Every Arctic Monkeys Single Ranked Worst To Best
2. Fluorescent Adolescent
Alex Turner was just 20 when he and his then-girlfriend Johanna Bennett wrote this perfect song about the female Middle aged experience and a notalgia for youth. The two treated the song writing as a game and penned one of the band’s most iconic songs, full of observational wit and charm.
Fluorescent Adolescent has become synonymous with the 00s British experience, acting as a theme song for The Inbetweeners, being a constant present in pop culture and going platinum. The song is an upbeat party anthem, not just focussed on poking fun at the older woman it references but keen to emphasise that these memories are something to be looked back on fondly.
The very best versions of Fluorescent Adolescent come from the 2009 Humbug-era of the band where they would insert segments of other songs within it and slow it right down at periods. For one of the best examples, check out the band’s 2009 Reading and Leeds performance. However to this day, the song is still regularly inserted into the band’s setlist and incites all kinds of nostalgia and carelessness.