Something 4 The Weekend # 26

The Brit Awards were held this past Wednesday night, and in case you don't know, the Brit Awards are essentially the British version of The Grammys, except that they only hand out thirteen awards, and seven of 'em are specifically doled out to British acts, which seems reasonable enough to me.

Arctic Monkeys: "Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong, But...": 128k mp3

So, the Arctic Monkeys won two Brit Awards this year - Best British Group, and Best British Album, and again, that seems reasonable enough to me because I'm not British, making it hard for me to guage what's hot and what's not in the UK, and at the moment I'm having a difficult time thinking of a different British act/album who maybe deserves it more. I'd say Lily Allen and her Alright, Still album, but I get the feeling plenty of people don't like Lily because she blew up on the internet, outta seemingly nowhere, and I'm guessing those same people think of her as an undeserving heiress of sorts (her dad being a famous British comedian/actor), and maybe lump her in with the likes of Kevin Federline or Paris Hilton, two "musical artists" who got record deals and major distribution because of who they are and who they know, and not because they're talented or compelling artists. I like the Lily Allen record quite alot, and certainly could never equate her with the unredeemable crap that Kevin and Paris foisted upon us in 2006...And besides, her dad really had no say in Lily's MySpace successes, cuz in that medium, her songs and her image had to succeed or fail on their own merits...

Anyways, I like the Arctic Monkeys album quite alot. It's a bit more progressive and heavy than their counterparts in the British rock scene, many of whom seem content to simply ape what has come before. What we end up with is a bunch of Oasis ripoffs (Oasis themselves being one of the most unoriginal and boring bands to ever find huge success) and Coldplay wannabees, and for the life of me, I don't know why anyone would want to be Coldplay, except maybe for the chance to make babies with the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow...No, Arctic Monkeys aren't quite that content. Yeah, they wanna be rich and famous rock stars (who doesn't?), but at least on the surface it appears they wanna do it on their own terms. Hell, their bass player quit the band just as they were blowing up, and that's nearly enough to convince me that these guys are doing it for all the right reasons...

The band also has a chip on their collective shoulders, which is almost always a welcome trait in a rock'n'roll band. Take this song, for instance...The chorus goes, "All you people are vampires, and all your stories are stale, and though you pretend to stand by us, I know you're certain we'll fail..." If you've ever been in a band, especially a band that's had at least a bit of success in yr local scene, you surely know how people kinda worm their way outta the woodwork to attach themselves to you. Dudes start showing up at practices to foist free drugs upon you, just so they can hang, and chicks start showing up at gigs with blowjobs on their minds, dig? And as often as not, these people don't even like your band, they just wanna get as close to the spotlight as they can, and if another band comes along with a slightly brighter spotlight, well, the drugs and blowjobs are suddenly a bit more difficult to come by...

So, here's my "congratulations" to the Arctic Monkeys for winning best British Group and Best British album at the 2007 Brit Awards, and here's to hoping that their sophomore album ups the ante and delivers an even bigger "fuck you" to the haters...

Hotcha! Hank