ArCtic MonKeys!

Arctic Monkeys are an English Indie band from High Green, a suburb of Sheffield. Formed in 2002, the band currently is formed for 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 and backing vocals, who replaced Andy Nicholson.

Now something of his history.

In 2001, neighbours Turner and Cook asked for instruments as Christmas presents and both received guitars. After teaching themselves to play, the pair formed a band with Turner's schoolmates 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 kit after a bit." An article in Blender magazine in May 2006 suggested that Turner was not the original vocalist of the band: "When their first vocalist, Glyn Jones, left after a few months, Turner cautiously stepped up to the microphone." This was soon followed by a more detailed article in UK tabloid The Sun, who reported that in the very early days of the band — before they had played a gig — Glyn Jones, another attendee of Stocksbridge High School, used to be the band's singer. Jones said that he and Turner "were bored [after our GCSE exams] so we started writing a song about a geek in our year...". Jones says that he was lead singer only because "Alex was really humble and didn’t realise how great his own voice was... he was happy just playing his guitar." However, Jones says that he "did not have the dedication to take it any further... to me we were just a gang of kids messing around because we were bored." 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.

The Arctic Monkeys achieved chart success with their first single, "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 in January 2006, was at the time the fastest-selling debut album in British music history, surpassing Oasis' Definitely Maybe. It remains the fastest-selling debut album for a group. It 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, sold over 225,000 copies in its debut week, and was nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize. The group also picked up the award for Best British Album and Best British Group at the Brit Awards in 2008.

I love Arctic Monkeys!

Credits