The story behind Alex Turner’s greatest riff: “Like a ghost”
When you think of Alex Turner, the first thing that comes to mind (other than his range of haircuts) is his beautiful lyrics.
We’re talking about a man who took a night out in Sheffield and turned it into a sonnet; takeaways, drunken brawls, one-night stands and all. Their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, is still regarded as one of the greatest indie albums ever made because of how romantic it made the mundane nature of everyday life sound.
Walk through the streets of Sheffield today, and if a bar has its doors open, chances are you’ll hear the lyrics of Alex Turner pouring out of them. Whatever the poet managed to inject into those iconic words, it touched listeners in a way that meant these songs are those that refuse to age or dissipate. Not bad for a lad from the Steel City.
Of course, his lyrical magnetism has changed over time, but it has never lessened. The songs about the chip shop became a bit more obscure as Arctic Monkeys ventured into records such as Humbug and Suck It And See, then they became completely abstract on the likes of Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino and The Car, but there has always been an element of beauty in them. Perhaps other than the first two albums, the only other record released by Arctic Monkeys which contains lyrics equal parts poetic and accessible is their fifth offering, AM.
Of course, while AM was a great album for Turner to remind everyone how great a lyric writer he is, it also provided a platform where he could show off another aspect of his songwriting: his riffs. Arctic Monkeys had hardly been a guitar lover’s dream before this record, and sure, there were a few simple and fun runs here and there, but there were no real riffs that could rival the rock roster which came before them. That was until that sensational 2013 record was released.
This album showed listeners a brand new side to the band, one that still possessed what avid fans loved, but also saw the Sheffield lads go down a slightly different route. Riot vans were swapped for Harley-Davidsons, Ray-Bans for aviators, and Adidas tracksuits for leather jackets. Additionally – and most importantly – Turner swapped out his six-string Fender for a 12-string Vox Starstream, which helped him write one of the most iconic riffs in the band’s entire catalogue.
‘R U Mine’ was the first song that the band released from the iconic album, but it was the second single, ‘Do I Wanna Know’, which really got fans hooked. Never has a song felt like it progresses as naturally as this track, from the isolated drums at the beginning, all the way to the over-the-top and rock-heavy outro, every second feels accounted for, but the moment the song really grabs the listener’s attention is about ten seconds in, the moment that low rumbling and distortion-packed riff begins.
Arctic Monkeys were now officially rock stars, and they had the riffs to prove it, but how did an indie-loving northerner come up with such a thing?… I’ll leave it to you to decide if you think guitars have memories or not, but that’s what Turner called the riff, which came out of that 12-string the first time he played it.
“I feel like that riff or that song even was like a ghost within the walls of this old guitar that I bought,” he said, explaining the spiritual rationale behind the iconic riff.
