The Severed Cortex

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Favourite-Worst-Nightmare-Arctic-Monkeys/dp/B000NQR7NO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1514635-5264950?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1185130352&sr=8-1

I hate these guys.

No one should be able to pick up instruments, bang out some tunes, and suddenly become the fastest selling group in England since the Beatles. Yes, that's right. They outsold the Beatles. In England. Is that even fair?

So how did they do that? Well, first you need the internet. But, eventually someone was going to stumble on to these guys so that only speeded up the inevitable.
Mostly, Arctic Monkeys sing in a strong English working class accent about, you guessed it, the English working class. What a novel concept; appeal to the largest subset of people. Wasn't there someone else who did that? Oh yeah, The Sex Pistols and The Clash. Plus, that's pretty much that's the formula for all the crappy pop music you hear on the radio isn't it? That's not the market that Arctic Monkeys are shooting for. Instead, they're aiming for the indie pop crowd and they've managed to whollop them in the head with a cricket bat.

I managed to stay away from their much hyped first release from last year, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. Not that I didn't toy with buying it. I came this close about a half dozen times. But, I never pulled the trigger because all the songs kind of sounded the same. Yeah, I know. That's a lame excuse because I listen to a lot of bands that have same sounding songs. Rush has made a career of it.
But Favourite Worst Nightmare does not all sound the same. Working class stiffs may be the central theme to all songs, but they do some variations on the English rock thing this time. At least to me. I suspect that I'll wind up buying their debut release though. Probably in the next week or so.

The simple fact is that I'm jealous that these guys have dialed in the formula needed to become successful in pop music.

• Step 1: Play anything
• Step 2: Play it like you mean it
• Step 3: Generate a lot of hype.

It helps if you play something different than everyone else for Step 1. You absolutely cannot fake Step 2. And, to get schmucks like me to buy into it, you need a fair amount of Step 3.

Which leads me to my main gripe about Arctic Monkeys. Everyone says that they are the poster children for the Do It Yourself crowd, undisputedly the changing face of how music is produced today. However, you can't tell me that a couple of working class stiffs from Sheffield have figured out how to create all this commercial success. Someone professional has to be pulling the strings behind the scenes. If I'm wrong, Arctic Monkeys will be around a long time and they'll bring a lot of bands to the table in the future. I hope that's the case, but I suspect someone corporate is unfortunately behind all this.

It doesn't make me like Arctic Monkeys any less. Well, maybe a little, but I can't deny that this is a pretty good album. I can see where it would appeal to your average bloke down at the pub. Which I suppose translated to American English would be me.
This release starts out pretty strong but kind of dies towards the end. The lyrics remain strong throughout, but it's the piss and vinegar playing that really defines Arctic Monkeys. Most of that shines through in the first 2/3 of the album. Grab any one of those. I tend to like Do Me A Favour which has more of an English Beat feel to it along with This House Is A Circus which kind of sounds a little like a very tame Fishbone with a pinch of Madness thrown in.

Oh, plus I learned what a balaclava is.