Arctic Monkeys and the Art of Asking Inconvenient Questions – Part 3

“Do I Wanna Know?”

Last summer, I read in a Rolling Stone article that even casual Arctic Monkeys fans remember the first time they heard the riff to “Do I Wanna Know?”. I don’t know if that’s true, but I certainly remember the first time those lyrics touched me personally. Never Date an Artist because they’ll expose your most anguishing secret thoughts without permission or warning. But more on that later.

Artist – ARCTIC MONKEYS

Songs – “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?”; “R U Mine?”; “Do I Wanna Know?”

Album – AM (2013)

Disclaimer: I wrote this post in 2023 and kept it in the vault for two years. At the time, it never felt quite… complete. Since then, my views on some of these topics have become more nuanced — or shifted entirely. Today, I DO want to know.

Still, this piece remains aligned with Parts 1 and 2, and I believe it’s worth reading. You might even find yourself on the same emotional wavelength I was back then.

Welcome to the third and final part of Arctic Monkeys and the Art of Asking Inconvenient Questions, an exclusive trilogy of blog posts about the most acclaimed Arctic Monkeys’ album (so far), AM. If you haven’t read Part 1 or Part 2 yet, I recommend doing so before going any further. Or better yet, stay on this page and learn now all about the best Arctic Monkeys’ song from their catalogue — yes, it’s a bold statement, and I’m making it!

Ready?… Let’s go!

Pleasure in torment — “Do I Wanna Know?”

I immediately detect a quiet panic growing inside of me when my mind finally dares to raise ‘THE’ question, “Do I Wanna Know?”. Most of the time, the answer is a hesitant ‘no’. No, I do not want to know what I should know, but wouldn’t like to know. Are you still following?

“Do I Wanna Know?” is Arctic Monkeys’ AM opening track and sets the tone for the rest of the album. There’s no introduction or smooth transition: Turner’s character is ready to share his world of anxiety, anguish, uncertainty, and painful love, sparing us no detail or emotion. That’s noble of him, on the one hand, but (delightfully) overwhelming at some point, on the other hand. That humanly selfish thought “better you than me” creeps in frequently. “Poor him!”, I think to myself repeatedly.

However, Alex Turner’s torment is quite… satisfying. I know how that sounds. But this satisfaction comes from appreciating the art and mastery behind the song, not from some sadistic latent feeling. I know what I said about “R U Mine?”, but this is how I feel today. After this preamble, I can freely admit there’s a part of me that doesn’t empathise with Alex’s pain but rather enjoys it. [Here we go!] Maybe it’s his naked vulnerability; it’s just… sexy!

“I Wanna Be Yours”

Another interesting detail about “Do I Wanna Know?” is that this first track will tell you everything you need to know about AM. There’s no redemption or atonement for one’s sins throughout the album, and by the last track, we find out that Alex Turner’s character didn’t learn anything from his romantic misfortune.

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Despite being obsessed with someone he knows — but doesn’t really want to know — doesn’t reciprocate the intensity of his feelings, he concludes his introspective all-nighter with the certainty of “I Wanna Be Yours”. This time around, the words are not from Alex but from John Cooper Clarke. Nevertheless, his poem couldn’t be more fitting for conveying an overwhelming flood of feelings, where lust, love, and despair form a combustible mix.

I wanna be your vacuum cleaner/ Breathing in your dust/ I wanna be your Ford Cortina/ I will never rust, sings Alex Turner despondently in “I Wanna Be Yours”. If, at this point, I still entertained hope that he’d pull through and find a way out of his love predicament, I abandoned it immediately after listening to those words.

Furthermore, “I Wanna Be Yours” is the long and definitive answer to “Do I Wanna Know?”, the first of the album’s three inconvenient questions — check Part 1 and Part 2 for the other two. We just have to get to AM‘s last track to finally conclude that it doesn’t matter what he already truly knows.

He wants to be with that person even if he must grovel to them or breathe in their powdery dirt to achieve that purpose. Any remaining sense of pride or self-respect is lost here. So, as you can see, his situation doesn’t improve throughout the album: he’s constantly prostrate before that person’s wants, needs, and desires.

Why should you listen to the album then?

Because the Arctic Monkeys transform this dreadful scenario into a brilliant audio-savoury production. AM reeks of scented toxicity!

Fighting a losing battle

Alex Turner’s 12-string Vox guitar riff and Nick Helders’ pulsating drum beat are two highly distinctive elements in “Do I Wanna Know?”. The first is ominously seductive, and the second resembles a call to battle, which we soon understand to be pointless — one party has already yielded.

Now, he can only find solace in the answer to vital questions such as “(Do I wanna know?)/ If this feelin’ flows both ways? (…)/ Ever thought of callin’ when you’ve had a few? (…)/ So have you got the guts? All essential matters for a tormented heart, of course — and painfully familiar for anyone who has ever loved without certainty. Haven’t we all?

The second most important question after “Do I Wanna Know?” is the last one: “Do you want me crawlin’ back to you?” The lengths Alex Turner’s character is willing to go to salvage a wreck of a relationship are astounding. “Admirable” also crossed my mind, but this situation is far from healthy.

The other person is holding all the cards, and he seems numb with despair. Nevertheless, he still harbours hope that the person will be merciful to his heart and emotions if he behaves in a self-humiliating way. He embarked on a whatever-it-takes, one-way ticket journey, and there’s no going back for him.

If this resonates with you, and you find yourself in a similar situation, please do not crawl literally or figuratively. That’s going too far!

The alternative concept video

I cannot shake the feeling that Alex Turner’s character contributed to this state of affairs somehow. In other words, I sense something grave happened in that relationship, and he’s not being (conveniently) forthcoming about it. The question “Do you want me crawlin’ back to you?” sounds rather suspicious.

First, using the verb ‘crawl’ is not coincidental, as it exposes the extent of his romantic troubles. Second, he’s willing to drag himself and his dignity along the ground to regain unrestrained access to that person’s emotions. ‘What has he done?’ is the real question here.

If he is, in fact, the culprit of wrongdoing, then “Do I Wanna Know?” is about a restless, delusional mind pouring out its thoughts in the wee hours of the morning. On the other hand, he might just have handed out his heart to a vile person.

Despite the customary presumption of innocence, I’m going with the first premise because it aligns best with the music video I conceptualised in my head: black-and-white footage of two intertwined bodies bathed by a bright moonlight, experiencing an unbalanced dynamic where power, lust, and the release of pent-up emotions play a pointless tug of war.

By the end comes the confirmation early perceived in said fictional video: following the climax, the love interest prepares to leave the room while looking down at the singer’s prostrated, drained and helpless body. A single thought occupies his mind: “Do you want me crawling back to you?”.

This final scene conveys submission, penance, fault, and acknowledgement. Intriguing, indeed. Why would he crawl back into a situation that comes across as unhealthy? Then again, he might not be able to help it in such a state of love inebriation. Well, let’s call it what it is: blind obsession. 

Afterthought

Despite my words, I’m not pointing fingers here. Those who haven’t had a similar thought (“Do I Wanna Know?”) cross their mind have probably never gotten their hearts broken. It’s undoubtedly painful and forces you to face an unexplored side of yourself. I’m speaking from experience.

There are different stages of pain. The most perilous manifests as a dangerous delusion: refusing to accept survival without that person in our lives. “Whatever it takes” becomes a means to an unrealistic end — to turn back time and efface the moments and signs that derailed the relationship forever. But was there a relationship to begin with, or was it just a one-sided fantasy? See, “crawling back” to a poisonous love doesn’t sound as taxing all of a sudden as answering that question. It is, though?

Never Date an Artist because they’ll expose your most anguishing secret thoughts without permission or warning. 

At a certain point in my life, listening to “Do I Wanna Know?” made me feel naked and vulnerable, alone, in that room, as if Alex Turner was peeling protection layers off of me with his voice and hopelessness. “Shall I crawl back to you?”, I then pondered. “Will that subside my pain?”, I considered.

No, I don’t really want to know what I’ve known all along.

(And there’s still a hopeless (delusional?) side of me that insists I didn’t know anything at all).

What about you? Does the inconvenient question “Do I Wanna Know?” hit a nerve and unlock repressed memories? If they’re already out, you might as well share them. That’s what the comments below are for. Time to get it off your chest!