Just when it seemed the uproar surrounding the Arctic Monkeys couldn't get any bigger, along comes another blast of hype to knock you flat. Apparently they are better than the Beatles.
Not content with beating Oasis to gain the fastest-selling-rock-album-of-all-time, the Monkeys have now - at least according to the overexciteable young types at NME - defeated the Fab Four in the definitive list of the best albums ever. Revolver, the highest-scoring Beatles album to make it into the list, makes a distinctly lukewarm ninth place; Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not trumps it in an almost red-hot fifth, just below classics such as Never Mind the Bollocks and The Queen is Dead. Despite being released, er, two days ago.
Just in case this assumption into rock's glittering firmament might seem - how can we put it? - a little fast-paced, NME take the trouble to inform punters that the lads from Sheffield can more than hold their own in such elevated company.
"Consider some of the great British debuts: The Smiths, Definitely Maybe, Original Pirate Material. Now consider the Arctic Monkeys," they say. "Lumping Whatever People Say I Am ... in with these records might seem premature, but what made them all great was attitude and innovation and sheer balls - something the Monkeys possess in abundance."
Indeed. And how pleasing that Definitely Maybe gets in there at number three. Always a mark of quality.
But if you're getting a little weary of the hype there's one little-noted fact that may improve your mood.
If, as widely tipped, the Monkeys' meisterwerk succeeds in becoming the fastest selling album of all time - currently it's just the fastest selling rock album - the victory champagne may not taste entirely sweet. Why? The last band to score that triumph was ... Hear'Say, with their critically garlanded debut Popstars (and if you were one of the 306,631 people who bought it, hang your head in shame right now). A prosperous and lengthy career, Monkeys, assuredly awaits.
