Arctic Monkeys Good Shocker
Julie Burchill once wrote “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was her favourite song, swiftly adding the proviso this was a somewhat shameful and cringe-worthy admission “as beyond the pale as saying Citizen Kane is your favourite film.”
It is with a similar embarrassed spirit that I write, fourteen months after the event, and tediously sailing along with a tide perhaps now ebbing, that Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not by the Arctic Monkeys is a brilliant album.
Lots put me off the idea of them; their god-awful name, the fact they’re all about 13 (jealous? yes!), that they’re rather “trad-rock” sound at lazy first listen. Still, wankilly late as I am, let me say it again, its great. The tunes are incredibly sparky, sparked and vibrant, the spirit charged and unstoppable. There isn’t a false note. The lyrics are genuinely wise and witty, presenting the utterly authentic spirit of being a cocky little git in a northern town, with pin-sharp vignettes. The best example of using “your own voice” complete with “al-reet” “reyt” South Yorkshire inflections since, well, I can’t think of anyone better at this particular moment in time.
So, the Arctic Monkeys can now carry on with their eagerly awaited second album secure in the knowledge they’ve got the Splinters seal of approval, which must be a weight of their backs. I still prefer the artier, non-indigenous, relatively over-looked Sheffield band, however, because they are in fact even more fantastic. But only just.
Other Splinters posts of interest:
- Recently on Spike
- Using MySpace To Promote Your Book
- Catholic blockhead
- Michael Bracewell - An Aside
- 2007 - My Year In Books
Make A Comment: ( 1 so far )
One Response to “Arctic Monkeys Good Shocker”
2007 - My Year In Books · Splinters: Spike Magazine blog
December 30th, 2007
[...] always was but was by far from their best, and I wasn’t taken by the Von Sudenfed project. I did belatedly fall in love with the Arctic Monkeys though, which was wonder enough, both the “old” [...]