Charlotte's A2 Media

‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ is the Arctic Monkeys 2nd album and went straight to no.1 in the UK charts. The Arctic Monkeys genre is difficult to describe as it appeared at first to be of a completely different sound, that of being very raw and loyal to local vocals (eg. Alex Turner sings with his own dialect), and I feel this is reflected in the imagery provided on the front cover. The use of the focal aspect of the council estate approach seems very down-to-earth, and of an issue in everyday life that shouldn’t be overlooked with the glamour of the ‘rock star’ lifestyle, showing that the band want to keep to their roots. Interestingly, the reality image of the exterior housing design is juxtaposed with the abstract design within the house, perhaps trying to emit a message that the band has a more creative potential than others around them. As well as this, the interior design features a vector/abstract nature, and I feel this symbolises their freedom of expression. The bright colours illustrate an almost disorganized sense, however it’s so contrasted to the outside that it seems the band want to rebel against their surroundings and their working class norms and values in order to express to the world their inner emotions, an idea that is also emitted in some of their lyrics.
Interestingly, the band does not appear on the front cover so as not to not allow the focus to be on their star image. I feel that this is often the case with the Arctic Monkeys as they are a very reserved band, rarely seen in the public limelight, and only occasionally taking part in press interviews and performances. This could create a sense of respect for them as it shows they would rather focus on their music and explore that trait (the whole reason for their involvement in such a high profiled career) rather than to shift attention to the way they appear, or dress, or even how they wear their hair. It seems that in a time when bands have very symbolic attributes (such as Lady Gaga’s eccentric fashion choice, or Green Day’s black and red themed attire), Arctic Monkeys simply want their trademark to be the sound of their music, nothing more than that as they feel that’s not why they chose their profession as musicians.
The target audience of the bands music is fairly difficult to discover simply from this cd cover, and it is simply because the bands style relates to a number of people. I recently went to and Arctic Monkeys gig, and the variety of people there was unbelievable. Like myself, there were a large amount of teenagers, however there were also parents and older people. Looking around there was an equal amount of males and females, men in their 40’s to girls in their early teens, people who dressed ‘indie’, to people who barely dressed at all (shirtless males). This kind of variety can be mirrored in the design of the CD cover with the eccentricity of the interior design, with many abstract colours. However, something that seems certain with the music is that it is most relative to working class audiences, shown through the content of lyrics and with the council estate look. People from the bands hometown may also find the music more accessible with the issue of dialect being difficult to understand at some point.
Overall, I feel this cover successful portrays the bands essence and music style, whilst at the same time has interesting features that would appeal to many people.