“Although we’re not sure if even NME readers can really believe that the Arctic Monkeys album is better than Revolver, which came in at 9th place. Also a little bit uncertain that pound for pound it is better than the White Album (again NME readers, what are you thinking?)”
“Although we’re not sure if even NME readers can really believe that the Arctic Monkeys album is better than Revolver, which came in at 9th place. Also a little bit uncertain that pound for pound it is better than the White Album (again NME readers, what are you thinking?)”
Letter from London – February 2006
Well, well, well, doesn’t time fly? Hope you had a great Christmas and New Year, and that January has been kind (also that you’ve enjoyed celebrating the most eagerly awaited payday in the whole calendar).
It’s not very original but there is only band on every Londoner’s lips at the moment. We tried hard to resist, especially after hearing Chris Martin describe them as “incredible” on TV recently, but for what it is worth here is our little exposition (to goes with everybody else’s) on the Arctic Monkeys.
It has been a week when two major musical events intertwined in Letter from London‘s world. The Arctic Monkey’s album stripped through the charts like Agent Orange and we also caught Luke Haines in Islington. We felt a surge of patriotic pride as a whole series of interconnecting thoughts on Englishness and the song writing tradition moved determinedly through our minds. The theme for the next Letter from London was born – and looking good – until we noticed that the NME had decided to write up the 100 best British albums (what is it with journalists and lists?)
We appreciate you probably hate us now – something so unoriginal that even the kids at the NME got in before us – but here it is anyway. Luke Haines was great. No youngsters were in the crowd, although we did spot the Rakes guitarist looking very fetching in a big polo necked jumper. Luke came on stage, looking a little saggier and with less hair than you might remember him from the Auteurs – in fact he looked a little like Simon Pegg from “Shaun of the Dead.”
He started with three art related songs, in one of which he elaborated in quite graphic detail on how he would like to shoot famous YBA artist Sarah Lucas. It’s not everyday you hear a man sing songs with a cast of characters including (in no particular order) Lazarus, Oswald Mosley, the Mitford Sisters, the Yorkshire Ripper, the Rubettes, the Chapman Brothers, Leeds United and of course, Lenny Valentino. He even found time for a song telling us that Gary Glitter has given the Glitter Band a bad reputation. An English eccentric with a penchant for catchy pop songs which ranged from delicate to loud but all underpinned with sharp, clever, literate and socio-politically aware lyrics…which is where the Arctic Monkeys come in really.
The latest band to take up the crown of Britpop kings – something which Uncut says (rather unequivocally we might add) can trace its line of descent right back to Face to Face by the Kinks in 1966.
Part of us can see why all the fuss about the Arctic Monkeys – they do tick a lot of boxes: young, full of attitude, signed to a trendy label, something to say (and the intelligence to convey those things) and some nice tunes. Another part just thinks give them a break. It is a good album but don’t saddle them with being the new Oasis after just two singles.
NME readers in their wisdom decided that Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not is the 5th best British album ever made. That’s right ever made – up there with the Sex Pistols, the Smiths, Oasis and the Stone Roses. And that’s just in the first week of its launch. Although we’re not sure if even NME readers can really believe that the Arctic Monkeys album is better than Revolver, which came in at 9th place. Also a little bit uncertain that pound for pound it is better than the White Album (again NME readers, what are you thinking?). We appreciate that there is a certain impatient disappointment that nobody has toppled the Beatles in 40 years…but that’s just the way it is.
One might be forgiven for thinking that the NME should settle down and stop hyping bands to death – after all look what it did for the Strokes, the Beta Band and the Vines, amongst others.
Why not let a band of young men (they are still teenagers for crying out loud) develop and grow at their own pace. OK – we’re not naïve, we know that music like everything else is a business all about shifting the most units in the least amount of time.
That said, the most interesting bands of recent times have all produced more consistent work over a number of albums, when just left alone to get on with it – The Coral, Super Furry Animals, Belle & Sebastian, the White Stripes etc etc.
So anyway, back to the album. You’ll all have heard the story by now, on the jungle drums if you’ll allow me a monkey bon mot: the fastest selling debut album in chart history, beating previous record holder, Hear’Say. A bunch of monkeys beating Hear’Say, now that is a mental image to conjure with.
But are the Arctic Monkeys wearing the Emperor’s new clothes? The answer is no and it certainly has got the potential to be an Incendiary favourite. Of course the answer is that it is somewhere in-between – can we say very good without sounding too wishy-washy? Probably not the 5th best British album ever made but it is unlikely you’ll hear too many better albums this year.
It is packed with energetic punk attitude, with some seriously catchy songs. But that wasn’t what struck us most – that was the witty, smart and self aware lyrics which sparkle with popular culture references and phrases only heard in Northern England. OK – they don’t go much further than the concerns of most British teenagers – drinking, mobile phones, nights out on the town and the opposite sex – but hats off to a clever chronicle of everyday life. Kind of like The Streets, but with more guitars, and just a little fewer Reebok Classics on the feet of their gig goers.
The influences don’t take much working out – Jam, Clash, Oasis and the Smiths but at least they have done something a little different with it all. There isn’t a single song that sounds like Joy Division, unlike most of their peers. There is a parallel with Morrissey but a grittier, less poetic, rougher edged Morrissey – like he would have been if he had drunk Stella in pubs by railway stations, instead of sitting home watching “A Taste of Honey.”
http://www.arcticmonkeys.com/lyrics.htm
So respect is due – a quirky brand of typically British music is always to be applauded, especially if it tries something new. Anyone who can rhyme “scary one” with “totalitarian” when talking about club bouncers deserves some credit. Ditto for anyone in an interview who states, “We’ve never set out to be like Coldplay!”
Not many bands go from virtual obscurity to hit the big time overnight, so good luck to them. Jarvis Cocker came up with another reason for wishing them well – the band has created something naturally without seeming to try, making it impossible for the music industry to emulate (read bleed to death) their formula for success.
Seeing Luke Haines and hearing Arctic Monkeys got us thinking that this is exactly the place where we should be mentioning Pete Doherty and his contribution to the great British song writing tradition so admired all around the world. If only he would concentrate more on music and less on helping the Metropolitan Police meet their monthly arrest targets…
Words: John Cottrill.