Arctic Monkeys Biography

Summary

"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, Jamie Cook on guitar, Matt Helders on drums and backing vocals, and Nick O'Malley on bass guitar, a position formerly held by Andy Nicholson.

Arctic Monkeys achieved chart success with their first three singles, 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor', which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart. Their debut album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not", released on 23 January 2006, became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history and received critical acclaim, winning both the 2006 Mercury Prize and the 2007 Brit Award for Best British Album. The band's second album, "Favourite Worst Nightmare", was released on 23 April 2007 and sold over 225,000 copies in its debut week and was also nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize.

Arctic Monkeys are generally considered part of the indie rock scene, alongside bands such as Bloc Party 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 the independent record label Domino Records.

Musical style

Lyrics

The lyrics of Arctic Monkeys' singles often feature social realism as typified by 'A Certain Romance', which comments on chav and indie culture and observations of working class life, as typified by 'When the Sun Goes Down', described as a 'witty, poignant song about prostitution in the Neepsend district of Sheffield',. Based on their lyrical style the Arctic Monkeys have been compared to acts such as the British rapper Mike Skinner, aka The Streets and earlier artists such as Morrissey and Jarvis Cocker,, both known for their combination of observational lyrics and humour. Their principal inspiration comes from Francisco Canton, an old friend that was there from the start and helps write their songs.

The lead singer, Alex Turner, known to be influenced by Electric Furs, sings in a strong Yorkshire accent, typified by the contraction of 'something' to 'summat', use of 'dun't' (and not 'don't') for 'doesn't', use of 'were' instead of 'was', the replacement of 'anything' and 'nothing' with 'owt' (/a?t/) and 'nowt' (/na?t/), and the use of Northern English slang such as 'mardy' for 'grumpy, difficult, unpredictable'. Their songs also include frequent references to popular culture both common and obscure; "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" includes references to Romeo and Juliet, Roxanne by The Police,and Frank Spencer, from Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, leading one journalist to describe the band as having a 'camp retro-futurist fascination' for 1980s popular culture.

Live appearances

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. For example, "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 also played a large gig at Dublin's Malahide Castle on June 16 2007, with a second date added the following day in response to high demand. The band was also slated to play the Austin City Limits Festival in September 2007.

The band played two shows at Cardiff International Arena on June 19th and June 20th 2007 supported by local friends of the band, Reverend and the Makers.

The band also headlined the Friday night of Glastonbury 2007, performing a much praised performance of 'Diamonds Are Forever' as a tribute to Shirley Bassey who was performing on the Sunday. Also seen was the first live performance of 'Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend', performed with Dizzie Rascal. The band have headlined their own 'mini-festival' at Lancashire County Cricket Ground on the 28-29 July 2007, with support acts Amy Winehouse, The Coral, Supergrass and the Japanese Beatles tribute band The Parrots.

History

Emergence

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.

They began rehearsing at Yellow Arch Studios in Neepsend, and their first gig came on 2003-06-13 at "The Grapes" in Sheffield city-centre. After a few performances, they began to record demos and burn them onto CDs to give away at gigs. With a limited number of CDs available, fans began to rip the music back onto their computers and share it amongst themselves. The group did not mind, 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. And it made the gigs better, because people knew the words and came and sang along.' They themselves took no responsibility for their music, admitting that they did not even know how to get their songs onto the Internet. When asked about the popularity of the band's MySpace site in an interview with "Prefix Magazine", the band pointed out that they did not even know what MySpace was, and that the site had originally been created by their fans. 'When we went number one in England we were on the news and radio about how MySpace has helped us. But that's just the perfect example of someone who doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about. We actually had no idea what it was.'

They began to grow in popularity across the north of England, receiving attention from BBC Radio and the British tabloid press. Mark 'The Sheriff' Bull, a local amateur photographer, filmed the band's performances and made the music video to 'Fake Tales of San Francisco', releasing it on his web-site, alongside the contents of "Beneath the Boardwalk" - a collection of the band's songs which he named after a local music venue.

In May 2005, Arctic Monkeys released their first EP, "Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys", featuring the songs 'Fake Tales of San Francisco' and 'From the Ritz to the Rubble'. This release was limited to 500 CDs and 1000 7' records, but was also available to download from the iTunes Music Store. Soon after, the band played at the Carling Stage of the Reading and Leeds Festivals, reserved for less known or unsigned bands. Their appearance was hyped by much of the music press and the band was received by an unusually large crowd for the billing they played. The critically acclaimed performance included spontaneous singalongs of tracks that were only available as demos on the Internet.

Record deals

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 in ignoring 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.

Initial releases

Their first single after signing to Domino, 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor', was released on 17 October 2005 and went straight to #1 on the UK Singles Chart, selling 38,962 copies and beating Sugababes, McFly and Robbie Williams in the process. Three days later, they made their first appearance on the cover of "NME". Their second single, 'When the Sun Goes Down' (previously titled 'Scummy'), was released on 16 January 2006 and also went straight to #1 on the UK Singles Chart, selling 38,922 copies and dethroning Shayne Ward. The band's success in reaching the #1 spot without marketing or advertising led some to suggest that it could signal a change in how new bands achieve recognition.

They finished recording their debut album at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire during September 2005. Its name was confirmed as "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not", a line taken from the 1960 film "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning", in early December, with release originally intended for 30 January, 2006. Although early versions of many tracks were already freely available to download from the band's pre-label demo CDs, it was widely expected to be one of the biggest releases of 2006 with thousands of copies pre-ordered. On 2006-01-05, Domino announced the album's release would be brought forward one week to the 23 January claiming that this was 'due to high demand'. While the same thing was done with the release of "Franz Ferdinand", there has been continued speculation that the move came as a result of the album's leak and the impact of file sharing - a controversial suggestion given the part file-sharing played in establishing the band's fanbase.

"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. This smashed the previous record of 306,631 copies held by Hear'Say with their debut "Popstars", and sold more copies on its first day alone - 118,501 - than the rest of the Top 20 albums combined.

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 three fan-voted awards for Best British Band, Best New Band and Best Track for "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor".

Nicholson departure; Mercury Prize

Arctic Monkeys wasted no time in recording new material, and released a 5-track EP on 2006-04-24, entitled "Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys", and was seen by critics as a swipe back at the snowballing hype surrounding the band. Due to its length, the EP was ineligible to chart as a UK single or album. Furthermore, the record's bad language has resulted in significantly less radio airplay than previous records, although this was not a reported concern - 'since they made their name on the Internet - and that got them a No.1 single and album - they don't care if they don't get radio play'.

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 North America tour due to 'fatigue following an intensive period of touring'. Upon their return to the UK, Nicholson confirmed that he would start his own project, and by that leave the Arctic Monkeys. Other than the project, his reason for leaving was that he couldn't deal with the fame and the success that the band had acclaimed over the past six months. Alex Turner, Jamie Cook and Matt Helders were sad about the situation, and released some of a statement on their official website: 'We are sad to tell everyone that Andy is no longer with the band', also confirmed that Nick O'Malley - former bassist with Arctic Monkeys' fellow Sheffield rock band, The Dodgems, who had drafted in as temporary bassist for the tour - would continue as bassist for the rest of their summer tour schedule. Shortly after, Nick O'Malley was confirmed as a full-time member and bassist of the band.

Arctic Monkeys' first release without Nicholson, the single 'Leave Before the Lights Come On', came on 2006-08-14. Turner suggested that 'it feels very much like it could be on the album', and that the song was one of the last songs he wrote before their rise to fame. Although reaching #4 in the UK, the single became the band's first failure to reach #1 - leading to Turner referring to it as 'the black sheep of the family' at the band's performance at the 2006 Reading Festival. The band were re-united at the Leeds Festival when Nicholson met up with his former band mates and his replacement bassist O'Malley; however only the original band members, minus Nicholson, were present at the award ceremony when "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" won the 2006 Mercury Prize two weeks later.

"Favourite Worst Nightmare"

The band's second album, "Favourite Worst Nightmare", was released on 23 April 2007, a week after the release of accompanying single 'Brianstorm'. 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 were positive, and 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' PLUG Independent Music Awards and picking up 'Album of the Year' awards in Japan, Ireland and the US (see "Awards"). On top of awards for 'Best Album' and 'Best Music DVD' at the 2007 NME Awards, a remarkably successful year for the band was topped off as they picked up 'Best British Band' and 'Best British Album' at the 2007 BRIT Awards.

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.

For the second year in a row, the band were nominated for the annual Mercury Prize, although they failed to match their feat of 2006 after the award went to Klaxons' "Myths of the Near Future".

The band have recently announced that 'Teddy Picker' will be the third single from their album "Favourite Worst Nightmare" which is to be released on December 3.

Criticism and controversy

The band has 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 "Who 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'. However, the band countered that they regularly release new music not to make money, but to avoid the 'boredom' of 'spending three years touring on one album'.

The cover sleeve of "Whatever 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 the NHS in Scotland for 'reinforcing the idea that smoking is OK'. The image on the CD itself is a shot of an ashtray full of cigarettes. 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'.

Television appearances

October 2005 saw the group's first UK television appearances, performing on "Popworld" (15 October), "E4 Music" and "Later with Jools Holland" (28 October). Since these appearances, however, the band became notorious for refusing to play on any further TV shows. They repeatedly turned down offers to play on the BBC's chart show, "Top of the Pops", as well as ITV's "".

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 Keith Murray, a friend of the band, to accept the award for them, to 'confuse the audience'.

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 U.S. 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 Wizard of Oz and The Village People.

The band appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on April 26, 2007. The band also performed on Late Night With Conan O'Brien on April 30, 2007, when Conan aired his show in San Francisco, where they played their latest single, 'Brianstorm'.

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 three 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 Dame Shirley Bassey, who performed at the festival that Sunday.

They appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 6 July and performed 'Fluorescent Adolescent', while dressed in circus clown costumes after earlier promising Ross that they 'had something special' up their sleeves. The clown costumes were in reference to the 'Fluorescent Adolescent' music video.

On September 7, the band appeared on the "Late Show With David Letterman" performing the song 'Fluorescent Adolescent'.

In politics

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 Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown stated in an interview with "New Woman" magazine that he listened to them every day, claiming 'they really wake you up in the morning', although in a later interview he was unable to name any of their songs. This has later been reported as a misquote. Subsequent interviews Brown has clarified that he said he didn't actually like them. He says he simply stated they would certainly wake you up in the morning. He went on to reference this in his speech at the 2006 Labour Party Conference about the risk of global warming, joking that he was 'more interested in the future of the Arctic Circle than the future of the Arctic Monkeys'. Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell also referred to the band at the 2006 Liberal Democrats Party Conference, mistakenly claiming that they had sold more records than The Beatles, a comment which led to much derision from the media.

Discography

"Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (January 23, 2006) Domino Records

"Favourite Worst Nightmare" (April 23, 2007) Domino Records

Awards

Band

"Best New Act" - 2005 Muso Awards, (November 2005)

"Best British Breakthrough Act" - 2006 BRIT Awards, (February 2006)

"Best New Band" and "Best British Band" - 2006 "NME" Awards, (February 2006)

"Best New International Artist" - Oye Awards (Mexico), (October 2006)

"People's Choice" - "Q" Awards, (October 2006)

"New Artist of the Year" - PLUG Independent Music Awards (USA), (February 2007)

"Best British Group" - 2007 BRIT Awards, (February 2007)

"Best Live Act" - 2007 Vodafone Live Music Awards, (September 2007)

"Best Act in the World Today" - "Q" Awards ( October 2007)

Records

"2006:"

"I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor':"

* "Best Track" - 2006 "NME" Awards, (February 2006)

"Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not:"

* "5th greatest British album" - "NME", (January 2006)

* "2006 Mercury Prize Album of the Year", (September 2006)

* "Best Album" - "Q" Awards, (October 2006)

* "Album of the Year" - "NME", (December 2006)

* "Album of the Year" - "Crossbeat" Magazine (Japan), (December 2006)

* "Album of the Year" - "TIME" Magazine, (December 2006)

* "Album of the Year" - "Hot Press" Magazine (Ireland), (December 2006)

* "Album of the Year" - Q Magazine

"2007:"

"Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not:"

* "Best International Album" - 2007 Meteor Music Awards (Ireland), (February 2007)

* "Best British Album" - 2007 BRIT Awards, (February 2007)

* "Best Album" - 2007 "NME" Awards, (March 2007)

* "Album Award" - Ivor Novello Awards

"Scummy Man"

*"Best Music DVD" - 2007 "NME" Awards, (March 2007)