Alex strolls into his apartment building, walking stick carried nonchalantly over his shoulder whistling along with a piece of classical music. Sprawled across the vibrant early-70s décor are the words “SUCK IT AND SEE.” This is a point in Alex’s life when he will begin to impose more of his synthesizer-loving, retro-vibe-oozing will on his followers, and shake things up in the process.
I think it is safe to say that we all had that one band at one point in our lives that really got us into music. The one band that made us go, “Wow, so that’s how listening to music is supposed to feel.” For me, it was Arctic Monkeys. When I was in high school, I used to go to my local library to rent CDs and burn them onto my computer (sorry, iTunes). One of the first albums I obtained was Arctic Monkeys’ first full length debut, “Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not” (among other gems, including “Is This It?” by The Strokes and “The Queen is Dead” by The Smiths). That album, and the subsequent ones that I devoured later, became the soundtrack to my high school experience; my go-to answer to the feared “what’s your favorite band?” question.