Track Take: "Cornerstone" (Arctic Monkeys)

After the explosive approval to their first album Whatever People Say I'm Not, and the lackluster response to their second album Favourite Worst Nightmare, the Arctic Monkeys really had nothing to lose commercially in planning and recording their third album. While Humbug is a very interesting and disjointed album in its entirety, "Cornerstone" is not only the best song on the album, but it's one of the best tracks that the band has ever produced.

Front man and resident songwriting genius Alex Turner is incredible interested with the surf guitar sounds of the 1960's (see The Last Shadow Puppets for his obsession at full blast). Here the watery sound of slide guitar and blurred notes beautifully compliments the confused and desperate character in his song. Beyond the accented lead guitar and the jangling rhythm, the track is very simple. This doesn't make it boring--instead it makes it addictive and so unsatisfying at the end when he doesn't resolve the rhythm. Alex doesn't find the girl, he is still stuck smelling seat belts and creeping on other ladies.

While the song is appealing sonically because of its timeless sound mixed with Turner's unique Sheffield voice, its the universal theme of lost love haunting every turn of your life that makes it a classic. Instead of churning out another song about a break up, Turner takes us beyond the last fight and leaves us with the pathetic attempts to remember a lost love's face.

It's fresh, yet maddeningly commonplace.