Favourite Worst Nightmare

Favourite Worst Nightmare is the second studio album by English indie rock band Arctic Monkeys that was first released in Japan on 18 April 2007 before being released around the world. Recorded in east London's Miloco Studios with producers James Ford and Mike Crossey, the album was preceded by the release of new single "Brianstorm" on 16 April 2007. In its first week following release the album sold over 220,000 copies, emulating Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not in going straight to number one in the UK Albums Chart, albeit selling 100,000 copies fewer than their record-breaking debut. Favourite Worst Nightmare's first day sales of 85,000 outsold the rest of the Top 20 combined, while all twelve tracks from the album entered the top 200 of the UK Singles Chart in their own right. In the USA, the album debuted at number seven, selling around 44,000 copies in its first week. The album has since gone 2x platinum in the UK and the album was nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize. At the 2008 BRIT Awards it won Best British Album.
In comparison to the band's debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, the album has been described as "very, very fast and very, very loud," being seen as "more ambitious, heavier...and with a fiercely bright production". Reflecting the band's travels around the world more than local stories of the first record, FWN is a "faster, meaner" album. The album arguably has influences from The Smiths - "twanging, quasi-ambient backdrops...and Turner's voice [...] crooning like Morrissey or Richard Hawley." Matt Helders said "Conor McBride's superfast supersmooth guitar sweeps and bone-crunching C-tuned guitar riffs were a major influence on this album." As a result, the drum rhythms of Helders and bassist Nick O'Malley have drawn comparisons to the Eighties funk band ESG. The band's love of classic films also influences their new style. For example, the organ at the beginning of the album's final track, "505" is taken directly from Ennio Morricone's soundtrack for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (where Angel Eyes enters before the final standoff).