8. Pretty Visitors’ // Humbug
Matthew J Helders. Wow! Take a bow. This song is Helders at his absolute best, the pace of the song is like that of an Olympic runner, he doesn’t falter. The riffs are as heavy as Turner is threatening, as he describes the ‘Pretty Visitors’.
What truly makes this song so great is the irony and humour in the lyrics.
The pretty visitors are not aliens, but instead commonly regarded to be Arctic Monkeys fans. The snake pit is the crowd as Turner vents his dismay at the fickleness of certain fans. It’s a middle finger to those that didn’t want the Arctic Monkeys’ sound to progress, and only jumped on the hype of the first record.
Just when you think Turner will allow Matt Helders to steal the show, he drops his most iconic lyric: “What came first the chicken or the dickhead?”. A question I’ve pondered every day since.