Favourite Worst Nightmare
Favourite Worst Nightmare is the second studio album by Sheffield indie rock band Arctic Monkeys. It was first released in Japan on 18 April 2007 before being released around the world. It was recorded in East London's Miloco Studios with producers James Ford and Mike Crossey. The album was preceded by the release of new single "Brianstorm" on 16 April 2007. In its first week following release the album sold over 220,000 copies, emulating Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not in going straight to number one in the UK Albums Chart, albeit selling 100,000 copies fewer than their record-breaking debut. Favourite Worst Nightmare's first day sales of 85,000 outsold the rest of the Top 20 combined, while all twelve tracks from the album entered the top 200 of the UK Singles Chart in their own right. In the USA, the album debuted at number seven, selling around 44,000 copies in its first week. The album has since gone 2x platinum in the UK and it was nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize.
In comparison to the band's debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, the album has been described as "very, very fast and very, very loud," being seen as "more ambitious, heavier... and with a fiercely bright production". Reflecting the band's travels around the world more than local stories of the first record, FWN is a "faster, meaner" album. It is compared to Myths of the Near Future, the debut album by Klaxons - "not a new rave album...[but] more part of an art-rock lineage than in the blokerock tradition of Oasis et al." While the opening tracks of the album are seen as "frantic, awkward and pretty uncompromising", the remainder has influences from The Smiths - "twanging, quasi-ambient backdrops...and Turner's voice [...] crooning like Morrissey or Richard Hawley." Matt Helders said "James was DJing loads in the evening so we'd go out and . . . have a dance." As a result, the drum rhythms of Helders and bassist Nick O'Malley have drawn comparisons to the Eighties funk band ESG. The band's love of classic films also influences their new style. For example, the organ at the beginning of the album's final track, "505" is taken directly from Ennio Morricone's soundtrack for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (where Angel Eyes enters before the final standoff).
The album title, "Favourite Worst Nightmare", came from the song D is for Dangerous, the third song featured on the album. The band said they also considered naming the album Lesbian Wednesdays, Gordon Brown or Gary Barlow.
Do Me a Favour was originally supposed to appear on the Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys? EP, though the band kept it, possibly because they didn't want to waste it as a B-side. In an interview with NME, Nick O'Malley announced several titles including "D Is for Dangerous" and "Balaclava". The tracks "The Bakery" and "Plastic Tramp" also mentioned in the NME interview did not make it onto the album, but were later released as B-sides on the "Fluorescent Adolescent" single. The track "Leave Before the Lights Come On" was also rumoured for inclusion, though it didn't make it.
Some of the songs were debuted at gigs before they were recorded for the album, though not many. The album was recorded quickly as the band wanted to get out and play the songs again.
Tracklist
- Brianstorm
- Teddy Picker
- D Is For Dangerous
- Balaclava
- Fluorescent Adolescent
- Only Ones Who Know
- Do Me A Favour
- This House Is A Circus
- If You Were There, Beware
- The Bad Thing
- Old Yellow Bricks
- 505
- Da Frame 2R
- Matador
- Brianstorm (video)