Arctic Monkeys

Shambo said:
I find music aging an interesting thing. Doesn't matter if its good or bad, some music just ages badly and other music doesn't. It'd a weird thing.

I say this as I thought their first album was pretty decent, but I think it's aged very badly.
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80,000 16 year olds at Reading in a few weeks will beg to differ, I'm sure!

I think the debut still sounds as fresh and relatable (maybe not to me, I'm 31) as it ever did. Kids these days still love getting pissed on a weekend and trying to buck each other... when they're not ogling Le Creuset on TikTok, or whatever other freaky trend's going viral. That record, plus their evolution on every album since, makes them the outstanding band of my generation IMHO.
 
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Bukowski said:
80,000 16 year olds at Reading in a few weeks will beg to differ, I'm sure!

I think the debut still sounds as fresh and relatable (maybe not to me, I'm 31) as it ever did. Kids these days still love getting pissed on a weekend and trying to buck each other... when they're not ogling Le Creuset on TikTok, or whatever other freaky trend's going viral. That record, plus their evolution on every album since, makes them the outstanding band of my generation IMHO.
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Christ I had you down as mid 40s.
 
Bukowski said:
Far less people buy physical now than in 2006 so we can't rely on sales figures as a measure of popularity tbh. And certainly not as a gauge of quality as @James already pointed out.

You can - and I have ;) - get a #1 record with circa 10-15k week 1 sales in the past year or so. Means almost nothing, apart the 6" trophy.


Cocaine eh
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I’m comparing 2013 Am to 2018 TBH&C. 1.5 million sales in 2013 for AM, 220k for the drivel that is TBH&C. If that doesn’t tell you what people actually think of that record I dont know what else will. Fully understand people have different music tastes, nothing wrong with that, but this is an exceptional difference and very brave of them to continue down this path.

Reminds me of saying. A rock guitarist play 3 cords to 2,000 people, a jazz guitarist plays 2,000 cords to 3 people.
 
mickonline said:
I’m comparing 2013 Am to 2018 TBH&C. 1.5 million sales in 2013 for AM, 220k for the drivel that is TBH&C. If that doesn’t tell you what people actually think of that record I dont know what else will. Fully understand people have different music tastes, nothing wrong with that, but this is an exceptional difference and very brave of them to continue down this path.

Reminds me of saying. A rock guitarist play 3 cords to 2,000 people, a jazz guitarist plays 2,000 cords to 3 people.
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Ok well, AM did 157k in week 1 and Tranquility did 86k. 5 years passed in that time and Spotify alone went from 36m paying subscribers to 96m. Factor a similar rise in streaming subs at Apple, Deezer, Amazon etc. on top of that. The way listeners consume music changed enormously even in that short period and so it’s unhelpful to compare sales as a yardstick for any of the following metrics: popularity, commerciality, certainly quality.
 
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The majority of people enjoy simplistic music. It's why pop writing teams, with a formula, do so well.

Doesnt mean it's better though.

Just look at the numbers that piled into KOL for utter dross like Sex on Fire, whilst completely ignoring their actual good previous work.

Plus, your average music listener these days has the attention span of a goldfish. Give a song a minute or an album one spin and that's that. On to the next. Plenty on here who love the last record (reminder, that's their best one) have said it grew on them. The best ones usually come up on on the rails. The instants are often quickly forgotten about.
 
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Matnab said:
Also at odds with the critics concensus according to meta critic. First album still the highest rated.
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I think the point is that music is massively subjective and personal. Just because someone likes album X rather than album Y isn't a reason to look down at them. Which is exactly what the post I quoted was doing.
 
mickonline said:
Reminds me of saying. A rock guitarist play 3 cords to 2,000 people, a jazz guitarist plays 2,000 cords to 3 people.
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And again that gives zero insight as to the quality of the music or musician. Otherwise we are back to Take That and One Direction being superb, given their audience sizes.
Provider said:
I think the point is that music is massively subjective and personal. Just because someone likes album X rather than album Y isn't a reason to look down at them. Which is exactly what the post I quoted was doing.
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Which post was that?
 
Am buzzing for the Croatia gig on Tuesday ya nar

Also doing Rock En Seine the following week

Monkeys, Idles, Fontaines, Inhaler, Yard Act all one after the other, no clashes 🤌
 
dangermows said:
And again that gives zero insight as to the quality of the music or musician. Otherwise we are back to Take That and One Direction being superb, given their audience sizes.

Which post was that?
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But thats where you’ve got to define quality. In my example Jazz musicians are far superior (skill/quality wise) to rock musicians but for some reason people (the majority, including myself) prefer rock to jazz.

Its about passion and conveying emotions. With tranquility, for me, as brilliant and lyricist Alex is its lost with random un-melodic music with random sounds popping into the songs distracting for his lyrics.

Everybody to themselves, its just not for me.
 
Provider said:
I don't know the lad but that comment, if serious, was definite music snobbery.
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Is it not snobbery to say the latter record is only liked by pretentious folk?
mickonline said:
But thats where you’ve got to define quality. In my example Jazz musicians are far superior (skill/quality wise) to rock musicians but for some reason people (the majority, including myself) prefer rock to jazz.

Its about passion and conveying emotions. With tranquility, for me, as brilliant and lyricist Alex is its lost with random un-melodic music with random sounds popping into the songs distracting for his lyrics.

Everybody to themselves, its just not for me.
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I'd say your point about jazz hammers it home. The better musicians are in your example less popular if you're using attendances as the metric.

Definitely each to their own as I think the last effort has plenty of melody to it. It's got much more a mature sound too. For whatever reason the debut seems childish now to me, rather than fresh.

Guess that what makes music so interesting, everyone has a different take. However, I think we can all agree that the sing Riot Van is absolutely lifting.
 
Theres 5 songs I like on Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino,

Star Treatment
One Point Perspective
American Sports
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
Four Out Of Five

Really love those songs. Hoping for abit of that again, maybe with a hint of classic Arctics
 
mickonline said:
I’m comparing 2013 Am to 2018 TBH&C. 1.5 million sales in 2013 for AM, 220k for the drivel that is TBH&C. If that doesn’t tell you what people actually think of that record I dont know what else will.
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All it tells me is not to ask Arctic Monkeys fans for music recommendations. Which I kinda knew anyway.
 
Bamber said:
Theres 5 songs I like on Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino,

Star Treatment
One Point Perspective
American Sports
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
Four Out Of Five

Really love those songs. Hoping for abit of that again, maybe with a hint of classic Arctics
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I like them all in that they almost feel like one continuous piece of work. If ever an album was suited to an entire play it's this (tbf I don't usually skip songs anyway, preferring an album to just play through).
riffraff said:
All it tells me is not to ask Arctic Monkeys fans for music recommendations. Which I kinda knew anyway.
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ffs :lol:
 

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