I know this is probably super casual but what’s the album with do I wanna know, why do you only call me when you’re high etc?? Dude I played that record out until it stopped working like 10 years ago
@@sandenson it’s sooooo good. I know you hardcore fans probably hate on it because super surface level fans like me like it but to my untrained Arctic Monkeys ears it’s so fire. R U Mine 😍 One for the road 😍 Arabella 😍
I think Anthony doesn’t fully grasp how impactful Arctic Monkeys were across the pond. Whether or not he agrees there is a large consensus there that Arctic Monkeys are one of the great UK rock bands. Also it’s rare that an artists has two albums spread across two decades that were significantly important to young people, and their debut and AM were hugely popular in the UK.
They’re massive here in the UK. The headline Glastonbury 3 times speaks volumes. Fasted ever selling album which will not be beaten now due to streaming. I fucking love them
Yeah I don't think he understands how important it was to British culture to have a great band be extremely popular and culturally relevant. There was basically an uninterrupted line of great and original bands that were huge in the UK from The Beatles up until the Arctic Monkeys. It's hard to argue that Monkeys weren't the last of these. I can't see the current crop of good bands like Fontaines DC, Idles, Wet Leg, Black Midi etc gaining the same kind of popularity and cultural relevance
@@jw-ob1wv yeah I agree, I don’t agree with the sentiment that they are the last great UK band. There’s a lot of great bands out at the moment, however I don’t think any band in the UK has had the level of cultural relevancy, popularity or sustained acclaim as Arctic Monkeys have since they came out with their debut and can’t see it happening any time soon.
I agree. They were the fastest selling debut band in the UK, and they’re such good songwriters that even their understated stuff such as the nine Bsides from Humbug are better than most bands’ singles. I remember seeing them in the US before they exploded here, and I recognized my classmates in the audience despite it being a show a ways north. They also have an extremely creative rhythm section with extremely memorable beats and basslines that Anthony seems to be glossing over. I’ve played in ten extreme metal bands, often as the main guitarist / songwriter, and I can even say that the dual guitar writing in Arctic Monkeys is top-notch and much more creative than other popular rock bands from their era.
I think the thing Damon is trying to say is theyre the last rock band to get to this level and popularity and have this level of quality. I think again Damon is english, I see americans constantly underestimate just how culturaly impirtant arctic monkeys are over here. For almost 20 years every album has been an instant number 1 and has had the actually quality to boot in my opinion. They headlined glastonbury 3 times. They really are just insanely important in the UK and to our culture very different over here
@@AndI0td763 I think he just means bands with a minimum of one guitar (i.e. a typical rock band). I don't think he's saying the Artic Monkeys have the best guitarists (because they don't, facts are facts).
Yeah with Oasis breaking up and Radiohead going radio-silent, it’s fair to say AM are the last HUGE rock band even if they aren’t releasing “rock” music anymore. Definitely wish the new bands like black midi or King Gizzard got attention on AM’s level, but I suppose it’s all about digestability.
I went to a festival headlined by Arctic Monkeys recently. The crowd was almost equally full of people like me: in their mid to late 30s who probably listened to AM's old stuff and people in their early 20s who probably discovered their more recent stuff through Tik Tok. Everyone was singing along and rocking out. I honestly doubt any of the other bands you mentioned (except maybe Paramore but they still have a more of a pop punk label to them than rock) could bridge generations like that so I kinda see Damon's point here.
I mean, that's been every headliner at any festival I've been to in my life and I've been to festivals in both America and Europe. I think that's just the sort of caliber of artist it takes to headline a festival. It's like being surprised that anyone regardless of age can cry over Maps if they went through a breakup. Also I was introduced to King Gizz by a woman who I'm pretty sure is in her 40s, and I, in my late 20s, and my teenage brother all listen to them. Give them time, King Gizz will absolutely pull it off.
people in their early 20s absolutely did NOT discover AM through TikTok, that's people in their early teens. in the UK they've been a household name for nearly 20 years, I'm 20 and I've been hearing them around the house since I was 3 and actively listening to them since I was 6 and had my first iPod.
This. I don’t think Damon is saying they’re the last “good” rock band, but they are the last great as in huge and breaking the mainstream. There hasn’t been a single band as big as AM since.
Melon, you forgot to mention The Strokes’ New Abmormal! It came out in 2020, it was fairly well received by critics and got streams. It was an interesting, refreshing take on the classic strokes sound, which is - in many ways- the alternative rock sound of the 2000s!
The Arctic Monkeys is currently the last band in a line of impactful and important bands in the UK starting with the Beatles, at this moment there's no other band that surpasses them.
Arctic Monkeys is vastly more popular than both of those artists. And as stated above, neither act is from the UK. They're good artists, but the impact of Arctic Monkeys is just massive
I would say Queens of The Stone Age is the definite guitar driven rock band of this century, consistently producing from good to era defining records while being popular and even radio friendly at some instances.
There are a lot of amazing new rock bands who emerged since but I think Damon and The Hives meant that Arctic Monkeys is maybe the last rock band capable of filling stadium shows while still proposing good quality music. Their popularity is massive, yet they baldly change their sound with each record, and never try to capitalise on a working formula
what about the Strokes? The last album is more rock than the last two albums of Arctic Monkeys.... and then there is King Gizzard? Why does rock HAVE to be mainstream?
@@rolandknaap4537 Well I clearly said that there are lots and lots of awesome new rock bands (of course including King Gizz, but I could list so many of them), I was just clarifying what Fantano and you apparently did not want to hear in Damon Albarn and The Hives recent statements about Arctic Monkeys: for them (and this is their opinion) Arctic Monkeys is the only or the last rock band who gained this amount of popularity while still being good / relevent . Not saying they are the only good rock band around since they broke out, but specifically speaking of popularity (sales, streams, arena size shows) + quality. The Strokes emerged before the Monkeys so they do not apply to this statement (+ they opened for the Red hot chili peppers arena tour, but not sure they could fill one for themselves) and King gizzard is awesome too but again, do not apply to that statement since, while gaining popularity, they are still quite niche for the moment)
@vampunz8610 Once again, (and like The Strokes in the previous comment) My Cheamical Romance came out before Arctic Monkeys so they do not apply to this statement which again says: AM are the LAST rock band who gained this amount of popularity while still being artistically good. (whereas talking about my chemical romance's quality is another debate...)
AM were always insanely huge and influential in the UK. Fantano has never been more wrong about an artist. I remember when he called Humbug britpop lmao, this is one section of the industry he just doesn’t seem to have a proper grasp on
he's always been luke warm on the monkeys and yea I think he's off on this one. the sentiment from the hives & albarn is a bit hyperbolic but clear & correct regardless
@@jamessmith4843 AM, their most commercially successful and popular album that has won them multiple accolades and shot their monthly listener count on Spotify to nearly 50 MILLION, is where they started to fall off. Yea that makes sense
It is undeniable that over the last decade, after releasing AM, Arctic Monkeys' popularity levels has increased massively. And in recent years, gen Z have 'discovered' the band mostly through tiktok. It's not a coincidence that the band had its very first stadium tour in UK and Europe, despite two less comercial albums. They are not the last great rock band, but they definitely are one of the few rock bands to get this popular.
Yeah, Arctic Monkeys's popularity can't really be overstated at this point. In the UK at least, they are as massive now as ever before, and easily one of the biggest acts in the country, of any genre. So I kind of see what Damon is saying in terms of "really popular bands" because no one else is anywhere near their level (depending on whether you'd call The 1975 rock).
@@Revenu considering bands that emerged in this century, I don't think so. the strokes had a massive peak, but they are nowhere near AM in terms of popularity these days.
@@Amaling They're referring to Arctic Monkeys releasing 'Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino' and 'The Car' in the past 5 years, and they're not commercial albums at all, they're for people who like jazz lounge soft rock (I love them personally) but theyre nowhere near as popular as releases prior
I think Damon was really reffering to the live scene. The Arctic Monkeys just sold out pretty much every large venue in the UK multiple times over and headlined Glasto. As a liveact the band are easily the biggest rockband formed since 2006 and they do crush it. The Hives are touring with them so would make sense for them to mean that to
@@jeffhylen8453 I mean I like King Gizzard but no they are not selling bigger venues, never have, never will. Headlining Glasto selling out the Emirates in London 5 nights consecutively. King Gizzard are not in the same league as AM when it comes to how big they are mate.
Fontaines D.C. have been killing it. They are delivering the kinds of albums I was hoping AM would be doing at this point (if they aren’t going to recapture the energy of the first album)
Their debut album was released in 2006. They have headlined major festivals nearly every year since. That's nearly 2 decades of being a headline act. No other band has been doing that. Its not an outrageous statement, especially when given context.
King Gizzard, imo, is one of the best bands of this generation. Went to their show at the Hollywood Bowl and holy shit…. It was epic. Damn near sold out and the merch line wrapped around the venue. Thanks for putting me onto their music Fantano! They’re my favorite band now 🤘🏽
I am learning so much from Damon Albarn, first I learned Taylor Swift isn't a songwriter, now I'm learning the Arctic Monkeys are the world's leading rock band in the year of our Lord 2023
It’s kind of embarrassing to be a musician but, like, not know about the current state of music- just makes him sound crusty dusty and out of touch with these two clearly disprovable takes
I think all he said was she isn't a good songwriter, which eh, you can take it or leave it (I'd lean towards still not quite correct but at least it's more of an opinion than stating something as fact Idk overall he definitely sounds out of touch with modern music when he says shit like this
@thomasnelson5758 uh, he said: "She doesn’t write her own songs," Albarn said in a recent interview, claiming that co-writing "doesn't count" He then proceeded to say Billie Eilish was a good example of a songwriter he felt fit his criteria... even though she co-writes all of her songs with her brother. Which is not a problem by any stretch, but it is literally the same thing he just said Taylor shouldn't be doing because it "doesn't count."
Not actually what he said on the second point, in the same way Dave Grohl said Liam Gallagher is the last true rockstar, doesn’t mean he’s saying Liam is putting out the best music in the genre currently does it 😂
so somebody said some dumb shit we all say dumb shit sometimes I understand if Damon keeps doing these bad takes is going to get a reputation bad reputation that is but I'm so tired of you people acting like you're perfect and never say anything thats fucking dumb. you're not perfect shut the fuck up
Arctic Monkeys should be given more credit for experimenting with different sounds. Not many bands have had such a successful debut, and still decided to change their sound up on subsequent releases. It may not always come off, but I don't see any reason to not respect Humbug and Tranquility Base for their uniqueness and they still have highlights as good as the first two albums
There’s just nothing that’s really experimental. They aren’t inventing anything sure they change there sound but in no way do i listen to there music and feel any sort of authenticity like i do other artists.
@tommyhanusik2173 you can still experiment with your sound and not invent anything new. But that's also not entirely true that they didn't invent anything new. AM was the first rock album to really blend Trip Hop with Rock in the way they did. And that really changed the musical landscape for alt rock for the last decade.
Dude come on, artists and bands experiment with different sounds all the time, they were doing it in the 60’s and they’re doing it now. Sure they can get credit but don’t act like nobody does it.
@@kaydenjones3183 But how many bands can you name with award winning albums that break records that do a complete 180 on their sound with subsequent records. Most artists that experiment this much don't have the mainstream success weighing them down and out of the ones that do most of them are given legendary status by music critics, such as The Beatles or Radiohead
Antony, those artists you mentioned may be popular in the US and to some extent in the UK (and King Gizzard in Australia, of course), but they haven't really broke out as an international sensation as Arctic Monkeys did, so they can barely be considered mainstream acts. I live in Portugal and I'm pretty sure 95% of the music listeners here have never heard of Black Midi, for example.
I honestly think this is the case with a lot of (according to Anthony) influential artists. Of course it depends on what we count as influential: influencing later artists, or those, _and_ public in general. A good example for the former is Kanye, in my opinion. If you asked a 1000 people in the US, they would probably be familiar with him, but somewhere like Central Europe? I know a lot people, but I have a good feeling that I could count on one, maybe two hands the number of people who are aware of his existence.
As someone who considers AM as my favorite band of all time, I hate people who say “x are the last real rock band” or “rock is dead x is keeping it alive.” The genre still has some powerhouses in there that are able to release good music, even if it’s not as mainstream as AM. King Gizz are probably my #2 as well.
It is pretty weird how common I've heard older people or people in general say "Oh such and such genre is dead man." Then when you talk a bit more about music they end up saying they only hear the junk on the radio or stopped looking for new music in their thirties or never got past surface level stuff. I couldn't even imagine man, well I can but for me that'd be miserable. There's so much music to discover from different music press and just Bandcamp alone, and channels like this. Not really hard to find out that rock amongst many other genres are alive and thriving. And the broader the tastes, the deeper the rabbit hole goes. It's wondrous.
I’m in that age group at 46 and it is indeed frustrating that so many of my peers are trapped in the past. Not only by restricting their listening habits to 20+ year old legacy bands, but also how they discover music. If they weren’t so busy trying to be spoonfed by the mass media they’d find there is so much more, even a lot of traditional sounding recent Rock similar to bands from the 80’s-2000’s.. There are legions and droves of those to be discovered with anywhere between a hundred to 100,000 spotify followers that you won’t hear on the radio, and might have been huge “back in the day.” They just get ignored. It’s not the bands it’s the attitude of the fanbase not wanting to take initiative.
I don't understand why people say "Oh, Rock music is dead!" or right now "Hip-hop is dead!" like people still would listen to them genres, even if the genres are declining, they will never go away. Genres don't die, that's impossible but I would say that Rock music is just stuck in the past of nostalgia, that's the issue. The last time Rock was in its prime was in the early and maybe late 2000's. New artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Machine Gun Kelly (I know, he's not new, he's been an artist for quite a while but I'm saying he's new in the Rock world), and other ones are mainly fueled by nostalgia, not trying to make new sounds and subgenres. That's why Rock has not been the same for a while but I mean, it's still commercially successful and make it into the Billboard Top 10 (Great example, Metallica's 72 Seasons) but it needs to leave its nostalgia. I can say almost the same for Hip-hop right now as it's been a decade of Trap music and that's one of the reasons for the decline of Hip-hop.
@@fliproleluwu5602 He was holding her to the unrealistically high standard of being the sole songwriter on her records, which might be the norm for a rock band but is not the norm for a pop star. She does write many songs, but yes she does it collaboratively with her producers and probably some ghostwriters. It would be insulting to group her in with someone like Katy Perry who pretty much writes no songs
I think Damon was speaking from a very British guitar-rock perspective. Guitar rock was proportionately much bigger in the UK throughout the 2000s than it was in the USA. Even the American bands like the Strokes (who started it all) and Interpol were probably more popular in the UK than in the US. And yeah, there is definitely a case to be made that the Arctic Monkeys are the last great guitar band from that UK alt/indie guitar rock scene perspective.
I only know them because I like a few songs each from most of them, but it's kinda crazy that out of the likes of The Fratellis, The Kooks, Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand, the band with the most longevity was easily Kasabian (excluding AM for this purpose). Like, several of these bands had multiplatinum albums, like 4-8x in the UK, and the entire "scene", if you can call it that, died completely in a few years. It would technically be wrong to say even AM had longevity since Humbug and SIAS basically flopped until the self-titled album popped off as a sleeper hit.
@@Billiamwoods I always like to say that Kings of Leon (very big in the UK) killed the whole scene with that cynical album 'Only By The Night' in 2008. It was like a killer blow lol.
@@praftyI remember people got so tired of hearing the singles from that album. Got so old so fast, and nowadays no one even plays them publicly or at parties. And now that I think about it, that was the last time I heard guitar-driven rock on mainstream pop radio
But Fantano is the kind of guy who makes a point of disliking anything that gets a lot of success. He's that bloke you meet down the Student Union who only likes REMs early 80s stuff and thinks Gish is Smashing Pumpkins' best album. Yawn.
I like how he tried to frame it as if it wasn't critically acclaimed right from the start. I remember very vividly how enthusiastic fans were about this album at the AM shows.
@b0nz1official When they played Glastonbury in 2013 just around the time of release, or a little before, it was very clear from the audience's response that this was an album with a certain 'star quality.'
the thing about the Arctic Monkeys is that you can make a case on whether or not you think there's better quality music out there, but in the context of rock bands as a cohesive entity with massive global appeal, it's hard to say anyone else is doing it better. out of everyone you listed, they either have significantly more recognition, or they just have better music entirely (or both). their live shows are engaging, they're still developing new sounds, and as mad as you've been for a decade that they're not releasing the same UK teen angst rock they dropped in their debut, every single album they've released since SIAS has been fantastic.
McDonald's sold the most hamburgers and has new menu items people love to try..... do they have the world's best hamburgers, no one in the game makes a better one than them? No that would be the dumbest argument of all time, just like the one you made
@@patrickmcpartland1398who’s the Wendy’s or Burger King of rock music? Unless you can name one with similar levels of popularity and mass appeal then your metaphor is trash 👍
@@BIGBADNEWS I just found bands that sounded more to my taste, after getting into Tame Impala, I sort of drifted further and further into psychedelic and experimental music and further away from Arctic Monkeys, now I'd agree with Fantano about King Gizzard sounding much better as a rock outfit. Arctic Monkeys still has bangers for me especially the First EPs and albums, every subsequent album has some highlights. They're alright, (I will say 'The Car' was boring tho, I only really liked Mirrorball and some other tracks, doesn't really have me returning).
@@prajwaljayaraj5887 was gonna ask you to name another band then. Didn't even think of Tame Impala because I always considered it a solo project, but I guess it's a good one. Other than that, I don't feel there is much that could really be "the last great rock band".
people are missing the fact that, even if their new albums are more art pop, so many of their old songs are getting a huge resurgence like all the time recently, which make them one of the only rock bands being incredibly listened on places like tiktok, 4 of the songs off of AM are at a billion streams each, which when i found out, thought was impossible, its all so recent and quite impressive so i get why those two could say that, 505 also got a second life a couple years ago. In general, they just have incredible legs and longevity not comparable to many other bands
@@kaydenjones3183you missed the point entirely. The point is that no one has had this much impact since them on the rock scene and made it viable in the mainstream like they have. Of course there’s other bands, there always will be. But none since the Arctic monkeys have hit the heights they have, and there doesn’t look like anyone is even going to come close in the current crop of bands.
@@theonlyjoe_ i didn't miss the point. you would know what point im responding to if you read the first sentence of my comment. im not talking about mainstream success
Here's the thing: I think that all of the first three Arctic Monkeys records and A.M. are really good records. Also, related to this video, I think that it's natural with humans that if you don't put the effort to closely pay attention to the modern music scene, you can easily lose a bit of touch with it. Not knowing who Black Midi is will be one thing, because their sound is extremely un-mainstream, but even as far as more mainstream-friendly sounds are concerned, Hot Mulligan, The Beths, and Wednesday all came out with fantastic rock records this year (and those are just albums that Fantano didn't review!).
can confirm. I had a child and suddenly I look up, it'a ten years later, and I have no idea who any of the bands (are they even still called bands?!) people are talking about. Last I heard QotSA were a pretty generic derivative band, and now their like... lauded. Getting old is weird.
I think something that has been overlooked is that AM are the main band being talked about in the uk, which is where Damon Albarn is from (can't say anything about Swedish charts) Bur Paramore aren't a massive band here, as well as king gizzard, and black midi aren't really main stream The 1975 are seen more as pop music So I can't really name any major bands that are "rock" bands that are talked about over here, and the main bands being played are still 90s bands, and very few bands struggle to make it bigger than a small sub-culture
Humbug has so many great sounds overall… The tracks that Josh Homme produced really do have that QOTSA touch to them. The Jeweller’s Hands is a track that should be more appreciated, and it’s a great album closer!
Haha, he was young drummer of the year a while ago when he was 14 iirc. Incredible chops, both on and off the records. Live seems much better - he seems to get so much more of the spotlight
I've only just recently heard them and usually I take bands with hype with a grain of salt but wow they are legit 👌 it was somehow like bad bad not good meets future of the left with a dash of yes and so much more, brilliant band can't wait to see them live
Name a more mainstream 'rock' album of the 2010's. It's AM. And even if it's not your cup od tea, it's the most recognizable 'rock' album of that era (alongside ...like clockwork and lonerism) Now, I love Black midi, i like bcnr, I saw swans live couple of moths ago and loved it. But, they are not mainstream 'rock' outfits. Artists like foo fighters, qotsa or Jack white are mainstream, but they have been playing for a longer time than Arctic Monkeys. AM has an undeniable impact on rock.
This is exactly what Damon meant and it’s true, people seem to be taking that comment out of context. Black MIDI and King Gizzard are not huge the way AM are and they likely never will be.
I think it's more correct to say Arctic Monkeys is one of the last good rock bands that reached mainstream success. When it comes to quality, there are plenty of "guitar" bands that released much more interesting albums. Viagra Boys and Turnstile's recent albums are also great examples of that.
I really enjoyed the latest Arctic Monkeys album, but not because it's a rock album. I enjoy it for its sort of laid back, lounge vibes with some nice instrumentals. But in now way do I go to those albums because I'm feeling like I need to listen to some rock music. EDIT - If you haven't checked out Cleopatrick yet, you should!
I think it's more about their status rather than 'amazing, revolutionary material'. Arctic Monkeys are well known all around the world whereas other arguably more interesting bands may be famous only in the US or UK. No one is really on their level at the moment- they're selling out stadiums and headlining the biggest festivals so in that sense they are the last 'rockstars'. They've achieved so much success over the past 20 years that a lot of fans don't even care that much about their new stuff and are just hyped to see them live because they're such a household name. (not to mention they still sound great and many people - myself included - are excited about the band taking artistic risks rather than catering to the public by making marketable rock music)
There’s a reason established artists are praising them. They bring in the money and the new listeners. Especially in the UK but despite your opinion on their latest projects, their ticket sales are only going up. They constantly evolve and experiment as well as never selling out to the masses or what they “want”. One of the saviours of modern guitar music most definitely.
One thing is debating whether Tbhc and The Car can be classified as rock albums (and I think they can), another thing is not giving them the right credits. Both albums are incredible, especially Tbhc, luckily people are starting to get that and in 5 years it will be considered one of the best AM work.
Favourite Worst Nightmare was my favorite album for almost a decade but Tranquility Base Hotel is absolute pretentious trash. The whole thing is Alex smelling his own farts and the music side of it is on-par with what you hear when you're on hold at the pharmacy. Without a decade+ of good will nobody would humor that album.
I think that what Damon was talking about went over Melon's head completely. "Paramore released a good album this year", they're still older than the Arctic Monkeys. Each band he named came out before AM or isn't as mainstream as them
0:41 relevant quotes from the Hives and Damon Albarn 0:58 Melon points out that Tranquility Base (2018), The Car (2022) are more art pop than rock. He also doesn’t like AM (2013) 2:12 fake outro 2:26 This is Why (2023) - a great example of newer, popular “real” rock 3:11 Foo Fighters, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard 3:53 The 1975: not exactly experimental but still decent 4:19 Black Midi: not mainstream but VERY experimenral 4:43 Geese - 3D Country. Throwback, dad-rock sound 5:00 OFF! Hardcore punk, heavy experimental rock 5:22 Conclusion: Just because rock music isn’t appreciated by the general public, that doesn’t mean interesting rock music isn’t being released. 5:54 More potshots against AM (2013)
But a lot of these aren't even remotely mainstream. The only time I hear about Black Midi is when someone on /mu/ is trying to be cringe and snobby and talk about how they listen to "real" experimental music. Foo Fighters...lol. King Gizzard is another one of those /mu/ snobby "I'm cool for saying they're my favs" like those art girls that listen to people like Caroline Polacheck and Lingua Ignota and brag about how different they are to all those Swifties and Rihanna fans.
From a commercial point of view this is completely true, they are the last great rock band that got into the mainstream and became Rockstars in the classical sense. There's plently of great rock music though, even better than the Artic Monkeys, that no one gets close to them on that level.
I think that's what Damon was talking about and it went over Melon's head completely. "Paramore released a good album this year", they're still older than the Arctic Monkeys. Each band he named came out before AM or isn't as mainstream as them
I think in your video you got a little confused. If we want to talk in general about rock being dead you are absolutely right: there are a lot of rock bands that I also like very much (BCNR, Black Midi, but also Fontaines DC, King Gizzard etc.). If, on the other hand, we talk about how many rock bands are mainstream today (i.e., what the Hives and Albarn were talking about), then we count very few: maybe Paramore (but absolutely not at this level), then for sure The Strokes, Foo Fighters, QOTSA, Tame Impala (if we consider the first two albums), and then precisely Arctic Monkeys, which chronologically speaking were literally the last rock band to come out (first album: 2006). So I don't know exactly what amazes you about those statements, after all, you can clearly see by the number of records sold (even of the last two albums) and in concerts in stadiums all sold out. I will add a couple of personal remarks: while I respect your opinion on the Monkeys, I personally think your reviews and opinions about them have never been as thorough with the same level of analysis and acuity with which you approach so many other bands. In my opinion for example when you say that AM has no catchy riffs is incomprehensible. And they are so catchy that that album is still after 10 years in the top 20 on Spotify, speaking of popular rock bands. Or when you say they're derivative, well that's definitely true in part, but to my way of thinking it depends on how you vehicle your inspirations. You want to tell me that Paramore's album or Lemon Twigs' album this year for example are not strongly derivative? Yet you gave them 8 or 9. The strength that I think you never recognize in the Monkeys is that they have had great courage to experiment throughout their career. And I repeat, although they are not revolutionary experimentations (obviously), they are still original ways of reinterpreting the genre (see the post punk of the first two albums, see the R&B influences of AM, see the lounge pop of the last two) that I don't see how they cannot be worthy of respect from you. Instead, it seems to me that you liquidate them in a very hasty and lazy way. In any case, I appreciate a substantial part of the work you do on your channel, and I am glad you are often the beginning of a broad musical discussion among fans.
I have no clue how large Arctic Monkeys is in the states, but here in the UK, they're inescapable. Theyre just coming off the back of a UK tour and there is no band where every other person I know got tickets. I love other bands far more than I like AM, but atleast here, they're thr only rock band outside of the 1975 of any presence, and even a weak AM album is better than any 1975 album.
They're not that big. Nothing compared to what Oasis were in terms of cultural impact. My parents couldn't name a single Arctic monkeys song, most over 50s in England couldn't. AM are only big for THIS generation.
@@FormulaProg I'd argue they're big for millennials and a bit older aswell, I saw just as many 30 - 40 yros at their most recent concerts as teenagers/young adults
@@sloviscelery2135 yeah i would say 40 is probably the oldest of their hardcore fans and am from sheffield so i know even the middle aged folks here dont know many of their songs
Going to shout out The Wonder Years here. They are a rock band on the Pop Punk/Emo side that have been putting out awesome guitar driven albums now for the past 10 years or so, and in my opinion do a really great job of standing out from other bands in the genre.
In the UK its hard to think of any bands currently that have as many cross generational fans as Arctic Monkeys. Their last tour was testament to that, huge venues all over the country all sold out and massively varied crowds. Whether you're a fan or not, their albums have sound tracked so many peoples lives by this point.
Wow this is weird, to undersell AM (the record) this much. Must be less of a thing in USA. Over here (in Belgium) it was HUUUUUUUUUUGE and Arctic Monkeys became real arena selling superstars. Alex Turner turned into an icon an featured about every facebook cover / poster / anything at the time (i was 18 when it released). It did feel like the most impactful rock album of the decade for teenagers def.
Dan Albarn calling Arctic Monkeys the last great rock band is kind of a self report. Like how do you make a career out of being a rock musician and then somehow sleep through the last 10 years of rock music
"Great" as in massive in terms of popularity, not necessarily when it comes to quality or whatever. Name a rock band from the last 10 years that was more popular at its peak than AM, I'll wait. Damon's right, idk how so many people managed to miss his point completely
Are these bands from the last 10 years headlining major festivals or doing stadium shows? I’m sure they’re objectively good, but no where near as popular.
I’m a big fan of the 3 Alvvays albums so far. Very solid blend of indie rock and dream pop with some 80s new wave and punk thrown in. I think they’ve been much more interesting than Arctic Monkeys since 2011.
Nothing But Thieves? Foals? Fontaines DC? Spoon? Believe me there are PLENTY of modern rock bands that are fantastic and worthy of being somebody's all-time favourites
Loved Nothing But Thieves' first two albums and most of Moral Panic. They definitely deserve to be bigger off Conor's voice alone. Haven't listened to DCC yet, any good?
@@ericforsyth it's not as phenomenal as their earlier stuff but both me and my parents dig it. Welcome To The DCC, Do You Love Me Yet and Pop The Balloon are proper bangers. The whole album is a stylistic shift and tbh I'd like to see what melon thinks about it
Foals and Fontaines are fantastic but aren't quite on AM's level of popularity or consistency (yet). NBT had a great first couple of albums but nothing after that has really been that good
@@matthewbanton7077 popularity? You're right. Consistency? Hell no. Foals have released some of the absolute best indie rock albums of the 2010's and not a single bad one. Same about Fontaines except change it for 2020's. They're the band of the future I'm telling you.
@@szymondudzinski6661 I agree that Fontaines are the band of the future and have an extremely consistent discography so far but they’re only three albums in. hard to call a band with three years of releases as consistent as a band that’s been going for two decades. as for Foals, I love a lot of their albums but there are a couple I feel less strongly about.
It is crazy how mainstream music just dropped rock music in the early 2010s. Dont get me wrong, theres fantastic rock music out there. I'm talking mainstream rock.
Well yeah, rock had its time to shine. The 2000s were when hip hop went mainstream, which is how we got such amazing hip hop albums in the 2010s through today.
@@8bitdiedieI think he understands and is just pushing back on the idea that "greatness" and current popularity are the same thing. What about influence within a genre? What about creativity?
I don’t think their point was like you were saying “You’ve gotta go seek it out”. The point was being a big successful rock act that is out there for all to see. Like Zeppelin, Nirvana, Radiohead, White Stripes..
Fantano how can you be this dense, Damon clearly meant they’re the last great band in that they’re good quality AND have massive appeal. There’s no point in making a case for King Gizzard or Black Midi since they’re not even close in terms of popularity
Both The Strokes and The Voidz, Carseat Headrest, King Gizzard, The Garden I would all gladly take over the last decade of the arctic monkeys music ngl
I'm gonna defend damon on this one, just from what I know of the quote. I think the keyword in that quote is "mainstream". I don't interpret what damon is saying as there aren't ANY good rock bands anymore, but none on the level of being "unavoidable". Arctic monkeys were definitely one of the last truly unavoidable rock bands AFAIK. You could play the do I wanna know riff to anyone in the street and there's a good chance they would at least recognize it, be it from being a fan, a car commercial, used in a movie, etc. That just doesn't really happen in rock music anymore. Paramore and foo fighters are definitely mainstream, but they aren't currently "unavoidable" like the arctic monkeys were in 2013. I haven't heard a foo fighters track off their last album on the radio or any context outside the record, but I definitely have heard the pretender and everlong on the radio in 2023. The other examples are all also great, but they're all pretty far from mainstream. King gizzard is the closest to it, but the chance of a random person having heard their music is much lower than arctic monkeys. There are definitely reasons beyond just "rock music was better in the past" (which is wrong), but I don't think bringing up modern examples completely discredits the claim that arctic monkeys were the last great "mainstream" rock band, and I'm not even that much of an arctic monkeys fan.
Fontaines, IDLES, and Viagra Boys all deserve to be at Arctic Monkeys level. I've been really excited by the guitar music like that thats been put out since late 2010s and early 2020s and can only see it growing from here.
I think Damon is just like most British dudes at the time who herd the Stokes first two albums and were blown away (rightfully so) and so when they had their version from Sheffield they all latched on and just became obsessed with them but since then they’ve all gotten older and aren’t exposed to new music anymore beside things that are Uber popular which isn’t rock music anymore. Let’s face it when you get older (like over 45) you don’t just stumble across new music you have your kids or whoever you know who is young show you and if Damon’s kids just listen to music like The Weekend he’s not gonna know about King Gizz or Turnstile or many others
Anthony’s continued overlooking of anything even marginally rootsy is his biggest blindspot. If you’re talking about the best modern rock and guitar bands then Drive-By Truckers and Jason Isbell HAVE to be in the conversation. Hell, they’re in the conversation for best modern lyricists too. Bar none.
surprised you didn't mention turnstile or jean dawson. both are important examples of 2020s rock, turnstile was a hardcore band in the 2010s and now are at rolling loud
I travelled from the US to the UK this summer to attend two of their shows and the difference in fans is night and day. From what I saw on my trip, the Arctic monkeys are an absolute house hold name that anyone off the street will know about. While back here in the US, people MIGHT know do I wanna know and that’s about it. Whether you like their music - new or old - you can’t deny they have only grown in popularity and WILL continue to grow despite their music transitioning into something much different from what they originally released. The Arctic monkeys are here to stay and there is no band I can think of that will reach the popularity they’re having at this moment or the legacy they created
Spoon is the most consistent rock band of the last 30 years, and sure, while they aren't necessarily the pinnacle of mainstream, they are well established, and have never once delivered a dud of a record. For recent bands gaining traction, Geese is the truth, and 3D Country is undoubtedly the Album of the Year for me.
I concur. Ten years ago they were pretty much my favorite modern band, and while they've been replaced by other bands over the years, I still listen to every new album and even some of the side projects, though I'm still partial to the run of Girls Can Tell, Kill the Moonlight, Gimme Fiction, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, and Transference.
Well, come to think of it, they just might be right. Can't think of another band that feels like a good pick. Love a lot of the stuff mentioned in the video but they are either not mainstream enough to be able to be considered the last great rock band or didn't emerged after the Arctic Monkeys. I can think of a few bands that are mainstream enough (like The Neighbourhood, for example) but none of them has released, in my opinion, the quality of music required to be eligible for the title. Edit: Tame Impala is a good choice, if you consider it a band. Also, TBH&C is totally a rock album to me. Just not straight Rock&Roll, more like Art Rock, Bowie style.
On one hand, there are a ton of critically acclaimed bands to come out since 2006 (pretty much the new British post-punk "talk singing" wave produced a lot of good bands like Dry Cleaning, BCNR, Squid, etc.) but he does have a point. Bands like 1975 exist sure but they are genre-shifting (culture siphoning imo). I have a hard time picturing another band that emerged organically from social media and just blow tf up the way AM did. And they had two huge popular shifts: their post-punk revival phase in 2006 and then the tumblrcore AM phase in 2013. And now the lounge/traditional pop stuff they're doing now. It's hard to find another group that has been that big of a hit across so many people, just a festival headliner out of the gate.
You're missing the main point, they're the last stadium selling rock band. No other rock band that started around their time or later are selling out stadiums like Foo Fighters or Metallica do. So while yes there is still good rock music being made today, it's not commercially popular like the Arctic Monkey's currently are, which is Damon's point.
It's okay, Anthony! we get it you don't like Arctic Monkeys but those last 2 albums are gold if you're on the wavelength to understand the path they've taken to maturity. It's okay if you're not in that wavelength!
@@jamesdan6895 I would. Queens are by no means an obscure band. Plus Josh Homme produced AM's Humbug, so that should tell you just how far apart the realms of these two bands are truly not.
This isn't even mentioning Wet Leg, The Beths, HAIM (altho their last record is a couple years old now), Vampire Weekend, heck even Lil Yachty out out a banger of a psyche-rock album. Imo rock in the last handful of years has been on the rise again and it's beautiful the amount of great albums we are getting every year
None of the bands mentioned are not selling out stadium tours. That’s clearly what is being meant by ‘really popular’. It’s more a commentary on how few rock bands become extremely popular now. Maneskin feel like the only band who might get there.
you cant really say that when he praises their earlier albums, I am not a fan of AM either, but I loved Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, his comments are on point.
@@jn4003 it's pretty clear he hasn't listened to their later albums more than once. He hates Alex singing. Most bands get praised for evolving as a band. This douche just wants them to make their first 2 albums again.
The thing is. At this point we know that Arctic Monkeys don't belive in music tagging. They're doint their thing. Rock is dead because people who likes rock are some of the major assholes that exist who bitches about "that thing isn't rock" everyday while listening to the same old albums for the past 10 years. Arctic monkeys in my opinion is the most Rock band of this generation, because of their position of saying: "Fuck what you want, we are going to do this album anyways". Their attitude is killing all these haters (antony included) and I love it.
I'll be honest, I've always been underwhelmed by Arctic Monkeys. They have some good songs, but tbh they just make me wanna listen to The Strokes or The Voidz. You got me into Dope Body and Iceage.
Listened to the arctic monkeys and was like this is okay. Then i listened to is this it and was blown away. Julian Casablanca’s makes music that sounds better with every listen while the monkeys just get cornier and more bland with each listen
I think people just seek more of what they've already listened, but at the same time want rock music to be disruptive. People that claim that "rock is dead" are often the same that find new rock stuff to be too weird and don't give it a try. Rock is just not that mainstream anymore, so you will have to search a bit more to find good stuff, but if you are open enough to new sounds and put the effort to find those artists, you will find a lot of great rock.
I don't really understand why The Dirty Nil aren't bigger, other than maybe the curse of being Canadian. They undeniably rock out, while pulling from all of rock's history but also writing with a strong ear for poppy melodies and catchy hooks. Maybe they'll be a slow burn to break through. Incredible live act too
While not fully a rock band, I think Katzenjammer is a very interesting, extremely talented band. I love their first 2 albums so damn much, albeit for entirely different reasons. In a lot of their songs it's very easy to tell that they were inspired by 1960s type rock music, especially in something like Shepard's Song or Ain't No Thang
I live for the day I hear those Nordic queens have reunited for a fourth album. Such an eclectic grab-bag of sounds and genre influences on their first two albums (and a lot more rock and country on the third, though those were always present). Haven't encountered another group or artist with quite the same flavor.
Particularly I love the experimentation they do in the last 2 albums and find your last review a little offensive Fantano, there's so much good things on The Car, they're not responsible for your traumas with roadtrips man. About the interviews; reading it here I was thinking, maybe Damon and Pelle were referring to the scope and range of the band, as a mainstream success and not necessarily meaning that they are the last good rock band in the scene. They are talking in the perspective of a modern classic, since AM rises in 2006.
I think Damons comments have potentially been taken out of context a bit. I think he's talking about the buzz surrounding a rock band in the UK. We've always had those bands, especially in the 90s with Oasis, Blur, Pulp etc then moving into the 00s there was Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, Kings of Leon that were huge in the UK, but since that, rock has faded in public consciousness. Theres been a few new bands that have got a similar reception in the UK with Royal Blood being an example after their first album but for many reasons it just didn't happen. I took what Damon said as more a commercial take rather than a slip of quality. That being said, bands like Yard Act, Idles, Sleaford Mods in the UK are just getting going. Yard Act have huge potential to grow. If they want to though is another thing. Definitely seen a trend of bands being more comfortable in the mid range.
For the people saying King Gizzard is a better band, that's true. The take "last great band" means Mainstream. King Gizzard is a greatband, but they're not mainstream. They're niche, they have a small niche of fans in the great picture. I'm sorry.
Turnstile comes to mind as one of many contemporary rock/guitar driven outfits…Melding post-hardcore with other genres and making it very accessible yet still with artistic merit.
Explains why anthony only calls me when he's high
Did I wanna know?
It's his Fireside
Because when he’s high, he’s lost.
Anthony is like a compost
So funny 🌝
Arctic Monkey’s first two albums are undeniable classics, so good.
*_three_*
@@ppaulisdeadd5879 True
I know this is probably super casual but what’s the album with do I wanna know, why do you only call me when you’re high etc?? Dude I played that record out until it stopped working like 10 years ago
@@chiarosuburekeni9325 It's AM, their fifth record.
@@sandenson it’s sooooo good. I know you hardcore fans probably hate on it because super surface level fans like me like it but to my untrained Arctic Monkeys ears it’s so fire. R U Mine 😍
One for the road 😍
Arabella 😍
I think Anthony doesn’t fully grasp how impactful Arctic Monkeys were across the pond. Whether or not he agrees there is a large consensus there that Arctic Monkeys are one of the great UK rock bands. Also it’s rare that an artists has two albums spread across two decades that were significantly important to young people, and their debut and AM were hugely popular in the UK.
They’re massive here in the UK. The headline Glastonbury 3 times speaks volumes. Fasted ever selling album which will not be beaten now due to streaming. I fucking love them
Yeah I don't think he understands how important it was to British culture to have a great band be extremely popular and culturally relevant. There was basically an uninterrupted line of great and original bands that were huge in the UK from The Beatles up until the Arctic Monkeys. It's hard to argue that Monkeys weren't the last of these. I can't see the current crop of good bands like Fontaines DC, Idles, Wet Leg, Black Midi etc gaining the same kind of popularity and cultural relevance
Agreed
@@jw-ob1wv yeah I agree, I don’t agree with the sentiment that they are the last great UK band. There’s a lot of great bands out at the moment, however I don’t think any band in the UK has had the level of cultural relevancy, popularity or sustained acclaim as Arctic Monkeys have since they came out with their debut and can’t see it happening any time soon.
I agree. They were the fastest selling debut band in the UK, and they’re such good songwriters that even their understated stuff such as the nine Bsides from Humbug are better than most bands’ singles. I remember seeing them in the US before they exploded here, and I recognized my classmates in the audience despite it being a show a ways north. They also have an extremely creative rhythm section with extremely memorable beats and basslines that Anthony seems to be glossing over. I’ve played in ten extreme metal bands, often as the main guitarist / songwriter, and I can even say that the dual guitar writing in Arctic Monkeys is top-notch and much more creative than other popular rock bands from their era.
I think the thing Damon is trying to say is theyre the last rock band to get to this level and popularity and have this level of quality. I think again Damon is english, I see americans constantly underestimate just how culturaly impirtant arctic monkeys are over here. For almost 20 years every album has been an instant number 1 and has had the actually quality to boot in my opinion. They headlined glastonbury 3 times. They really are just insanely important in the UK and to our culture very different over here
I read you, its time for black midi to headline glastonbury.
Didn’t he say last great “guitar band.”
@@AndI0td763 I think he just means bands with a minimum of one guitar (i.e. a typical rock band). I don't think he's saying the Artic Monkeys have the best guitarists (because they don't, facts are facts).
Yeah with Oasis breaking up and Radiohead going radio-silent, it’s fair to say AM are the last HUGE rock band even if they aren’t releasing “rock” music anymore.
Definitely wish the new bands like black midi or King Gizzard got attention on AM’s level, but I suppose it’s all about digestability.
"Last"
I went to a festival headlined by Arctic Monkeys recently. The crowd was almost equally full of people like me: in their mid to late 30s who probably listened to AM's old stuff and people in their early 20s who probably discovered their more recent stuff through Tik Tok. Everyone was singing along and rocking out. I honestly doubt any of the other bands you mentioned (except maybe Paramore but they still have a more of a pop punk label to them than rock) could bridge generations like that so I kinda see Damon's point here.
I mean, that's been every headliner at any festival I've been to in my life and I've been to festivals in both America and Europe. I think that's just the sort of caliber of artist it takes to headline a festival. It's like being surprised that anyone regardless of age can cry over Maps if they went through a breakup.
Also I was introduced to King Gizz by a woman who I'm pretty sure is in her 40s, and I, in my late 20s, and my teenage brother all listen to them. Give them time, King Gizz will absolutely pull it off.
people in their early 20s absolutely did NOT discover AM through TikTok, that's people in their early teens. in the UK they've been a household name for nearly 20 years, I'm 20 and I've been hearing them around the house since I was 3 and actively listening to them since I was 6 and had my first iPod.
This. I don’t think Damon is saying they’re the last “good” rock band, but they are the last great as in huge and breaking the mainstream. There hasn’t been a single band as big as AM since.
Rhcp and gvf
@@thedefinitiveofficial rhcp debuted 20 years before Arctic Monkeys did and gvf suck
Melon, you forgot to mention The Strokes’ New Abmormal! It came out in 2020, it was fairly well received by critics and got streams. It was an interesting, refreshing take on the classic strokes sound, which is - in many ways- the alternative rock sound of the 2000s!
was scrolling through the comments waiting for someone to mention The Strokes!
@@ThiccChemistthe strokes worst albulm is more enjoyable then the artic monkeys best truth be told
@@tommyhanusik2173 Factual comment right here, Comedown Machine anyday
@@archieglover5481 buddy just decided comedown machine was there worst ok that’s cool
@@tommyhanusik2173 enlighten me then what's the worst?
The Arctic Monkeys is currently the last band in a line of impactful and important bands in the UK starting with the Beatles, at this moment there's no other band that surpasses them.
Replace arctic monkeys with the strokes or queens of the stone age and you'd be right
@@djwethat2679 Neither of those bands is from the UK
Radiohead?
@@djwethat2679dawg go back to elementary school for some reading comprehension lessons
Arctic Monkeys is vastly more popular than both of those artists. And as stated above, neither act is from the UK. They're good artists, but the impact of Arctic Monkeys is just massive
I would say Queens of The Stone Age is the definite guitar driven rock band of this century, consistently producing from good to era defining records while being popular and even radio friendly at some instances.
Went to comments specifically to see if someone would write what you just wrote
They’re also still killing it live. So much good footage is coming out from their recent tour.
They are probably the most consistent straight up rock band out there. No gimmicks, just a band that is absolutely amazing at what they do.
Yes. A bit weird that Fantano doesn't mention it. Generally I'd prefer a video about the most diverse artists. Genre free. Go for it Anthony!
Royal Blood have also had some mainstream success, granted they are using a bass with an effect on it rather than a guitar.
There are a lot of amazing new rock bands who emerged since but I think Damon and The Hives meant that Arctic Monkeys is maybe the last rock band capable of filling stadium shows while still proposing good quality music. Their popularity is massive, yet they baldly change their sound with each record, and never try to capitalise on a working formula
bald lmao
what about the Strokes? The last album is more rock than the last two albums of Arctic Monkeys.... and then there is King Gizzard? Why does rock HAVE to be mainstream?
@@rolandknaap4537 Well I clearly said that there are lots and lots of awesome new rock bands (of course including King Gizz, but I could list so many of them), I was just clarifying what Fantano and you apparently did not want to hear in Damon Albarn and The Hives recent statements about Arctic Monkeys: for them (and this is their opinion) Arctic Monkeys is the only or the last rock band who gained this amount of popularity while still being good / relevent . Not saying they are the only good rock band around since they broke out, but specifically speaking of popularity (sales, streams, arena size shows) + quality. The Strokes emerged before the Monkeys so they do not apply to this statement (+ they opened for the Red hot chili peppers arena tour, but not sure they could fill one for themselves) and King gizzard is awesome too but again, do not apply to that statement since, while gaining popularity, they are still quite niche for the moment)
you're totally damn right @arnoliu6726
@vampunz8610 Once again, (and like The Strokes in the previous comment) My Cheamical Romance came out before Arctic Monkeys so they do not apply to this statement which again says: AM are the LAST rock band who gained this amount of popularity while still being artistically good. (whereas talking about my chemical romance's quality is another debate...)
AM were always insanely huge and influential in the UK. Fantano has never been more wrong about an artist. I remember when he called Humbug britpop lmao, this is one section of the industry he just doesn’t seem to have a proper grasp on
AM was where they started to fall off though. A lot of it was definitely pop rock to me, which I'm not the biggest fan.
@@jamessmith4843still rock tho
he's always been luke warm on the monkeys and yea I think he's off on this one. the sentiment from the hives & albarn is a bit hyperbolic but clear & correct regardless
I’m from the UK and he’s 100% correct
@@jamessmith4843 AM, their most commercially successful and popular album that has won them multiple accolades and shot their monthly listener count on Spotify to nearly 50 MILLION, is where they started to fall off. Yea that makes sense
It is undeniable that over the last decade, after releasing AM, Arctic Monkeys' popularity levels has increased massively. And in recent years, gen Z have 'discovered' the band mostly through tiktok. It's not a coincidence that the band had its very first stadium tour in UK and Europe, despite two less comercial albums.
They are not the last great rock band, but they definitely are one of the few rock bands to get this popular.
Is there a rock band that has hit a higher peak since them?
Yeah, Arctic Monkeys's popularity can't really be overstated at this point. In the UK at least, they are as massive now as ever before, and easily one of the biggest acts in the country, of any genre. So I kind of see what Damon is saying in terms of "really popular bands" because no one else is anywhere near their level (depending on whether you'd call The 1975 rock).
@@Revenu considering bands that emerged in this century, I don't think so. the strokes had a massive peak, but they are nowhere near AM in terms of popularity these days.
What do you mean by two less commercial albums?
@@Amaling They're referring to Arctic Monkeys releasing 'Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino' and 'The Car' in the past 5 years, and they're not commercial albums at all, they're for people who like jazz lounge soft rock (I love them personally) but theyre nowhere near as popular as releases prior
I think Damon was really reffering to the live scene. The Arctic Monkeys just sold out pretty much every large venue in the UK multiple times over and headlined Glasto.
As a liveact the band are easily the biggest rockband formed since 2006 and they do crush it.
The Hives are touring with them so would make sense for them to mean that to
Damon is a live guy, he's definitely talking about live shows. AM are MASSIVE here in Mexico for example.
King gizzard is the best live band. And they are selling bigger and bigger venues
@@jeffhylen8453 I mean I like King Gizzard but no they are not selling bigger venues, never have, never will. Headlining Glasto selling out the Emirates in London 5 nights consecutively. King Gizzard are not in the same league as AM when it comes to how big they are mate.
@@XanderMohan who cares. Their music is better
@@jeffhylen8453 I mean thats not really relevant lad. My point is about how commercial the bands are.
Fontaines D.C. have been killing it. They are delivering the kinds of albums I was hoping AM would be doing at this point (if they aren’t going to recapture the energy of the first album)
wonder what does flamtony think about Fontaines, theyre great. Even a bit of Nirvanna influence on some songs like Nabokov
@@funkychicken4509 Fantano rates them.
Funnily enough AM is touring with Fontaines DC in North America this fall.
@@pdotjdott damn I wish they did that with Fontaines also here in EU, me sad
True. They meld post punk and britpop in a very effective wary.
Their debut album was released in 2006. They have headlined major festivals nearly every year since. That's nearly 2 decades of being a headline act. No other band has been doing that.
Its not an outrageous statement, especially when given context.
King Gizzard, imo, is one of the best bands of this generation. Went to their show at the Hollywood Bowl and holy shit…. It was epic. Damn near sold out and the merch line wrapped around the venue. Thanks for putting me onto their music Fantano! They’re my favorite band now 🤘🏽
Yeah I saw them Easter 2022 in Vegas... one of the best shows I've seen this decade. They're a very very solid band live.
Gila! Gila! Gila!
eyup
literally was about to bring them up too !!!! it makes me so happy to see other gizzheads in the wild :))))
This comment rattled me
I am learning so much from Damon Albarn, first I learned Taylor Swift isn't a songwriter, now I'm learning the Arctic Monkeys are the world's leading rock band in the year of our Lord 2023
It’s kind of embarrassing to be a musician but, like, not know about the current state of music- just makes him sound crusty dusty and out of touch with these two clearly disprovable takes
I think all he said was she isn't a good songwriter, which eh, you can take it or leave it (I'd lean towards still not quite correct but at least it's more of an opinion than stating something as fact
Idk overall he definitely sounds out of touch with modern music when he says shit like this
@thomasnelson5758 uh, he said:
"She doesn’t write her own songs," Albarn said in a recent interview, claiming that co-writing "doesn't count"
He then proceeded to say Billie Eilish was a good example of a songwriter he felt fit his criteria... even though she co-writes all of her songs with her brother. Which is not a problem by any stretch, but it is literally the same thing he just said Taylor shouldn't be doing because it "doesn't count."
Not actually what he said on the second point, in the same way Dave Grohl said Liam Gallagher is the last true rockstar, doesn’t mean he’s saying Liam is putting out the best music in the genre currently does it 😂
so somebody said some dumb shit we all say dumb shit sometimes I understand if Damon keeps doing these bad takes is going to get a reputation bad reputation that is but I'm so tired of you people acting like you're perfect and never say anything thats fucking dumb. you're not perfect shut the fuck up
Arctic Monkeys should be given more credit for experimenting with different sounds. Not many bands have had such a successful debut, and still decided to change their sound up on subsequent releases. It may not always come off, but I don't see any reason to not respect Humbug and Tranquility Base for their uniqueness and they still have highlights as good as the first two albums
There’s just nothing that’s really experimental. They aren’t inventing anything sure they change there sound but in no way do i listen to there music and feel any sort of authenticity like i do other artists.
@tommyhanusik2173 you can still experiment with your sound and not invent anything new. But that's also not entirely true that they didn't invent anything new. AM was the first rock album to really blend Trip Hop with Rock in the way they did. And that really changed the musical landscape for alt rock for the last decade.
Dude come on, artists and bands experiment with different sounds all the time, they were doing it in the 60’s and they’re doing it now. Sure they can get credit but don’t act like nobody does it.
Agree
@@kaydenjones3183 But how many bands can you name with award winning albums that break records that do a complete 180 on their sound with subsequent records. Most artists that experiment this much don't have the mainstream success weighing them down and out of the ones that do most of them are given legendary status by music critics, such as The Beatles or Radiohead
Antony, those artists you mentioned may be popular in the US and to some extent in the UK (and King Gizzard in Australia, of course), but they haven't really broke out as an international sensation as Arctic Monkeys did, so they can barely be considered mainstream acts. I live in Portugal and I'm pretty sure 95% of the music listeners here have never heard of Black Midi, for example.
This! The same goes here in France.
I honestly think this is the case with a lot of (according to Anthony) influential artists. Of course it depends on what we count as influential: influencing later artists, or those, _and_ public in general. A good example for the former is Kanye, in my opinion. If you asked a 1000 people in the US, they would probably be familiar with him, but somewhere like Central Europe? I know a lot people, but I have a good feeling that I could count on one, maybe two hands the number of people who are aware of his existence.
@@armandbiro2954 lol im pretty sure a lot of people in central Europe know who Kanye is
@@hiddesirg1080knows but they aren't familiar with their music
But Black Midi is great, whether or not people in Portugal have heard of them.
As someone who considers AM as my favorite band of all time, I hate people who say “x are the last real rock band” or “rock is dead x is keeping it alive.” The genre still has some powerhouses in there that are able to release good music, even if it’s not as mainstream as AM. King Gizz are probably my #2 as well.
Alex turner said it himself, “he just wanted to be one of The Strokes”
Id take The Strokes over Arctic Monkeys any day 😤
And Julian said "Sorry boy, I can't employ you"
Doesn't that prove the point that the strokes can't be the last if the Monkeys came after.
@@XanderMohan Honestly, The Strokes last album is more rock than anything the Arctic monkeys have put out since AM lol...
@@TheSpongebobgo Also Julian "always wanted to be in the Arctic Monkeys"
It is pretty weird how common I've heard older people or people in general say "Oh such and such genre is dead man." Then when you talk a bit more about music they end up saying they only hear the junk on the radio or stopped looking for new music in their thirties or never got past surface level stuff. I couldn't even imagine man, well I can but for me that'd be miserable. There's so much music to discover from different music press and just Bandcamp alone, and channels like this. Not really hard to find out that rock amongst many other genres are alive and thriving. And the broader the tastes, the deeper the rabbit hole goes. It's wondrous.
Thriving is a relative term. A lot of these bands feel lucky to be able to play as a side project and fill out a tiny micro venue.
I’m in that age group at 46 and it is indeed frustrating that so many of my peers are trapped in the past. Not only by restricting their listening habits to 20+ year old legacy bands, but also how they discover music. If they weren’t so busy trying to be spoonfed by the mass media they’d find there is so much more, even a lot of traditional sounding recent Rock similar to bands from the 80’s-2000’s.. There are legions and droves of those to be discovered with anywhere between a hundred to 100,000 spotify followers that you won’t hear on the radio, and might have been huge “back in the day.” They just get ignored. It’s not the bands it’s the attitude of the fanbase not wanting to take initiative.
I don't understand why people say "Oh, Rock music is dead!" or right now "Hip-hop is dead!" like people still would listen to them genres, even if the genres are declining, they will never go away. Genres don't die, that's impossible but I would say that Rock music is just stuck in the past of nostalgia, that's the issue. The last time Rock was in its prime was in the early and maybe late 2000's. New artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Machine Gun Kelly (I know, he's not new, he's been an artist for quite a while but I'm saying he's new in the Rock world), and other ones are mainly fueled by nostalgia, not trying to make new sounds and subgenres. That's why Rock has not been the same for a while but I mean, it's still commercially successful and make it into the Billboard Top 10 (Great example, Metallica's 72 Seasons) but it needs to leave its nostalgia. I can say almost the same for Hip-hop right now as it's been a decade of Trap music and that's one of the reasons for the decline of Hip-hop.
Also, I forgot to add this, genres go through changes and this could also be a reason for decline.
As a "punk" fan, apparently that genre died before it was even born and always sucked according to a lot of the "fans" so I relate to this.
Damon having bad hot takes is almost a 100% guarantee in any discussion he takes part in about other artists and band 💀
except the taylor switf one, that's a good take
As a person who considers Gorillaz my favorite artist… you aren’t wrong
Damon is right. Name one mainstream great rock band that has emerged after 2006? None of fantano’s picks are mainstream (or emerged after 2006)
@@fliproleluwu5602you couldn't be more wrong, not sure if you're just dumb or trying to piss off swifties
@@fliproleluwu5602 He was holding her to the unrealistically high standard of being the sole songwriter on her records, which might be the norm for a rock band but is not the norm for a pop star. She does write many songs, but yes she does it collaboratively with her producers and probably some ghostwriters. It would be insulting to group her in with someone like Katy Perry who pretty much writes no songs
I think Damon was speaking from a very British guitar-rock perspective. Guitar rock was proportionately much bigger in the UK throughout the 2000s than it was in the USA. Even the American bands like the Strokes (who started it all) and Interpol were probably more popular in the UK than in the US. And yeah, there is definitely a case to be made that the Arctic Monkeys are the last great guitar band from that UK alt/indie guitar rock scene perspective.
I only know them because I like a few songs each from most of them, but it's kinda crazy that out of the likes of The Fratellis, The Kooks, Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand, the band with the most longevity was easily Kasabian (excluding AM for this purpose).
Like, several of these bands had multiplatinum albums, like 4-8x in the UK, and the entire "scene", if you can call it that, died completely in a few years. It would technically be wrong to say even AM had longevity since Humbug and SIAS basically flopped until the self-titled album popped off as a sleeper hit.
@@Billiamwoods I always like to say that Kings of Leon (very big in the UK) killed the whole scene with that cynical album 'Only By The Night' in 2008. It was like a killer blow lol.
@@praftyI remember people got so tired of hearing the singles from that album. Got so old so fast, and nowadays no one even plays them publicly or at parties. And now that I think about it, that was the last time I heard guitar-driven rock on mainstream pop radio
10 years later and Fantano is still wrong about AM. It’s a great album and has a lot of bangers.
But Fantano is the kind of guy who makes a point of disliking anything that gets a lot of success. He's that bloke you meet down the Student Union who only likes REMs early 80s stuff and thinks Gish is Smashing Pumpkins' best album. Yawn.
literally when has this been the case on the whole@@bwpm1467
I like how he tried to frame it as if it wasn't critically acclaimed right from the start. I remember very vividly how enthusiastic fans were about this album at the AM shows.
@b0nz1official When they played Glastonbury in 2013 just around the time of release, or a little before, it was very clear from the audience's response that this was an album with a certain 'star quality.'
@@bwpm1467 Absolutely, 100%. I saw them like a week before their Glastonbury appearance in 2013. The show and the crowd went absolutely crazy.
the thing about the Arctic Monkeys is that you can make a case on whether or not you think there's better quality music out there, but in the context of rock bands as a cohesive entity with massive global appeal, it's hard to say anyone else is doing it better. out of everyone you listed, they either have significantly more recognition, or they just have better music entirely (or both). their live shows are engaging, they're still developing new sounds, and as mad as you've been for a decade that they're not releasing the same UK teen angst rock they dropped in their debut, every single album they've released since SIAS has been fantastic.
McDonald's sold the most hamburgers and has new menu items people love to try..... do they have the world's best hamburgers, no one in the game makes a better one than them? No that would be the dumbest argument of all time, just like the one you made
@patrickmcpartland1398 that wasn't the argument, thanks for playing 👍 let me know if your literacy ever shows up
@@patrickmcpartland1398who’s the Wendy’s or Burger King of rock music? Unless you can name one with similar levels of popularity and mass appeal then your metaphor is trash 👍
No it hasn't.
@@End-Result cry harder
As someone that was a hardcore arctic monkeys fan, I have to say, absolutely not 💀
what changed your mind about them (assuming from the was part)?
@@BIGBADNEWS I just found bands that sounded more to my taste, after getting into Tame Impala, I sort of drifted further and further into psychedelic and experimental music and further away from Arctic Monkeys, now I'd agree with Fantano about King Gizzard sounding much better as a rock outfit.
Arctic Monkeys still has bangers for me especially the First EPs and albums, every subsequent album has some highlights. They're alright, (I will say 'The Car' was boring tho, I only really liked Mirrorball and some other tracks, doesn't really have me returning).
@@prajwaljayaraj5887wtf I had the same experience as you, was really into arctic monkeys but then got into tame impala
@@acidicdiamond I think we just like music as this sort of colourful escapist soundscape. So we find music that sounds more out there and colourful
@@prajwaljayaraj5887 was gonna ask you to name another band then. Didn't even think of Tame Impala because I always considered it a solo project, but I guess it's a good one.
Other than that, I don't feel there is much that could really be "the last great rock band".
people are missing the fact that, even if their new albums are more art pop, so many of their old songs are getting a huge resurgence like all the time recently, which make them one of the only rock bands being incredibly listened on places like tiktok, 4 of the songs off of AM are at a billion streams each, which when i found out, thought was impossible, its all so recent and quite impressive so i get why those two could say that, 505 also got a second life a couple years ago. In general, they just have incredible legs and longevity not comparable to many other bands
Yeah antknee is missing that
This does not mean they’re the last interesting thing to happen to rock. They’re sourcing their previous success and not consistency.
@@kaydenjones3183you missed the point entirely. The point is that no one has had this much impact since them on the rock scene and made it viable in the mainstream like they have. Of course there’s other bands, there always will be. But none since the Arctic monkeys have hit the heights they have, and there doesn’t look like anyone is even going to come close in the current crop of bands.
@@theonlyjoe_ i didn't miss the point. you would know what point im responding to if you read the first sentence of my comment. im not talking about mainstream success
@@theonlyjoe_ also no one had as much impact?. are we just gonna ignore radiohead and their impact in the 2000's
Here's the thing: I think that all of the first three Arctic Monkeys records and A.M. are really good records. Also, related to this video, I think that it's natural with humans that if you don't put the effort to closely pay attention to the modern music scene, you can easily lose a bit of touch with it. Not knowing who Black Midi is will be one thing, because their sound is extremely un-mainstream, but even as far as more mainstream-friendly sounds are concerned, Hot Mulligan, The Beths, and Wednesday all came out with fantastic rock records this year (and those are just albums that Fantano didn't review!).
can confirm. I had a child and suddenly I look up, it'a ten years later, and I have no idea who any of the bands (are they even still called bands?!) people are talking about. Last I heard QotSA were a pretty generic derivative band, and now their like... lauded.
Getting old is weird.
Oooh yeah +1 for The Beths. First album is incredible
As a Kiwi, I'm delighted The Beth's are getting mentioned in this space. Great band and they're lovely people too
I think something that has been overlooked is that AM are the main band being talked about in the uk, which is where Damon Albarn is from (can't say anything about Swedish charts)
Bur Paramore aren't a massive band here, as well as king gizzard, and black midi aren't really main stream
The 1975 are seen more as pop music
So I can't really name any major bands that are "rock" bands that are talked about over here, and the main bands being played are still 90s bands, and very few bands struggle to make it bigger than a small sub-culture
Humbug has so many great sounds overall… The tracks that Josh Homme produced really do have that QOTSA touch to them. The Jeweller’s Hands is a track that should be more appreciated, and it’s a great album closer!
Secret Door is my fav track!
Jewellers Hands ❤
Black Midi's drummer Morg is a drumming madman. Saw them in 2022 right after Hellfire dropped. He stole the show.
Haha, he was young drummer of the year a while ago when he was 14 iirc. Incredible chops, both on and off the records. Live seems much better - he seems to get so much more of the spotlight
Black Midi is very underrated but that's because they play avant garde insanity. Still wish they got more recognition though.
Me too and first time in 2019 before they hadn't released any albums
I've only just recently heard them and usually I take bands with hype with a grain of salt but wow they are legit 👌 it was somehow like bad bad not good meets future of the left with a dash of yes and so much more, brilliant band can't wait to see them live
If the viagra boys had a more mainstream name, I bet they would have a mainstream hit or be more known in some way.
The Strokes’ “The New Abnormal” kills everything AM has made since their first two albums, but go off, Damon.
💯💯
i knew someone's gonna say this. facts!!!
True, but they aren't as big as Arctic Monkeys currently.
@@anotheryoutubeuser no, just 10 times better and more influential
Except the Strokes came before the Monkeys which makes his statement still hold true.
Name a more mainstream 'rock' album of the 2010's. It's AM. And even if it's not your cup od tea, it's the most recognizable 'rock' album of that era (alongside ...like clockwork and lonerism) Now, I love Black midi, i like bcnr, I saw swans live couple of moths ago and loved it. But, they are not mainstream 'rock' outfits. Artists like foo fighters, qotsa or Jack white are mainstream, but they have been playing for a longer time than Arctic Monkeys. AM has an undeniable impact on rock.
This is exactly what Damon meant and it’s true, people seem to be taking that comment out of context. Black MIDI and King Gizzard are not huge the way AM are and they likely never will be.
I think it's more correct to say Arctic Monkeys is one of the last good rock bands that reached mainstream success. When it comes to quality, there are plenty of "guitar" bands that released much more interesting albums. Viagra Boys and Turnstile's recent albums are also great examples of that.
Cave World is a freaking banger of an album, fantastic production and it's genuinely hilarious
I really enjoyed the latest Arctic Monkeys album, but not because it's a rock album. I enjoy it for its sort of laid back, lounge vibes with some nice instrumentals. But in now way do I go to those albums because I'm feeling like I need to listen to some rock music. EDIT - If you haven't checked out Cleopatrick yet, you should!
cleopatrick is soooo fucking good y'all
Love Cleopatrick great that you mentioned them since they’re definitely overlooked
@@MW-dd8vk 100% agree they do not get the attention they deserve!
@@fortheloveofmusicandphilosophy Absolutely, Alternative Rock is on fire as of late 🔥🔥
Person of Culture I see
I mean, the Strokes made a solid comeback this decade
I think it's more about their status rather than 'amazing, revolutionary material'. Arctic Monkeys are well known all around the world whereas other arguably more interesting bands may be famous only in the US or UK. No one is really on their level at the moment- they're selling out stadiums and headlining the biggest festivals so in that sense they are the last 'rockstars'. They've achieved so much success over the past 20 years that a lot of fans don't even care that much about their new stuff and are just hyped to see them live because they're such a household name.
(not to mention they still sound great and many people - myself included - are excited about the band taking artistic risks rather than catering to the public by making marketable rock music)
ARE WE JUST IGNORING RADIOHEAD
There’s a reason established artists are praising them. They bring in the money and the new listeners. Especially in the UK but despite your opinion on their latest projects, their ticket sales are only going up. They constantly evolve and experiment as well as never selling out to the masses or what they “want”. One of the saviours of modern guitar music most definitely.
One thing is debating whether Tbhc and The Car can be classified as rock albums (and I think they can), another thing is not giving them the right credits.
Both albums are incredible, especially Tbhc, luckily people are starting to get that and in 5 years it will be considered one of the best AM work.
Favourite Worst Nightmare was my favorite album for almost a decade but Tranquility Base Hotel is absolute pretentious trash. The whole thing is Alex smelling his own farts and the music side of it is on-par with what you hear when you're on hold at the pharmacy. Without a decade+ of good will nobody would humor that album.
I think that what Damon was talking about went over Melon's head completely. "Paramore released a good album this year", they're still older than the Arctic Monkeys. Each band he named came out before AM or isn't as mainstream as them
0:41 relevant quotes from the Hives and Damon Albarn
0:58 Melon points out that Tranquility Base (2018), The Car (2022) are more art pop than rock. He also doesn’t like AM (2013)
2:12 fake outro
2:26 This is Why (2023) - a great example of newer, popular “real” rock
3:11 Foo Fighters, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
3:53 The 1975: not exactly experimental but still decent
4:19 Black Midi: not mainstream but VERY experimenral
4:43 Geese - 3D Country. Throwback, dad-rock sound
5:00 OFF! Hardcore punk, heavy experimental rock
5:22 Conclusion: Just because rock music isn’t appreciated by the general public, that doesn’t mean interesting rock music isn’t being released.
5:54 More potshots against AM (2013)
Thanks. Most of these names are not mainstream or came out after 2006, except the 1975 (but they are more indie/pop than rock).
Foo fighters bro
@@keenangan6047 came out since 2006 bro
The only rock n roll music that’s been released recently was Hypersonic Missiles in 2019. Nothing else since
But a lot of these aren't even remotely mainstream. The only time I hear about Black Midi is when someone on /mu/ is trying to be cringe and snobby and talk about how they listen to "real" experimental music. Foo Fighters...lol. King Gizzard is another one of those /mu/ snobby "I'm cool for saying they're my favs" like those art girls that listen to people like Caroline Polacheck and Lingua Ignota and brag about how different they are to all those Swifties and Rihanna fans.
From a commercial point of view this is completely true, they are the last great rock band that got into the mainstream and became Rockstars in the classical sense. There's plently of great rock music though, even better than the Artic Monkeys, that no one gets close to them on that level.
I think that's what Damon was talking about and it went over Melon's head completely. "Paramore released a good album this year", they're still older than the Arctic Monkeys. Each band he named came out before AM or isn't as mainstream as them
@@monkeygonetoheaven their first album came out before "Whatever people say I am"
@@monkeygonetoheavenParamore also isn't as popular as AM is if you compare the streaming numbers Paramore is doing about half as many as AM
@@GT2OOOOf course the Yank doesn’t get it and misses the point.
@monkeygonetoheaven I've not really heard anyone refer to Imagine Dragons as a guitar band for at least a decade, if ever really.
For me this era is their prime musically. Exceptional vocals great lyrics and crazy live performances.
I think in your video you got a little confused. If we want to talk in general about rock being dead you are absolutely right: there are a lot of rock bands that I also like very much (BCNR, Black Midi, but also Fontaines DC, King Gizzard etc.).
If, on the other hand, we talk about how many rock bands are mainstream today (i.e., what the Hives and Albarn were talking about), then we count very few: maybe Paramore (but absolutely not at this level), then for sure The Strokes, Foo Fighters, QOTSA, Tame Impala (if we consider the first two albums), and then precisely Arctic Monkeys, which chronologically speaking were literally the last rock band to come out (first album: 2006).
So I don't know exactly what amazes you about those statements, after all, you can clearly see by the number of records sold (even of the last two albums) and in concerts in stadiums all sold out.
I will add a couple of personal remarks:
while I respect your opinion on the Monkeys, I personally think your reviews and opinions about them have never been as thorough with the same level of analysis and acuity with which you approach so many other bands. In my opinion for example when you say that AM has no catchy riffs is incomprehensible. And they are so catchy that that album is still after 10 years in the top 20 on Spotify, speaking of popular rock bands.
Or when you say they're derivative, well that's definitely true in part, but to my way of thinking it depends on how you vehicle your inspirations. You want to tell me that Paramore's album or Lemon Twigs' album this year for example are not strongly derivative? Yet you gave them 8 or 9.
The strength that I think you never recognize in the Monkeys is that they have had great courage to experiment throughout their career. And I repeat, although they are not revolutionary experimentations (obviously), they are still original ways of reinterpreting the genre (see the post punk of the first two albums, see the R&B influences of AM, see the lounge pop of the last two) that I don't see how they cannot be worthy of respect from you. Instead, it seems to me that you liquidate them in a very hasty and lazy way.
In any case, I appreciate a substantial part of the work you do on your channel, and I am glad you are often the beginning of a broad musical discussion among fans.
I have no clue how large Arctic Monkeys is in the states, but here in the UK, they're inescapable. Theyre just coming off the back of a UK tour and there is no band where every other person I know got tickets. I love other bands far more than I like AM, but atleast here, they're thr only rock band outside of the 1975 of any presence, and even a weak AM album is better than any 1975 album.
They're not that big. Nothing compared to what Oasis were in terms of cultural impact. My parents couldn't name a single Arctic monkeys song, most over 50s in England couldn't. AM are only big for THIS generation.
@@FormulaProg I'd argue they're big for millennials and a bit older aswell, I saw just as many 30 - 40 yros at their most recent concerts as teenagers/young adults
@@sloviscelery2135 yeah i would say 40 is probably the oldest of their hardcore fans and am from sheffield so i know even the middle aged folks here dont know many of their songs
Most people in the states have never heard of them, believe it or not.
Going to shout out The Wonder Years here. They are a rock band on the Pop Punk/Emo side that have been putting out awesome guitar driven albums now for the past 10 years or so, and in my opinion do a really great job of standing out from other bands in the genre.
Saw arctic monkeys and had to skidaddle here immediately
In the UK its hard to think of any bands currently that have as many cross generational fans as Arctic Monkeys. Their last tour was testament to that, huge venues all over the country all sold out and massively varied crowds. Whether you're a fan or not, their albums have sound tracked so many peoples lives by this point.
Wow this is weird, to undersell AM (the record) this much. Must be less of a thing in USA. Over here (in Belgium) it was HUUUUUUUUUUGE and Arctic Monkeys became real arena selling superstars. Alex Turner turned into an icon an featured about every facebook cover / poster / anything at the time (i was 18 when it released). It did feel like the most impactful rock album of the decade for teenagers def.
Dan Albarn calling Arctic Monkeys the last great rock band is kind of a self report. Like how do you make a career out of being a rock musician and then somehow sleep through the last 10 years of rock music
Dan Albarn, that goddamn evil twin. Thinks he knows everything
he made a career out of being a pop musician, not a rock musician
"Great" as in massive in terms of popularity, not necessarily when it comes to quality or whatever. Name a rock band from the last 10 years that was more popular at its peak than AM, I'll wait. Damon's right, idk how so many people managed to miss his point completely
@@damjanp7920 agree. I mean, I understand the counterpoint, but what Damon said isn’t *that* off base at all
Are these bands from the last 10 years headlining major festivals or doing stadium shows? I’m sure they’re objectively good, but no where near as popular.
Arctic Monkeys are certainly one of the bands our of generation.
Parquet courts last album flopped but I mean they’re pretty good as well. The strokes’ Last album was gas
I'd even say they're one of the bands of all time
@@colegarrison3722 Did it flopp comercially? Because quality-wise I loved this record.
King Gizzard literally exists
They're right there!
I’m a big fan of the 3 Alvvays albums so far. Very solid blend of indie rock and dream pop with some 80s new wave and punk thrown in. I think they’ve been much more interesting than Arctic Monkeys since 2011.
Nothing But Thieves? Foals? Fontaines DC? Spoon? Believe me there are PLENTY of modern rock bands that are fantastic and worthy of being somebody's all-time favourites
Loved Nothing But Thieves' first two albums and most of Moral Panic. They definitely deserve to be bigger off Conor's voice alone. Haven't listened to DCC yet, any good?
@@ericforsyth it's not as phenomenal as their earlier stuff but both me and my parents dig it. Welcome To The DCC, Do You Love Me Yet and Pop The Balloon are proper bangers. The whole album is a stylistic shift and tbh I'd like to see what melon thinks about it
Foals and Fontaines are fantastic but aren't quite on AM's level of popularity or consistency (yet). NBT had a great first couple of albums but nothing after that has really been that good
@@matthewbanton7077 popularity? You're right. Consistency? Hell no. Foals have released some of the absolute best indie rock albums of the 2010's and not a single bad one. Same about Fontaines except change it for 2020's. They're the band of the future I'm telling you.
@@szymondudzinski6661 I agree that Fontaines are the band of the future and have an extremely consistent discography so far but they’re only three albums in. hard to call a band with three years of releases as consistent as a band that’s been going for two decades. as for Foals, I love a lot of their albums but there are a couple I feel less strongly about.
Saw King Gizzard at Red Rocks this year. Absolutely killed it. I'll be trying to catch them every year they come to the US.
It is crazy how mainstream music just dropped rock music in the early 2010s. Dont get me wrong, theres fantastic rock music out there. I'm talking mainstream rock.
Exactly. That’s clearly what the Blur and Hives guys are talking about, but it seems Anthony would prefer to miss the point.
Well yeah, rock had its time to shine. The 2000s were when hip hop went mainstream, which is how we got such amazing hip hop albums in the 2010s through today.
@@lukeshioshio I'm not mad at that. Hip hop is fantastic. Rock music is also like 30 years older than hiphop
@@8bitdiedieI think he understands and is just pushing back on the idea that "greatness" and current popularity are the same thing. What about influence within a genre? What about creativity?
@@lukeshioshioand 20-30 years from now rap will be in the same position rock is in and some other genre will be king
Queens of the Stone Age still put out good music and it’s definitely rock
wild to me that they didn't get mentioned at all
@@GrapevinBecause Fantano didn't particularly enjoy their last two albums.
IKR
@@jd1800no idea why, In times was really good and the only truly bad thing about villains was the mixing
I don’t think their point was like you were saying “You’ve gotta go seek it out”. The point was being a big successful rock act that is out there for all to see. Like Zeppelin, Nirvana, Radiohead, White Stripes..
Fantano how can you be this dense, Damon clearly meant they’re the last great band in that they’re good quality AND have massive appeal. There’s no point in making a case for King Gizzard or Black Midi since they’re not even close in terms of popularity
Both The Strokes and The Voidz, Carseat Headrest, King Gizzard, The Garden I would all gladly take over the last decade of the arctic monkeys music ngl
I'm gonna defend damon on this one, just from what I know of the quote.
I think the keyword in that quote is "mainstream". I don't interpret what damon is saying as there aren't ANY good rock bands anymore, but none on the level of being "unavoidable". Arctic monkeys were definitely one of the last truly unavoidable rock bands AFAIK. You could play the do I wanna know riff to anyone in the street and there's a good chance they would at least recognize it, be it from being a fan, a car commercial, used in a movie, etc. That just doesn't really happen in rock music anymore.
Paramore and foo fighters are definitely mainstream, but they aren't currently "unavoidable" like the arctic monkeys were in 2013. I haven't heard a foo fighters track off their last album on the radio or any context outside the record, but I definitely have heard the pretender and everlong on the radio in 2023.
The other examples are all also great, but they're all pretty far from mainstream. King gizzard is the closest to it, but the chance of a random person having heard their music is much lower than arctic monkeys.
There are definitely reasons beyond just "rock music was better in the past" (which is wrong), but I don't think bringing up modern examples completely discredits the claim that arctic monkeys were the last great "mainstream" rock band, and I'm not even that much of an arctic monkeys fan.
Turnstile deserves a mention, I literally listen to Glow On daily. Also BMTH’s newer stuff deserves a mention as well
I think he's excluding Punk & Metal in this discussion. Just pure Rock
@@EvenFlowX93which doesn't make sense because the argument started about guitar music and not rock band.
Just recently discovered them when they front-acted for Blink-182. They’re awesome.
I don't think Turnstile is an international sensation yet. Definitely not as iconic as Arctic or Paramore, and I don't even like Paramore that much.
Fontaines, IDLES, and Viagra Boys all deserve to be at Arctic Monkeys level. I've been really excited by the guitar music like that thats been put out since late 2010s and early 2020s and can only see it growing from here.
I think Damon is just like most British dudes at the time who herd the Stokes first two albums and were blown away (rightfully so) and so when they had their version from Sheffield they all latched on and just became obsessed with them but since then they’ve all gotten older and aren’t exposed to new music anymore beside things that are Uber popular which isn’t rock music anymore. Let’s face it when you get older (like over 45) you don’t just stumble across new music you have your kids or whoever you know who is young show you and if Damon’s kids just listen to music like The Weekend he’s not gonna know about King Gizz or Turnstile or many others
Listen to the last Gorillaz album and check out the featured artists. I don't think Damon is out of touch with the current music scene.
Anthony’s continued overlooking of anything even marginally rootsy is his biggest blindspot. If you’re talking about the best modern rock and guitar bands then Drive-By Truckers and Jason Isbell HAVE to be in the conversation. Hell, they’re in the conversation for best modern lyricists too. Bar none.
surprised you didn't mention turnstile or jean dawson. both are important examples of 2020s rock, turnstile was a hardcore band in the 2010s and now are at rolling loud
I travelled from the US to the UK this summer to attend two of their shows and the difference in fans is night and day. From what I saw on my trip, the Arctic monkeys are an absolute house hold name that anyone off the street will know about. While back here in the US, people MIGHT know do I wanna know and that’s about it. Whether you like their music - new or old - you can’t deny they have only grown in popularity and WILL continue to grow despite their music transitioning into something much different from what they originally released. The Arctic monkeys are here to stay and there is no band I can think of that will reach the popularity they’re having at this moment or the legacy they created
this ^^^ Arctic Monkeys are a staple of youth culture in the UK and their impact is visible everywhere here.
Had one of the best nights of my life seeing Arctic Monkeys for the first time a few weeks ago at the Open’er Festival in Poland. They KILL live.
Spoon is the most consistent rock band of the last 30 years, and sure, while they aren't necessarily the pinnacle of mainstream, they are well established, and have never once delivered a dud of a record. For recent bands gaining traction, Geese is the truth, and 3D Country is undoubtedly the Album of the Year for me.
I concur. Ten years ago they were pretty much my favorite modern band, and while they've been replaced by other bands over the years, I still listen to every new album and even some of the side projects, though I'm still partial to the run of Girls Can Tell, Kill the Moonlight, Gimme Fiction, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, and Transference.
I was here to shill for Spoon. Glad someone else beat me to it.
Well, come to think of it, they just might be right. Can't think of another band that feels like a good pick.
Love a lot of the stuff mentioned in the video but they are either not mainstream enough to be able to be considered the last great rock band or didn't emerged after the Arctic Monkeys.
I can think of a few bands that are mainstream enough (like The Neighbourhood, for example) but none of them has released, in my opinion, the quality of music required to be eligible for the title.
Edit: Tame Impala is a good choice, if you consider it a band.
Also, TBH&C is totally a rock album to me. Just not straight Rock&Roll, more like Art Rock, Bowie style.
On one hand, there are a ton of critically acclaimed bands to come out since 2006 (pretty much the new British post-punk "talk singing" wave produced a lot of good bands like Dry Cleaning, BCNR, Squid, etc.) but he does have a point. Bands like 1975 exist sure but they are genre-shifting (culture siphoning imo). I have a hard time picturing another band that emerged organically from social media and just blow tf up the way AM did. And they had two huge popular shifts: their post-punk revival phase in 2006 and then the tumblrcore AM phase in 2013. And now the lounge/traditional pop stuff they're doing now. It's hard to find another group that has been that big of a hit across so many people, just a festival headliner out of the gate.
You're missing the main point, they're the last stadium selling rock band. No other rock band that started around their time or later are selling out stadiums like Foo Fighters or Metallica do.
So while yes there is still good rock music being made today, it's not commercially popular like the Arctic Monkey's currently are, which is Damon's point.
Muse the strokes too
Damon knows what he’s talking about. Their story and timelines are so incredible!
Fantano didn’t mention any really really mainstream band, which was the whole point of Damon’s comments
Lol you name arctic monkeys and he gets mad and can't be objective!!
can't believe you didn't mention the strokes, the American arctic monkeys
It's okay, Anthony! we get it you don't like Arctic Monkeys but those last 2 albums are gold if you're on the wavelength to understand the path they've taken to maturity. It's okay if you're not in that wavelength!
^ Least pretentious post AM Arctic Monkeys fan
Amazing that Queens Of The Stone Age wasn’t even mentioned! Wtf they are such a consistent rock band and are a heavy “guitar” band!
Fr
Not even in the same relm of popularity as the Arctic Monkeys, who I'm by no means a fan of.
@@jamesdan6895 I guess so but great and popular are different
@@jamesdan6895 I would. Queens are by no means an obscure band. Plus Josh Homme produced AM's Humbug, so that should tell you just how far apart the realms of these two bands are truly not.
Ty Segall is one that blows me away, great guitar skills and love the heavy fuzz sound he uses. Even his acoustic album was great.
Glad Graham Coxon acknowledged Black Midi and Black Country New Road
i’m not, they are ass
I really gotta check out Black Midi, they seem like a group I'd really enjoy.
I think Turnstile, Elder, and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets deserve an honorable mention here. Bands that really bring the heat and the fun.
Everyone is taking this quote from Damon weirdly.. look at arctic monkeys live sets, they absolutely KILL it ! Not just looking at the studio albums
This isn't even mentioning Wet Leg, The Beths, HAIM (altho their last record is a couple years old now), Vampire Weekend, heck even Lil Yachty out out a banger of a psyche-rock album. Imo rock in the last handful of years has been on the rise again and it's beautiful the amount of great albums we are getting every year
None of the bands mentioned are not selling out stadium tours. That’s clearly what is being meant by ‘really popular’. It’s more a commentary on how few rock bands become extremely popular now. Maneskin feel like the only band who might get there.
This dude just hates Arctic Monkeys. He has a long history of hating them.
you cant really say that when he praises their earlier albums, I am not a fan of AM either, but I loved Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, his comments are on point.
@@jn4003 it's pretty clear he hasn't listened to their later albums more than once. He hates Alex singing. Most bands get praised for evolving as a band. This douche just wants them to make their first 2 albums again.
The thing is. At this point we know that Arctic Monkeys don't belive in music tagging. They're doint their thing. Rock is dead because people who likes rock are some of the major assholes that exist who bitches about "that thing isn't rock" everyday while listening to the same old albums for the past 10 years. Arctic monkeys in my opinion is the most Rock band of this generation, because of their position of saying: "Fuck what you want, we are going to do this album anyways". Their attitude is killing all these haters (antony included) and I love it.
I'll be honest, I've always been underwhelmed by Arctic Monkeys. They have some good songs, but tbh they just make me wanna listen to The Strokes or The Voidz. You got me into Dope Body and Iceage.
Listened to the arctic monkeys and was like this is okay. Then i listened to is this it and was blown away. Julian Casablanca’s makes music that sounds better with every listen while the monkeys just get cornier and more bland with each listen
Massive popularity + Quality in the music = Arctic Monkeys
I think people just seek more of what they've already listened, but at the same time want rock music to be disruptive. People that claim that "rock is dead" are often the same that find new rock stuff to be too weird and don't give it a try. Rock is just not that mainstream anymore, so you will have to search a bit more to find good stuff, but if you are open enough to new sounds and put the effort to find those artists, you will find a lot of great rock.
I don't really understand why The Dirty Nil aren't bigger, other than maybe the curse of being Canadian. They undeniably rock out, while pulling from all of rock's history but also writing with a strong ear for poppy melodies and catchy hooks. Maybe they'll be a slow burn to break through. Incredible live act too
Agree. 👌
While not fully a rock band, I think Katzenjammer is a very interesting, extremely talented band. I love their first 2 albums so damn much, albeit for entirely different reasons. In a lot of their songs it's very easy to tell that they were inspired by 1960s type rock music, especially in something like Shepard's Song or Ain't No Thang
I live for the day I hear those Nordic queens have reunited for a fourth album. Such an eclectic grab-bag of sounds and genre influences on their first two albums (and a lot more rock and country on the third, though those were always present). Haven't encountered another group or artist with quite the same flavor.
As a Gorilla himself, Damon’s just shouting out his simian brethren.
Particularly I love the experimentation they do in the last 2 albums and find your last review a little offensive Fantano, there's so much good things on The Car, they're not responsible for your traumas with roadtrips man. About the interviews; reading it here I was thinking, maybe Damon and Pelle were referring to the scope and range of the band, as a mainstream success and not necessarily meaning that they are the last good rock band in the scene. They are talking in the perspective of a modern classic, since AM rises in 2006.
I think Damons comments have potentially been taken out of context a bit. I think he's talking about the buzz surrounding a rock band in the UK. We've always had those bands, especially in the 90s with Oasis, Blur, Pulp etc then moving into the 00s there was Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, Kings of Leon that were huge in the UK, but since that, rock has faded in public consciousness. Theres been a few new bands that have got a similar reception in the UK with Royal Blood being an example after their first album but for many reasons it just didn't happen. I took what Damon said as more a commercial take rather than a slip of quality. That being said, bands like Yard Act, Idles, Sleaford Mods in the UK are just getting going. Yard Act have huge potential to grow. If they want to though is another thing. Definitely seen a trend of bands being more comfortable in the mid range.
For the people saying King Gizzard is a better band, that's true. The take "last great band" means Mainstream. King Gizzard is a greatband, but they're not mainstream. They're niche, they have a small niche of fans in the great picture. I'm sorry.
Love the last 2 projects, instrumentally pretty amazing stuff, Alex is Alex and I don’t mind him
And let's not forget about LOOSE LIPS, the super interesting Alt Rock Trio from Germany!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that's what i call some proper Rock!!
Saw the Hives at the Arctic Monkeys gig at Old Trafford Cricket Ground. They were insane!
Turnstile comes to mind as one of many contemporary rock/guitar driven outfits…Melding post-hardcore with other genres and making it very accessible yet still with artistic merit.
King gizzard and the lizard wizard are still here guys 🤦♂️