![5. Favourite Worst Nightmare - By far, not a bad album in any sense, but there has to be a lowest ranker. Although their second effort provided the speedy comeback they required to wave off any naysayers or 'don't believe the hype' criers, it just isn't as good as the rest in their near-perfect repertoire. The quality of this LP is parallel to some band's best work, this second album spawned an important venture into ballads for the band which Turner has gone on to master, namely 'Only Ones Who Know', whilst also showcasing their heavier Queens of the Stone Age inspired interests on 'Brianstorm'.]()
5. Favourite Worst Nightmare - By far, not a bad album in any sense, but there has to be a lowest ranker. Although their second effort provided the speedy comeback they required to wave off any naysayers or 'don't believe the hype' criers, it just isn't as good as the rest in their near-perfect repertoire. The quality of this LP is parallel to some band's best work, this second album spawned an important venture into ballads for the band which Turner has gone on to master, namely 'Only Ones Who Know', whilst also showcasing their heavier Queens of the Stone Age inspired interests on 'Brianstorm'.
![4. Suck it and See - Album number four saw Turner embrace his American influence in 60s Summer-pop style. The 12 tracks were less collaborative and more singer/songwriter tunes with band accompaniment which paved way for Turner to flourish in his John Cooper Clarke-esque wordplay. The lyrics, influenced by writers such as Tom Wolfe, are arguably Turner's best featuring lines of romance on 'Reckless Serenade' (]()
4. Suck it and See - Album number four saw Turner embrace his American influence in 60s Summer-pop style. The 12 tracks were less collaborative and more singer/songwriter tunes with band accompaniment which paved way for Turner to flourish in his John Cooper Clarke-esque wordplay. The lyrics, influenced by writers such as Tom Wolfe, are arguably Turner's best featuring lines of romance on 'Reckless Serenade' ("When she laughs the heavens hum a stun gun lullaby"), humour on 'The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala' ("her steady hands may well have done the devil's pedicure") to the truly bizarre ("Library Pictures of the quickening canoe"). The singer/songwriter blueprint is sometimes tossed aside in favour of the terrifically fun riffs of 'Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair' and the infamous fan divider 'Brick by Brick' - but who else has the balls to include "I wanna rock and roll" on an album track?
![3. Humbug - The Monkeys took themselves out of their home habitat, exchanging the industrial streets of Sheffield, UK for the sparse strangeness of the Californian desert, USA. The four-piece hooked up in an unlikely collaboration (at the time) with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, who sapped out the psychedelia of the group. The band experienced Homme's idiosyncratic production techniques (]()
3. Humbug - The Monkeys took themselves out of their home habitat, exchanging the industrial streets of Sheffield, UK for the sparse strangeness of the Californian desert, USA. The four-piece hooked up in an unlikely collaboration (at the time) with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, who sapped out the psychedelia of the group. The band experienced Homme's idiosyncratic production techniques ("Make that bass guitar sound like a fat kid eating chocolate") making way for slow brooding grooves in 'My Propeller' and 'Dance Little Liar', desert rock in 'Dangerous Animals' and the woozy daydream of 'Fire and the Thud'. An extremely important album to their growth as a band.
![2. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - The modern classic which rocketed the band to dizzying heights which no other band have equalised since, proving that the group were so much more than just 'the hype' swirling around them at the time. The album shifted a huge 360,000 units in its first week making it the fastest selling debut album since Oasis' Definitely Maybe, and it's not hard to see why - the songs are stompers all the way through, littered with witty observations, vivid characters and totally relatable storytelling; it's a complete and honest guide to UK adolescent life. The album deals with fake weekend rockstars on 'Fake Tales of San Fransisco', unsuccessful nights out on 'From The Ritz to the Rubble' and demonstrates wonderful storytelling of Sheffield's red light district on 'When The Sun Goes Down. Give these subjects a sharp, explosive and hooky backdrop and you've got yourself a modern classic.]()
2. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - The modern classic which rocketed the band to dizzying heights which no other band have equalised since, proving that the group were so much more than just 'the hype' swirling around them at the time. The album shifted a huge 360,000 units in its first week making it the fastest selling debut album since Oasis' Definitely Maybe, and it's not hard to see why - the songs are stompers all the way through, littered with witty observations, vivid characters and totally relatable storytelling; it's a complete and honest guide to UK adolescent life. The album deals with fake weekend rockstars on 'Fake Tales of San Fransisco', unsuccessful nights out on 'From The Ritz to the Rubble' and demonstrates wonderful storytelling of Sheffield's red light district on 'When The Sun Goes Down. Give these subjects a sharp, explosive and hooky backdrop and you've got yourself a modern classic.
![1. AM - To accomplish one modern classic is an achievement enough in itself, but to do it again four albums down the line is almost unheard of. AM is a satisfying piece of work which comes full circle establishing the four-piece as modern-day greats. The debut album Whatever People Say I Am... was an unintentional classic, with the group completely unaware of their talent and capability, but within the walls of AM the group's intentions were completely thought out. The album took their learnings from their back-catalogue, and melded it with a unique and successful blend of RnB and Rock influence. It harks back to beginnings and looks forward simultaneously: 'Why'd You Only Call Me When Your High' wouldn't be out of place on their debut, 'Do I Wanna Know?' is a guitar riff which will be ringing for years to come, but the genius of 'Knee Socks' sees them striking on something worth following, it's a spooky groove-based lustful heartbreaker, entering uncharted musical territory. As they came down from the AM pedestal last year, there was a harmonised question ringing throughout the musical world; where do they go from here? But they've done this before and no doubt, they will conquer again...]()
1. AM - To accomplish one modern classic is an achievement enough in itself, but to do it again four albums down the line is almost unheard of. AM is a satisfying piece of work which comes full circle establishing the four-piece as modern-day greats. The debut album Whatever People Say I Am... was an unintentional classic, with the group completely unaware of their talent and capability, but within the walls of AM the group's intentions were completely thought out. The album took their learnings from their back-catalogue, and melded it with a unique and successful blend of RnB and Rock influence. It harks back to beginnings and looks forward simultaneously: 'Why'd You Only Call Me When Your High' wouldn't be out of place on their debut, 'Do I Wanna Know?' is a guitar riff which will be ringing for years to come, but the genius of 'Knee Socks' sees them striking on something worth following, it's a spooky groove-based lustful heartbreaker, entering uncharted musical territory. As they came down from the AM pedestal last year, there was a harmonised question ringing throughout the musical world; where do they go from here? But they've done this before and no doubt, they will conquer again...
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