Album of the Week#2:"Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" by Arctic Monkeys

John

The talk of the town at the moment. The best thing since sliced bread or the latest hip band that will be forgotten this time next year?

honru

I've only seen the Dancefloor song on the telly in little bits, so I'll give 'em a listen now.

EDIT: They're only alright, same kind of choppy Libertines stuff that's teaming out of the UK at the mo'. Not very interesting then. Not too fond of the singer either. Could be worse though.

dalk

Have to say that i'm pretty undewhelmed by them for the most part.

Anyone else think they are gonna be the next Oasis, in terms of popularity, in the UK?

It was some wave of hype that they surfed in on though...

hoody

They don't have a bad song.

Listen to "A Certain Romance" - they'll be around forever if they keep writing stuff as good as that.

Ruskie4Rent

dalk wrote:

Have to say that i'm pretty undewhelmed by them for the most part.

Anyone else think they are gonna be the next Oasis, in terms of popularity, in the UK?

It was some wave of hype that they surfed in on though...

It's apparantly on it's way to beating Hear'Say as the the fastest selling debut album in record history. So they are already pretty popular and I can't imagine they could fall as hard as Hear'Say did. I can't remember any band being hyped so much, it has gone a tad too far but I can't deny the quality of the band.

JC 2K3

They're not terrible, but undeserving of the amount of hype they're getting. IMO they sound like a MOR amateur rock band, most of their songs are far too short and nothing stands out as being brilliant. With all that said, you can't really fault them for doing what they do, I'd say they'll be forgotten in a year, they're just the latest overhyped, overrated and underachieving fad.

odhran

I've only heard some of their songs, and so far I'd have to say that they're ok, but not great. I'm not at all crazy about the singer either.

Ruskie4Rent

JC 2K3 wrote:

They're not terrible, but undeserving of the amount of hype they're getting. IMO they sound like a MOR amateur rock band, most of their songs are far too short and nothing stands out as being brilliant. With all that said, you can't really fault them for doing what they do, I'd say they'll be forgotten in a year, they're just the latest overhyped, overrated and underachieving fad.

I just have too quote you so you can remember how wrong you were when this gets thrown in your face. I'm only messin but i'm gettin annoyed about some of the pesimistic opinions about this band on the boards.

John

I bought the album today. I have not heard any of their songs before. I have to say I was impressed. The singer kind of reminds me of Mark E. Smith which is a very good thing. I've only listened to the album once so my opinion is not yet final but I like them so far. They're far rockier then I was expecting (I was expecting something more MOR like Oasis). They seem to kick a little bit of life into this genre of bands who sound like bands that came out in the 80s.

JC 2K3

Ruskie4Rent wrote:

I just have too quote you so you can remember how wrong you were when this gets thrown in your face. I'm only messin but i'm gettin annoyed about some of the pesimistic opinions about this band on the boards.

An opinion's an opinion, their album isn't groundbreaking or anything, it's just a few radio-orientated average rock songs, better than a lot of stuff out there, but what's out there is generally not good, so that's not much of an achievement. And you can't deny the overhyping, I mean they got so much publicity over one single that was less than 2 minutes long, it's not a bad song, but it ends before it gets started. It was a no.1 in bizarre circumstances and it's a nice story of how they became popular through the internet, but I'm afraid it's the music, and not a band's history that appeals to me.

radiospan

I haven't heard this album yet, but from what I've heard ("Dancefloor", "Scummy", and "Bigger Boys"), they remind me more of The Streets than Oasis. In style, anyway.

Bungalow Bill

Personally I think the album is amazing. Its rare that you hear that kind of spirit in a band. The lyrics are witty and songs are terrific.

In england more so than here they have really captured the essence of the youth culture in much the same way that Definitely maybe did.

For a band that have never been on TOTP or anything, and also a band that basically gave away their album in demo form before its release I think it is a phenomenal achievement the amount of albums they have sold. Fair play indeed.

digitalninja

brilliant album, i just wish the media wouldn't hype them so much, turns people off them...
Went to their gig last night, they were fantastic.

Jonny Arson

digitalninja wrote:

i just wish the media wouldn't hype them so much, turns people off them...

They even got a slot on BBC 10 o'clock news last night! TBH a primetime news report on a band would be hype unless they've sold 100,000 copies of their debut album on it's first day..... oh wait!

They're here for the long run whether you like them or not.

John

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

They're here for the long run whether you like them or not.

I don't know about that. I like the album and all but it could go either way from here. The danger with them being so overhyped is that people will get sick of them because they are going to be overplayed and name dropped left, right and centre. I think to cement any chances of lasting success they need to get new material out quickly, an EP in a few months would do the trick. If they leave it for one or two years and bring out an album, chances are most people won't care.

radioman

Okay, first listen to the album (apart from the two singles which I've heard a lot on radio). I don't see what all of the fuss is about. It's a decent album, some good tunes. The strongest tracks are the two singles and "A Certain Romance". However it's by no means groundbreaking or life changing. The sound is very Libertines-esque, which may be a reason why some people are jumping onto this particular musical bandwagon, grasping at straws after the letdown of Babyshambles new stuff and the drying up of Libertines stuff.

They do however seem to have a certain maturity which belies their age and which may make them stand out above some of the British guitar music at the moment. Some of the best moments on the album come from the drummer, some of the drumming on this album is amazing and a lot different to what you hear from run of the mill guitar bands.

I'd give this album maybe a 7 out of 10, I think Arctic Monkeys will do well to fill the hypemongers pages for another couple of months until another, better band comes along.

RAUL DUKE

Without doubt my favourate album since definitly maybe..Cant get enough of this band,it seems the "in" thing to slag them off over the hype an all but at the end of the day the "hype" is down to the likes of the nme and suchother mags..The boys flatly refuse to do any tv interviews or totp,cd-uk etc and now even the brits,were as any other band in the world would be trippin over themselves to get exposure like this..For a band made up of three 19 year olds and a 20 year old they seem to be keeping their feet firmly on the ground and are chosing not to believe their own hype which can only be a good thing..Fair enough if its not your thing but dont write them off as pure hype when they've sold 200,000 copies of their album so far and had 2 consecutive no1's(which for a rock band is pretty rare these days)The most amazing thing is that so many people have had the old demos and stuff for months yet they're still sellin more albums than the rest of the artists in the top 30 COMBINED!!..The gig in the ambassador tues nite confirmed to me that this band will be around for a long time to come..

Jonny Arson

John2 wrote:

The danger with them being so overhyped is that people will get sick of them because they are going to be overplayed and name dropped left, right and centre. I think to cement any chances of lasting success they need to get new material out quickly, an EP in a few months would do the trick. If they leave it for one or two years and bring out an album, chances are most people won't care.

I disagree. Firstly as long as they don't prostitute themselves like Kaiser Chiefs have over the last months then people won't get sick of them. They stuck their middle finger up at a Brit Awards performance offer so I think thats further proof if they are going to be in anyone's faces it won't be down to them attention whoring, it will be down to the radio stations and the public wanting and having an interest in them. Their music has more substance than any other British indie/rock band of late and people are relating to their music like no other band for many a year (this weeks album sales prove that) For example - did people get sick of Oasis immediately after Definitely Maybe was released? I think their success from 1995/1996 proves otherwise. Also they already have some new material so you can expect a follow up in 2007 but to release anything new this year would be rushed (the vast majority of bands take 2-3 years to follow up albums these days)

radioman wrote:

The sound is very Libertines-esque, which may be a reason why some people are jumping onto this particular musical bandwagon, grasping at straws after the letdown of Babyshambles new stuff and the drying up of Libertines stuff.

I can tell you for a fact The Libertines or Babyshambles never ever sold the amount of albums or singles in the period of time Arctic Monkeys have so something tells me it's more than Libertines fans buying thier records!

So you think people are buying their album not to listen to the music but to just to be ''cool''. Jesus Christ that's a narrow minded statement if their ever was one. People buy music because they like it and it gets their juices flowing, not because they can hop on a bandwagon. Since I'm a Libertines fan I must be one hell of a bandwagon jumper since I only got into Arctic Monkeys when no one heard of them 6 months ago and I was hopping on that massive bandwagon infront of a couple hundred when they played Whelans last August! :rolleyes: (I think the vast majority of their fans can same the same thing)

Slash/ED

I haven't heard their album but I've heard alot of the songs on it by now, I'll reserve judgement until I hear the album for so far I reckon they're a decent band who write very listenable to music, but there's nothing special or groundbreaking there. They aren't spectacular, but they're good and catchy enough, I'll probably get the album at some stage. So they're not deserving of the hype at all, but nor are they deserving of being completley written off, the truth is they're a fairly decent not too groundbreaking (but you don't have to be groundbreaking) band with some catchy tunes.

John

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

Also they already have some new material so you can expect a follow up in 2007 but to release anything new this year would be rushed (the vast majority of bands take 2-3 years to follow up albums these days)

If they're good at writing songs then they won't sound rushed. I'm just interested to see if this album is a once off for them or if they've more good stuff left in them. It just seems to me that this album is full of the fire of their youth and that if they leave it too long it might be only a glow. It's happened to many bands. And in this day and age, 2-3 years is a long time for the goldfish memory public.

RAUL DUKE

I really think the nme are going WAY overboard on them lately,i love the AM's but to stick them in 5th place in the top 100 british albums already is crazy,they are in large extent to blame for the overhype thats surroundin this band and i'd imagine the lads are just plain embarrased by the whole thing..I think it speaks volumes for them by turning the brits down,like zane says they're not media whores and never will be..I remember reading about their first tv interview for popworld last year when they said they hated it so much they swore they'd never do the likes again...

Slash/ED

RAUL DUKE wrote:

I really think the nme are going WAY overboard on them lately,i love the AM's but to stick them in 5th place in the top 100 british albums already is crazy

That's just taking the píss

RAUL DUKE

Its makin it so much harder for them!The nme are notorious for doin this with bands though.But i've never seen anything to this extent...Hopefully it'll die down over the next few weeks once the albums been out a while..

dalk

[QUOTE="Zane from MTV2
"]Since I'm a Libertines fan I must be one hell of a bandwagon jumper since I only got into Arctic Monkeys when no one heard of them 6 months ago and I was hopping on that massive bandwagon infront of a couple hundred when they played Whelans last August![/QUOTE]

You should get one of those "I Heard Arcade Fire before you" t-shirts.

Then all you would have to do is put a sticker over "ade Fire" and replace with "tic Monkeys".

wayfarer

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

...I only got into Arctic Monkeys when no one heard of them 6 months ago and I was hopping on that massive bandwagon infront of a couple hundred when they played Whelans last August! :rolleyes: (I think the vast majority of their fans can same the same thing)

Is it just me or was that a massive contradiction!

Ruskie4Rent

I heard of them in 1986 right at the beginning so i'm better than you!!!!!!:p

comet

No band could take this amount of hype without suffering for it. The crowd at the ambassador earlier this week were like a swarm of frenzied pirana fish baited and driven into high emotion by a combination of love for the music and probably more so by the hype machine. Yeah its a pretty good album, at times it veers too close The Streets lyrically for my liking. The music is good and the lyrics are clever, if i'm honest though I can't see myself burning this cd out and infact i can think of a lot of other albums i'd prefer listen to.

radioman

radioman wrote:

The sound is very Libertines-esque, which may be a reason why some people are jumping onto this particular musical bandwagon, grasping at straws after the letdown of Babyshambles new stuff and the drying up of Libertines stuff.

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

something tells me it's more than Libertines fans buying thier records!

please note my use of the word 'some'

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

So you think people are buying their album not to listen to the music but to just to be ''cool''. Jesus Christ that's a narrow minded statement if their ever was one. People buy music because they like it and it gets their juices flowing, not because they can hop on a bandwagon.

Thankfully that's true for most people. But there are a hell of a lot of people who 'get into' whatever band NME are currently piggybacking. It's not a narrow minded statement, it's a factual one. I know quite a few of them, it's the 'I was into Arcade Fire before you' phenonemon.

wayfarer wrote:

Is it just me or was that a massive contradiction!

my sentiments exactly

honru

Awarding an album fifth best British album that's barely a week old is just ridiculous. You have to recheck the album a year or two later to see if it'll stand the test of time, not proclaim its "greatness" after four or five listenings.

This is NME we're talking about though.

John

You can't spell enemy with N, M and E.

Jimmy_Jazz

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

For example - did people get sick of Oasis immediately after Definitely Maybe was released?

No they didn't, but that's because they did exactly what John2 said the Arctic Monkeys should. They released an EP (Whatever) only a couple of months after the album. The second album was then released another few months later. 2-3 years is a long time between albums, so unless the Arctic Monkeys release something later this year or very early next year (which I think they will), they'll be forgotten about.
Remember the hype surrounding that band... what were they called again... ah, yes.
The Darkness?

mise_me_fein_V2

I got the album last weekend and I have listened to it once and some of the songs I like more than once.

I like it a lot. The last song is great.

honru

Jimmy_Jazz wrote:

Remember the hype surrounding that band... what were they called again... ah, yes.
The Darkness?

I don't remember The Darkness being particularly hyped; I Believe In a Thing Called Love was just a hit song. But I agree that they didn't follow up on their debut fast enough to sustain public interest. I thought Franz Ferdinand recently pulled that trick off well.

Jimmy_Jazz

f®eak s&#169 wrote: »

I don't remember The Darkness being particularly hyped; I Believe In a Thing Called Love was just a hit song. But I agree that they didn't follow up on their debut fast enough to sustain public interest. I thought Franz Ferdinand recently pulled that trick off well.

I remember an awful lot of hype surrounding them - although admittedly, most of it was in the UK. You're right about Franz Ferdinand.

beans

My greengrocer indroduced me to Arcade Fire. Who needs the NME?

edladdlad

The thing about the hype surrounding the arctic monkeys is that it's not based on some empty media campaign. It grew from people actually listening to material and recommending it to others on myspace and the like. Surely the band deserve the attention they're getting, seeing as it's excitment over the music rather than the band itself.

Ruskie4Rent

Jimmy_Jazz wrote:

No they didn't, but that's because they did exactly what John2 said the Arctic Monkeys should. They released an EP (Whatever) only a couple of months after the album. The second album was then released another few months later. 2-3 years is a long time between albums, so unless the Arctic Monkeys release something later this year or very early next year (which I think they will), they'll be forgotten about.
Remember the hype surrounding that band... what were they called again... ah, yes.
The Darkness?

I've read they've already written new songs, wether or not we'll hear them soon is debatable.

judas101

gets a thumbs up from me

wayfarer

edladdlad wrote:

The thing about the hype surrounding the arctic monkeys is that it's not based on some empty media campaign. It grew from people actually listening to material and recommending it to others on myspace and the like. Surely the band deserve the attention they're getting, seeing as it's excitment over the music rather than the band itself.

What about the whole NME thing? There are plenty of artists out there who are unknown, whose music is free to download that are really really good. Even the proc site has a music section with a few bands that would find it easy to perk up your ears. I wouldn't dispute the fact that Arctic Monkeys are good enough to share with friends and enjoy, but titles such a the Best Band in Britian and The New Oasis and being responsible for the 5th best album and fastest selling ever is nothing but hype and the effect of hype.

Blue Peter

OK, time for my 2 cents...

I first came across these guys when they had their first single "Fake Tales of San Francisco" out, which for my money was one of the most lyrically and musically interesting things I'd heard in years - I'd like to tell you all my problem, you're not from New York City you're from Rotherham - which also got in a few nasty digs at the current music scene. Nice!

I then downloaded a heap of tracks they had on their website, including crackers like No Romance - there's only music, so that there's new ring tones - and Still Take You Home.

Next, off to see them play in Whelan's to a couple of hundred excited punters and this sealed the deal. They can really play. Like Demons. By far and away the best live band I've seen in years. Yes, they're cocky, but that's because they know they're good.

For what its worth the lead singer reminds me of a young Paul Weller, he has the same ascerbic wit that you found on early Jam records, plus he has obvious talent as a singer and a guitarist. Whether or not the arctic monkeys are around for the long haul, the frontman will be with us in some shape or form for a very long time.

Add to that the fact they were the first artist to go to number 1 based on download sales, the amount of albums they're selling and their general popularity and you have to realise they are more than hype, they're a phenomenon.

If you can't see that then what do you know? Oh you know nothing!

John

Bumped and stickied considering they've just won the Mercury prize

tman

Erm... isn't the idea of these kind of threads to discuss music that people might not have heard of?
They were #1 all over the shop when this thread was created, and them getting a mercury award is hardly surprising...
What's the point of making it a sticky?

iFight

To disscuss it.

John

tman wrote:

Erm... isn't the idea of these kind of threads to discuss music that people might not have heard of?

No, it was to pick an album once a week to highlight and discuss. If it's music people might not have heard of then not many people are going to be able to discuss it are they?

They were #1 all over the shop when this thread was created, and them getting a mercury award is hardly surprising...

Since when have sales made a difference. By that logic The Kaiser Chiefs should have won last year.

What's the point of making it a sticky?

iFight wrote:

To disscuss it.

iFight

And disscuss it we shall

I have kind of gone of it recently. I still occasionally listen to it, atleast one or two songs (mainly From Ritz to Rubble), but I haven't found myself listening the whole way through it in ages. What does everybody else (still) think of it?

JC 2K3

Was shíte then, is still shíte now.

John

I like the album but I certainly don't feel the urge to play it much these days.

iFight

John wrote:

I like the album but I certainly don't feel the urge to play it much these days.

What do you thin of their new song (leave when the lights come on)?

John

Haven't heard it yet. In fact, didn't know of its existence!

iFight

It's good enough, not any where near their best. The video is always on at the mo.

DerekD Goldfish

I have heard this album all the way through more than any other album this year and every time I hear It I die a little more inside very few bands have achived the level of hatred I have for the artic monkeys.