Fluorescent Adolescent

"Fluorescent Adolescent" is a song by English indie rock band Arctic Monkeys. It was released as the second single from their second studio album ''Favourite Worst Nightmare'' (2007). It was released on 9 July 2007 in the United Kingdom. The lyrics were written by Alex Turner and Johanna Bennett, Turner's girlfriend at the time, in a hotel room prior to the recording of ''Favourite Worst Nightmare''.

"Fluorescent Adolescent" has been described as a ballad about sex, ageing and nostalgia for youth. It describes a woman who dreams of her youth while her current sex life is unsatisfying and boring. The song peaked at number five on the UK Singles Chart, and was the 83rd best-selling song of 2007 in the United Kingdom. "Fluorescent Adolescent" is one of the band's most popular songs, and is frequently performed as a closer to their concerts. Kate Nash performed a cover of the song on 5 October 2007. It appears on ''Radio 1's Live Lounge – Volume 3''.

The song is often synonymous with the E4 British comedy series ''The Inbetweeners'', frequently being heard during the first series.

Origin

In an interview with ''The Guardian'', Johanna Bennett said about the song:

We were on holiday and had cut ourselves off from everything. We were in a really quiet hotel and didn't watch TV or listen to that much music. So as not to drive each other mad we started messing around with these words like a game, singing them to each other. It's great to think that it came from something we did for fun on holiday. It'll always be a good memory for Alex and I. He doesn't usually write lyrics with other people, though I think he enjoyed it.

Critical reception

The song has received a 9/10 rating from Planet Sound, becoming Arctic Monkeys' first single to do so since "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor". In 2023, ''Rolling Stone'' and ''Paste'' ranked the song number twelve and number nine, respectively, on their lists of the greatest Arctic Monkeys songs.

Music video

The music video was filmed in late April 2007 and was directed by ''The IT Crowd'' star Richard Ayoade. It features actor Stephen Graham (who previously appeared on the '' Scummy Man'' DVD and the " When the Sun Goes Down" video) as a clown. The music video premiered in the UK on 5 June 2007 on Channel 4, and was available online the next day.

The music video is based around a fight between a group of clowns and a group of non-clowns at an abandoned warehouse. The presumed leaders of the two groups have a flashback showing that they were friends when they were young children. During the flashback, photos of the band as young children are shown. Throughout the fight, each group leader attempts to kill the other. As the music video climaxes, the non-clown leader tries to run over the clown leader. However the clown leader notices that the non-clown leader's car (with the non-clown leader inside) has been leaking fuel and drops his cigarette lighter. The car quickly catches fire and the clown leader looks on as his former friend burns and the music video ends.

The video was loosely inspired by the poem "Out of Control Fairground" by John Cooper Clarke. Turner says he is a fan of Clarke and describes him as a lyrical inspiration; Arctic Monkeys would later adapt Clarke's poem "I Wanna Be Yours" into a song on their 2013 album '' AM''. The poem is also printed inside the CD release of "Fluorescent Adolescent." The lines such as "out of control fairground" and "homicidal clowns" support this. The video was preceded by a warning of violent images. In an MTV interview, Turner stated that the music video "is the best thing we've ever done" while Jamie Cook hailed it as "...probably one of the best videos in the last, like, 10 years".

During a live performance of the song on ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'', the band played the song dressed as clowns, with Alex Turner dressing with the same make-up and clothing as the main clown in the video.

During a performance of the song on the ''Late Show with David Letterman'', Letterman introduced the band by joking that his vinyl copy of "Favourite Worst Nightmare" had been stolen due to its popularity.

Track listing

Chart performance

On downloads alone, "Fluorescent Adolescent" charted in the UK Singles Chart at number 55 for the week commencing 25 June 2007. The song charted at number five upon release of the single on CD for the week commencing 16 July 2007. On 27 June 2007, "Fluorescent Adolescent" began receiving significant BBC Radio 1 airplay as the first song on "The A List" Playlist. The song's three B-sides—"Plastic Tramp", "The Bakery" and "Too Much to Ask"—appeared on the UK Singles Chart the week of the single's physical release at number 153, number 161 and number 178, respectively.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

"Fluorescent Adolescent" music video
at YouTube

"Fluorescent Adolescent" mini-site

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Songs about teenagers
2007 singles
Arctic Monkeys songs
Songs written by Jamie Cook
Songs written by Matt Helders
Songs written by Nick O'Malley
Songs written by Alex Turner (musician)
Song recordings produced by James Ford (musician)
2007 songs
Domino Recording Company singles
Songs about casual sex
Music videos directed by Richard Ayoade
British pop rock songs
UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles