We Love the Beatles: "All You Need Is Hate" by the Delgados

Panel from the "Keepers of the Wilderness" feature of Spin and Marty comic book issue #1082, 1960

Over the years, lots of bands have expressed their hatred of the Beatles in different ways, but on their 2003 album Hate, Scottish indie-rockers the Delgados took things to another level entirely. "All You Need Is Hate" is a cynical song poking fun at the use of the word "love" in pop songs, and it's built around a reference to the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love". in addition to the lyrical reference, they slyly quote the melody of the song as well and I've got to believe that the reverb on Alun Woodward's vocals in the opening lines is intentionally Lennon-ish. These things make me think that the Delgados are using "hate" to express a love of their source material and, if you can love "All You Need Is Love", you probably love everything the Beatles have done.

Sadly, the Delgados split in 2005, but they're not forgotten. Vocalist Emma Pollack put out a solo album last year, and Alun Woodward put out an album under the name Lord Cut-Glass earlier this year. Drummer Paul Savage has done quite a bit of production work at Chem19, the Delgados' old studio - his credits include producing Touchdown, the latest studio album from Brighton UK's Brakes. The Brakes are painfully underrated in the US, probably due to the fact that they've changed their name to BrakesBrakesBrakes in the States over a legal conflict. They're currently touring the US with the excellent Ezra Furman & the Harpoons - if you live in the Salt Lake City area, they'll be playing at Kilby Court tomorrow night and shouldn't be missed.

"All You Need Is Hate" by the Delgados