He's been compared to everyone from Jarvis Cocker to Mike Skinner and praised by poetic legends such as Simon Armitage and John Cooper Clarke, but admiring Alex Turner's lyrical wit and understanding what the hell the Arctic Monkeys' frontman is on about have increasingly become two very different things.
Heralded for his hip-hop-influenced suburban social commentary upon the band's swift ascent to fame in 2006, he's since moved in a far more esoteric direction, deriving heart-bursting resonance from obtuse metaphors and twisted wordplay.
With this in mind, and as fans scramble for the final tickets to Arctic Monkeys' 2013 UK tour, we've been reviewing the stories behind some of the band's biggest and best-loved songs, attempting to pick apart the facts from the fiction and deliberate misinformation.
I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
The band's game-changing 2006 single may be built around a perfunctory chord sequence, but this everyday tale of alcopop-soaked nightclub flirtation packs in a litany of pop culture references. The nods to Duran Duran's Rio and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet are widely noted and understood, but the line "dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984" also offers a little something extra.
It may in part be a nod to his friend Jon 'Reverend and the Makers' McClure's band at the time, 1984. Turner and McClure had previously cut their musical teeth together in schoolboy funk-rock band Judan Suki, so it's a logical lyric leg-up.
When The Sun Goes Down
Originally titled 'Scummy', the band's second #1 single was a singalong live favourite with fans long before they'd even signed a record deal, in spite of its precocious Dickensian lyrical bleakness. Detailing the nefarious night time scene around the band's practice space in Neepsend – a bustling industrial area by day and Sheffield's on-off red light district 'when the sun goes down' – it also marked another pop nod, this time to the Police's Roxanne "putting on her red light". Meanwhile, its impressively cinematic video also gave a break to British actress Lauren Socha, who went on to BAFTA-winning success with comedy-drama Misfits.
Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured
Typical of the club 'n' chip shop-centric lyrical content of their formative years, this funk-flecked track from 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not' details a drunken taxi journey back to Turner, drummer Matt Helders and guitarist Jamie Cook's home suburb of High Green – "via Hillsborough", the turf of then-bassist Andy Nicholson.
Brianstorm
The band have claimed the breakneck opener to their 2007 sophomore LP 'Favourite Worst Nightmare' refers to a strange character, the titular Brian, they met backstage at a Japanese venue. Speaking to NME, Cook said: “He was right weird. He just appeared with like a business card and like a round neck T-shirt and a tie loosely around it, I’d never seen that before. It felt like he was trying to get inside your mind. We were checking out his attire - it freaked us out. He definitely left a mark on us. He might have been a magician. He might even be here now. But if we ever find out who he was, it might spoil it.”
It's interesting to note that around the time the track was recorded they also witnessed a trick show from an up and coming magician backstage at a gig in the UK, their surprise spot at Deltasonic's Christmas party in Liverpool. The trickster on the night? None other than Dynamo.
Cornerstone
Along with being one of Arctic Monkeys' most deftly gorgeous compositions, this 2007 track also contains some of Turner's most surreal wordplay. While analysing its subtle dissection of gut-wrenching heartbreak, fans have long speculated whether the pubs listed in the song – The Battleship, Rusty Hook and Parrot's Beak – actually exist.
Speaking about the song in an interview with the Music Minded blog back in 2009, Turner explained that one of his friends grew up in a bar and asked the owners if he could name it the Rusty Hook. Meanwhile, the Frog and Parrot is a legendary Sheffield watering hole so beloved by the band that it featured in the sleeve artwork for 'Whatever…'. And as for the Battleship? Well, actually, that is probably just a figment of an overactive imagination.
Arctic Monkeys UK & Ireland Tour Dates are as follows
Tue October 22nd 2013 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Metro Radio Arena
Wed October 23rd 2013 - MANCHESTER Phones 4u Arena
Fri October 25th 2013 - LONDON Earls Court
Sat October 26th 2013 - LONDON Earls Court
Mon October 28th 2013 - LIVERPOOL Echo Arena
Tue October 29th 2013 - CARDIFF Motorpoint Arena
Thu October 31st 2013 - BIRMINGHAM LG Arena
Fri November 1st 2013 - GLASGOW Hydro
Sat November 2nd 2013 - SHEFFIELD Motorpoint Arena
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