When their first EP, Five Minutes With Arctic Monkeys was released in 2005, numerous record labels lined up to sign with Arctic Monkeys.
Two neighbors from Sheffield, England, in 2002; 16-year-old Alex Turner and Jamie Cook asked their parents for a guitar as a Christmas present. Their friend Matt Helders was playing drums. They got together and started making amateur music. They gave their first concert in June 2003 to 13 people. In late 2004, a friend put the demos "Beneath the Boardwalk" on their website and sent the address to their friends. When their friends said to their friends, and they to others, to MP3 search engines, suddenly everyone started talking about them. BBC radio and the famous British tabloid newspapers, He wasn't interested in the songs, but how the Arctic Monkeys suddenly became a topic of conversation.
Arctic Monkeys wanted to continue spreading their music online. They had enough fans to fill the famous Astoria in London, their concerts were sold out. In May 2006, they released a thousand copies of their first EP "Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys" by their own means. In interviews, they were so smug about their record companies as to say, "We came this far without them, why would we need them from now on".
The £725,000 check and EMI's promise to play with celebrities on their album record were instrumental in Domino Records finally tying them into a deal. Their first single, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", was released on October 17, 2005 and debuted at number one in the UK, selling 38,922 units on the day of its release. Their second single, "When the Sun Goes Down" (which they released on their website as "Scummy"), was released on January 16, 2006, and again became number one, selling 40 more copies, or 38,962.
Album recordings were finished in September 2005. The album, which was planned to be released on January 30, 2006, was delayed one week due to "high demand" and released on January 26. Still, although all of the songs are somehow easily available on the internet, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" broke the record for the best-selling album in British history in one day and in one week, selling 118,501 units on the day it was released and 363,735 units in its first week. The album also broke the record for the fastest-selling debut album of an indie band in a week in America. Not as impressive as in England, of course. The title of the album is a quote from the 1960s British movie Saturday Night & Sunday Morning. It is even said that many of the songs in the album describe the movie.
The band, who immediately released their 5-song EP "Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys" without wasting much time after their first album, unfortunately could not take place in any list with this EP. The underlying reason for this was that the EP was not suitable for either single or album charts. The swear words in the songs also partially prevented them from being played on the radio.
Just as they were in their victorious mood, unfortunately, it was reported that their bassist Andy Nicholson had left the band. It was announced that the reason for leaving was that he did not want to go to America. The band signed with Nick O'Malley for their US tour. It was later confirmed that he officially joined the group.
The single "Leave Before the Lights Come On", released on August 14, 2006, took a good place at the 4th place in the charts, but unsuccessfully made a name for itself as the group's first single that could not take the 1st place. Soloist Turner's interpretation of this single is also worth remembering: "The black sheep of our family". Despite this, the group received the UK's most prestigious award at the end of 2006; He won the Mercury Prize.
Keeping the release timeframe of EPs, albums and singles short, Arctic Monkeys loves to produce, and Jamie Cook can't help but add on these features with a harsh language: “I can't imagine we can be like Coldplay. You complete the tour of a goddamn album in 3 years, same crappy songs every night.. Some people might like it but not us”.
Arctic Monkeys released the single "Brianstorm" on April 16, 2007, and delivered their second studio album, "Favourite Worst Nightmare", on April 23. Working with James Ford and Mike Crossey in the production of the album, the band produced faster and funk tracks in the sound of the album compared to the first album. With the single "Brianstorm", they managed to become number 2 in the UK charts.
The music video for Fluorescent Adolescent, the second single of the album Favorite Worst Nightmare, released on July 9, is unquestionably original. After taking a long break after this single, the group released their third single, Teddy Picker, on 3 December. When the group was nominated for Mercury once again with their 2nd album, some artists objected to this situation.
The band won the "Best British Group" and "Best Album" awards at the Brit Awards Ceremony on February 20, 2008. Also, some news outlets said that the band was in London to be working on their 3rd album and that's why they were at the Brit Awards Ceremony.
While the album preparations were in progress, Alex Turner, the vocal-guitar of the group, did not stay idle and formed a band called The Last Shadow Puppets. As this is the case, it is feared that this subsidiary working group will have an impact on Arctic Monkeys. In an interview with the magazines, Alex said that he is still attached to Arctic Monkeys and that there is no disintegration issue.
Having achieved almost as much success as Arctic Monkeys with The Last Shadow Puppets, Alex returned to the Monkeys group in the summer of 2008.
Arctic Monkeys 2011
I don't know how excited people were for a new Arctic Monkeys album post-album in 2011, but in 2013 Arctic Monkeys made one of the best albums of the 21st century. This album was such a powerful and universal album that it gave the band a very different audience.
In 2016, Alex Turner made another album under TLSP and this album was very successful. Alex Turner would say that after this album, he could try anything he wanted with TLSP, while with Arctic Monkeys they were stuck in a narrow window and he was in a kind of depression.