Top Songwriters of Last 25 Years #8 Alex Turner
Andrew/Matt Carolan
The art of songwriting is sometimes not recognised as well as it should be. After all, One Direction don’t magically just pop into the charts impromptu. It takes work (on the behalf of their writers). The ability to combine a distinct and memorable melody with interesting lyrics is vital in creating a hit. Forget your music videos and forget your tweets, this is what real music is about and here at Collegetimes, we are bringing you the best songwriters of our time (since 1988, a generation roughly). We will count down the top ten which we have scrutinised over for some time now with regards to style, lyrical content, melody, relevance, diversity and originality. We've had Matt Bellamy, we've had Pharrell Williams, now we have Alex Turner.
Alex Turner is at the top of his game once again with the Arctic Monkeys' fifth album AM. Once again, they have gained the popularity that marked the release of their first album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not back in early 2006 but they have not wasted time in between. For even when less successful (Humbug), Turner is always progressing and finessing his talent. The lyrics were always stellar, now they are enigmatic. The melodies have gotten tighter and unless he releases a couple of duds in the few years to come, he may be recognised as the songwriter of our time. Until that point though, he will remain at #8.
Whatever People Say I Am...
The reviews were overwhelming, the sales were too. It sold faster than you would imagine and for good reasons too. Unlike their indie peers of the time (Razorlight, Babyshambles, etc.), this was an album which addressed youth culture directly. Singing about taxi ranks, scumbags and nights out, Turner captured the generation's imagination with songs that were both catchy and relatable, "When The Sun Goes Down," "A Certain Romance," "Mardy Bum," they were all good...
Moving on from Sheffield
Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007) had a shade of the Monkeys' first album but still boasted hits in "Fluorescent Adolescent" and "Teddy Picker," but Turner's career got murkier from there on. 2008 would see him move on to a side-project with friend Miles Kane. They created the Last Shadow Puppets album which was basically an epic, strings attached Monkeys' album with fine bravado. Turner even made a soundtrack for the annoyingly indie-film Submarine in 2011 which, while by no means his best work, still conveys that this is a man who can adapt to different climates...
And onto the Desert...
"If You can summon the strenght, tow me, I can't hold down the urgency"- "My Propeller" (Humbug, 2009)
What a strange twist that was in 2009. The band had released "Crying Lightning" which was similar to their previous work with a harder edge but even that didn't prepare us for the 3rd album. Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) produced and together, he and the band shifted their sound on from their roots. It may not have made for the most direct album but the sacrifice would pay off. Not content with taking the easy way out, Turner continued to develop his songwriting style. Suck It and See was lighter but slower, once cited by Turner as a blend of their three other albums but in fact, another step forward. As they seemed to be losing all their relatability with a new American influenced style however, in early 2012, came a smash return to form with "R U Mine?" Finally, the band had grafted the right delivery and the subsequent album AM, released last week, shows that Turner is a force to be reckoned with. Lyrically, as interesting as ever but growing ever more eclectic with his melodies, his is the discography hundreds of now defunct indie-singers wish they had.
Agree or disagree? Comment your thoughts or own list below. We'll be back next week with #7 and it may or may not be a certain child-star-gone-horribly-looking-wrong, but it isn't...