"Love's Not Only Blind, But Deaf"
Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
In a music world dominated by Joy Division wannabe’s, Talking Heads sound-a-likes, Coldplay copycats, and Robert Smith rip-offs, listening to Arctic Monkeys is like biting into a Peppermint Patty!
REFRESHING!
Not that Arctic Monkeys don’t have their influences as well… They sound like a Who’s Who of England’s past: Sex Pistols, Blur, The Clash, The Jam, Oasis, The Police, David Bowie, Franz Ferdinand, Shed Seven… the list goes on...
And then there are those influences we’d rather not accept, such as System of a Down and Queens of the Stone Age.
Heh. Well, we all have our faults.
Nevertheless, the debut album from these four Northern English lads rocks!
Raucous, garage-y, punky sing-a-longs dominate the album, (I bet you look good on the dancefloor, The View From Here) but the band show they have an ear for melody, (A Certain Romance, Mardy Bum) and surprising depth as well (Riot Van, When The Sun Goes Down).
What really makes Arctic Monkeys stand out however, are the lyrics. Singer Alex Turner admits to being a hip-hop fan, and the words spew out like machine gun bullets. The tales of life on the gritty streets of Northern England are insightful and real, with the wit of Morrissey and Jarvis Cocker thrown in for good measure.
Perhaps the best line of the album can be heard in Fake Tales of San Francisco when Turner sings about a crap band: “Yeah, but his bird thinks it amazing, though, so all that’s left is the proof, that love’s not only blind, but deaf!”
The album was recently voted by NME readers as one of the ten best English albums of all time… I wouldn’t go that far, but they certainly live up to the initial hype…
and you get the feeling that their best is still yet to come.
RIYL: Blur. The Sex Pistols, Oasis, Strokes, The Clash, The Jam, Franz Ferdinand, Shed Seven, The Police, David Bowie
(Reviewed for KSCU)
In a music world dominated by Joy Division wannabe’s, Talking Heads sound-a-likes, Coldplay copycats, and Robert Smith rip-offs, listening to Arctic Monkeys is like biting into a Peppermint Patty!
REFRESHING!
Not that Arctic Monkeys don’t have their influences as well… They sound like a Who’s Who of England’s past: Sex Pistols, Blur, The Clash, The Jam, Oasis, The Police, David Bowie, Franz Ferdinand, Shed Seven… the list goes on...
And then there are those influences we’d rather not accept, such as System of a Down and Queens of the Stone Age.
Heh. Well, we all have our faults.
Nevertheless, the debut album from these four Northern English lads rocks!
Raucous, garage-y, punky sing-a-longs dominate the album, (I bet you look good on the dancefloor, The View From Here) but the band show they have an ear for melody, (A Certain Romance, Mardy Bum) and surprising depth as well (Riot Van, When The Sun Goes Down).
What really makes Arctic Monkeys stand out however, are the lyrics. Singer Alex Turner admits to being a hip-hop fan, and the words spew out like machine gun bullets. The tales of life on the gritty streets of Northern England are insightful and real, with the wit of Morrissey and Jarvis Cocker thrown in for good measure.
Perhaps the best line of the album can be heard in Fake Tales of San Francisco when Turner sings about a crap band: “Yeah, but his bird thinks it amazing, though, so all that’s left is the proof, that love’s not only blind, but deaf!”
The album was recently voted by NME readers as one of the ten best English albums of all time… I wouldn’t go that far, but they certainly live up to the initial hype…
and you get the feeling that their best is still yet to come.
RIYL: Blur. The Sex Pistols, Oasis, Strokes, The Clash, The Jam, Franz Ferdinand, Shed Seven, The Police, David Bowie
(Reviewed for KSCU)
posted by Michael Charming at 10:35 AM
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