Arctic Monkeys - Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?

October 22, 2013 Critic Jonni 0 Comments

Suggested on 28th August 2013, by an anonymous commenter, I thought it was about time I reviewed this. Thank you for the request, whoever you are. This is a band who have never appeared on my blog thus far; there's a first time for everything right? Arctic Monkeys are a four piece indie rock band consisting of Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Nick O'Malley and Matt Helders. They have released five studio albums, all of which have topped the UK chart over the years, as well as two number one singles which are "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" and "When The Sun Goes Down". This is their most recent single. "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?" was written by Alex Turner. The song is their first top ten UK charting single since "Fluorescent Adolescent" got to number five in 2007. It's obvious what the song is about, and radio surprisingly picked this song up and played it often, hence the high charting position, yet I don't quite get it. I've never been a fan of the Arctic Monkeys, yet I can't dispute that they have done well for themselves, especially with the five consecutive number one albums. I just don't see the interest in their music. However I'm not really into indie that much. The music video relates well to the song, and actually contains all four members of the band who are having a drink at the pub. Wasted, Alex Turner (the frontman), texts this girl called Stephanie (played by Lamie Stewart) and gets no reply. He walks the street seeing explicit hallucinations of the general street people around at that time. But the key portrayal is that he is thinking about Stephanie, and so the hallucinations involve her, including riding a motorcycle naked, as well as having sex with a kebab owner. The images continue this perverse imaginations, that I can't quite repeat, even for this blog, I really don't want to put my mind through a second viewing of this video. It is obvious what the ending would be, instead of appearing on Stephanie's doorstep, instead he is knocking on the wrong door. While on the opposite side of the street, Stephanie sees her 17 missed text messages all of which she ignores as she continues to head towards whatever room she planned on going to, leaving two people asleep on the couch. After those explicit hallucinations, what's to say she isn't as filthy as those images? Overall a song that is catchy to an extent, thanks to constant radio play, but one that does not appeal to me. The music video relates perfectly and I find no fault with it whatsoever. Fair enough I may not want to watch it ever again, but that isn't because it's a bad music video, it's because I do not want to see the content shown in it a second time, yet they have made it link with the song. So you can imagine where this rating is going...

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