Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys are an indie rock band from High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, England. The band's northern roots are a key element of their music, while their sound and lyrics - often social commentaries - have been compared to The Jam, Pulp and The Streets. Each of the band's first five singles I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor, When the Sun Goes Down, Leave Before the Lights Come On, Brianstorm and Fluorescent Adolescent hit the UK Top Five, with a sixth Teddy Picker going Top 20. Their debut single, I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor, and the follow up When the Sun Goes Down, went straight to number one in the UK Top 40 Singles Chart. The band consists of lead vocalist/guitarist Alex Turner, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Jamie Cook, bassist Nick O'Malley (a replacement for original bassist Andy Nicholson who left in May 2006) and drummer/backing vocalist Matt Helders. The band's rise to success started in late 2004/early 2005 when demo songs which had been handed out in CD form at gigs found their way onto the internet. These demos rapidly spread among message boards and friends leading to a growing fan base for the band, and were collected on the unofficial Beneath the Boardwalk, which the band recognizes on their website. The band owe much of their success to viral buzz via the Internet, and have eschewed typical 'commercial' channels, including refusing to appear on the U K's (now discontinued) Top Of The Pops music program, which was often seen as a gateway to success. The band's debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, holds the record for the largest first week sales of a debut album in the UK (in its first week, it sold more than the rest of the Top 20 albums combined). On 19th June 2006 the band officially announced that founding member Andy Nicholson had left the band after missing the American leg of their tour due to 'fatigue' and the other band members couldn't stand the constant 'missing his girlfriend syndrome' so told him to sling his hook. Former Dodgems bassist, Nick O'Malley was initially brought in as a stand-in, and played the band's remaining summer commitments. He was then announced as Nicholson's permanent replacement. The single Leave Before The Lights Come On came out on August 14th, but only reached Number 4 on the UK charts, denying the band a third consecutive number 1 single.

Their debut album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" won the 2006 Mercury Prize, was chosen as the best album of year 2006 by Q Magazine, and received a slew of other accolades. Their second album "Favourite Worst Nightmare" was released on April 23rd 2007. It was preceded by "Brianstorm", the first single from the album, which was released a week before. Like its predecessor, "Favourite Worst Nightmare" sold more than the rest of the Top 20 combined, and - due to an error on iTunes - every song on the record appeared on the UK Top 200 Singles the next week. When asked about Favourite Worst Nightmare Alex Turner commented, "We haven't changed that much. It's still about making contact with girls or not making contact with girls". Lead singer/songwriter Alex Turner started a two-man project with the singer from the Rascals, Miles Kane. The band is called 'The Last Shadow Puppets' Show less