Fluorescent Adolescent

Fluorescent Adolescent was the second single from Favourite Worst Nightmare. The band debuted it live on The Jonathan Ross Show dressed as clowns, and it charted at number five in the UK. It deals with failed relationships, nostalgia and growing old.

Alexis Petridis said what stood out was the tenderness and warmth with which Turner draws a thirtysomething woman ruefully recalling her past, and compared the tragi-comic tone to Victoria Wood's songs. He noted the puns too, such as the question of whether something is a Mecca dobber or a betting pencil.