The musician Josh Homme called a “rare poet” of rock music
Josh Homme had a heavy hand in shaping the sound of the Arctic Monkeys during arguably their most transformative period on record.
There have been many turning points in the trajectory of Arctic Monkeys. For some, it was AM that cemented their position as rock legends. For others, everything changed with Tranquility Base. However, the biggest change came much earlier, when they released their third record, Humbug, and the band needed to step up in a series of ways to ensure their sustained popularity.
Their debut had done well to establish them as major players in Britain’s new wave indie scene, while Favourite Worst Nightmare built on that by adding in glimpses of sonic development and progression. Had the third continued on that streak, however, it likely wouldn’t have gone anywhere. And so, with the help of Homme as producer, the band went in a different direction, ditching their energetic and upbeat sound in favour of something slower and more considered.
Another significant change was frontman Alex Turner’s vocal technique. Where before he’d opted for the quintessential British approach of effectively yelling one-liners and chanting choruses like he was constantly fresh from a night out, he suddenly started to sing with a more relaxed and slower tone. This went hand-in-hand with the album’s lyrics, which weren’t so much about piss-ups and late-night endeavours as they were about complex relationships, longing and desire.
That’s another thing – before, Turner hadn’t really been seen as a lyricist, at least, not in the way that actually meant something. But he’d written the entirety of Humbug with a constant string of poetic musings and metaphors up his sleeve, and nurtured a sound that enhanced those earlier depictions of romance and relationships with more maturity and craftsmanship.
Even the more literal and direct contributions to the record, like ‘Cornerstone’, feel injected with Turner’s renewed sense of focus, tackling the idea of yearning for someone who you can’t find anywhere but who you look for in every place, every smell, every person you come across, without compromising on that subtle humour that makes it stick (“You can call me anything you want”).
Homme was especially impressed by Turner during the sessions, and even told GQ at the time that he found him to be a “rare poet” with a “special gift”. He said, “I was sucked in at first by the lyrics. Alex sounded like a rare poet playing music – he has a special gift for the gab.” He also praised Matt Helders’ contributions, saying he is “one of the best drummers in rock ‘n’ roll”.
Without Humbug, it’s unlikely that Arctic Monkeys would have enjoyed a career as long as they have – and that’s saying a lot, considering that the record usually hangs low on people’s lists of best Arctic Monkeys records. And even still, all debates aside, it was a necessary means to an end to prove their worth with a standard they’d established for themselves, showing that they could, more than any other band at the time, withstand the test of time.
After all, without Humbug, we probably wouldn’t have AM. And without AM, there’s no telling where the band would have ended up, making the third record the most crucial in their entire discography. And that’s without even considering that it has some of their best songs, ones worth far more than most on AM and any other record, for that matter.
