Born in Sheffield (UK), on the january 6th of 1986, Alexander David Turner, mostly known as Alex Turner, became one of the main names of the indie rock scene. Founder and vocalist of the band Arctic Monkeys (2002-), Alex conquered the public, especially because of the deep and memorable lyrics, composed with book references, writers, movies and even other songs and singers.
Alex’s childhood brought a diverse influence in his compositions. His mother was a German teacher and passionate for linguistics, while his father was a music teacher and introduced him to piano. He grew up listening to The Beatles, Beach Boys, The Eagles and Frank Sinatra. During his teenage years, learned how to play the electric guitar and discovered the indie scene because of The Strokes’ album “Is This It”.
The Beggining: “Whatever People Say I Am, I’m Not”
In 2001, by the age of 15, with Matt Helders (drummer) and Andy Nicholson (former bassist of the band), Alex began a garage band, recording some tapes and performing in some pubs in his hometown. By the end of 2004, “Beneath the Boardwalk”, the band’s first album, scored a big repercussion on social media and played on the BBC1 radio station, making Arctic Monkeys known nationally. After this, in 2006, “Whatever People Say I Am, I’m Not” was released, the second album of the band but the first one recorded in studio, presenting “I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor” and “When The Sun Goes Down”.
“Mr. Turner’s lyrics are worth waiting for and often worth memorizing, too. He delivers pithy, unpretentious descriptions of a teenage world defined by daydreams and nightlife. And he has an uncanny way of evoking Northern English youth culture while neither romanticizing it nor sneering at it.” Says Kalefa Sanneh, from The New York Times. At this point, known as “the voice of a generation”, Alex and his band were already known internationally and had a collection of awards from the Brit Awards and Mercury Prize.
Favourite Worst Nightmare:
In 2007, the third album, “Favourite Worst Nightmare”, presented tracks such as “Fluorescent Adolescent” and “505”. The proposition of the album is to address subjects as breakups, relationships, frustrations… like if it was a way to say goodbye to teenage years. “Fluorescent Adolescent“, the representation of the album, was composed by Turner and his ex-girlfriend Johanna Bennett, while both had a conversation about school years and people they knew. The track talks about getting older and noticing that things that were once fun are not part of the present. It’s a song with a happy aspect, but sends a much deeper message, like so, considered by many, the best song of the album. “505” presents a vulnerable Alex. It was composed in a train heading to New York, when he was meeting his girlfriend in a hotel in which the room’s number was 505. Both the lyric and the rhythm have a romantic air, even so it is one of the first romantic compositions of the author. However, it also conveys a sensation of anxiety on the singer’s part, because he and his girlfriend can’t be together the way they would like due to the different routines each one has. At the same time as the release, Alex starts a band with his friend Miles Kane called “The Age Of Understatement”.
Humbug:
The fourth album, “Humbug”, in 2009, is still the favorite of most fans. It had influence on people like Josh Homme (member of Queens of the Stone Age) and Alison Mosshart (member of The Kills and The Dead Weather). The record presents an alternative genre and slightly darker, balanced with a humouristic and sexual touch by Alex in some moments. Jimi Hendrix, The Crem, John Cale, Nick Cave and The Beatles are cited throughout the tracks. Although it doesn’t have the same lively rhythm as previous albums, it is perhaps the most poetry-laden album ever made by the band. The name “humbug” means deceptive/false talk, and addresses issues such as the real and the imaginary, loving temptations, unreal desires and false expectations. On this album, the lyrics follow a slightly different path of clubbing, drinking, sex and drugs, which resembles a conversation between Humbug and Favorite Worst Nightmare. The main tracks are “Cornerstone”, “Crying Lightning” and “My Propeller”.
Suck it and See:
During “Stuck It And See” (2011), the band grew apart from faster songs and emerged deeply in songs with meanings and references, always searching for innovation. On the fifth album, what is more evident are Alex Turner’s vocals, while putting aside (for now) the famous guitar riffs, registered mark of Arctic Monkeys. Inspired by Black Sabbath, makes tracks such as “Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair”, “Library Pictures” and “All My Own Stunts”, making this the heaviest album of the band. From this album it is possible to note how Alex creates a persona and presents this character at each track. According to the singer, “Stuck It And See” features references from american westerns and inside jokes by the members throughout the songs.
AM:
The lyricism in each of his songs became even more evident in the album “AM” (2013), which granted the world hits such as “Do I Wanna Know?”, “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?”, “I Wanna Be Yours” and “Arabella”. The record bears the band’s initials in its name, making a reference to “The Velvet Underground” (VU). Alex used poet punk bands from the 80’s, such as The Smiths, as a role model for the album. “AM” was a game changer, since that become the most successful album of the Arctic Monkey’s and put the English band at international level. In this record, emerges one of the most recognizable guitar solos in the world with the song “Do I Wanna Know?”, the most known composition of the band. The work is full of movie allusions, such as “Arabella”, inspired by the movie “Barbarella” (1968), where Jane Fonda’s character is the inspiring muse for the song, noticeable on the verse “Arabella’s got some interstellar-gator skin boots” and “She’s got a Barbarella silver swimsuit”. “Knee Socks” has as its basis the movie “Mean Streets” (1973). The track details the opening of Martin Scorsese’s crime movie: “Like the beginning of Mean Streets”. In addition to “R U Mine?”, which is inspired by the tv show “Thunderbirds” of the 60s.
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino:
Finally, up until now, being the last studio album from the band, we have “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino”, released in 2018. It was an album with both advances and setbacks, it is possible to notice Alex’s intention to bring a different content in his songs, which really happens in some tracks, while others resemble songs from past albums. Tranquility Base refers to the location of the first flight made to the moon in 1969, suggesting a theme about loneliness throughout the record, like a journey into space. The musical style this time was inspired by David Bowie, mainly on the album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”. According to Turner, “’Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino‘ is a sci-fi adventure from a not-so-distant future, where the moon has been colonized, gentrified, and turned into a luxury resort.” With a futuristic, technological footprint and criticism of how humanity behaves in the age of information, the album has as its main songs “Four Out Of Five”, “Star Treatment” and “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino”, that gives the album’s title.
About “Four Out Of Five”, the composer says that it addresses themes of science-fiction and what we do with the amount of information we receive. “Star Treatment” reveals a wistful memory from the beginning of everything. The verse “I just wanted to be one of The Strokes” shows the appreciation of every step taken by Alex and contemplates his evolution as an artist: “When I wrote this verse, I imagined that I would come back to it and that I would not end up recording. But when I came back, I felt like I was right where I should be because it made me think, ‘shit, the last 12 years have flown by’. There is an honesty and a truth to that. My writing style has developed considerably since the first record, but the candor of this verse – and perhaps other lyrics on this album – reminds me of the way I wrote in the beginning.”
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The article above was edited by Larissa Mariano.
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