Anyone who knows me well can tell you that the naughties-British-rock-band The Libertines is by far the most personally significant band I have discovered this year. The Libertines are obviously not a new band nor are they a niche one, but as a young girl in the digital era, sometimes the most exciting new music to listen to is music that is in no way new. And so, although their debut album is older than me, and the members have aged into gray hair, The Libertines are my biggest musical discovery of 2022.

And so here I am, “revisiting” an album about a year older than me. The first time I probably “visited” this album was in June or July, but months of the same album on repeat can change the way you see it. And I have to say, I think that this album has only grown in value for me since my first listen over the summer, and for society since its 2002 release.

In an era where half of modern music is an amateur-musician-trying-to-make-another-pop-punk-song-for-TikTok, bands like the Libertines, which used to be seen by some as unqualified and lazy, can be seen in a new light. Current bands and soloists self-censor and appropriate rebellion, youth, and angst in order to walk the line between edgy and something you can still hear in a Target commercial. Nothing about their music is truly unkempt, spontaneous, or lazy. And while I agree that sloppiness and laziness are not always desirable in music, there is a certain art to it that we can appreciate now more than ever.

Up The Bracket is grimy and standoffish, songs like The Boy Looked at Johnny and Horror Show don’t only discuss drugs and sex, but also use twangy and unstudied guitar riffs to create an atmosphere of party and rebellion. Angst and vulgarity are key to The Libertines’ sound, but the magic of the Libertines is that their music is not caught up in trying to prove its disobedience, it comes naturally amongst social commentary and protest.

In Time For Heroes, rambling guitars are paired with lines like “Did you see the stylish kids in the riot?” and themes like contempt for the mixing of British and American cultures. Death On the Stairs purposely tries to feel as much like a poem as a song and references British-Romantic poetry, all while making dirty jokes and illuding to Pete Doherty’s drug habits. The magic of a Libertines’ song is its mix of authentic lawlessness in sound and theme and its academic references and influences.

And so, although it’s been twenty years, I’d argue that Up The Bracket is more important now than ever. Popular music today is manufactured down to every “spontaneous” detail, and so music that is proud of its impromptu and artistic nature is something people in this day and age. Up The Bracket and The Libertines are just that. Artistically disheveled, poetically dirty, and passionately revolutionary, Up The Bracket was an accomplishment in 2002, and in 2022 it is a masterpiece.