The Good, The Bad and The Queen - Kingdom Of Doom

JAN 22 2007 · 12:00

The Good, The Bad and The Queen - Kingdom Of Doom (2007) Era: Post-Britpop Art Rock / Mid-2000s British Supergroup Era (2007) - Coinciding with the peak of Danger Mouse's production influence and a renewed London-centric art rock movement; single released January 2007 as part of the self-titled debut concept album. High curatorial value as a primary artefact of a critically acclaimed, commercially restrained supergroup project that documented a specific moment of British cultural and political unease. The video's quantitative fingerprint, warm but dark, fast-cut but grounded, directly mirrors the album's thematic identity. As the band's best-charting single and Observer Music Monthly's album of the year, it represents a significant document of 2007 British alternative culture. Context: Released in January 2007 as the second single from the self-titled debut, Kingdom of Doom emerged from a critically celebrated supergroup whose album Damon Albarn described as 'a song cycle that's also a mystery play about London.' The record, produced by Danger Mouse and featuring Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve), and Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen, was voted Best Album of 2007 by the Observer Music Monthly. The single reached #20 in the UK charts, the band's highest-charting release, and its warm-but-shadowed visual palette mirrors the album's thematic preoccupation with post-Blair London: politically weary, sonically atmospheric, and steeped in a specifically English urban melancholy. Director notes: The official music video was released in January 2007 on Parlophone/EMI to accompany the single. Paul Simonon created the artwork for the red vinyl 7" format referencing the building in which the video was recorded. No production company or director credit has been confirmed by any retrievable public source.