All aboard…the Arctic Monkeys bandwagon…
Well, I’d read the interview, smelt the hype and heard just how huge they were going to be. But to be honest, I thought it was going to be just a gang of noisy Northerners…another Futureheads: nice idea, but not very practical.
Still - ever fearful of missing out on a fad, I downloaded the new EP(iTunes/ Karmadownload) and it’s the most fun I’ve had in months. The hype is almost entirely justified.
Yes, it really is the lyrical goodness of The Streets with the jagged guitar of - well, just about everyone these days. Above all, it’s ultra-listenable. Good news for normal people, not just music hacks in search of something new. (I’ll discuss the Animal Collective later)
‘I Bet you look good on a dancefloor’ has slipped alongside The Killers Somebody Told me as my favourite song about dancefloors this year. Obviously it makes me feel as old as Methuselah when they go: ‘I bet you look good on a dancefloor, dancing to electropop, like a robot from 1984, 1984!’ (or something like that) and then you realise that to them 1984 is pre-history , while to you, it seems like only yesterday you were slipping on your double breasted shirt, getting your mum to put on your mascara and heading out to show off your latest moves at Cagneys…errr..I’ll stop there.
The ‘b side’ (I dont’ know if that term’s still relevant on a digital release, but there you go) of Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts is one of the funniest songs I’ve heard in years - a painful tale of being at school and losing your girlfriend to a guy with a car. “They’ve got engaged/No intention of a wedding/He’s pinched your bird/And he’d probably kick your head in ” (full lyrics). Takes you back to a time when frankly that’s all there was to worry about.
Enjoy…I’m sure you will.