Listen to the isolated vocals on Arctic Monkeys song ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’
With Arctic Monkeys releasing some of the best music of their career, now seems the perfect time to revisit the song that started it all: the Sheffield outfit’s 2006 breakthrough single ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’. Here, we’ve bought you a vocals-only version of the classic AM track, positively bursting with razor-sharp lyrics from the fair hand of bandleader Alex Turner.
Featured on Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’ was Arctic Monkey’s first single, kicking off a dizzying career as one of the UK’s most revered indie outfits. At the time of its release, AM’s debut album sold more copies in the UK during its first week than any other album. In fact, it sold more than the rest of the top 20 put together. X Factor winner Leona Lewis would later beat that record with ‘Bleeding Love’, but that’s beside the point.
The most startling thing about the Arctic Monkey’s debut was Alex Turner’s stunning ability to turn a phrase. As you can hear from this isolated recording, his words have a momentum and musicality common in the world of beat poetry but rarely showcased in rock music. The famous lyric “dancing like a robot from 1984” was apparently meant as a reference to John McClure, who formed the band Judan Suki in 2001, which boasted Alex Turner as a member. The pair later flatmates and McClure would go on to win fame as the manic frontman of Reverend and The Makers.
For most, the brilliance of ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’ is best encapsulated by its iconic music video, which features a brilliant introduction from Alex Turner in which he urges fans: “Don’t believe the hype.” Speaking to Prefix magazine, Arctic Monkeys explained how the video came about: “We had a program in England called The Old Grey Whistle Test, from the ’70s and ’80s. It was a live show that a lot of great bands played on. We all liked watching the program from DVD and then we just tried to recreate that. We were going to do it full-on and get the guy who used to introduce bands in the beginning, and go for that sort of thing – so that it looked like a British, ’70s music show – use the same cameras they used to use and whatnot, go for an old look.”
Today, ‘I Bet You Look on the Dancefloor’ endures as one of Arctic Monkey’s most beloved tracks. Make sure you check out this isolated recording if you haven’t already.
