Anarchy on the airwaves

Kaiser Chiefs’ I Predict A Riot has had a new lease of life on British radio, thanks to the recent unrest, Ed Powerreports

THE recent urban violence in Britain has had a peculiar impact on shouty Britrockers Kaiser Chiefs. After several years of gentle decline, the group was thrust back into the spotlight as radio stations, for reasons too obvious to require elaboration, rediscovered their early hit, I Predict A Riot. How does it feel to have unwittingly penned the perfect piece of wry social commentary?

“Our relationship with the song hasn’t changed,” says Nick Hodgson, who inhabits the strange dual role of being Kaiser Chiefs’ main songwriter and their drummer. “It’s about what goes on in Leeds city centre on a Saturday night. It doesn’t mention looting at all.”