Episode 185 - Humbug by Arctic Monkeys (Side A)

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The cat is truly among the pigeons this week, as Chris puts the Arctic Monkeys’ third album Humbug forth for our consideration. Is this the biggest band we’ve ever covered?!

Probably not, no - we did cover Metallica after all - but they are the first band we’ve ever covered with a song on Spotify that is has over 1 billion plays (It’s Do I Wanna Know? incidentally) so I suppose you could argue that they are the biggest band we’ve yet covered.

On this episode we talk about the band’s history, as well as how they came about in this weird post-Napster pre-Facebook era, coming completely out of nowhere at a time when MySpace was the places where all the kids hung out online.

The band have made a number of interesting stylistic choices over the years, which is impressive for a band with their profile. What’s more impressive though is how their fans seem to come on the journey with them, which is rare for just about any band, let alone a huge act like these guys.

Next week we’ll talk about Humbug itself and of course the Josh Homme factor.