THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

464-Kaiser Chiefs-I Predict a Riot.

2005-Number 9 single.

Best Bit-At 2.17. The best song in the world ever to include Yorkshire Dialect since ‘On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at.’

It pains me to say it, as being born and bred myself in Leeds, but when it comes to producing the successfully elite musicians, and the very best songs, we as a city sadly lack a long way behind the likes of Liverpool and Manchester, and the question is, why?

The Kaiser Chiefs were formed in Leeds, England, in 2000 by Ricky Wilson (vocals) Andrew White (guitar) Simon Rix (bass) Nick Baines (keyboards) and Nick Hodgson, (drums) Hodgson left the band in 2012 and was replaced by Vijay Mistry (drums.) On formation they were known as ‘Parva,’ releasing their debut Album ’22’ in 2003, but after it’s commercial failure they decided to start afresh using the new stage name ‘Kaiser Chiefs,’ in honour of the former Leeds United footballer Lucas Radebe, who had played previously for the ‘Kaiser Chiefs Football Club’ in South Africa.The Kaiser Chiefs remain active at the time of writing having released a further seven studio Albums between 2005-2019, they have also achieved nine UK top 40 singles, including the 2007 UK Number 1 ‘Ruby’

‘I Predict a Riot’ was the second single released from the Kaiser Chiefs debut studio Album ‘Employment’ from 2005, with all five band members receiving song writing credits. The lyrics tell of the perils of being on the streets of Leeds at ‘chucking out time’ at night, from the pubs and clubs, although it could apply to any big city. Nick Hodgson had the original idea for the song,’I used to DJ with my friend Nick at the ‘Cockpit’ in Leeds. We’d drive home past a big nightclub and there was always lots of police, and people fighting. I went home and wrote the riff on the piano and started singing some words. It says,’A friend of a friend he got beaten,’ that was a friend of Nick the DJ.’Ricky Wilson who also contributed lyrics mentions ‘John Smeaton’ (1724-1792) who was a very successful civil engineer, and a son of Leeds. Wilson also makes reference to an ‘Old Leodensian,’ which is a former pupil of ‘Leeds Grammar School, which Smeaton, and Wilson both had been.The song thrives on it’s Yorkshire heritage, with the use of pronouns such as ‘thee’ and ‘thou,’ words that are still in use to some extent in areas of Yorkshire to this day.

‘Watching the people get lairy, is not very pretty I tell thee. Walking through town is quite scary and not very sensible either’.