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Arctic Monkeys |
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![]() Arctic
Monkeys performing at Glastonbury.
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| Background information | ||
| Origin | Sheffield, England | |
| Genre(s) | Indie rock Post-punk revival Garage Rock |
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| Years active | 2002-present | |
| Label(s) | Domino | |
| Website | www.arcticmonkeys.com | |
| Members | ||
| Alex Turner Matt Helders |
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| Former members | ||
Arctic Monkeys are a Mercury
Prize winning, English
indie
rock band from High Green, a suburb of Sheffield.
Formed in 2002, the band currently consists of Alex Turner on lead
vocals and guitar,
Arctic Monkeys achieved chart success with their singles, "
Arctic Monkeys are generally considered part of the indie rock scene, alongside similar contemporary guitar bands such as The Cribs, The Libertines, The Futureheads and Franz Ferdinand. Arctic Monkeys achieved their success through fan-made demo tapes and online file-sharing. They were heralded as one of the first acts to come to the public attention via the Internet, with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a change in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed. The band eventually signed to independent record label Domino.
Contents
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The lyrics of Arctic Monkeys' singles often feature social
realism and observations of working class life, as typified by
"When the Sun Goes Down", described as a "witty, poignant song about prostitution
in the
The lead singer, Alex Turner, sings
in a strong
At concerts,
the band are better known for their sing-along nature and fan
participation than for excessive lighting effects, pyrotechnics
or other effects, in a similar style to that of Oasis.
Fans frequently join in, with the entire intro to "When the Sun Goes Down" typically
sung by the crowd.
However, their shows have sometimes been criticised by reviewers. NME
compared their performance at the 2006 Reading
Festival unfavourably to that of Muse, who followed immediately
after, using a multitude of fireworks and lighting effects, claiming
that "in contrast to Muse's all-flashing, all-smoke-spewing,
all-fire-raining slot, Arctic Monkeys simply stroll on without even the
common courtesy of shoving up a backdrop",
adding that band were too "self-conscious" and failed to be "the rock
stars they've actually earned the right to be"..
Arctic Monkeys headlined the Glastonbury
Festival on Friday 22 June 2007, the highlights of which were aired on
BBC2. During their headline act, the band performed with Dizzee
Rascal and covered Shirley Bassey's Diamonds
Are Forever.
The band are set to host their own "mini-festival" at
In 2001, neighbours Alex Turner and Jamie Cook asked for instruments as Christmas presents and both received guitars. After teaching themselves to play, the pair formed a band with Turner's friends Andy Nicholson and Matt Helders. Nicholson already played bass, so Helders ended up on drums — "that was all that were left...they all had guitars so I bought a drum kit after a bit." Although reports suggested they named themselves after Helders' uncle's (or even father's) band, Helders later admitted that these reports were false, claiming "we made that up ‘cause we got so many people asking us that in the UK, so we just started making stories up", and that he just didn't have the heart to tell the original reporter he'd been lying. Cook came up with the name after meeting with an old friend, Oliver Saxon, in a pub one night. They both joked about the name Arctic Monkeys.
They began to grow in popularity across the north of
England,
receiving attention from BBC Radio and the British tabloid press.
Mark Bull, a local amateur photographer, filmed the band's performances
and made the music video to "
In May 2005, Arctic Monkeys released their first EP,
The band resisted signing to a record label, refusing to change their songs to suit the industry — "Before the hysteria started, the labels would say, 'I like you, but I'm not sure about this bit, and that song could do with this changing...' We never listened." Their cynicism with the industry was such that record company scouts were refused guaranteed guest list entry for their gigs, a move described by MTV Australia as "We've got this far without them — why should we let them in?". The success of the strategy was illustrated with a series of sell-out gigs across the UK. October 2005 saw them sell out the historic London Astoria, and Turner saw this as proof that they were justified to ignore the record companies, saying "Once it all kicked off, we didn't care anymore. In London, the kids were watching the band, and the record company were at the back watching the kids watching the band."
Eventually, they signed to Domino in June 2005. The band almost signed to an undisclosed "other label", but were attracted to the "DIY ethic" of Domino owner Laurence Bell, who ran the label from his flat and only signed bands that he liked personally. The UK's Daily Star tabloid newspaper reported that this was followed in October 2005 by a £1m publishing deal with EMI and a £725,000 contract with Epic for the United States. Arctic Monkeys denied this on their website, dubbing the newspaper "The Daily Stir". However, Domino have licensed the Australian and New Zealand publishing rights to EMI and the Japanese rights to independent label Hostess.
Their first single after signing to Domino, "
They finished recording their debut album at Chapel
Studios in Lincolnshire during September 2005. Its
name was confirmed as
The record was released a month later in the United
States and sold 34,000 units in its first week, making it the second
fastest selling for a debut indie album in America and debuting at #24
on the Billboard album
chart.
However US sales for the first year did not match those of the first
week in the UK for Whatever... . 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".
However, the band's June 2006 tour of North America received critical
acclaim at each stop
— the hype surrounding them "proven to exist for good reason".
Meanwhile, the UK's NME magazine declared
the band's debut album the "5th greatest British album of all time".
They also equalled the record of The Strokes and Oasis
at the 2006 NME Awards, winning 3 fan-voted awards for Best British
Band, Best New Band and Best Track for
In a similar fashion to bands such as Oasis
and The
Smiths, Arctic Monkeys wasted no time in recording new
material, and released a 5-track EP on 2006-04-24, entitled
However, soon after the release of the EP in the UK, the
band announced that bassist Andy Nicholson would not take part in the
band's forthcoming
Arctic Monkeys' first release without Nicholson, the
single "
On 2007-02-04 the band announced on their official website that their new album would be entitled Favourite Worst Nightmare. The 12 song track list was also revealed as well as a release date of 2007-04-23. The first single, "Brianstorm", was released on 2007-04-16. The first ever play of Brianstorm was on Marc Riley's show on BBC 6 Music on the 28 February 2007. Alex Turner has described the new 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." A secret gig played at Sheffield's Leadmill on 2007-02-10, debuted 7 new songs (6 from Favourite Worst Nightmare and 1 other). Early reviews of the release have been extremely positive, and have described it as "very, very fast and very, very loud."
Meanwhile, the band continued to pick up awards from
around the world, winning Best New Artist in the United
States'
On 29 April 2007, the day Favourite Worst Nightmare charted at #1 in the UK Albums Chart, all 12 tracks from the album charted in the Top 200 of the UK Singles Chart, ranging from "Brianstorm" at #7, to "If You Were There, Beware" at #189. On 27 April 2007 they had a total of 18 tracks in the Top 200. "Fluorescent Adolescent" and "505" charted in the Top 75, at #60 and #74 respectively. Since only one song (Brianstorm) has been released as a single, this turned out to be a mistake made by the iTunes webstore, by counting every sold album as a sold single for each song on the album as well.
The second single for Favourite Worst Nightmare was "Fluorescent Adolescent". B-sides to this single are "The Bakery", "Plastic Tramp" and "Too Much to Ask".
On July 17, 2007 Favourite Worst Nightmare was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize. The bands second nomination in consecutive years.
The band have received criticism, based largely around the
media circus that has surrounded their rise.
Critics described them as one in a long line of largely overhyped "NME
bands", while the release of the EP
The cover sleeve of
October 2005 saw the group's only UK television
appearances, performing on Popworld (15
October), E4 Music and
The band's refusal to attend the 2006
BRIT Awards was originally seen as another snub to television, although
a statement explained that it was in fact due to their prior
commitments on the NME Awards Tour. In their recorded
acceptance speech for Best British Breakthrough Act,
the band gained a "mystery fifth member" who did all the talking.
Known for being camera-shy, it turned out that the band had recruited We
Are Scientists frontman
Despite their hostility to appearances on UK television, the band made their biggest TV appearance when they appeared on Saturday Night Live on 2006-03-11 to kick off their sold-out US tour. The performance included the songs "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "A Certain Romance", and saw the word "ASBO" printed on the bass drum. However, just before the guitar solo of "A Certain Romance", Turner castigated a yawning audience member, and Cook tossed his guitar at an amp at the end of the song.
In February 2007 the band did not attend the 2007
BRIT Awards ceremony, due to recording of the video to their new single
"Brianstorm"
the same day. Although reported as a second "snub" to the ceremony,
Helders told BBC 6Music ""We're filming the
video that day, so we're not going to be anywhere near it. We haven't
snubbed it, we're just busy boys getting ready to go on tour again."
Winning "Best British Band" and "Best British Album", the band instead
sent videoed acceptance speeches dressed up as characters from the
The band appeared on Jimmy
Kimmel Live on April
26, 2007.
The band also performed on
They made a UK TV appearance on May 4, 2007 on the BBC Two show Later, hosted by Jools Holland, where they performed "Brianstorm", " Teddy Picker" and "505", all 3 tracks are from their latest album Favourite Worst Nightmare.
They headlined the Glastonbury
Festival on 22
June, their full set being shown on BBC Two and BBC Three. They played tracks from both of
their albums as well as a cover of Diamonds
Are Forever in homage to
They appeared on
The popularity of the Arctic Monkeys in the UK, especially
among young people, has led to politicians and journalists referencing
the band in speeches and texts. In May 2006, the then
The band's distinctive logo from their first release,
2006:
2007:
Official sites:
Other links:
| Arctic Monkeys |
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| Alex Turner •
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