Blog: Chewing gum for the ears

For the first few years of their mostly acclaimed career Arctic Monkeys had failed to really impress me – that is to say, live up to my lofty expectations incurred by their many adoring fans and critics. Admittedly, I understand the appeal of the group's dark, sexy rock 'n' roll and found the occasional single to be enjoyably infectious and fun, but I felt the band failed to conjure much of an identity beside their precision drum/guitar/bass attack and the recognizable croon of Alex Turner (and perhaps Turner's dry sarcasm, if that counts). [...]