Favourite Worst Nightmare
Arctic Monkeys first gained broad attention as a MySpace phenomenon, but with their debut album *Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not*, the High Green, Sheffield, band’s leaping rock and frontman Alex Turner’s biting observations of city life helped them become one of England’s biggest acts. On their second full-length, *Favourite Worst Nightmare*, they widen their sense of dynamics — “Balaclava” has a breakdown that suggests a love of War’s Latin-soul classic “Low Rider” — as Turner paints, this time more sourly, on a larger canvas. He seems to note his critics on “Teddy Picker” (“Who’d want to be a man of the people when there’s people like you?”), while “The Bad Thing” is a vignette of attempted seduction by a lady of means. What’s next? Who knows, but Turner’s general mood suggests that of Damon Albarn before he decided that Blur wasn’t allowing him to say everything he wanted.
Sheffield band follows its record-breaking debut with another assured album that seems to glimpse the possibility of greatness even when it fails to attain it.
Recording a disappointing follow-up to a thrilling debut is a British tradition as reliable as the changing of the guard. This year has already seen bummer sophomore efforts from Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party—and one from Art Brut is on the horizon, sorry to say. So whether the much-hyped Arctic Monkeys know it or not,…
The Arctic Monkeys' second album is the most anticipated record since ‘Second Coming’. And it’s absolutely massive.
You have to give credit to the Arctic Monkeys. It would have been so easy for them to rehash the themes of the debut, especially with all of the pressure put on them with the incredible praise that met them on its release. As good as Whatever People Say…
Check out our album review of Artist's Favourite Worst Nightmare on Rolling Stone.com.
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It's that time once again. So get on your dancing shoes, you sexy little Arctic Monkeys fan