File Under: Oasis meets the internet generation
If You Like: Franz Ferdinand, Libertines
Label: Domino
You can tell whether the listmaker is British or American by looking for the presence of the Arctic Monkeys on their Best Of list, but I’m bucking the trend. I think its pretty neat (yes, neat), that there is the massive cultural phenomenon in England which hasn’t even made a blip on the US radar. The Arctic Monkeys had a #1 single in England before their album was released, almost completely without any sort of advance marketing. They are the first “internet” band to be really successful. They were being downloaded en masse before they even recorded an album.
Their debut was then the fastest-selling debut week in music history. They sold more copies in the first week than every other album in the top 20 combined. I mean, they are friggin’ huge. Except here. The great saviors of rock n roll haven’t even made a dent on our collective consciousness in the States. How cool is that? And the album is great, a mix of sing along choruses and danceable riffs.
The only album released this year that can accurately claim to mark a real shift in the music industry. It’s #1 because the songs are great, but also because it’s the first album of its kind. But when you’re listening to it, who cares? What matters is that the songs are great. That’s why it was such an internet smash without any record label support: people really liked it.
THE VIDEO: "Fake Tales of San Francisco". They even look like Oasis. And Oasis wishes they had penned the line "Proof that love is not only blind but deaf."
NOTE FROM MANAGEMENT: Hey, thanks for bearing with me. I know you didn't care and this was only really fun for me. But sometimes I like to use this space for my own personal amusement. I needed to cheer myself up. And playing music critic does that sometimes.
3 comments:
Sorry about that last one (Blogger tricked me).
When I first heard their song (on Sirius Satellite Radio!) that says "I bet you look good on the dance floor," I was intrigued. I heard it got like third best album of the last 50 years or something, and I thought "wait a second . . ." Now you've made it Poseur's Way Too Pretentious Top Ten Album of 2006 #1.
Is it really that great, or does it just get high marks because it's rock and people actually listen to it?
Well, the Brits are known to overhype their bands. They did it to the Stone Roses and Oasis, and now its the Monkeys turn. I wouldn't go so far as calling it the best of the last 50 years (I like distance, some albums age well and some don't, and the only thing which will tell is time).
But it has a lot going for it. It's catchy. It's danceable. It's popular (in England at least). It's got some controversy (over the smoking guy on the cover). And the band has a sense of humor (they released an EP afterwards entitled: Who the Fuck Are the Arctic Monkeys?). So there's already been a backlash, particularly in the American press (for example, Pitchfork absolutely panned the hell out of it).
I do think the album will be "important" by the standards of how it changes how bands are marketed. They are the first iTunes band. We'll see who wins the downloading war. That'll go a long way towards validating this album.
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