that, besides the haircuts and the expensive-looking trousers, bands were interested in songwriting all over again. Many of those groups, from Arctic Monkeys to Franz Ferdinand, were quite good at it as well.

This created competition. And the large number of songs vying for chart positions made it essential that songs deliver on the first hook.

That’s what Kaiser Chiefs did with “Everyday I Love You Less and Less.” The song’s just one snarky title and a really big hook. But, ah, for a while, they seemed to have the right formula down.

4. “Ruby”

A truly annoying song that, for a very brief moment, turned Kaiser Chiefs into the biggest band in indie rock, “Ruby” is bare-bones sing-along pop.

The group had cleverly worked its way up to it. If you deliver enough clever songs about London and relationships, you can, finally, release one that just chants the same inane chorus on a loop. You might even help fans push it up the charts through sheer inertia.

Listen, frankly, I hate it. But you’d riot if Kaiser Chiefs only ever played “I Predict a Riot,” and left out “Ruby” from concert playlists. I ain’t taking no chances, and so the song goes on my list too.

3. “Oh My God”

“Oh My God” invaded cool online playlists and the even cooler English music mags like Russian spies buying London homes. Kaiser Chiefs’ “Employment” record was unavoidable. And success seemed inevitable.

And while some of the praises may have been exaggerated, this song was a winner. “Oh My God” sounded raw, paranoid and had a big chorus destined for the indie dancefloor.

Some called them “the new Oasis” for a while. It was a tag at which the likes of Kasabian might’ve smirked. But, for a while, this British post-punk revival scene, of which Kaiser Chiefs were leaders, was going places.

2. “Everything is Average Nowadays”

“Everything is Average Nowadays” is an anthem. That’s because, yes, you may find yourself chanting it against your will with fist raised high. Once more, the title’s fantastic.

But, if you were a more cynical man, you’d say that this is an anthem also because the subject matter and title fit the entire musical output of Kaiser Chiefs to a tee.

Let’s leave our doubts at the door for a moment. Indie rock got as boring as the rest of the world at some point, and those developments have this as a soundtrack.

1. “I Predict a Riot”

Kaiser Chiefs do good titles, big choruses and laddish confidence. You’d rarely think of adding “clever” to the list.

But on “I Predict a Riot,” singer Ricky Wilson transforms himself into the Dylan of a small English city if only for a few minutes.

“I Predict a Riot” is a great song about terrible company. It’s, without much doubt, the shining hour of Kaiser Chiefs and one of the great indie rock songs.