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FLOGGED TO DEATH BY THE ARCTIC MONKEYS

By Sam Richards ⋅ February 4, 2008 ⋅

Flogged To Death By The Arctic Monkeys

Mainstream indie music just depresses me. The dominance of Britpop in the nineties and the Libertines explosion that followed has put a curse on the majority of bands since, sucking away any originality. It seems like all the record companies have squeezed enough capital from their REM / U2 money cows that they are prepared to sign-up any rabble sporting wonky haircuts and badly fitting jeans. These Cuban-heel toting narcissists appear only capable of creating a pastiche of their influences, but with none of the original substance. Do we really need to be told to dance to Joy Division? No wonder most of the music legends live abroad now, when most of their contemporaries possess their replicated scorn but also the lyrical genius of a field mouse; just false bourgeois ranting over scallies and girls called Stella. The average indie ‘song’ now resembles a football chant above a disposable non-offensive riff, something friendly for the discerning fan to gurgle out on the way home after ten pints of larger and two lines of coke. It’s not bad music, its ‘nice’, but that’s the main problem with it; nobody is taking chances anymore. The media has much to answer for this disintegration. The hype that it stirs when it whimsically awards everyday albums with seven out of ten and those that try a little bit harder with ten (!) is outrageous. The direct effect of this is radio overplay and the transformation of bands into stadium rockers when they shouldn’t fill a village hall. Something fresh is urgently needed. The indie-electro hybrids offer a glimmer of hope, though most of the ‘classic’ albums of the last decade show that there is no necessity for lasers to create an intelligent indie record that you can dance to. Many bands of the sixties are still touring after 40 years, I can’t think of many of today’s bands that’ll achieve half of that. Our superficial society has successfully spawned shallow music that is well out of its own depth.

Discussion

3 comments for “FLOGGED TO DEATH BY THE ARCTIC MONKEYS”

I’m sorry but that is little more than a poorly educated rant. True, britpop was boring and comercial, and there are loads of poor quality imitation bands around who should never sell records. However, Arctic monkeys and the libertines are two of the greatest bands ever produced. The arctic monkeys particularly are outstandlingly musicly talented, and they both have unbeatable lyrics. The problem is that people presume that if a rubbish band is trying to copy a different band, that that band has to be bad to. Arctic monkeys are not the slightest bit comerical, doing few interviews and marginal advertising, they also consiously try not to write simple pop songs that would easily get them to number one, choosing to experiment and try new constructions instead. Nobody who has properly listened to a fair few of the arctic monkeys 70 songs, or pete doherty’s 180, will fail to see their talent and adaptability.

Posted by tom tristan | February 4, 2008, 6:52 pm
Flogged To Death By The Arctic Monkeys.

And yet here you are. some wanna be writer, using the name of a top indie band, to try and bolster your no doubt failing career. Kids dont do hype. They just listen to what they like. So dont you fall into the same old routine, of bash them while they are at the top. Be creative, do your own thing. Listen to what you want to hear. So please, please, please. Do not tell me what i want, who i need to follow. Stop being “the media”< and for gods sake. Cheer up. Its depressing just to read you article. You are a MARDY BUM !

Posted by Neutronium | February 4, 2008, 9:08 pm
Without wanting to sound at all patronising, thanks for your input about the article. I’m pleased that this article has stirred up some debate. As you both know music’s a passionate subject and we’re all very opinionated over it. Where would the fun be if we weren’t?
Contrary to what’s been said, I haven’t tried to tell anyone else what to do, I’m just stating my own opinion so chill out a little guys. And regarding my article being an uneducated rant, it’s hard to bring in a full argument with such a low word count. I would have loved to written a piece giving example of bands like Sigur Ros and Arcade Fire etc who are doing something a little different but I didn’t have the words and they don’t really fall into the ‘mainstream’ indie that I’m discussing above.
Tom, I didn’t suggest that the Libertines were a bad band; I said that they spawned loads of imitation bands that try to sound like them. Like you say this isn’t always a bad thing but a lot of the time I think it can be. In regards to the Arctic Monkeys not being the slightest bit commercial, give me a break, how many covers of the NME and Q have they appeared on in the last couple of years? The song writing aspect of the article wasn’t particularly directed at them (hence the Wombats reference), it was more to do with how they’ve been hyped up. Probably like you guys I really enjoyed their music before they released their first album, just from the tracks that I’d downloaded. However since then they’ve been played on the radio and appeared in the magazines so much that I’ve got bored of hearing them (i.e. they’ve been flogged to death for me). Fair play if they’re still doing it for you, as Neutronium rants away: ‘listen to what you want to hear’.
Neutronium, thanks for your opinion, nice and productive.

Sam Richards

Posted by Sam Richards | February 5, 2008, 8:10 pm