Arctic Monkeys released sophomore album, Favourite Worst Nightmare

First posted 6/8/2011; updated 9/12/2020.

Favourite Worst Nightmare Arctic Monkeys

Released: April 23, 2007 Peak: 7 US, 13 UK, 4 CN, 2 AU Sales (in millions): 0.36 US, 1.0 UK, 1.61 world (includes US and UK) Genre: garage rock revival

Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.) Brianstorm (4/16/07, 2 UK) Teddy Picker (12/07, 20 UK) D Is for Dangerous Balaclava Fluorescent Adolescent (7/07, 5 UK) Only One Who Knows Do Me a Favour This House Is a Circus If You Were There, Beware The Bad Thing Old Yellow Bricks 505 Total Running Time: 37:18 The Players: Alex Turner (vocals, guitar) Jamie Cook (guitar, vocals) Nick O’Malley (bass, vocals) Matt Helders (drums, vocals)

Rating: 4.022 out of 5.00 (average of 24 ratings) Awards:

About the Album: “Breathless praise is a time-honored tradition in British pop music, but even so, the whole brouhaha surrounding the 2006 debut of the Arctic Monkeys bordered on the absurd. It wasn’t enough for the Arctic Monkeys to be the best new band of 2006; they had to be the saviors of rock & roll. Lead singer/songwriter Alex Turner had to be the best songwriter since Noel Gallagher or perhaps even Paul Weller, and their debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, at first was hailed as one of the most important albums of the decade, and then, just months after its release, NME called it one of the Top Five British albums ever.” AMG Instead of basking in the abundance of praise, the Monkeys went right back to work. Favourite Worst Nightmare came out just a little over a year after their debut and the result is “the vibrant, thrilling sound of a band coming into its own.” AMG The album “hardly abandons the pleasures of their debut but instead frantically expands upon them.” AMG “This isn’t a quartet that bashes out simply three-chord rock & roll.” AMG “They’ll play art punk riffs without pretension.” AMG “Born in the ‘80s and raised on the Strokes and the Libertines, they treat all rock as a level playing field, loving its traditions but not seeing musical barriers between generations.” AMG They absorb their influences and “spit it all out in a giddy, cacophonous blend of post-punk and classic rock that sounds fresh.” AMG They “haven’t stumbled on their second album” like those bands did by overthinking it. AMG In fact, Nightmare has been described as a “faster, meaner” WK “more ambitious, heavier” WK album. They “sound like they’ll try anything, which makes this a rougher album in some ways than their debut, which indeed was more cohesive. All the songs on Whatever shared a similar viewpoint, whereas the excitement here is that there’s a multitude of viewpoints.” AMG “It reveals the depth and ambition of the band.” AMG “The Monkeys may start with an infectious riff, but then they’ll violently burst into jagged yet tightly controlled blasts of post-punk squalls or they’ll dress a verse with circular harmonies as they do at the end of Fluorescent Adolescent.” AMG “Their signature is precision, evident in their concise songs, deftly executed instrumental interplay.” AMG There’s also “Turner’s wry wordplay, which is clever but never condescending.” AMG Even the title of the album’s lead single is a play on words. Often mistakenly assumed to be titled “Brainstorm,” the song is actually called Brianstorm, a reference to the song’s protagonist named Brian. The song hit #2 on the UK charts, paving the way for the album to have another big debut like its predecessor. It debuted at #1 on the UK album chart, eventually selling a million copies.

Resources and Related Links: Arctic Monkey’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia

One Republic released Timbaland version of “Apologize”

Last updated 4/22/2020.

Apologize One Republic with Timbaland

Writer(s): Ryan Tedder (see lyrics here) Released: April 30, 2006 First Charted: April 21, 2007 Peak: 2 US, 17 RR, 4 AC, 16 A40, 60 RB, 3 UK, 113 CN, 18 AU (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 6.0 US, 0.6 UK, 10.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 224.43 video, -- streaming

Awards:

About the Song: Ryan Tedder, a songwriter and record producer, formed One Republic in Colorado with high school friend Zach Filkins. Once the pair moved to Los Angeles, they fleshed out the band and garnered attention via the online community, especially MySpace. SF The song was initially written for the band’s debut album, Dreaming Out Loud, but didn’t take off until it was remixed by hip-hop producer Timbaland for his Shock Value album SF and released again in April 2007 – a year after its initial release. Tedder told ilikemusic.com that the Timbaland connection was not as unusual as it might seem. They’d known each other about six years and after One Republic exploded on MySpace, labels started calling, but Timbaland offered the most interesting deal. SF While Timbaland made changes to the instrumental track, the vocals were still Ryan Tedder. However, because Timbaland had just made a name for himself the track was billed as “Timbaland featuring One Republic.” The Timbaland version went all the way to #2 in the U.S. in late 2007. It spent 4 non-consecutive weeks there, as well as another 11 weeks at #3. It totalled 25 weeks in the top 10, the most weeks since Santana’s “Smooth” logged 30 weeks there. BB100 It also set the record in North America as the most played song in one week at Mainstream Top 40, a record broken by Leona Lewis’s “Bleeding Love,” a song also written by Tedder. WK The song topped the charts in 16 countries, WK most notably spending 14 weeks atop the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles, where it was dethroned by – none other than – “Bleeding Love.” SF One Republic would have more hits and Tedder was established as a go-to songwriter, working with Adele, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys, Beyoncé, Camila Cabello, Kelly Clarkson, Chris Cornell, Hilary Duff, The Fray, Ellie Goulding, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lopez, Demi Lovato, Maroon 5, Paul McCartney, Shawn Mendes, the Pussycat Dolls, Rascal Flatts, Ed Sheeran, Gwen Stefani, Taylor Swift, Train, Carrie Underwood, Westlife, Stevie Wonder, and more. Resources and Related Links: One Republic’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry Timbaland’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry BB100 Billboard (9/08). “All-Time Hot 100” SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia

50 years ago: Elvis at #1 for 8th week with “All Shook Up”

All Shook Up Elvis Presley

Writer(s): Otis Blackwell, Elvis Presley (see lyrics here) Released: March 22, 1957 First Charted: March 30, 1957 Peak: 18 US, 17 CB, 16 HR, 11 CW, 14 RB, 17 UK, 11 CN, 5 AU (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, -- UK, 7.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 32.3 video, -- streaming

Awards: (Click on award for more details).

About the Song: The song is credited to Otis Blackwell and Elvis although the singer had nothing to do with writing it. Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, often demanded a share of the songwriting credit be given to his client. SF However, accounts of Elvis’ involvement are disputed. In his book Last Train to Memphis, Peter Guralnick says Elvis came up with the idea for the refrain, WK and Elvis himself claimed he got the idea for the song from a dream when he woke up all shook up. He then phoned a friend and told him about it and by morning had a new song. WK Meanwhile Al Stanton, one of the owners of Shalimar Music – Blackwell’s publishing company – says the song came out of an incident in which he shook up a bottle of Pepsi and then suggested Blackwell write a song based on the phrase “all shook up.” WK Blackwell was struggling to write a follow-up to “Don’t Be Cruel,” his first chart-topping hit for Elvis. He took up the challenge as a dare and finished the song in a couple of days. SF Regardless of its origins, Elvis was not the first to record it. Under the stage name David Hill, the actor David Hess recorded it for Aladdin Records. Hess claimed he came up with the title, Blackwell wrote it, and then Elvis was given a co-writing credit in order to get him to record it. WK Elvis recorded it at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on January 12, 1957. The Jordaniares and the Blue Moon Boys are featured on the record. WK Four gospel songs recorded from the two-day session were released on the Peace in the Valley EP the same month as the “All Shook Up” single. BR “All Shook Up” logged eight weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 which, in 1957, was a mix of three charts – Best Sellers in Stores, Most Played by Jockeys, and Most Played in Jukeboxes. The song topped all three of those charts. All told, its time atop the four charts spanned from April 13, 1957 to June 17, 1957. The latter chart was discontinued in June 1957, making “All Shook Up” the last song to top that chart. WK “All Shook Up” was named Billboard’s song of the year, following his “Heartbreak Hotel” song topping the list for 1956. This makes him the only artist to top the year-end chart in two simultaneous years. BR All told, Elvis spent 50 weeks at #1 in 1956 and 1957 with eight different songs. SF In The Complete Beatles Chronicle, author Mark Lewisohn says the Beatles (when they were known as the Quarrymen) regularly performed the song from 1957 through at least 1960 with Paul McCartney on lead vocal. In his book John, Paul & Me, Len Garry, a former member of the Quarrymen, says it was one of the songs the group played on July 6, 1957 – the day when John Lennon and Paul McCartney met. WK There’s no known recording of their version. WK Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Elvis Presley BR Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 21. SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 10/30/2019; last updated 4/25/2021.

In Concert: Eric Clapton (40th Birthday Present)

image from youtube.com

Venue: Kemper Arena; Kansas City, MO
The Players: Eric Clapton (vocals, guitar), Doyle Bramhall II (guitar), Willie Weeks (bass), Steve Jordan (drums), Chris Stainton (keyboards), Tim Carmon (keyboards), Michelle John (backing vocals), Sharon White (backing vocals)

This concert was a gift to me for my 40th birthday. My then-wife surprised me (and 7 others) with tickets to Eric Clapton – and the T-shirts which proclaim “We’re with that 40 Year Old Guy.”

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The Set List:

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1. Tell the Truth
2. Key to the Highway
3. Got to Get Better in a Little While
4. Little Wing
5. Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?

ACOUSTIC SET:

6. Driftin’
7. I’ll Give You Money (Outside Woman Blues)?
8. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out
9. Running on Faith
10. Motherless Children
11. Little Queen of Spades
12. Further on Up the Road
13. Wonderful Tonight
14. Layla

ENCORE:

15. Cocaine
16. Crossroads (with Robert Cray)