As catchy as you can get

The Arctic Monkey's are a British indie rock / alternative rock band that sings with a British accent and plays fast catchy rock. Their previous album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not was excellent - filled with catchy tunes, slower songs, and many entertaining tracks. The Arctic Monkeys' second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare is bold, entertaining, and once again, catchy. The sound on this album is a bit different - faster, more bold, and straight to the point. Just to let you know, all 12 songs of this album charted in the Top 200 of the UK Singles Chart. After this album, the band also won "Best New Artist" in the USA by PLUG Independent Music Awards, "Album of the Year" award in Japan, Ireland and USA, "Best British Band" and "Best British Album" at the 2008 BRIT Awards, and were nominated for the "Mercury Prize" by the BPI (most of that is from Wiki, if you're curious). *Whew!* That's a lot of awards.

The Arctic Monkey's commonly sing about British popular culture, blue-collar issues, women, and bar life. The topics aren't overly awe inspiring, but they're fun and light hearted. The concepts that many of the songs swirl around have a bit of humor attached to them but are so well-done that they still come across as a story rather than as a comedic joke. Musically, The Arctic Monkey's are poppy at times but heavy enough to be considered rock. The singer, Alex Turner, sings with a Yorkshire accent, the sound of which is clearly distinguishing (especially when considering that many British singers have an English accent but don't seem to "use" it when they sing).

On Favourite Worst Nightmare, the bass lines and guitar riffs are clearly distinguishable and play off each other on many occasions, giving the band a clean, crisp sound where each instrument is often clearly distinguishable from the next. This differs from their previous album, where on many occasions the band plays much like your general rock band.

The first track, "Brainstorm", exemplifies this sound, having several guitars playing at first very quickly and then all the other instruments cut out except for one guitar playing a different riff. The other instruments quickly pick up after this and the song continues with a quirky and jumpy rhythm that follows the verse through. Throughout the album, Turner sings very cleanly but heavily accented - giving the band a foreign but fun sound. "Brainstorm"'s bridge is complicated, filled with gang vocals for a bit, drum breakdowns, and riff changes.

Almost all of the songs on this album are catchy. If I had to pick one word to describe this album, that is what it would be: catchy. Every song has something that destinguishes it from the next, making for a very interseting and entertaining listen. The guitar and bass lines are unique and although at times may be simple, compliment each other extremely well. Add in Turner's unique vocals (for an American listener, of course) and the combination is mesmerizingly...catchy!

"Teddy Picker" (after contemplating this title, my British friend and I determined that he's referring to the arcade-style game where you control a metal claw that picks up teddy bears and other stuffed animals. I have no idea if this is what that machine is actually called though) is (ok I'll try not to use the word "catchy" any more...[grabs a thesaurus])...memorable...*cough*. The track is amazing. The guitar and bass lines are quite simple with only five or so notes strummed together intertwined with each other. Turner sings,

"Another variation no a theme /
A tangle on the television and the magazine /
Do ya reckon that they do it for a joke? /
Do ya reckon that they make up take an oath /
that says that 'We are /
defenders of any poser or professional /
pretender around.' /

Turner commonly rhymes words that singers with American accents could never rhyme. At one point he rhymes the word "something" with "stomach". How? Well, Turner sings "something" as "summat" and goes,

"Well she must be up to summat /
I gotta feelin' in my stomach"

It's laughably fun and entertaining at the same time. The next track, “D is for Delightful”, mentions the album title, singing,

“D is for delightful and try and keep your trousers on /
I think you should know you’re his favourite worst nightmare.”

Again, the guitar riffs and bass lines are rather simple, at many times one of the two stops and you only hear either electric guitar + drums or electric bass + drums. The missing instrument then jumps in and they begin again with another verse or a bridge. Most songs end rather abruptly with a second song quickly beginning, giving the impression of almost no silent space at all – making the album go by quickly and seem shorter than it actually is. “D is for Delightful” ends and the next track, “Balaclava” begins with a single bass line and Turner singing,

“Running over the next door’s garden ‘fore the hour is done /
It’s more a question of feelin than it is a question of fun /
The confidence is balaclava I’m sure you’ll baffle ‘em good /
Will the ending reek of salty cheeks and runny makeup alone?”

…and then the lone bass is quickly joined by two electric guitars and a quick drum beat, making the song pick up real quick. The chorus has a neat line where Turner is saying"He won't let her out his sight" but he sounds like he's saying (again, due to the accent), "He won't le er ou is sight" and it flows so beautifully with a lone guitar plucking in the background.

"Fluorescent adolescence" has one of those bass lines that begs to be played. The lyrics are tongue-in-cheek, singing about a nostalgic girl who used to party with boys in her youth, singing,

"Flickin' through a lil' book of sex tips /
Rememberin' when the boys were all 'lectric /
Now when he tells ya 'ya gonna get it' /
Thinkin' that ya'd rather just forget it…"

To the chorus,

"…all the boys are slag - the best you ever had /
the best you ever had is just a memory and those dreams /
well as daft as they seem – as daft as they seem /
when you dream them up."

Perhaps the slowest track on the album, and in my opinion the least impressive, is "Only Ones Who Know". Featuring no drums, the track is basically a slowly strummed electric guitar with Turner singing slow and in line with the music. The lyrics aren't bad, spinning a tale of a girl who leaves town dreaming of a better life with true love (I suppose). The music is practically non-existent and it makes the track seem like an intermission more than anything else. A similarly unimpressive track is "This House is a Circus". The song isn't bad but doesn't feature much guitar work and is very similar to the faults of their previous album in that it sounds too much like a general rock song than an Arctic Monkey's song.

The next track more than makes up for it though – one of the best on the album – "Do Me a Favour" sings of a fight between the singer and his girlfriend. Starting out with a bouncy drumbeat and a simple bass line, a guitar later joins after the first verse and a mellow tune starts to evolve. Turner crows out the second verse and the beat slowly picks up until the chorus where a tambourine joins and the guitars get louder and double up as Turner sings,

"Do me a favour and break my nose /
do me a favour and tell me to go away /
do me a favour and stop asking questions."

The song seems to slow a bit at the bridge with all instruments stopping as Turner keeps spinning the tale of sadness and remorse from a male's perspective,

"She walked away, well her shoes were untied /
and the eyes were all red; you could see that we'd cried /
and I watched and I waited till she was inside /
forcing a smile and waving goodbye… /

Suddenly, after a bit more lines, the music ramps up immediately, as it crescendos with the chorus again with a cheeky tint,

"Do me a favour and ask if you need some help /
She said, 'Do me a favour and stop flattering yourself' /
and to tear apart the ties that bind /
Perhaps 'f**k off' would be too kind."

Some other tracks of note include "If You Were There, Beware", a song that is heavy on bass and features Turner singing about dangerous situations such as serpents, witches, and women (see, cheeky!).

"There's a circle of witches ambitiously vicious they are /
our attempts to remind them of reason won't get us that far /
I don't know what it is that they want /
I don't know what it is that they want /
But I haven't got it to give /
She hasn't got it to give…"

A completely tongue-in-cheek song, "Bad Thing", sing about a bar situation where girls are approaching Turner and telling him that their boyfriends don't mind them talking and his own internal conflicts concerning the situation. With a chorus that sings, "Do the bad thing – take off your wedding ring", who can't resist the interesting turns that this song presents.

The album as a whole is…memorable…(i.e. "catchy") and presents as many entertaining tracks as you could ever desire on a single album. The singing is excellent along with the music. The talent held by the musicians may not be as high as other bands but the simple guitar and bass lines that they do use are complimented with each other very well. The album is well worth the money and may end up, as it did for me, as one of your favorite.