Suck It and See

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This article is about the album by Arctic Monkeys. For the album's title track, see Suck It and See (song). For the compilation album by Howie B, see Suck It and See (compilation).
Suck It and See
Studio album by Arctic Monkeys
Released 6 June 2011 (2011-06-06)
Recorded January 2011 – February 2011
Sound City Studios, Los Angeles, California
Genre Indie rock,[1] psychedelic rock,[2][3] post-punk revival, garage rock
Length 40:09
Label Domino
Producer James Ford
Arctic Monkeys chronology
Humbug
(2009)		 Suck It and See
(2011)
Singles from Suck It and See
  1. "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair"
    Released: 30 May 2011
  2. "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala"
    Released: 15 August 2011
  3. "Suck It and See"
    Released: 31 October 2011
  4. "Black Treacle[4]"
    Released: 23 January 2012

Suck It and See is the fourth studio album by English indie rock[1] band Arctic Monkeys, released 6 June 2011 in the UK and 7 June in the US, following their 2011 North American tour. The band worked with producer James Ford on this album and promised a more "vintage" style. The music video for "Brick by Brick" was released shortly before the album details were revealed on March 10. Drummer Matt Helders, however, confirmed that "Brick by Brick" will not be the lead single.[5] On 19 March 2011, in an interview with NME, Helders revealed that Suck It and See will feature "some songs a bit more instant. A bit more poppy, certainly, than Humbug was."

It was revealed on 30 March that three thousand vinyl copies of "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair" would be released worldwide by the band as part of Record Store Day on 16 April.[6] The following day it was confirmed on the band's official website that the track would be the album's lead single and that it would be available with B-sides "The Blond-O-Sonic Shimmer Trap" and "I.D.S.T." from 30 May.[7]

The track "Piledriver Waltz" was first released on Alex Turner's debut EP, Submarine, where it was credited to Turner as a solo artist.[8] It has been confirmed that the Suck It and See version would be a re-recording with the whole band involved.

On 25 August a teaser trailer for the Don Valley show DVD was released, it is unknown when it will be released.

Non-album song, "R U Mine?" is to be released with b-side, "Electricity" on a 7" record for Record Store Day 2012, signifying there will be no more singles from Suck It and See. It is the first Arctic Monkeys album to have more than 3 singles released from it.

Contents

Recording and production [edit]

Arctic Monkeys wrote the album throughout 2010, with Alex Turner writing songs in New York and London.[citation needed] Rather than repeat the heavily produced sound of Humbug, the band's previous effort, much of the album was recorded in live takes with producer James Ford in Los Angeles, California, over five weeks in January/February 2011.[citation needed] Alex Turner has commented that rather than going into the studio with only rough sketches of songs, and making heavy use of overdubbing, the band focused much of their time on rehearsing together. The band settled on "Suck It and See" as the title after debating between titles such as "The Rain-Shaped Shimmer Trap", "The Thunder-Suckle Fuzz Canyon", "The Blondo-Sonic Rape Alarm", and "Thriller", according to the NME.[citation needed] The title is a reference to graffiti seen in a scene from Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange, as Alex DeLarge waits outside of a broken elevator inside of his decrepit apartment building.

On May 13 Arctic Monkeys appeared on Later... with Jools Holland and performed four tracks from the album: "Library Pictures", "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair", "Reckless Serenade" and "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala".

Reception [edit]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 74/100[9]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3.5/5 stars[10]
A.V. Club C–[11]
Beats Per Minute 85%[12]
Consequence of Sound 4/5 stars[13]
The Guardian 4/5 stars[14]
NME 9/10[15]
The Observer 3/5 stars[16]
Paste 8.3/10[17]
Pitchfork Media 7.5/10.0[18]
PopMatters 8/10[19]
Q 4/5 stars
Slant Magazine 4.0/5 stars[20]
Spin 8/10[21]
Rolling Stone 3.5/5 stars[22]
Sputnikmusic 4.0/5[23]

Suck It and See has received positive reviews from critics, with an average 74% rating at Metacritic,[24] as well as being generally lauded as a "return to form", following the band's "more challenging" third album, Humbug.[citation needed] The album has also been successful commercially. In its first week of release the album debuted at number 1 in the United Kingdom, selling over 82,000 units[25] and knocking Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" off the top spot. In its second week the album sold a further 34,910 units in the UK. Overall the album sold 154,000 units in its first week worldwide. NME named the album cover as one of the worst in history.[26] In July, the album won Mojo award for the Best Album of 2011. Mojo placed the album at number 39 on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011."[27] On 30 May, a week before official release Domino Records streamed the entire album on Soundcloud.[28] Within a few hours of being made public the first two tracks had reached over 10,000 listens each, and by the end of the week each had accrued over 100,000 plays.

Censorship [edit]

In the United States the title on the cover sleeve was covered by a sticker in certain big-box retailers. In an interview with British radio station XFM, lead singer Alex Turner said, "They think it is rude, disrespectful and they're putting a sticker over it in America in certain stores, big ones."[29] The English idiom "suck it and see" means that something must be tried first, appearing, for example, in a 2010 Economist headline[30] and (as "suck 'em and see") in the advertising slogan of Fisherman's Friend lozenges.[31]

Track listing [edit]

All lyrics written by Alex Turner[32], all music composed by Arctic Monkeys.

No. Title Length
1. "She's Thunderstorms"   3:55
2. "Black Treacle"   3:35
3. "Brick by Brick"   2:59
4. "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala"   3:00
5. "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair"   3:04
6. "Library Pictures"   2:22
7. "All My Own Stunts"   3:52
8. "Reckless Serenade"   2:43
9. "Piledriver Waltz"   3:24
10. "Love Is a Laserquest"   3:12
11. "Suck It and See"   3:46
12. "That's Where You're Wrong"   4:17
Total length:
 40:09
Japanese edition bonus track
No. Title Length
13. "The Blond-O-Sonic Shimmer Trap"   3:28

Personnel [edit]

Arctic Monkeys
Additional musicians
  • Josh Homme – backing vocals on "All My Own Stunts"

Charts [edit]

Charts [edit]

Charts (2011) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA) 4
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) 12
Belgium (Ultratop) 1
Canada (Canadian Albums Chart) 3
Denmark (Hitlisten) 2
Finland (Finland's Official List)[33] 34
France (French Albums Chart)[34] 7
Greece (Greek Albums Chart)[35] 38
Germany (Media Control Charts) 4
Ireland (IRMA) 3
Italy (FIMI) 7
Japan (Oricon)[36] 12
Mexico (Mexican Albums Chart)[37] 27
Netherlands (MegaCharts) 2
New Zealand (RIANZ) 1
Norway (Norwegian Albums Chart)[38] 4
Portugal (AFP) 7
Spain (PROMUSICAE) 3
Switzerland (Swiss Albums Chart)[39] 8
UK (The Official Charts Company)[25] 1
US Top Independent Albums[40] 4
US Alternative Albums[40] 5
US Top Rock Albums[40] 6
US Billboard 200[40] 14

Year-end charts [edit]

Chart (2011) Position
Belgium (Ultratop)[41] 46
Danish Albums Chart[42] 91

Tour [edit]

On 5 May 2011, Arctic Monkeys began the Suck It and See Tour by playing their first live show for over a year in Stockholm.

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b "BBC – Seven Ages of Rock "What the World Is Waiting For"". Seven Ages of Rock. 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2011. 
  2. ^ "Arctic Monkeys - Suck It and See (album review)". Sputnikmusic. 2011-05-30. Retrieved 2011-09-16. 
  3. ^ Peters, Mike (2011-06-15). "Arctic Monkeys — Suck It And See". CHARTattack. Retrieved 2011-09-16. 
  4. ^ "Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner: 'I'm getting into country music'". Retrieved November 17, 2011. 
  5. ^ "Arctic Monkeys – "Brick by Brick" Surprise new song". Retrieved March 11, 2011. 
  6. ^ "Arctic Monkeys Announce First Single From 'Suck It And See'". Retrieved 31 March 2011. 
  7. ^ "Arctic Monkeys Announce New Single...". Retrieved 31 March 2011. 
  8. ^ BBC – Music – Review of Alex Turner – Submarine EP
  9. ^ "Suck It And See (Arctic Monkeys) Metacritic Review". Metacritic. 
  10. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (8 June 2011). "Suck It And See". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-06-08. 
  11. ^ Rytlewski, Evan. "Arctic Monkeys: Suck It And See | Music". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved 1 May 2012.  Text " Music Review " ignored (help); Text " The A.V. Club" ignored (help)
  12. ^ Frank, Brendan. "REVIEW: Album Review: Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See". Beats Per Minute. Retrieved 2012-05-01.  Text " Beats Per Minute " ignored (help)
  13. ^ Choudhery, Möhammad. "Album Review: Arctic Monkeys — Suck It and See « Consequence of Sound". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 1 May 2012. 
  14. ^ Petridis, Alexis (2 June 2011). "Arctic Monkeys: Suck It And See - review". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-06-03. 
  15. ^ Nicolson, Barry (18 May 2011). "Album Review: Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See". United Kingdom: NME. Retrieved 2011-05-30. 
  16. ^ Empire, Kitty (5 June 2011). "Arctic Monkeys: Suck It And See - review". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-06-06. 
  17. ^ Stiernberg, Bonnie. "Arctic Monkeys: Suck It and See :: Music :: Reviews :: Paste". Paste Magazine. Wolfgang's Vault. Retrieved 1 May 2012. 
  18. ^ Hogan, Marc. "Arctic Monkeys: Suck It and See | Album Reviews". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 1 May 2012.  Text " Pitchfork" ignored (help)
  19. ^ Langager, Ross. "Arctic Monkeys: Suck It and See < PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved 1 May 2012. 
  20. ^ Jones, Huw (5 June 2011). "Arctic Monkeys: Suck it and See". New York: Slant. Retrieved 2011-06-08. 
  21. ^ Kandell, Steve (18 May 2011). "Arctic Monkeys, 'Suck It And See' (Domino)". New York: Spin. Retrieved 2011-05-30. 
  22. ^ Jody Rosen, Rob. "Suck It And See: Arctic Monkeys: Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  23. ^ Viney, Joseph (30 May 2011). "REVIEW: Arctic Monkeys - "Suck It And See"". New York: Sputnik Magazine. Retrieved 2011-06-01. 
  24. ^ "Suck It And See". Metacritic. 7 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
  25. ^ a b "Archive Chart". Theofficialcharts.com. 2011-06-18. Retrieved 2011-09-16. 
  26. ^ "Pictures of The 50 worst album covers ever - Photos". Nme.Com. 2011-04-20. Retrieved 2011-09-16. 
  27. ^ "MOJO's Top 50 Albums Of 2011". Stereogum. December 2, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2011. 
  28. ^ - NME.com - Soundcloud streaming of entire album announced
  29. ^ "Arctic Monkeys' 'Suck It And See' censored in America | News". Nme.Com. 2011-06-01. Retrieved 2011-09-16. 
  30. ^ [1]
  31. ^ [2]
  32. ^ ASCAP Entry
  33. ^ "Arctic Monkeys: Suck It And See". ifpi.fi. Retrieved 2011-06-16. 
  34. ^ ""Suck It And See" - FFrench Albums Chart". 
  35. ^ "Arctic Monkeys - Greek Albums Chart". 
  36. ^ "CDアルバム 週間ランキング-ORICON STYLE ランキング". Oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 2011-09-16. 
  37. ^ "Arctic Monkeys - Mexico Albums Chart". 
  38. ^ ""Suck It And See" - Norwegian Albums Chart". 
  39. ^ "Arctic Monkeys - Swiss Albums Chart". 
  40. ^ a b c d "Suck It And See - Charts and Awards". 
  41. ^ "Album-Top 100". Ultratop. Belgium. 
  42. ^ "Album-Top 100". Hitlisten. IFPI Danmark& Nielsen Music Control. Archived from the original on 2012-01-23. 

External links [edit]

Arctic Monkeys
Studio albums
Extended plays
Other albums
Video albums
Tours
Related articles
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