Hubbard, Michael (26 June 2000). "Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour Of Bewilderbeast". musicOMH . Retrieved 22 July 2011. vocals 1, 2, 4-10, 12-14, 16-18, acoustic guitar 1, 2, 5, 6, 9-18, piano 1, 7, 11-13, 17, string arrangements 1, electric guitar 2, 5, 7, 9, 13, 16, 17, lead guitar 2, 5, 7, 9, 16, bass guitar 2, 5, 9, 17, slide guitar 2, tambourine 2, 14, organ 3, 17, guitar 4, 8, keyboards 4, 5, 13, 15, drum machine 4, 8, vibraphone 9, xylophone 11, Wurlitzer 12, harp 12, effects 13, harmonica 14, cymbal 17, percussion 17, whistling 18 Indie music is littered with obviously brilliant artists who undermined their own success with an overly ambitious approach. This phenomenon was especially common with albums from the indie boom of the early-21st century, when a "hipster mentality" transformed dozens of likely classics into semi-frustrating relics of their era. Although he was far less weird than many of his contemporaries, England's Badly Drawn Boy began his career within this paradigm. In fact, The Hour of Bewilderbeast is among the best examples of a potential indie pop classic that nearly collapses under its own weight. I'm still willing to classify it as one of the most significant indie debuts of its generation, and I can understand why it was a critical darling at the time of its release, but it has to be one of the most flawed records to receive that level of critical praise. Essential listening for anyone who's interested in early-21st century indie pop, even if most listeners are bound to be confused by a decent chunk of the album. Mr Shady released his third album, which included the mega-hit Stan, featuring Dido on vocals. Remember Dido?

Six years before, Britpop itself was crystalizing, with Blur’s Parklife and Pulp’s His ‘n’ Hers coming out right as Oasis went on their brash run of first singles leading up to Definitely Maybe . As summer arrived in 2000, Doves had just released their debut album, Lost Souls , Travis were promoted to the Pyramid stage at the Glastonbury Festival after a celebrated set on the Other stage the previous year, and both Coldplay and Badly Drawn Boy were about to put out their first full-lengths as well. The moment was propitious for sober, self-reflective guitar slingers.The fourth album from the band was the follow-up to the classic OK Computer and included Everything In Its Right Place, The National Anthem and Idioteque.

The increasing amount of polish on Have You Fed the Fish? in 2002 and One Plus One Is One in 2004 was welcomed by fans, and his following at home in the UK stood strong, but the air of professionalism was met in the US with some grumbling from those who preferred to see the stitching exposed and felt the new consistency was a shortcoming. Not only was this not exactly fair to those records, which have held up pretty well themselves, but it also placed on Badly Drawn Boy the kind of expectations that can put artists in an impossible bind. Gough couldn’t be truly spontaneous if he was trying to recapture the same spontaneity of Bewliderbeast . Tope, Frank (August 2000). "Badly Drawn Boy: The Hour of Bewilderbeast". Q (167). Archived from the original on 5 December 2000 . Retrieved 30 August 2018. The Hour of Bewilderbeast (liner notes). Badly Drawn Boy. XL Recordings. 2000. TNXLCD133. {{ cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) ( link) But what I like most about Badly Drawn Boy is that he seems to treat normality or ordinariness as the construction it is, not by necessarily challenging it in an open way, but by just being who he is, which is, I suppose, about as authentic as you can get. For my sins, I listened to Elliott Smith’s 2000 LP, Figure 8, to get some perspective on this. It wasn’t as bad as I expected, but it did cement the point in my mind. Smith’s tragedy is his unrequited crush on convention, which you can hear in the song structures and the lyrics. Smith always seems to be buying into an ethos he’s not entirely equipped to live with. Where Gough wins through is in his ability to recognize the fallacy of convention, and to dare to flaunt it, but not by wanton provocation.Coldplay’s hooks are slight,” went the verdict on those future world conquerors. “These indistinct London lads might as well be Canadian….” Meanwhile, Lost Souls “offers more substance,” while The Hour of Bewilderbeast “…putters here and there across 18 ditties and doodles gracefully arranged, but played with two left feet and recorded to match.” Having put up with anticlimactic antics like Oasis spitting on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards in ‘96 and then delivering the bloated Be Here Now the next year, such skepticism on the part of American media was understandable, but in this case there was no need to be so preemptively wary. Badly Drawn Boy The Hour of Bewilderbeast, XL Recordings 2000 Christgau, Robert (13 February 2001). "Pazz & Jop Preview". The Village Voice . Retrieved 22 July 2011. Another infamous meltdown was at a festival in Northampton when Gough joked: “I don’t think I’ve been to Northampton before… I’m sure I’d remember because it’s a shithole.” A woman in the audience took exception to this and the row ended with Gough throwing a tambourine at her. He’s at pains now to explain he always instantly regretted these incidents. The band's eleventh album saw Robert Smith conclude the "dark trilogy" that had started with Pornography in 1982 and continued with 1989's Disintegration.

If you had to mark the timeline when the sorta-genre “post-Britpop” came together, somewhere in the middle of 2000 would be close. My music is heartfelt and emotional. I’m a rollercoaster type of person. I drove myself to do music because I didn’t want a normal life. I envy people who can just enjoy a ‘normal’ life. I love people and I love life, but I struggle with it, and music has saved me in a lot of ways. When I create a new song, it gives me such a sense of achievement.” Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough) – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drum machine, tambourine, handclaps, whistling, slide guitar, harmonica, Wurlitzer electric piano, lead keyboards, organ solo, drum machine organs, percussion, crash cymbal, vibraphone, xylophone, harp, string arrangement, sound effectsa b DiCrescenzo, Brent (30 September 2000). "Badly Drawn Boy: The Hour of Bewilderbeast". Pitchfork . Retrieved 22 July 2011. The trio released their debut album, which included The Cedar Room, Here It Comes and Catch The Sun.