Charles Wood
Contributor
The Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I am, I am Not
**** of *****

Every band has an agenda. For some it’s too sell millions of really shitty records. For others it’s to whine, bitch, and moan about how their parents didn’t love them enough. As for Britain’s Artic Monkeys, they want your happy ass to dance and rock out, damnit. This four piece sites The Smiths, The Clash, and Braintax as a few of their influences.

To say that the Monkey’s are catchy is like saying Hendrix was a decent guitarist. Their songs on their CD Whatever People Say I am, I am Not are as infectious as the black plague; I’ll guarantee that after listening to “Perhaps Vampires is a Bit Strong” you won’t be able to get the chorus out of your head without the head of a pile driver.

Despite the undeniable catchiness of their songs, their lyrics are surprising well written and rise above the typical mindless banter of many dance-focused bands. Their song “A Certain Romance” takes a few stabs at pretentious hipsters, “Well oh they might wear classic Reeboks/Or knackered Ctrackse/ Or tracky bottoms tucked in socks/But all of that's what the point is not/ The point's that there ain't no romance around there” And in the track, “When The Sun Goes Down” there’s actually…hold your breath…decent social commentary, “So who's that girl there?/ I wonder what went wrong/So that she had to roam the streets/ She don't do major credit cards/ I doubt she does receipts/ It's all not quite legitimate.” The song even has a Police reference, “And I've seen him with girls of the night/And he told Roxanne to put on her red light.”

My only problem with the album is that they suffer what I call "AC/DC disease", an illness whose prominent symptom is when the songs sound much alike. But then again, this is their debut album, so one can’t expect greatness…yet…give these guys some time. Overall, this CD is awesome music to party to. So go party.