OK, so who amongst us is popping out lunchtime to buy the Arctic Monkeys album?

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Hotly anticipated day.

On release, the Oasis album sold 60,000 on day one.

The Arctics have shipped 200,000.

So, et tu brute?

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 23 January 2006 12:03 (nineteen years ago)

Belle & Sebastian's newie will be the first day of purchase release I've done for ages.

NOT this.

― beaux knee (boney), Monday, 23 January 2006 12:27 (nineteen years ago)

This whole Arctic Monkeys thing has passed me by. I saw the video for that "Whoring ain't EZ" song, and it was dreadful. What the hell is going on?

― Gukbe (lokar), Monday, 23 January 2006 12:28 (nineteen years ago)

"When The Sun Goes Down": because Britain had been crying out for its own version of "Changes" by 2Pac for far too long.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 23 January 2006 12:36 (nineteen years ago)

ur momma

― rizzx (rizzx), Monday, 23 January 2006 12:38 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe the Arctic Monkeys will change the minds of the over 70% of Britons who want to legalize prostitution. They're not just pop, they're changing the world. Loved the review, by the way.

― Gukbe (lokar), Monday, 23 January 2006 12:39 (nineteen years ago)

Why can't I get this on iTunes on the day of release? Seems daft. I don't really care about getting it on the day of release but I will certainly d/l what I haven't got when it's on there. I enjoy them more than pretty much everything else in a rock mode at the moment and they seem to be enjoying themselves as well, which is not something you can say about O*sis.

― Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Monday, 23 January 2006 12:43 (nineteen years ago)

haha, i like dom's review lots. he even zings perpetua! devotion to the cause.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Monday, 23 January 2006 12:46 (nineteen years ago)

I'll probably not bother.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 23 January 2006 13:09 (nineteen years ago)

I like the Pulp lyrics at the end of the Passantino review, but only because in the US I think they're more famous for the William Shatner Common People cover.

― WillS, Monday, 23 January 2006 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

Why can't I get this on iTunes on the day of release?

I don't think the AMs like the internet much.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Monday, 23 January 2006 13:27 (nineteen years ago)

Anymore.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Monday, 23 January 2006 13:30 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.slate.com/id/2134516/

― curmudgeon, Monday, 23 January 2006 22:10 (nineteen years ago)

DOM WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?? THEY WERE YOUR NUMBER ONE!!

― Confounded (Confounded), Monday, 23 January 2006 22:14 (nineteen years ago)

You can hear the streets of Sheffield's gritty Neepsend district in Turner's renderings of words like "out" (owt) and "fucking" (fooken)

!!!

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 23 January 2006 22:26 (nineteen years ago)

yo Dom nice review etc but you need to properly answer this question;

What is "daterape" Indie?

― pscott (elwisty), Monday, 23 January 2006 22:34 (nineteen years ago)

that review is crap

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 23 January 2006 23:08 (nineteen years ago)

RJG likes daterape

― Gukbe (lokar), Monday, 23 January 2006 23:31 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not sure what that stylus reviewer is talking about. But I can definitely tell he's very angry about... something. Apparently the fact that this band have been successful very quickly. Is that it?

― justsaying, Tuesday, 24 January 2006 00:04 (nineteen years ago)

haha that ain't it

― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 00:05 (nineteen years ago)

I don't particularly like the Arctic Monkeys, but not for any of reasons in that review, which is utterly silly. Maybe that's what you were going for.

― Mike W (caek), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 00:19 (nineteen years ago)

disaffected white kids join street teams!

― keyth (keyth), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 00:50 (nineteen years ago)

keyth OTM

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 00:59 (nineteen years ago)

gukbe, how could you?

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 03:09 (nineteen years ago)

They're playing an LA club soonish. Shall I arrange to have it condemned?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 03:14 (nineteen years ago)

I still haven't heard them.

― Roz (Roz), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 03:35 (nineteen years ago)

I think I saw / heard one or two things by them on (Jools Holland?) and was mildly underwhelmed.

"On release, the Oasis album sold 60,000 on day one.

The Arctics have shipped 200,000."

Which Oasis album 'though; and does this mean that we should be anticipating that they're already poised to become 333% as: (a) inexplicably all-pervasive, and; (b) irritating; as the Gallagher brothers?

Most significantly 'though Mr. G., are they actually any good?

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 10:58 (nineteen years ago)

They shipped 118,000 units over tills yesterday, I gather.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:16 (nineteen years ago)

Sure, talk about the music, but that's irrelevant here. People aren't listening to the AMs for the music, they're listening because parents just don't understand, the captain of the rugby team kicks the shit out of them every day, the other girls have bigger breasts and better skin, and it's nice to be part of a movement.

This is the OTMiest thing I've read this year. The fact that it applies to an awful lot of pop music is irrelevant.

I bet that they smell awful on the dancefloor.

― 'Curt' Russell (noodle vague), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:22 (nineteen years ago)

an event that has generated near-hysterical levels of anticipation in the United Kingdom.

NOT IN MY NAME!

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:24 (nineteen years ago)

Can you imagine Oasis doing a jokey cover of a girl band though? Oh how far we have come.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:26 (nineteen years ago)

Stew:

We're talking debut albums, so "Definitely Maybe" on that score.

Any good? I dunno. The "Dancefloor" single was very fine (all three tracks there), the "Fake Tales of SF" didn't grab me as much, but I only heared it once, maybe twice.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:29 (nineteen years ago)

"From The Ritz To The Rubble" is the best tune on there.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:32 (nineteen years ago)

lets watch those returns figures .. are those actually published ?

the album aint going to please all that loved the single thats for sure ..

― mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:35 (nineteen years ago)

"The fact that it applies to an awful lot of pop music is irrelevant."

Very true.

The fact that it almost invariably seems to apply to awful (or, at best, mediocre) pop music; when there's almost always quite clearly no shortage of otherwise comparable but musically superior stuff about; and how this succession of poor-to-mediocre bands seem to get selected - apparently at random - to be elevated to a level of hysterical massed worship far in excess either of other otherwise comparable bands or of any identifiable talent or ability that they may or may not possess; is a never-ceasing source of bemusement 'though.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:36 (nineteen years ago)

Side note: 12 months ago Lethal B was about 500 records away from charting in the top 10. Now he's reduced to being the opener for unsigned bands at Club NME. That's quite a fall, no?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:38 (nineteen years ago)

you only need to sell, what, 800 records to go top ten tho'.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:40 (nineteen years ago)

Those heady days of More Fire Crew seem so far away now.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:41 (nineteen years ago)

You can hear the streets of Sheffield's gritty Neepsend district in Turner's renderings of words like "out" (owt) and "fucking" (fooken)
I'm from Sheffield and I'd be unable to identify a Neepsend accent, so I'd be very fucking surprised if whoever wrote the Slate review was able to!

― Gatinha (rwillmsen), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:42 (nineteen years ago)

(x-post)

When's there a new Pay As U Go Cartel EP hitting the shelves though? That's what the kidz want to know.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:42 (nineteen years ago)

"We're talking debut albums, so "Definitely Maybe" on that score."

I suspected as much.

Where's all the hype coming from all of a sudden?

And is it really "all of a sudden" or is that just me?

I haven't been particularly conscious of them: but then I am getting on a bit you know; and since I moved away from the bright lights of Reading I don't get out as much as I used to, so I really haven't got my finger on the popular pulse any more, not like I used to....

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:42 (nineteen years ago)

you only need to sell, what, 800 records to go top ten tho'.

A few more than that...

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:46 (nineteen years ago)

it's not that sudden, maybe since the summer. it's not like oasis, because of the internets, and because iirc oasis' pre-album singles weren't mega-hits.

xpost

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:47 (nineteen years ago)

This week Son of Dork are at #10 with 13,101 sales.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:48 (nineteen years ago)

Attic Moneys are #1 with 38922 sales, and to get to #40 like Hound Dogs this week, 2681 sales.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:49 (nineteen years ago)

does that include internets sales?

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:50 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:50 (nineteen years ago)

This week Son of Dork are at #10 with 13,101 sales.

this would be enough to get to #1 at certain times of the year.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:57 (nineteen years ago)

But not in January? If you can't get to #1 in January what chance do you stand in June?

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 13:22 (nineteen years ago)

It's 100 000!!

LONDON (Reuters) - The Arctic Monkeys, who first built a loyal following on the Internet, are now set to have the fastest-selling debut album since chart records began in Britain.

The Sheffield rockers have already had two number one singles and critics are showering the quartet with accolades. They were nominated on Tuesday for four top prizes at next month's NME awards.

[-88057]
Their first album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" sold more than 100,000 copies on day one, and is currently outselling the rest of the top 20 albums combined.

"The Arctic Monkeys have connected with the mainstream in one leap," said Gennaro Castaldo at music and books retailer HMV Plc. "This is an outstanding figure as January is a quiet time of the year for sales."

He said sales could top 350,000 by the end of the week.

The British record for the fastest-selling debut album is currently held by talent-show group Hearsay's debut "Popstars" which sold 306,631 in its first week in March 2001.

Damian Peachey of Web site www.amazon.co.uk declined to give exact sales figures but said: "We sold more Arctic Monkeys albums on day one than we did for Franz Ferdinand in the whole of their first week.

"The Arctic Monkeys were outselling Richard Ashcroft, who is next on our charts, by four to one," he told Reuters. "This has been very much word of mouth."

The group played their first gigs in 2003, handing out their demos to fans who posted them on a Web site.

They signed with the independent label Domino, whose last major big breakthrough act was Franz Ferdinand.

Now the Arctic Monkeys are battling with fellow nominees Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, Oasis and Franz Ferdinand to be named Best British Band at the NME Awards on February 23.

They have also been nominated in the categories of Best New Band, Best Live Band and Best Live Track for "I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor."

NME assistant editor Malik Meer said: "Contrary to all the rumours and myths and panics about the record industry going into meltdown because of music online, it has had the opposite effect.

"The fact that they have had two number one singles means they are not just for a core of obsessive fans. This is good old honest rock 'n'roll, which we have been lacking lately," he told Reuters.

― Lovelace (Lovelace), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 13:47 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 243 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

In other news about Britain's obsession with indie boys with guitars, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah enters the albums chart ridiculously high at 26.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,,1695373,00.html
Take heart popists, there is no whiteout, Simon Webbe is the UK's top selling urban artist in ages.

― danzig (danzig), Monday, 30 January 2006 06:47 (nineteen years ago)

trouble is once you've gone indie it fucks up all your music value judements for life. and after it all, when you come out the other end fascinated by rachel stevens' sexed bleating YOU ALL LOOK SO DESPERATE.
oh to be clean....

-- pengwan (pengw...), January 25th, 2006.

hahahaha!

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Monday, 30 January 2006 11:56 (nineteen years ago)

also that hannah pool thing in the guardian was a terrible shame.

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Monday, 30 January 2006 12:00 (nineteen years ago)

"overdoon it" sounds like it came out of that Two Ronnies mispronounciation sketch

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Monday, 30 January 2006 12:13 (nineteen years ago)

My mother-in-law asked my wife if it was true that Arctic Monkeys were going to be bigger than The Beatles. I think she's worried.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Monday, 30 January 2006 12:56 (nineteen years ago)

i sympathize.

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Monday, 30 January 2006 12:58 (nineteen years ago)

i loved the hannah pool article! i didn't expect it of her, she's normally fairly dull, but that was brilliant, except i would focus on the institutional racism of the british music MEDIA rather than the charts

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 30 January 2006 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

Lex: you enjoyed Lady Sovereign being referred to as an example of all that's wrong with Britain's musikkk industry?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 30 January 2006 13:27 (nineteen years ago)

There was a fair point behind it.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Monday, 30 January 2006 13:36 (nineteen years ago)

This needs a separate thread (or revival of previous one) though.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Monday, 30 January 2006 13:38 (nineteen years ago)

dom, which part of "which would be fine if they signed black artists too" did you not pick up on? i like sov but she and mike skinner are promoted completely out of proportion to similar artists who are black.

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 30 January 2006 13:43 (nineteen years ago)

and, like, that wasn't even the main thrust of pool's argument! she's not indicting white 'urban' artists, she's indicting a music industry which only acknowledges white indie boys with guitars as credible artists and insofar as it concedes that other genres exist, uses their own token white artists as its own tokens.

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 30 January 2006 13:44 (nineteen years ago)

yeah but it was couched exclusveily in terms of "black people listen like THIS"

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Monday, 30 January 2006 13:46 (nineteen years ago)

well for a variety of cultural reasons it IS the case that certain genres have a predominantly black audience and others have a predominantly white audience and while there is crossover and that's a good thing, what isn't a good thing is the fact that it's the latter which gets the lion's share of the publicity, resources and critical respect

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 30 January 2006 13:52 (nineteen years ago)

"Soul II Soul, Mica Paris and M People" - Oh Boy.

― bidfurd__, Monday, 30 January 2006 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

would you mind explaining what's wrong with any of those acts?

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 30 January 2006 13:56 (nineteen years ago)

I must admit I did have a kinda Nelson Muntz "haw haw you like M People" reaction at the forefront while reading it

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Monday, 30 January 2006 13:57 (nineteen years ago)

'movin on up' is a great song! ok heather small has a terrible voice, but still, doesn't stop the indie boys does it. and soul ii soul and mica paris are completely great.

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 30 January 2006 13:58 (nineteen years ago)

They're bland as fuck Lex.

― bidfurd__, Monday, 30 January 2006 13:59 (nineteen years ago)

M People are awful. Mica Paris is boring. I like Soul II Soul.

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Monday, 30 January 2006 14:00 (nineteen years ago)

yes sure but the black audience is a tiny fraction of the white audience, so for her to play up the putative 'racial' aspect of listening to music defeats her *own* argument.

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Monday, 30 January 2006 14:07 (nineteen years ago)

i wouldn't call any of them bland - they're polished and tasteful and unthreatening but in a quite attractive way. mica paris in the sade vein, m people as less-good precursor of eg jamelia, and so on.

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 30 January 2006 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

m people were more like a coffee table version of early 90s handbag house.

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Monday, 30 January 2006 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

But indie music's tradition of festivals, gigging and the loyalty it creates means it hasn't been hit as hard by downloading and file-sharing. Meanwhile, black music fans' objection to acts selling out - once an underground track or artist goes mainstream, they lose their credibility and a large part of their fan base - leaves it wide open, with nothing to keep it going in these lean times.

So what is the future for black British music? Investing and nurturing talent, instead of just dropping it, would make a huge difference. So, too, would developing more of a live scene. BBC radio's 1Xtra and digital TV's Channel U are a good start. It's about ensuring the foundations are there so that when black British music is back in the limelight, it stays there.

So underground Black music is too sneeringly indie for it's own good, and in order to survive it needs to be made more... Corporate Indie?

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Monday, 30 January 2006 14:19 (nineteen years ago)

I think the racial aspect is a bit of a red herring in the article. Poole wants aspirational lifestyle music, and probably has as a big a problem with grime as she does with corporate indie.

The bit about her going to Glastonbury was hilariously clueless!

― The Ghastly Fop, Monday, 30 January 2006 14:20 (nineteen years ago)

Clueless person goes to Glastonbury shocker

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Monday, 30 January 2006 14:23 (nineteen years ago)

move to america and you'll have all the black music in the pop charts you want. some of it actually good, which should make a nice change of pace.

― cancer prone fat guy (dubplatestyle), Monday, 30 January 2006 14:27 (nineteen years ago)

ha ha -
"they're polished and tasteful and unthreatening but in a quite attractive way" - talk about damning with faint praise.

― bidfurd__, Monday, 30 January 2006 14:34 (nineteen years ago)

some of the greatest artists ever are bland

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Monday, 30 January 2006 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

I thought that was gonna link to the Aerial thread.

I can't decide which is a stupider criticism, "bland" or "pretentious".

― The Man in the Iron-On Mask (noodle vague), Monday, 30 January 2006 15:01 (nineteen years ago)

the most stoopid user list on rym i have seen so far this year:

Top 25 Indie Albums Ever
http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Mikey2000/top_25_indie_albums_ever

probably a NME/Q reader

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 30 January 2006 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

New fave ritual: reading about UK sensation I've never heard of in NY Times, finding ILX thread on how they are Worst Thing Ever.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 17:28 (nineteen years ago)

New?

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 17:43 (nineteen years ago)

for we who have quit music, yeah.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 17:47 (nineteen years ago)

New fave ritual: reading about UK sensation I've never heard of in NY Times, finding ILX thread on how they are Worst Thing Ever.

The Onion needs to get on this:

Music Geeks Think Much-Hyped New Band Really, Really Sucks

― justsaying, Tuesday, 31 January 2006 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

Two guys in work were discussing how to get the tickets for the upcoming 'must see' Arctic Monkeys gig in Glasgow which is expected to sell out in minutes. I asked them what they thought of the album and it turned out neither of them had heard it, they even asked me if I knew anyone who had a copy they could borrow.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 12:03 (nineteen years ago)

Oh God. Oh God, this is totally awful. Awful awful.

"Oh woe is me, bouncers and stupid drunk girls and people who solicit prostitutes and people what wear rap chav clothes are totally oppressing me and birds I keep meeting in clubs are rilly perplexing and your band is shite and oh man EVERYONE'S A VAMPIRE BUT ME. I am the world's only victim."

Lad-emo. No. God, no.

― disco post-traumatic stress syndrome (disco violence), Thursday, 2 February 2006 05:47 (nineteen years ago)

Lad-emo.

Cut to the chase, my friend. Surely you just mean 'lamo.'

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 2 February 2006 05:56 (nineteen years ago)

BEST PORTMANTEAU EVER.

― disco violence (disco violence), Thursday, 2 February 2006 06:01 (nineteen years ago)

Marcello actually bothers to sit down and think about the music, which makes a refreshing change in the context of some other AM reviews which I could mention. (Scroll down a bit)

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 2 February 2006 17:59 (nineteen years ago)

with a hefty dollop of Black Flag circa My War

Hahaha! Fantastic. Christ knows what album he's listening to, but fantastic

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 2 February 2006 21:37 (nineteen years ago)

great post by man like simon reynolds

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 12:25 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

arctic monkeys more liek utter shit

― man like simon reynolds, Tuesday, 7 March 2006 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

bump

― bump, Tuesday, 7 March 2006 23:25 (nineteen years ago)

The album's a bit of alright. The metallic glaze coated over the guitars and lame attempts at jamming are regrettable.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 12 March 2006 23:41 (nineteen years ago)

I was in an indie disco the other weekend (hate hate kill kill) "IBYLGOTD" came on and having got used to this track at home ... I didn't think it would still sound so lumpen "played out"!

I really would have liked to be able to dance to this crap but shit me, it's really NOT actually that conducive (which goes for 99.9% of other "anthems" of this kind) after all. I'd kind of imagined they did have rhythm after all. Yeah album's alright, not as hateable as I wish it could be.

― fandango (fandango), Sunday, 12 March 2006 23:55 (nineteen years ago)

"When the Sun Goes Down" is played like all the time on Radio 1 nowadays.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 13 March 2006 08:10 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

On first listen, this album is absolutely fucking awful. NME hypes are an inconsistent lot. For every Franz Ferdinand and Strokes, there's a Libertines and an Arctic Monkeys.

Ah well. Better luck next time.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Monday, 3 April 2006 01:13 (nineteen years ago)

seven months pass...

gotta love the "love machine" cover

― wordy rappinghood (roxymuzak), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 00:51 (nineteen years ago)

It's rubbish, does it matter though?

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 10:13 (nineteen years ago)

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