My 30 Best Albums of the Decade: #9

Been a bit behind over the last week, in a funk because I realized too late that I really did shun "The Rising", insulting it at #10. But alas, I move on. Which I'm normally not very good at but promise to get better.

#9. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not- Arctic Monkeys

The "new album" that started my renaissance of "new albums". I was living in a musical cave for some time in the earlier part of this decade. A pre-iTunes cave. Heck, I even used to wonder what the bloody point of an iPod was. I was that caveman besmirching the need for a wheel I guess. I had a CD player. I had all my classics. Why would I sit in front of a computer, with a 3 year lifespan, and put my entire catalog on it? The entire concept sounded foreign to me.  

5 years later and I vow to never, ever, under any circumstance doubt technological improvements without seeing for myself. Never again would I be the technological equivalent of George Wallace.

I had heard a lot of great things about these Brits but that didn't really impress me at the time. I had heard a lot of great things about Hillary Clinton from fellow democrats too and she turned out to be a shallow power-hungry troll without principle. But this album delivered. So much so that at the end of 2006, I ranked it higher than some works that have yet to be accounted for in this pointless little countdown.

There's nothing too deep or special about the album, which is just a pain in the ass to continue to retype, but to put it bluntly, it's fucking fun. That's it. No more, no less. The catchy "Mardy Bum" pretty much sums up the occasional nonsense that cohabitating couples deal with, but not in an Eminem-sense where violent rage and threats of assault are the common medium of expression. Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But does a great job of capturing the annoyance of dealing with, well, people. People who want to sell you shit. People who want to control your shit. People who want to own your shit. Fake Tales of San Francisco is a lovely ode to bullshit. And there's not enough of those.

The rest of the album touches upon the same basic premises of "You Suck, Just Let Me Be", without getting too deep or too preachy. And it moves at a quick enough pace that you can throw it on while entertaining and nobody's going to get caught up in any deep bullshit or wonder if your accusing them of time-burglary (the answer is likely yes).

Is there anything special or groundbreaking about the album as a whole? No, not really. Would many people rank it this high? Doubt it. But they suck, just let me be.