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Fluorescent Adolescent

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Fluorescent Adolescent

"Fluorescent Adolescent" is a song by the 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.

In an interview with The Observer, 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.

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.

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.

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