Arctic Monkeys
English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002, known for their rapid rise via the Internet and acclaimed albums including AM.
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Arctic Monkeys are a rock band from Sheffield, England, that got together in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead singer and guitarist), Matt Helders (drums), Jamie Cook (guitar), and Nick O'Malley (bass), who stepped in for original bassist and co-founder Andy Nicholson after he left in 2006. Early on, they were linked to the short-lived "landfill indie" scene, but they also became one of the first acts to gain attention through the internet during the "blog rock" era, which commentators say changed how new bands were promoted. Their first album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006), was a hit with critics and shot to number one on the UK Albums Chart, setting a record at the time for the fastest-selling debut in British chart history.
It won Best British Album at the 2007 Brit Awards and is often called one of the greatest debut records. The follow-up, Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007), also got strong reviews and won Best British Album at the 2008 Brit Awards. Their next two albums, Humbug (2009) and Suck It and See (2011), were received positively but with less enthusiasm. The band broke through internationally with their fifth album, AM (2013), which was a critical success and featured the global hit "Do I Wanna Know?".
2017–2021: Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
It topped four Billboard charts and went 4× Platinum in the US. At the 2014 Brit Awards, it became their third album to win British Album of the Year. For their later records, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (2018) and The Car (2022), they shifted to a softer, more piano-driven sound. Both were nominated for a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album, and The Car also got nods at the Ivor Novello Awards and the Mercury Prize in 2023.
2006: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
According to the RIAA, Arctic Monkeys have sold over 30 million units in the US alone. In the UK, they were the first band on an independent label to debut at number one with their first five albums. They've won seven Brit Awards, including Best British Group and British Album of the Year three times each, making them the first band to "do the double" (win both categories) three times. They also won a Mercury Prize for Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, an Ivor Novello Award, and 20 NME Awards.
They've been nominated for nine Grammys and received Mercury Prize nominations in 2007, 2013, 2018, and 2023. Both Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not and AM appear on NME's and various editions of Rolling Stone's lists of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." Arctic Monkeys started in mid-2002 when friends Alex Turner, Matt Helders, and Andy Nicholson got together. Turner and Helders were neighbors and close friends, and they met Nicholson in secondary school.
2002–2005: Early years and record deal
Turner, whose father was a music teacher, played guitar in what was initially an instrumental band, with Helders on drums, Nicholson on bass, and a new member, Jamie Cook, on second guitar. Turner was hesitant about being the lead singer at first, but eventually took on the role because, as Helders put it, he had "a thing for words." The band rehearsed at Yellow Arch Studios in Neepsend and played their first gig on 13 June 2003 at The Grapes in Sheffield city centre. After a few shows in 2003, they recorded demos at 2fly studios in Sheffield. They demoed 18 songs in total, and the collection—now known as Beneath the Boardwalk—was burned onto CDs and given away at gigs, where fans quickly shared the files online.
The name came from the first batch of demos: the person who sent them out labeled them after the place he got them, the Boardwalk. As more demos spread, they all got grouped under that name, leading many to mistakenly think Beneath the Boardwalk was an early album or an official release. The band didn't mind the sharing, saying they never made the demos for money and were giving them away free anyway. The group's popularity grew across northern England, catching the attention of BBC Radio and British tabloids.
A local amateur photographer, Mark Bull, filmed their shows and made a music video for "Fake Tales of San Francisco," posting it on his website along with the Beneath the Boardwalk tracks. When asked about their MySpace page, the band said they didn't know what it was and that fans had created it. In May 2005, Arctic Monkeys released the EP Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys on their own Bang Bang label, with the songs "Fake Tales of San Francisco" and "From the Ritz to the Rubble." Only 500 CDs and 1,000 7" records were pressed, but it was also available on iTunes. Soon after, they played the Carling Stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, a slot for lesser-known or unsigned acts.
In June 2005, they signed with Domino Records. The band said they liked the DIY approach of label owner Laurence Bell, who ran things from his flat and only signed artists he personally liked. The UK's Daily Star reported that this was followed in October by a £1 million publishing deal with EMI and a £725,000 contract with Epic Records for the US. Arctic Monkeys denied this on their website, calling the paper "The Daily Stir." However, Domino did license Australian and New Zealand publishing rights to EMI and Japanese rights to independent label Hoste.
Lore & Background
Though initially associated with the short-lived landfill indie movement, Arctic Monkeys were one of the earliest bands to come to public attention via the Internet, during the emerging 'blog rock' era. Their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006), became the fastest-selling debut album in British chart history at the time. The band achieved wider international fame with their acclaimed fifth album AM (2013), which was supported by the global hit 'Do I Wanna Know?'. They switched to a softer, more piano-driven sound for their following albums, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (2018) and The Car (2022).
The Making of AM: A Studio-First Approach
Arctic Monkeys crafted their fifth studio album in two Californian studios—Sage & Sound in Los Angeles and Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree—under the guidance of longtime collaborator James Ford and co-producer Ross Orton. Frontman Alex Turner described the project as far more of a 'studio album' than the live-room feel of 2011's Suck It and See. The band laid down bass and drums first, prioritizing groove, and drummer Matt Helder frequently reconfigured his kit in unconventional ways to coax out new textures. New instruments entered the palette: a Hohner Guitaret, a celeste, and a vintage drum machine all appear on the record.
Guest vocalists Josh Homme, Bill Ryder-Jones, and Pete Thomas added their voices to various tracks. Turner called Homme's roughly thirty-second contribution—recorded as a friendly 'back scratch' after Turner had sung on Queens of the Stone Age's ...Like Clockwork earlier that year—his personal favorite moment on the album. The title itself was borrowed from the Velvet Underground's 1985 compilation VU, though the band briefly considered naming it The New Black after a small Rickenbacker amp that featured heavily in the recording chain.
A Genre-Bending Sound and Themes of Tainted Romance
Released on 6 September 2013 through Domino Recording Company, AM marked a deliberate sonic departure for the Sheffield quartet. Turner described the record as sounding 'like a Dr. Dre beat, but we've given it an Ike Turner bowl-cut and sent it galloping across the desert on a Stratocaster,' and the band openly cited Outkast, Aaliyah, Black Sabbath, Captain Beyond, and The Groundhogs as influences.
The result blends psychedelic rock, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, desert rock, R&B, funk, soul, and—most notably for the band—hip-hop-inflected rhythms. Six singles carried the promotional cycle: 'R U Mine?', 'Do I Wanna Know?', 'Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?', 'One for the Road', 'Arabella', and 'Snap Out of It'. Lyrically, the collection orbits frustration tied to compromised romance, desire, and isolation, giving the groovier, darker production an emotional edge that critics would later single out as the album's defining character.
Critical Acclaim and Enduring Legacy
From the moment AM reached shelves in autumn 2013, critics responded with enthusiasm, consistently highlighting the record's darker, funkier groove as a welcome evolution from the band's earlier work. The album claimed the Brit Award for British Album of the Year and earned nominations for both the Mercury Prize and the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance (for the single 'Do I Wanna Know?').
Its standing has only grown with time: NME named it the best album of the 2010s and placed it on its '500 Greatest Albums of All Time' list, while Rolling Stone included it in the 2020 revision of its own '500 Greatest Albums of All Time' ranking. Multiple publications have also ranked AM among the finest releases of 2013 and of the entire decade. In 2023, the Recording Industry Association of America certified the album four-times platinum in the United States, a milestone that underscored how a record initially dismissed by some as a stylistic risk had instead become a touchstone for a generation of listeners and a permanent fixture in the band's catalogue.
Chart Dominance and Vinyl Revival
AM's commercial footprint was immediate and wide-reaching. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart—Arctic Monkeys' fifth consecutive top debut—and shifted over 157,000 copies in its opening week. The record also became one of the UK's best-selling vinyl albums of the 2010s, moving 73,000 units on that format alone. Beyond Britain, the album topped charts in several countries and cracked the top ten in many others.
In the United States it became the band's most successful release to date, landing at number six on the Billboard 200 and simultaneously topping four additional Billboard charts. The single 'Do I Wanna Know?' made history as the group's first entry on the Billboard Hot 100. Together, these figures painted a picture of a British rock act breaking through into mainstream American consciousness while simultaneously riding the global vinyl resurgence, cementing AM not just as a critical darling but as a genuinely major commercial event across multiple markets and formats.
Reader's Guide
Arctic Monkeys were formed in mid-2002 by friends Alex Turner, Matt Helders, and Andy Nicholson. Turner and Helders were neighbours and close friends, and they met Nicholson in secondary school. The band began rehearsing at Yellow Arch Studios in Neepsend, and played its first gig on 13 June 2003 at The Grapes in Sheffield city centre. They were signed to Domino in June 2005.
Their debut single, 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor', was released on 17 October 2005 and went straight to No. 1 on the UK singles chart. The band finished recording their debut album at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire in January 2006 with British record producer Jim Abbiss producing. The album sold 363,735 copies in the first week, surpassing the previous record held by Popstars by Hear'Say.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Arctic Monkeys (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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