Arguably now the biggest rock band in the world today, the Arctic Monkeys have always had an air of reinvention of themselves. Having changed from teenage indie darlings writing about nights out, to the now sharp dressed greased back hair hard rockers, reinvention has always been crucial to the image of the Arctic Monkeys.
One period that I feel is unfairly ignored is the period when they made the album Humbug in 2009. Having not had the critical success of such albums like the recent AM, the band have always been determined to never be defined by one sound. Even the title of their debut album pressed this view.
Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
Having come up with two very strong albums, the Arctic Monkeys for their third album decided to reinvent themselves. By the third album, they had now become long haired, bearded Queens of the Stone Age rockers.
With the involvement of Queens of the Stone Age front man Josh Homme, the music had now taken a drastic turn, with the songs starting to become a bit more abstract in their meaning compared to how easily their other songs were able to be understood previously.
The opening song “My Propeller” as an opener absolutely blasts out, signifying the change of direction. With heavy riffs and thumping drums, it is obvious to band looked to Homme to try and implement the heavy sound that they were looking for.
Lyrically, the band became more abstract in how they were telling a story. The lyrics previously had been upbeat but had now started to turn towards a more mature and introspective side.
Songs like “Crying Lightning” and “Dance Little Liar” had now shown front man Alex Turner was changing his method of trying create the lyrics. From lines like “And your past-times, consisted of the strange, And twisted and deranged” had shown that he was now trying to shed the skin of his teenage self in terms of writing.
This is probably the moment where the album does tend to loose fans. On first listen it feels lyrically that the album could be their worst ever, it’s one of their albums where constant plays are needed for it to fully grip you.
Songs like “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” are far more relate able on a first listen basis, rather than songs like “My Propeller”.
Their two famous albums Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not and AM had the benefit of hitting you first time with their meanings and music. But some of the non-single tracks on AM sound very much weaker to the non-single album tracks on Humbug.
The band’s music had come on leaps and bounds by the time Humbug had come around. “Potion Approaching” had shown the band could develop ordinary songs to an even higher level with the band jumping from a fast paced song into a blues jam in the middle of the song.
This period is absolutely crucial in the Arctic Monkey’s evolution. They had dropped this style of Humbug when they made Suck It and See. By the time that band had made AM, it was clear that the experiences of Humbug still loomed large. The most obvious where the influences can be seen “R U Mine?” and “Arabella”.
Humbug brought us a big, deep, dark and brooding Arctic Monkeys. What’s not to love about that?
Nostalgic Beat 
