Black Eyed Peas are back

I'll be honest, I didn't realise the Black Eyed Peas had been away but it turns out they've been on a break since 2011. For several years prior to that they were responsible for some of the most dreadful music I've ever heard, but it wasn't always like that.

I was first introduced to the Black Eyed Peas around 2000 by a work colleague at the time who played it in his car at lunchtime and I thought they were good. Shortly after that I saw them on the music channels with "Request Line" and again I thought it was a good tune.

Then in 2003 they became a household name with "Where Is the Love?" which I also liked and so did everyone else it seemed. They now had a singer in the group, Fergie. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, they did feature Macy Gray on "Request Line" after all.

However, when I heard the follow up "Shut Up" I thought oh dear. It reminded me a bit of Big Brovaz (remember them?) a group I completely detested at the time. I didn't think "Hey Mama" was very good either but I must admit the next single "Let's Get Retarded" is a guilty pleasure of mine.

Still they had simply gone from a group that was good to one that was not so good by this point, unfortunately this is what several groups have to do to sell records. The point where they became a dreadful group in my opinion is when they released "My Humps". What a ridiculous tune, Fergie had become the rapper and the rappers had become singers, kind of.

It just seemed to get worse and worse though, David Guetta got involved and they became an EDM group and seemed so far removed from how they started. The solo careers of will.i.am and Fergie were just as bad.

Now they're back, but without Fergie who apparently is still part of the group but not at the moment. What they seem to have done is picked up from the time before Fergie was in the group. It's actual Hip Hop music, not EDM, no auto tune to be heard. It's hard to forget what has happened over the past 15 years, but the fact remains it's still the same people who did "Joints & Jams".

It's also quite good to see that the members don't actually appear themselves in the video given how will.i.am has basically become a marketing campaign in recent years it seems. In fact you almost forget there are two other rappers in the group given how much will.i.am hogs the limelight.

I guess they had the ultimatum after their first two albums, turn pop or go back to the day job, so you can't really blame them for doing that. Now they're presumably rich beyond their wildest dreams it's given them the freedom to go back to doing the sort of music they set out to do in the first place.

Looking through the comments on the YouTube video people are basically saying welcome back. I agree, it's the sort of record which made them good it the first place. Whether they can carry this on when Fergie returns, only time will tell.