"Their early stuff was their best, so why bother?" or Since when have growth and progress become something to scoff at? (also, new font!!)

WARNING: Fucking Long Post Up Ahead (probably longer than The Dark Knight post, as well...heh, who would've figured, right?)

I'm going to skip the usual filler that precedes my first post in a long time, seeing as it would probably get repetitive by now to reflect on the reasons for why I haven't written something in quite a while. Suffice to say, real-life commitments take precedence over a goddamn blog (no matter how dear it and its readers are to me). Also, holy shit, I haven't written anything in like half a year. Since Christmas, actually.


Now, if you've not been living under a rock for the past month or so, you're likely aware of the fact that Arctic Monkeys (a contemporary British rock band for our stone-dwelling friends) have released a new single, called "Do I Wanna Know?". And by God, it's fucking awesome! The song had been premiered during one of their live shows this year, some two or three months back I believe, and being the ardent AM (which btw, is the title of their next album, their 5th, to be released in September) fan that I am, I was of course not patiently looking forward to a studio version of the song. You can probably imagine that I went bonkers once I had found out that the song had finally been officially released. The song is just pure sex, plain and simple. Probably one of the first things that crossed my mind after listening to it for about five times was "hot damn, I could definitely see some pretty ladies getting naked to this" - this latter impression was probably also brought upon by the not-so-subtle video accompanying the song (here's a link btw, for those of you who weren't compelled to look for it by themselves after hearing the words 'ladies' and 'naked' in the same phrase: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpOSxM0rNPM).

The song is, for me (as an avid Queens of the Stone Age fan, also), a bit like the love child of "Go With The Flow" and "Make It Wit Chu". But I digress - you can probably figure out the reasoning behind my view, if you're familiar with both this latest AM song, as well as the two aforementioned QOTSA songs. Beyond the rather superficial reasons I have for liking the song, there are of course the great instrumental and vocals. Those guitar riffs that accompany the chorus are just like the epitome of badass and sexy at the same time. It's even better with practically all of the band members (save Jamie Cook, as far as I can hear) joining in on the vocal side of things. Alex Turner's voice is still the one that shines through of course (he is the goddamn vocalist of the band, after all), but it's obvious that having Matt Helders and Nick O'Malley singing backing vocals on this song works a treat. The lyrics themselves aren't the most profound you'll find, but they don't need to be when they have the kind of vocal/instrumental backdrop that they do. I do like the meta-reference in one of the lyrics - "'Cause there's this tune I've found that makes me think of you somehow and I play it on repeat". Alex Turner can apparently predict the future, the sly bastard. So it's pretty clear what the song's lyrics are about and I do like that some of the band's more recent songs seem to be about the inevitability of a man falling for a woman and the things that make that happen ("The Blond-O-Sonic Shimmer Trap" comes to mind in this sense, as well). This is, of course, not rendered in a way akin to, say, a certain pop singer whose surname happens to be the name of a planet and whose lack of testicles is painfully obvious. But, I digress...again. What I mean to say is that this homage to the innate female ability of twisting a man's mind, of delving deep into his psyche and replacing almost all rational thought with...well, you know with what, has always been one of the staples of rock 'n' roll music. At least to me. I honestly feel that bitching guitar riffs and guitar moans provide the perfect backdrop for this sort of homage - I think there's this sort of kinship at a primeval and visceral level between the sounds produced by an electric guitar and the chemistry that goes on between a man and a woman. In simpler and less ambiguous terms (because by now, you're probably thinking 'What the fuck is he saying?'), rock songs provide the perfect platform for talking about the inner-workings of attraction. Not sex, attraction. I mean, sure, there are a lot of rock songs about sex, but you know...let's leave a little bit to the imagination, shall we?

And I've now realised that I've gone way off course with this post. Suffice to say that I think that "Do I Wanna Know?" is another AM song (part of a growing list at that) that proves just how much the boys have matured and improved as musicians over the years and through the release of their albums. What's interesting about Arctic Monkeys albums, is that you can't really say that any two of them are really similar. I mean, sure, "Favourite Worst Nightmare" has way more in common with "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" than "Suck It See", and the latter will most certainly have more in common with "AM" than with the first two. And god knows when they'll release something similar to "Humbug" again. The point is, they're all Arctic Monkeys records, in different ways. You've also got the constants of their music - Turner's unique style of writing/singing, not to mention the distinctive Sheffield accent, which he's never actually lost, despite claims that they've slowly gone 'American' on us; you have Helder's awesome work behind the drums and Nick's always sound and solid bass work; Jamie is, I suppose, the most discreet among them, but there are many who look at him as something akin to the band's secret weapon. There's also this unique sound in their guitars, I can't quite pin down (although I'll try and fail miserably), more like a nuance than anything else - it's probably got something to do with the instruments themselves and how they have them set up or something, but I'm by no means an expert in the field (if you couldn't tell from the 'scientific' way I was talking about these aspects), so I can't be sure. It is notable to me, that that particular nuance in their guitar work is present throughout most everything they've done, including their most recent work, which is more heavy-sounding and more refined. But for me, it's always been there and will probably never go away.


So you're probably wondering by now, what is the point of this post, apart from a justification of my fanboyism towards this band. It's got to do with a rather tiresome trend I've noticed, when it comes to their new releases. You always have a few people who claim things like 'nothing can surpass their first and/or second album' or 'I miss the OLD AM' and things like that. And look, I can understand that some people prefer only a part of their discography for various reasons (including nostalgia) and that's fine, it's got to do with subjectivity. But I don't really think that it's fair to objectively claim that their early stuff is better than their new stuff...I mean, come on. Like I said earlier, I understand the preference, but their evolution from dancey songs about nights out in clubs to singing about the inner-workings of attraction is clearly progress. I mean, even if you don't perceive the latter aspect as I do, on the technical side of things, it's clear they've grown immensely - from a garagey, rather all over the place sound at their beginnings, to a much more crisp and refined heavy rock sound at present. And it's not like this gradual evolution didn't start from "FWN" anyway. Just listen to some of the tracks on their EP's during that period ("Bad Woman", "What If You Were Right First Time?", not to mention "Brianstorm" on the aforementioned LP proper). I swear, if you'd take it from some people, you'd think that they should have just carried on with the style and themes of their first albums, progress and evolution as musicians be damned. 


I mean, since when have the two latter concepts suddenly become associated with something negative? Again, if you don't enjoy the direction they've taken, it's fine, but when I hear things like 'They should have given up after their first album' it just boggles my mind. Newsflash, people! This is a band that's always willing to try out something new, while retaining what makes them unique. It would've been easy for them to just churn out WPSIATWIN's or FWN's one after the other, essentially doing it for the money/selling their souls to the devil. But they didn't, they've tried something new with each album, basically re-inventing themselves constantly. I can't help but respect and admire that. And you know what? It's not like the changes occurred over night - remember, it's been 7 goddamn years since their first album. Their growth has been a very natural and organic process. It's also coincided with them maturing into men. So again, it shouldn't be a surprise to absolutely anybody who's actually followed the band throughout the years. I also think it's not really fair to judge a new release based on the merits of previous releases - I think it's a sign of close-mindedness and of being "blinded by nostalgia" (to borrow a phrase from Turner) to be disappointed by something new because it's not akin to something old. I mean, sure, be disappointed by it, but judge it on its own goddamn merits. This is why I can understand why so many people were turned off by "Humbug", their third studio album - it's clear that they were at their most 'experimentally' when making that album. I personally like it, it's wacky, it's different, it's them pushing their musical abilities to the limits. It's probably my favourite of their releases for precisely the latter reasons and I think I also cherish it more because it's probably going to be a while before they release something like that again. But I do appreciate that people who don't like it generally base their reasons for their dislike on the merits of the album itself and not those of its predecessors.


Poor "Suck It And See", itself an organic and pretty balanced culmination of their three previous efforts, almost always gets derided for distancing itself too much from the two first releases. I mean, sure, it's not a perfect album by any means and it's got a bit too many ballads on it for my taste, but their growth, progress and coming of age as musicians comes through very clearly, both through Turner's lyrics (in songs such as "Love Is A Laserquest" and "Piledriver Waltz") and through the crisp and refined nature of the guitar work ("Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair" is an excellent example, in this sense). Songs such as "R U Mine?", "You and I" (feat. Richard Hawley) and now "Do I Wanna Know?" serve to consolidate the fact that they've really become a fully-fledged rock band by now. And I suspect AM will do much the same. Also, if you're still delusional and under the impression that Alex Turner himself has somehow claimed that their first two releases were their best, listen to this interview with the man himself and come back to earth, for fuck's sake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfwa6_72GeY.


Alright, so in hindsight, I probably should have added a "fucking long post" tag to this baby (*proceeds to do so*). I suspect I shouldn't be surprised that Arctic Monkeys are probably one of the few subjects that can trigger more prolific writing than The Dark Knight/Batman, seeing as they're practically my favourite band. The longness of this post also probably has to do with the change in font, but I digress (I really need to stop abusing that phrase). Speaking of Batman-related posts, they'll be making their return soon enough - I just need to see the TDK trilogy in its entirety again, so I can gather up my thoughts and musings. There's really no other way of ending this post than with this: Revel in the badass/sexy melange of that guitar work (you know you want to).