A Certain Romance

[1][2] A series of eighteen demos collectively known as Beneath the Boardwalk were burned onto CDs and given out by the band in 2004, later earning traction through the Internet.

[23] Writing for Rolling Stone magazine, Barry Walters praised the "hyper-realistic observations" Turner made and believed the track "sums up" the album.

[16] Later, Rolling Stone wrote that "What starts as a critique of people who are ostensibly less sophisticated, stylish, or romantic, soon becomes an astute deconstruction of the snark, cynicism, and us-vs-them posturing endemic to youth.

It’s a rather tender, empathetic note to land on, and Arctic Monkeys emphasize it not with words, but two dueling livewire guitars twisting around each other in a perfect tangle of uncertainty and exultation.

"[25] Paste magazine's Matt Mitchell said "No choruses can be found here, only a climax of a towering, skyrocketing, shape-shifting guitar solo that lends a hand to the gods—the only spirit that could possibly be higher than what Turner and the band take to the bank".

[22] Far Out magazine called the song "the last of its kind—the last joyously unpretentious offering of collectivism that defines an entire generation with poetic sympathy rather than the cool kid stance of cynically singing for the chosen few in a manufactured gang spawned from the fractured internet age where all the friends have moved online.

and a teenage life characterized by existential drift and geographic claustrophobia" and suggested the band release the track as a single.

[27] Online music magazine MusicOMH said that it is "a wonderfully articulate dissection of youth culture that belies Turner's tender years".