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The Year In Garage Rock: 5 Favorites For 2011

Thee Oh Sees.
Courtesy of the artist.
Thee Oh Sees.

Garage rock has undergone a serious rejuvenation in recent memory. Over the last few years, bands like The Black Keys and Best Coast have surfaced in the mainstream, and as a result, garage-rock artists that might have gone unnoticed less than a decade ago are now landing major attention (see: Thee Oh Sees and Black Lips). A little more than a year ago, Robin Hilton wrote that we might consider the 2010s to be "the decade of garage rock." If that's the case, then 2011 was a strong entry for year No. 2.

The rate of output from most garage-rock artists makes narrowing down the best of any year a daunting task, but this year it seems especially tough. We saw releases from nearly every major act in the genre, along with strong debuts and follow-ups from many smaller names. It's an exciting time to be a garage-rock fan — and an excellent time to convert, if you're not already on board.

So without further ado, here's a totally subjective list of five tremendous garage-rock songs from 2011.

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Becky Sullivan
Becky Sullivan has reported and produced for NPR since 2011 with a focus on hard news and breaking stories. She has been on the ground to cover natural disasters, disease outbreaks, elections and protests, delivering stories to both broadcast and digital platforms.

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