Say What You Want, the Arctic Monkeys Are What They Are

Perhaps a better title for British indie-punk critical darlings Arctic Monkeys’ second album would have been, Whatever People Said I Was, That’s What I’m Responding To. After setting sales records in 2006 for the fastest selling debut album in the history of the UK’s music charts with their Mercury Prize-winning debut, the group immediately found themselves under both the global indie-rock and mainstream media’s magnifying glass. As the hype machine stuttered on, singer/guitarist Alex Turner (now age 21) kept tight-lipped about his personal life in interviews kind of like a deer in headlights. Given his silence, it makes sense that he poured his thoughts into the lyrics for their follow-up album, Favourite Worst Nightmare (let’s overlook the quartet’s myriad singles and EPs).

Amidst the mid-tempo, jagged squonk of the tabloid-condemning “Teddy Picker,” Turner asks, “Do you reckon that they make them take an oath that says that we are defenders of any poseur or professional pretender around?” Maybe he’s tired of the (friendly) accusations that he and his band ripped off “the best bits of Franz Ferdinand and the Strokes,” as Time put it, or the New York Times’ suggestion that their songs were about “mixed-up kids.” If so, he’s hyper-reacting. Frankly, his band sounds a bit more like the Buzzcocks and Wire than any contemporary peers, but with more surf/007 guitargasms this time, and if mixed-up kids are helping his band set records, should he be so concerned? Well, maybe a little.

Although Favourite Worst Nightmare is a refreshing, fun and all-too-short collection of mostly upbeat, danceable rock numbers (that’s easily better than some of their contemporaries’ latest records), it’s almost impossible for it to live up to the expectations inspired by its predecessor. Sometimes it seems Turner has written his lyrics like Mad Libs, rhyming “load,” “old” and “cold” over and over on “Do Me a Favour.” But, at the same time, for a band of 21- and 22-year-olds that just want to have fun, it’s not like they’re trying to follow up “Ode to Joy.”

Since this is the only place where Turner seems to freely express himself, it’s also fun to see what glimpses we can of who he really is. Both “Balaclava” and “Fluorescent Adolescent” reveal his passion for guilt-free, indiscriminate sex, and on “Only Ones Who Know,” he almost tragically opines, “True romance can’t be achieved these days.” In the end, and probably working against Turner’s intentions, it’s an exciting yet deeply nuanced album that will probably just lead to even more media inquiries and speculation. But for now, he can answer those questions on their next record.

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