Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys are an English alternative rock band formed in 2002, with origins in High Green, United Kingdom. The group’s line-up includes Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Nick O’Malley, Matt Helders and founding bassist Andy Nicholson, who leaves in 2006 and is replaced by O’Malley. Turner handles vocals, guitar and piano; Cook plays guitar; O’Malley plays bass and sings backing vocals; and Helders plays drums and contributes vocals. The band is associated with alternative rock, art rock, baroque pop, dance, electronica and garage rock.

Early rise and internet exposure

The band forms after the members meet at Stocksbridge High School. They become one of the first groups to gain broad public attention through the internet, with early demo recordings circulating online after being handed out on CD at gigs. These recordings spread through message boards and among fans, helping build a following before the band has a strong traditional commercial profile. The compilation of those demos, known as Beneath the Boardwalk, is recognised by the band on its website.

Arctic Monkeys also avoid some conventional routes to exposure, including declining to appear on the UK television programme Top Of The Pops.

Albums and recognition

Their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, breaks the UK record for first-week sales of a debut album and sells more than 360,000 copies in its first week. It wins the 2006 Mercury Prize and is named best album of 2006 by Q. Their second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, reaches number one in the album charts soon after release. The third album, Humbug, is recorded partly with Josh Homme at Rancho De La Luna and partly in New York with producer James Ellis Ford.

Suck It And See is recorded at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles and includes the track “Brick By Brick”, which Matt Helders sings. “Don’t Sit Down ’Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair” is released as the album’s first single. The fifth album, AM, is released in 2013, debuts at number one in the UK, reaches number six in the US, earns the band a third Mercury Prize nomination and wins the Brit Award for Best British Album. The song “R U Mine” serves as its lead single.

Their sixth album, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, is released in 2018 after a period in which work on the album begins again in 2016 and recording starts in 2017. It is their first concept album and centres on a hotel on the moon. Its sound is slower and more piano-led than their earlier records. The singles “Four Out Of Five” and “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” follow its release.

The seventh album, The Car, is released in 2022. Its first single is “There’d Better Be A Mirrorball”, accompanied by a video directed by Turner. The album reaches number two in the UK and number six in the US. Before its release, the band debuts “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am” at Zurich Openair. They are also announced as Saturday co-headliners for the 2022 Reading and Leeds Festival.

Other work

Alex Turner also works with Miles Kane in the two-person project The Last Shadow Puppets, alongside Kane’s previous work with The Rascals and The Little Flames.

Arctic Monkeys remain active from 2002 to the present.