What Did You Expect from the Vaccines? is the debut studio album by English indie rock band the Vaccines. It was released on CD and digital download in the US, and on CD and LP in Europe and the UK, on 11 March 2011 by Columbia Records, entering the UK Albums Chart at #4, going on to become the biggest-selling debut by a band in 2011. Two singles preceded the release of the album which attained generally positive reviews and gold status by May of the same year. In 2021, the Vaccines released a ten year anniversary edition of the album on pink vinyl limited to 2500 copies. Lead singer and songwriter Justin Young cites I, Jonathan by Jonathan Richman, Milo Goes to College by Descendents and "California Girls" by The Beach Boys as his major inspirations during the writing of this album] In a conversation with music site Atwood Magazine, Young said, "I remember we were petrified of not being able to capture the energy and we worked with (our producer) Dan Grech, who's an amazing producer and mix engineer but hadn't made any particularly energetic or aggressive sounding records, so we were constantly, as a team – Dan included – we were constantly aware of the fact that we might fall short. So we were always going the extra mile".
Good thing they came out when they did, because otherwise they'd be cancelled by RFK, Jr. Fucking asshole. This is a terrific album. 12 songs. 35 minutes. Doesn't get boring. I wonder if under your thumb is their response to the stones, under my thumb.
Great garage rock album by The Vaccines. A lot of energy and attitude in direct songs. Reminds of the Jesus and Mary Chain (reverb) and Arctic Monkeys (debut album).
Amazing surf-rock! I Remember the singles doing very good in the charts. The energy fits just right
I have not heard of The Vaccines and was skeptical. This hit just right and I was surprised to really love it! Listened to it several times today.
I'd heard of the band but didn't know the music. Brilliant!
One of the best suggestions after the original list so far. Only knew 1 song, but great album!
Loved a couple of the singles when this came out, I probably should have listened to the whole album back then. Very cool surf/punk simplicity but with kind of ethereal shoegaze atmosphere at times. Norgaard and If You Wanna put it on a 4 and the rest of the album does enough to nudge it to a 5.
So good Bordering 5 4
Good indie rock sound. Never goes too hard but always has fun. Occasionally dips into the folky sound that was popular in the early 2010s, but does not feel of a piece with that genre as a whole.
I enjoyed a good rockin time
This is a great energetic alt-punk record. Seems smartly written, with a nice assembly of catchy pieces. Enjoyed this quite a bit.
Used to listen to this album all the time, however never allowed myself to fully appreciate it due to the link with the types of people who use sepia- Instagram filters and yes it's not doing anything amazing but enjoyed the music it was providing all over again.
Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Wreckin’ bar, If you wanna, Blow it up, Wetsuit, Family friend
Irreverent and naughty pop punk
This is the kinda indie bullshit I am open to. It's been hit or miss on this list but this hit. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.
One of the best uk indie rock albums at the time, albeit wasn’t much competition during this period. Listening back now it has aged well. Not quite a masterpiece but Worthy of my frequent rotation.
It's like modern punk pop with a Ramones/Phil Specter vibe. Very Enjoyable.
Another unknown, solid selection.
Good enough. Giving it a 4 cos it’s been a long time since a half decent one.
Yeah, I remember the hype about that one in 2011. That was during the tail end of the retro-rock wave, and The Vaccines had just managed to make the cut at the eleventh hour. Good for them, I guess. I even bought a cheap secondhand copy of this debut many years after, when that trend was already in the rearview mirror. I did it because this album is excellent beyond any concerns about ephemeral hypes and passing music fads. The production values feel a bit "safe" sometimes, but the tracklist is filled to the brim with instantly catchy earworms, which is never as easy to write as one may think. And even if the whole thing is derivative to a degree (think Beach Boys meets Ramones meets The Strokes, which is already quite a circular stream of influences, lol), you can't deny the talent and effort that has been put into those songs. If you wrote a book about that retro-rock wave in the noughts and how it invaded the mainstream, *Is This It?* could be the first chapter, and *What Did You Expect from The Vaccines?* would be the last. Maybe indeed that's enough to consider it as "essential", somehow. 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 4. 8.5/10 for more general purposes: 5 + 3.5. Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 47 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 60 (including this one) Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 111 --- Hey, Émile. J'ai enfin trouvé le temps de répondre ! Regarde sous la review de *Young, Loud And Snotty* des Dead Boys !
I don’t know what I expected; I was deep into my German techno/Scandi-stoner-rock odyssey when this came out and I’d heard of them but never heard them. But I quite like it. It’s short (as albums like this should be) and it has that kind of distant, echoey production that makes it feel slightly disconnected and detached, in that bleak and wintry way that all Christmas songs should sound.
Not a bad indie rock album. It’s pretty much right on the verge of pop and alternative. Some of the songs are really teenager in vibe but a few of them were alright for an early 10s album. The British rock style comes through which is usually a better alternative style than some later modern ameeican bands. 6.5/10
This was fun, with a nice crisp pace and some solid hooks. Treads no new musical ground, but I enjoyed it. Fave Songs: A Lack of Understanding, Blow It Up, Family Friend, If You Wanna, Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)
Not sure what I expected with this - something more on the punk end of the spectrum I guess. But I liked it OK. Well performed and decently smart lyrics but maybe a little musically unambitious.
Indie rock, surf punk, garage pop. Ni fu ni fa.
This has a SHITLOAD of plays on Spotify but I've never even heard of it. I've usually at least heard OF an artist at this point, but nope. Don't recognise the big single, either. Anyway, just kinda average indie rock. Bit retro leaning. Probably UK. 3/5.
Yeah, decent, if not spectacular
A perfect example of a “so that’s where that song is from” album. Rest was alright too.
Yawn
Real nice actually
Some catchy songs here, a solid 3.5
Very generic. Close my eyes and it could have been any of those bands. Fine though,.
This was pretty good. Nothing memorable but nothing bad.
Great listen. It fits favorably with the time period
I know of The Vaccines and know a few of their tracks, but never heard this album. I like "If You Wanna" although I'm not a big dan. "A Lack of Understanding" is better IMO. The rest was alright, but nothing amazing.
I knew more of these tracks than I thought I would. If this album had come out earlier in my life I think it would have been a firm favourite.
What DID I expect from The Vaccines? I guess I expected 35 minutes of catchy if not especially impressive early 2010s indie rock that straddles the line between that Vampire Weekend-esque special spark and trademark landfill indie. And this met my expectations. If You Wanna is a great tune, and Post Break-Up Sex is really well written. Other than that it’s generally a good time (except one pretty sus song about going on a date with a 17 year old) but slightly formulaic and forgettable.
Not my style, but solid nonetheless!
A grandiose shouting style of indie rock, very of the time. Imagine Dragons sort of became the culmination of this style's direction, which unfortunately scuffs up a lot of this kind of thing for me in hindsight. It's a fun trip down memory lane, though.
3.5
Tiptoes between a 2 and 3 for me. The instrumentals are great, invoking early-aughts Interpol with a touch of gazey reverb and delay that makes for some great atmospheric tracks, but the vocals/lyrics feel so flat and obsessed with high-school level drama. Found myself getting worn out by the end as there's not many dynamic elements in the songwriting to make things sound varied and interesting.
Catchy hooks? Absolutely. But they’re the kind that feel like they were assembled in a pop-punk IKEA kit—three chords, some gloss, and a manual titled “How to Sound Edgy Without Actually Being Edgy.” It’s all very safe, very polished, and very... expected. The kind of album that makes you nod along while wondering if your playlist accidentally looped. What Did You Expect from The Vaccines? Well, at least a bit more than an album that feels like 'punk rock with a helmet on'.
Nice enough
Yeah that was basically exactly what I was expecting from The Vaccines. What if Interpol made car commercial music.
Nothing new brought to the party I'm afraid. The singer started to remind me of Chris Martin part of the way through. The sort of record they put on at the end of a college student party when all the alcohol has been drunk and people are thinking of going home.
What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? Not a lot, it's an exercise in how to sound entirely like a bunch of acts that came before you and not do much if anything to further the genre or stand out from the many trying it. That means it's generally listenable but super boring and derivative and gets a 2/5. I'll never listen to it again.
This felt like a pretty middle of the road forgettable catchy indie album from the 2010s. A dime a dozen for sure.
Like a time capsule to the late noughties. The music was tedious mediocrity, but boy did they wear Top Man well and have almost too perfect scruffy hair. A happier time, maybe, but the music was crap, made only to sound risible E4 yoof sitcoms and reality shows.