Arctic Monkeys are an Englishrock band formed inSheffield in 2002. They comprise lead singer and guitaristAlex Turner, drummerMatt Helders, guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Nick O'Malley. The co-founder and original bassistAndy Nicholson left in 2006. Though initially associated with the short-livedlandfill indie movement,[2] Arctic Monkeys were one of the earliest bands to come to public attention via theInternet, during the emerging "blog rock"[3] era. Commentators have suggested that this period marked a shift in how new bands were promoted and marketed.[4]
Arctic Monkeys' sales in the US alone stand at over 30 million units, according to theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[8] In the United Kingdom, they became the first independent-label band to debut at number one in the UK with their first five albums.[9] They have won sevenBrit Awards, winningBest British Group andBritish Album of the Year three times, becoming the first band to ever "do the double"—that is, win in both categories—three times; aMercury Prize forWhatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not; anIvor Novello Award and 20NME Awards. They have been nominated for nineGrammy Awards,[10] and received Mercury Prize nominations in 2007, 2013, 2018 and 2023.[11] BothWhatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not andAM are included inNME and different editions ofRolling Stone's lists of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
Arctic Monkeys were formed in mid-2002 by friendsAlex Turner,Matt Helders, andAndy Nicholson (who left the band shortly after their debut album,Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, was released).[12][13] Turner and Helders were neighbours and close friends, and they met Nicholson in secondary school.[12][13] Turner, who had grown up in a musical household as his father was a music teacher, played guitar in the then-instrumental-only band, with Helders on drums, Nicholson on bass and a new band member, Jamie Cook, as a second guitarist.[13][14] In 2005, Turner said they took their name from a band that Helders' dad played in during the 1970s: "He passed it down from generation to generation, like a recipe."[15] Initially, Turner was reluctant when it came to being the lead singer.[13] As time passed, Turner became the lead singer and frontman of the band as he had "a thing for words", according to Helders.[16]
The band began rehearsing atYellow Arch Studios inNeepsend,[17] and played its first gig on 13 June 2003 at The Grapes in Sheffield city centre.[13][18] After a few performances in 2003, the band began to recorddemos at 2fly studios in Sheffield.[13] 18 songs were demoed in all and the collection, now known asBeneath the Boardwalk, wasburned onto CDs to give away at gigs, which were promptly file-shared amongst fans.[13][19] The nameBeneath the Boardwalk originated when the first batch of demos were sent around.[19] The first sender, wanting to classify the demos, named them after where he received them, theBoardwalk.[13][19] Slowly, as more demos were spread, they were all classified under this name.[19] This has led to many people falsely believing thatBeneath the Boardwalk was an early album, or that the early demos were all released under this title.[19] The group did not mind the distribution, saying "we never made those demos to make money or anything. We were giving them away free anyway – that was a better way for people to hear them."[19]
The band began to grow in popularity across the north of England,[20] receiving attention fromBBC Radio and the British tabloid press. A local amateur photographer, Mark Bull, filmed the band's performances and made the music video "Fake Tales of San Francisco", releasing it on his website,[19] alongside the contents ofBeneath the Boardwalk – a collection of the band's songs which he named after a local music venue. When asked about the popularity of the band'sMySpace site, the band said that they were unaware of what it was and that the site had originally been created by their fans.[19] In May 2005, Arctic Monkeys released theEPFive Minutes with Arctic Monkeys on their own 'Bang Bang' label, featuring the songs "Fake Tales of San Francisco" and "From the Ritz to the Rubble".[13][21] This release was limited to 500 CDs and 1,000 7" records, but was also available to download from theiTunes Music Store.[13] Soon after, the band played at the Carling Stage of theReading and Leeds Festivals, reserved for less known or unsigned bands.[13]
Eventually, they were signed toDomino in June 2005.[13][22] The band said they were attracted to theDIY ethic of Domino owner Laurence Bell, who ran the label from his flat and only signed bands that he liked personally.[22] The UK'sDaily Star reported that this was followed in October by a £1 million publishing deal withEMI and a £725,000 contract withEpic Records for the United States.[23] Arctic Monkeys denied this on their website, dubbing the newspaper "The Daily Stir". However, Domino had licensed the Australian and New Zealand publishing rights to EMI and the Japanese rights to independent label Hostess.[20] Their debut single, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", which was recorded at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire, was released on 17 October 2005 and went straight to No. 1 on theUK singles chart.[24][25] Their second single, "When the Sun Goes Down" (previously titled "Scummy"), released on 16 January 2006, also went straight to No. 1.[13][26][27][28] The band's success with little marketing or advertising led some to suggest that it could signal a change in how new bands achieve recognition.[4]
2006:Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
The band finished recording their debut album,Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, at Chapel Studios inLincolnshire in January 2006 with British record producerJim Abbiss producing.[13][29]Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not became the fastest-selling debut album in UK chart history, selling 363,735 copies in the first week.[30] This surpassed the previous record of 306,631 copies held byPopstars byHear'Say and sold more copies on its first day alone – 118,501 – than the rest of the Top 20 albums combined.[31] The cover sleeve ofWhatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, showing Chris McClure, a friend of the band smoking a cigarette, was criticised by the head of theNHS in Scotland for "reinforcing the idea that smoking is okay".[13][32] The image on the CD itself is a shot of an ashtray full of cigarettes.[13][32] The band's product manager denied the accusation and suggested the opposite – "You can see from the image smoking is not doing him the world of good".[32]
The record was released a month later in the US on 21 February 2006[13][33] and entered at No. 24 on theBillboard album chart after it sold 34,000 units in its first week, making it the second fastest selling debutindie rock album in America.[13][34] However, US sales for the first year did not match those of the first week in the UK for the album. US critics were more reserved about the band than their UK counterparts and appeared unwilling to be drawn into the possibility of "yet another example of the UK's press over-hyping new bands".[35] However, the band's June 2006 tour of North America received critical acclaim at each stop[36][37][38] – the hype surrounding them "proven to exist for good reason".[39] The album was certified Gold by theRIAA in 2017 for selling over 500,000 units in the United States.[40] Meanwhile, the UK'sNME magazine declared the band's debut album the "5th greatest British album of all time".[41] It also equalled the record ofthe Strokes andOasis at the 2006NME Awards, winning three fan-voted awards for Best British Band, Best New Band and Best Track for "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor".[42][43]
Arctic Monkeys wasted no time in recording new material and releasedWho the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?, a five-track EP on 24 April 2006.[13][44] Due to its length, the EP was ineligible to chart as a UK single or album.[13] Furthermore, the record's graphic language has resulted in significantly less radio airplay than previous records, although this was not a reported concern according to an insider – "since they made their name on the Internet... they don't care if they don't get radio play".[45] The release of the EPWho the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys? Just three months after their record-breaking debut album has been criticised by some, who have seen it as "money-grabbing" and "cashing in on their success".[46] The band countered that it regularly releases new music not to make money, but to avoid the "boredom" of "spending three years touring on one album".[47]
Soon after the release of the EP in the UK, the band announced that Andy Nicholson would not take part in the band's forthcoming North America tour due to fatigue from "an intensive period of touring".[13][48] On returning to the UK, Nicholson confirmed that he would leave Arctic Monkeys and start his own project.[13] He also said that he couldn't deal with the band's fame and success over the previous six months.[13] In a statement on their official website, the band said: "We are sad to tell everyone that Andy is no longer with the band", also confirmed that Nick O'Malley – former bassist with the Dodgems who had drafted in as temporary bassist for the tour – would continue as bassist for the rest of their summer tour schedule.[13][49] Shortly after, Nick O'Malley was confirmed as the formal replacement for Nicholson.[13][49]
Headshots of the current line-up; clockwise from top left: Nick O'Malley, Jamie Cook, Matt Helders, Alex Turner
Arctic Monkeys' first release without Nicholson, the single "Leave Before the Lights Come On", came on 14 August 2006.[50] Turner said that the song was one of the last songs he wrote before their rise to fame and suggested that "it feels very much like it could be on the album".[51] Peaking at No. 4 in the UK, the single became the band's first single not to reach No. 1.[52] The band was re-united at theLeeds Festival when Nicholson met up with his former bandmates and his replacement bassist, O'Malley.[53] Only the original band members, minus Nicholson, were present at the award ceremony whenWhatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not won the 2006Mercury Prize two weeks later.[54]
The band's second album,Favourite Worst Nightmare, was released on 23 April 2007, a week after the release of accompanying single "Brianstorm".[55][56] Like its predecessor,Favourite Worst Nightmare quickly reached No. 1 in the album charts.[57] Turner described the songs as "very different from last time", adding that the sound of some tracks are "a bit full-on – a bit like "From the Ritz to the Rubble", "The View from the Afternoon", that sort of thing".[58] A secret gig played at Sheffield'sLeadmill on 10 February 2007, debuted seven new songs (six fromFavourite Worst Nightmare and one other).[59] Early reviews of the release were positive and described it as "very, very fast and very, very loud".[60]
Meanwhile, the band continued to pick up awards from around the world, namely the Best New Artist in the United States at thePLUG Independent Music Awards,[61] the Album of the Year awards in Japan, Ireland and the US, awards for Best Album and Best Music DVD for the short filmScummy Man at the 2007 NME Awards.[62] It ended the year by clinching the Best British Band and Best British Album at the2008 BRIT Awards.[63] For the second year in a row, the band was nominated for the annualMercury Prize.[64]
On 29 April 2007, the dayFavourite Worst Nightmare charted at No. 1 in theUK Albums Chart, all 12 tracks from the album charted in the Top 200 of the UK singles chart.[65] The band later released "Fluorescent Adolescent" as a single, and it charted at No. 5, after debuting the song live onThe Jonathan Ross Show dressed as clowns.[66][67] The third single fromFavourite Worst Nightmare, "Teddy Picker", was released on 3 December 2007.[68] It charted at No. 20 and remained only one week in the top 40 staying in this position, making it the lowest charting single for the band so far.[69] Prior to this release the band released an extremely limited number of 250vinyls under the pseudonymDeath Ramps containing two of theB-sides from the "Teddy Picker" single.[70]
In its first week of release the album sold 227,993 copies,[71] emulatingWhatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not in going straight to number one in theUK Albums Chart, albeit selling 130,000 copies fewer than their record-breaking debut. The first two singles from the album "Brianstorm" and "Fluorescent Adolescent" were both UK Top Hits.[72][73]Favourite Worst Nightmare's first day sales of 85,000 outsold the rest of the Top 20 combined, while all twelve tracks from the album entered the top 200 of the UK singles chart in their own right.[74] By September 2013 the album has sold 821,128 copies in UK[75] and has since gone3× platinum by 2018.[76] In theUSA, the album debuted at number seven, selling around 44,000 copies in its first week.[77]
Arctic Monkeys headlined theGlastonbury Festival on 22 June 2007, the highlights of which were aired onBBC2.[13] During their headline act, the band performed withDizzee Rascal andSimian Mobile Disco and coveredShirley Bassey's "Diamonds Are Forever".[78] The band also played a large gig atDublin'sMalahide Castle on 16 June 2007, with a second date added the following day.[79] On 28–29 July 2007 the band played their biggest concert to date with two sell out shows at the 55,000 capacityOld Trafford Cricket Ground inManchester.[80][81] Billed as being the group's own 'mini-festivals' both date saw support sets forSupergrass,The Coral,Amy Winehouse and Japanese Beatles tribute act The Parrots.[80][81] The shows were hailed as 'the gigs of a generation' byNME and were even compared toOasis' record-breaking shows atKnebworth House in 1996.[81] The LCCG concerts cemented Arctic Monkeys' status as the defining band of their generation, as Oasis had done before them.[81] The band was also slated to play theAustin City Limits Music Festival in September 2007.[82] Other European festivals include Rock Werchter in 2007.[83] The band played two shows atCardiff International Arena on 19 and 20 June 2007.[84] They also played two London gigs atAlexandra Palace on 8 and 9 December 2007.[85] On 1 September 2007 the band performed an intimate show atIbiza Rocks show in Bar M (now Ibiza Rocks Bar) along withReverend and the Makers.[86] The band played their last show of the tour on 17 December 2007 at Manchester Apollo, which was filmed for the live album and video releaseAt the Apollo, which was released in cinemas the following year.[87][88][89]
After a brief hiatus during which Turner toured and recorded with his side projectthe Last Shadow Puppets,[13] the band recorded half the album atRancho De La Luna recording sessions withJosh Homme ofQueens of the Stone Age in early autumn, 2008, and half in the New York sessions withJames Ford in spring, 2009, following their January tour of New Zealand and Australia.[90][91] During this tour, lead single "Crying Lightning", along withHumbug songs "Pretty Visitors", "Dangerous Animals" and "Potion Approaching" (then known as "Go-Kart"), was debuted live.[13] It was later revealed by Matt Helders in a video diary that the album would consist of 14 tracks and that Turner would stay in New York to oversee the mixing of the material.[92] However, the final track listing, revealed on 1 June 2009, listed only 10.[93]
In a preview article onClash, writer Simon Harper claimed that the band had "completely defied any expectations or presumptions to explore the depths they can reach when stepping foot outside their accepted styles," and that "Turner is his usual eloquent self, but has definitely graduated into an incomparable writer whose themes twist and turn through stories and allegories so potent and profound it actually leaves one breathless".[94] On the same site, Turner revealed that the band had listened toNick Cave,Jimi Hendrix andCream while writing the new album, the title of which would beHumbug.[95]Humbug was released on 19 August 2009, and, like both of its predecessors, the album went straight to No. 1.[96][97]
As announced on Arctic Monkeys' website, the first single fromHumbug was "Crying Lightning", released on 6 July.[13] It also received its first radio premiere on the same day.[13] On 12 July 2009, the single "Crying Lightning" debuted at number 12 in the UK singles chart.[98] The second single, "Cornerstone", was released on 16 November 2009.[99] It was announced in February 2010 that the third and final single to be taken fromHumbug would be "My Propeller", released on 22 March.[100][101] Shortly before the release of the new single, the band did a one-off UK show at the Royal Albert Hall in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust on 27 March.[101]
Lead vocalist Alex Turner atLollapalooza in Chicago, August 2011
NME reported in May 2011 that the band were teaming up with producerJames Ford once again and would be releasing their fourth studio album in late spring at the earliest.[107]Q magazine reported that the fourth Arctic Monkeys album would be of a "more accessible vintage" thanHumbug.[108]Q printed edition 299 states "It's the sound of a band drawing back the curtains and letting the sunshine in".[109] The album was recorded inSound City Studios in Los Angeles in 2010 and 2011.[110] On 4 March 2011, the band premièred on its website a new track called "Brick by Brick" with lead vocals by Matt Helders.[111][112] Helders explained that this is not a single, just a tease of what is coming and that is it is going to be on the fourth album.[111][112] On 10 March 2011 the band revealed the album to be calledSuck It and See and was released on 6 June 2011.[113][114][115]
Their fourth album's first single, titled "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair" was released as a digital download on 12 April and on vinyl with "Brick by Brick" on 16 April forRecord Store Day.[115] On 17 April, it went to No. 28 in the UK singles chart.[116] A version of the single with 2 B-sides was released on 7 and 10 inch vinyl on 30 May.[115] The band allowed fans to listen to the entire album on their website before deciding about whether to purchase it or not.[117]Suck It and See was then released on 6 June 2011,[115] and went straight to No. 1 in the album charts.[118] In doing so, Arctic Monkeys became only the second band in history to debut four albums in a row at the top of the charts.[117]
The band announced "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala" as the second single to be taken fromSuck It and See.[119] Most of the stock was burned because of theLondon riots.[120][121] A limited edition 7" Vinyl of the single was then released over the band's website on 14 August.[13] The song reached No. 15. in Belgium.[122] In September 2011 the band released a music video for the song "Suck It and See" featuring drummer Matt Helders, and announced they would be releasing it as a single on 31 October 2011.[123][124] In July 2011, the band released a live EP overiTunes with 6 live recordings from theiTunes Festival in London.[13]
The album has also been successful commercially. In its first week of release, the album debuted at number one in the United Kingdom, selling over 82,000 units.[125] Overall, the album sold 333,000 units.[126]NME named the album cover, an artwork-free cream monochrome after the styling of the Beatles'White Album, as one of the worst in history.[127] In July, the album won Mojo award for the Best Album of 2011.Mojo placed the album at number 39 on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011".[128] On 30 May, a week before official release,Domino Records streamed the entire album onSoundCloud.[129] Within a few hours of being made public, the first two tracks had reached over 10,000 listens each, and by the end of the week, each had accrued over 100,000 plays.[13]
On 27 October they released a music video for "Evil Twin" on YouTube, the B-side to their new single "Suck It and See".[138] They performed the song onThe Graham Norton Show on 28 October.[139] The fourth single fromSuck It and See, "Black Treacle" was released on 23 January 2012.[140] This video for the single continued the theme from the previous single, "Suck It and See" and "Evil Twin".[138] In March, the band embarked on a North American stadium tour supportingthe Black Keys.[13]
On 22 May 2013 the band started theAM Tour at theVentura Theatre inVentura, California, where they debuted a new song titled "Do I Wanna Know?".[13] On 1 June 2013, the band performed atFree Press Summer Fest in Houston, TX.[143] On 14 June, the band debuted another song titled "Mad Sounds" atHultsfred Festival in Sweden.[144] Four days later, on 18 June 2013, the band released the official video to "Do I Wanna Know?".[145][146] The studio version of the song, along with accompanying visuals, was also made available to purchase via iTunes and entered the UK singles chart at number 11.[146][147] On 23 June 2013 Arctic Monkeys headlinedSouthside Festival in Germany.[148]
AM has received critical acclaim from music critics. AtMetacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 36 reviews.[159] Simon Harper ofClash magazine states: "Welding inspiration from hip-hop greats with rock's titans,AM is built upon portentous beats that are dark and intimidating, yet wickedly thrilling."[160] Ray Rahman ofEntertainment Weekly gave it an 'A−' and opined that "AM mixesVelvet Underground melodies,Black Sabbath riffs, and playful grooves, and has fun doing it."[161]Time Out said of the album: "One of Britain's greatest bands just got greater in an unexpected but hugely welcome way. Single men, I urge you: put downFHM and pick upAM."[162] In their 10/10 review,NME wrote thatAM is "absolutely and unarguably the greatest record of their career".[163] In his 8/10 review, J.C. Maçek III ofPopMatters praised Turner for being "at his most poetic to date" and called the album "a wonderfully cohesive and diverse album that fits together incredibly well".[164] Tim Jonze ofThe Guardian noted that the album "manages to connect those different directions – the muscular riffs ofHumbug and the wistful pop ofSuck It and See – with the bristling energy and sense of fun that propelled their initial recordings".[165]Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal calledAM "paranoid and haunted".[166]
Upon the release ofAM on 9 September 2013, the album debuted at number 1 in the UK album charts, selling over 157,000 copies in its first week.[167] As a result, Arctic Monkeys made history as the first independent label band with five consecutive number 1 albums in the UK.[168] The album received widespread critical acclaim and brought Arctic Monkeys their third nomination for theMercury Prize.[169] The album also won the Brit award for Best British Album.[170] In the United States, the album sold 42,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number six on theBillboard 200 chart, becoming the band's highest-charting album in the United States.[171] In August 2017,AM was certifiedplatinum by theRIAA for combined sales andalbum-equivalent units over of a million units in the United States.[40] Turner describedAM as the band's "most original [album] yet," merging hip-hop drum beats with 1970s heavy rock. The frontman has said that the song "Arabella" expresses the two styles of the album most effectively in one track. OnAM, Turner continued to experiment with unusual lyrics, and the album includes the words from poem "I Wanna Be Yours" by John Cooper Clarke.[172] Turner has stated that Homme's appearance on the song "Knee Socks" marks his favourite moment of the whole album.[173]
On 23 and 24 May 2014, Arctic Monkeys held one of their biggest shows to date, playing to approximately 80,000 across two days shows at Finsbury Park with the support act byTame Impala,Miles Kane andRoyal Blood. Arctic Monkeys also headlined theReading and Leeds Festival in August 2014. The band had a handful of shows in late 2014, which closed the AM Tour. In December 2014, "Do I Wanna Know?" was nominated for theGrammy Award for Best Rock Performance.[174] On 24 August 2014, the band announced a hiatus following their AM Tour.[175] Turner and Helders have both pursued other projects during this time. In 2016, Turner announced his second album with the Last Shadow Puppets,Everything You've Come to Expect.[176][177] Helders played the drums on Iggy Pop's albumPost Pop Depression.[178] In July 2016, the band revealed an elephant sculpture designed in the style of theirAM album cover for charity.[179] The project raised money for theSheffield Children's Hospital arts trail.[179]
Reflektor Magazine had the following to say about the album in a review, "After five years of silence, the Arctic Monkeys make their much-awaited return with surprising and hypnoticTranquility Base Hotel & Casino. Perfectly managing to avoid self-parody or stylistic repetitions, this new album appears as a startling reinvention, a meandering and puzzling journey beyond known territories. Just like mankind first set foot on the moon on the 'Tranquility base' site, the Arctic Monkeys disembark in an unknown universe in which they reveal a new, unexpected aspect of themselves.".[196]
In June 2023, it was confirmed that the band would headline for Friday night on the Pyramid Stage at theGlastonbury Festival, despite Turner having contractedlaryngitis. The band had cancelled a gig inDublin earlier in the week.[243]
These themes continued on the following albumFavourite Worst Nightmare with the band still progressing as musicians.[275] Songs such as "Fluorescent Adolescent" and "Do Me a Favour" explored failed relationships, nostalgia and growing old, while musically the band took up a more up-tempo and aggressive sound.[276][277]
Their third albumHumbug marked a change in sound and was described as psychedelic rock,[265][278] hard rock,[279] stoner rock,[258] alternative rock,[265] post-punk revival,[265] indie rock,[265] garage rock,[265] anddesert rock,[280] due to the influence of the album's producer andQueens of the Stone Age frontman,Josh Homme.[281] ForHumbug, the band actively sought a new sound. Homme was quoted saying, "They came to me: 'Will you take us to the weird and the strange?'"[281] According toBrooklyn Vegan, "they were no longer pulling mostly from rowdy garage rock, but from tripped-outpsychedelia, lumberingdoom metal, hypnotic stoner rock, and darker songwriters likeNick Cave."[249]
Their fourth albumSuck It and See sees the band exploring styles, mixing them with newfound maturity. Turner said: "I think the new album is a balance between our first three. There's nothing about taxi ranks or anything like that, but there's a bit of the standpoint I had on those early songs and the sense of humour, but also there's a bit of the 'Humbug' stuff which is kind of off in the corners."[282] The album was described as guitar pop,[258] indie rock,[283]indie pop,[284]psychedelic pop,[285] alternative rock,[265]pop rock,[265] garage rock,[265] psychedelic rock[265] andpop.[265] Critics noted an influence from British rock bands from the 1960s, as well asthe Smiths, and slower, love-themed ballads featured more heavily on the album than the fast-paced, rockier songs that typify the band's sound. Turner wrote much of the album in his apartment on an acoustic guitar, further influencing the ballad-style prevalent on the album.[286]
In a 2012 interview withPitchfork, Turner recalled that he and his friends were fans ofOasis,[287][288] and that his mother "would always play theEagles too, so I'm word-perfect on shitloads of Eagles tunes".[289] He also listened tohip hop acts such asOutkast,Eminem,Wu-Tang Clan andRoots Manuva, amongst others.[289] He citedJohn Lennon,Ray Davies,Nick Cave andMethod Man as major influences lyrically.[289] When speaking about Lennon in an interview withNME, Turner said; "I remember when I first started writing songs, and writing lyrics, I really wanted to be able to write an "I Am the Walrus" type song, and I found it very difficult. You listen to that and it sounds like it's all nonsense, but it's difficult to write that sort of thing and make it compelling. Lennon definitely had a knack for that".[290]
According to the band, their fifth albumAM has been described as psychedelic rock,[265] blues rock,[265] indie rock,[265] and hard rock,[265] withhip hop influences.[291][292][293] As Turner stated in an interview withNME, it's "like aDr. Dre beat, but we've given it anIke Turner bowl-cut and sent it galloping across the desert on a Stratocaster". He also cited Outkast,Aaliyah andBlack Sabbath as influences for the album on the song "Arabella".[291][292]
Their sixth albumTranquility Base Hotel & Casino took on a different direction, substituting the guitar-heavy sound from their previous albums for a more complex, piano-based style of composition.[294] The album was described as psychedelic pop,[295][296]lounge pop,[255]space pop,[265][297] andglam rock.[265][298] In a 2018 interview with BBC Radio 1, Turner explained that he wrote the songs for the album on a piano instead of the guitar as "the guitar had lost its ability to give me ideas. Every time I sat with a guitar I was suspicious of where it was gonna go. I had a pretty good idea of what I might be which is completely contrary to what I felt when I sat at the piano."[299] Alex also stated that he received inspiration from threeJean-Pierre Melville films—Un flic,Le Cercle Rouge andLe Samouraï, as well as the film adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories namedSpirits of the Dead.[300]
With there being a great distinction between the rock sound ofAM and slower sound ofTranquility Base Hotel & Casino, their seventh albumThe Car has been described a comfortable middle ground.[301] The album covers many genres including,art rock,orchestral rock,lounge pop,baroque pop, andfunk, as well as elements ofjazz. In a 2022 interview with ABC, Turner states, "Every time I've sort of thought about attempting to go in a direction that you've been before, it sort of feels – quite quickly – sounds like a spoof or something. I think we've always just been following the same instincts we were in the beginning. That hasn't really changed."[302]
According toVice, "in Britain at least, Arctic Monkeys have reached a point where they are too enormous, too beloved a force to truly fail" and are probably the UK's biggest, most culturally important band.Vice further states that they are "the band that your friends whose music taste can otherwise be described as "Match of the Day-wave" are desperate to see perform live; the band dads and little brothers have in common—simply because throughout their career, they have remained consistent, while their peers in both sound and age have failed to keep similar longevity."[303] English poetJohn Cooper Clarke praised the band as "the nearest thing" tothe Beatles.[304]Radio X has also named Arctic Monkeys as one of the best bands of all time.[305]
Following the success ofWhatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, some critics cited the Arctic Monkeys as revolutionising the way people find music as they built a fanbase on the basis of a few demos shared by fans through the internet.[306] The album was highly praised by critics for its depiction of youthBritish culture and for resurgingBritish indie music that had waned after the 1990s,[307] withNME declaring the Arctic Monkeys "Our Generation's Most Important Band."[303]
According toNME, the band's 2013 albumAM "became the soundtrack for countless nights out, hook-ups and comedowns in every town and city of this country" by the end of the 2010s.[308] Johnny Davis ofEsquire wrote, "Every so often, a band emerges to define the times not just for a generation of music fans but for a whole era –the Clash,the Smiths,Oasis,the Strokes. Where Arctic Monkeys may be unique is that they have now managed that role twice [with bothWhatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not andAM]" The co-founder of the band's labelDomino Records, Laurence Bell, said "They're the toast of the playground again, every 13-year-old loves them. But so do grandads who were intoLed Zeppelin. It's very rare for a band to come out of the traps so big [withWhatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not] and then have another massive moment [withAM]. It reminds me ofThe Who andThe Stones, where they did some pop singles early on and then moved into an imperial phase."[304] Other musicians have praised the band including Led Zeppelin guitaristJimmy Page,[309]Foo Fighters frontmanDave Grohl,[310]Metallica drummerLars Ulrich,[311][312][313] and rapperRZA.[314][315]Bob Dylan says he has made "special efforts" to see the band live,[316] whileDavid Bowie, said they were "a nice solid Brit band."[317]Damon Albarn called them "the last great guitar band [...] I don't really know if there's anything as good as that since."[318]
The band was an object of discussion for cultural theoristMark Fisher in regard to the concept ofhauntology and what he described as "the lost futures" ofmodernity.[319] In an interview withCrack Magazine Fisher said: "[...] something like the Arctic Monkeys, there is no relation to historicity. They're clearly a retro group, but the category of retro doesn't make any sense anymore because it's retro compared to what?" and "Arctic Monkeys airbrush cultural time out and appeal to this endless return and timelessness of rock."[320]
^abTurner, Alex; Cook, Jamie; Helders, Matt (19 June 2006)."Andy Nicholson". arcticmonkeys.com.Archived from the original on 11 July 2006. Retrieved13 July 2006.
^I. Collinson, "Devopop: pop Englishness and post-Britpop guitar bands", in A. Bennett and J. Stratton, eds,Britpop and the English Music Tradition (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2010),ISBN0-7546-6805-3, pp. 163–178.
^Sylvia, Dave De (21 April 2007)."Review Summary".Sputnikmusic. Retrieved11 June 2016.blending seamlessly with the group's rough-edged post-punk sound.
^Cameron, Keith (9 September 2013)."Arctic Monkeys – AM".Mojo. Retrieved27 July 2018.Superficially, Do I Wanna Know? harks back to the spectral psych-rock the Monkeys essayed so successfully on Humbug
^Rytlewski, Evan (7 June 2011)."Arctic Monkeys: Suck It And See".The A.V. Club.Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved27 July 2018.On 2009's Josh Homme-produced Humbug, Arctic Monkeys swapped the post-punk frenzies of their first records for '70s hard-rock clamor and psychedelic digressions
^"Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) – Broken Record".Youtube. 11 July 2023. Retrieved15 July 2023.I feel like there's a bit more excitement about guitar music again, that can't be a bad thing because it got so sterile. For me, the last great guitar band would have been Arctic Monkeys and I don't really know if there's anything as good as that since. But now there are bands with a lot of potential. It's like guitar music has dismantled itself and put back together in a different form. A lot of great language is being used again, is not generic rock shit. I hate that. I like poets in guitar.
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