The Top 100 Songs of 2011 -- #79: "Post Break-Up Sex" -- The Vaccines

The Vaccines roared onto the British music scene in 2011 with basically no warning of their arrival. After forming just a year prior and having only a few live shows under their belt, the band released debut album What Did You Expect From the Vaccines? in March. The album's first singles were released in November, and the band made an appearance on Jools Holland's music variety show before year's end.

The hype was enormous for the four-piece by the time their album release rolled around, and The Vaccines delivered with an acclaimed record that drew comparisons to The Strokes and Jesus and Mary Chain, among others.

In January, the band released the second single off their album, "Post Break-Up Sex." In a flurry of catchy tunes, it was the catchiest, the most relatable, and downright the best song the band has released to date.

The song finds singer Justin Young sounding more like Editors' Tom Smith than ever before. His deep, dreary voice is really what makes The Vaccines the perfect amalgamation of the aforementioned Editors and The Strokes. The music has a classic edge, is guitar-driven and sounds as though it was lifted from another time period, and Young's droning voice rises ever-so-lightly above it all.



Plus, the lyrics describe a place to which many have been. Young sings of a certain individual whose recent intimate relationship choices might be questioned due to his/her (I'm guessing her) motives behind said relationship. Really, one line sums up the entire lyric: "What did you expect from post break-up sex?"