English rock group Arctic Monkeys was founded in Sheffield in 2002. The band is made up of Matt Helders (bass guitar, backing vocals), Nick O’Malley (guitar, keyboards), Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar), and Jamie Cook (drums, backing vocals). Andy Nicholson, a former band member who played bass guitar and sang backup, quit the group in 2006, not long after the debut album was published.
One of the first bands to gain widespread recognition over the Internet was Arctic Monkeys, and pundits hailed them as a possible shift in the way that new bands are marketed and promoted.
Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006), their debut album, was acclaimed as one of the best debut albums and became the fastest-selling debut album in UK chart history. At the 2007 Brit Awards, it was named Best British Album. Favourite Worst Nightmare, the band’s second album, was well-received by critics and won Best British Album at the 2008 BRIT Awards. They later released Suck It and See (2011) and Humbug (2009).
With the success of their critically praised fifth album AM (2013), aided by the worldwide smash “Do I Wanna Know?” the band achieved further international renown. It received a platinum certification in the US and topped four Billboard charts. The album became their third to win British Album of the Year at the 2014 BRIT Awards. The band’s sixth album, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (2018), marked a significant change from their previous guitar-heavy work by favoring the piano. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, becoming their second album to receive this honor after Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.
The group’s first five albums helped their debut at number one in the UK, making them the first independent-label band to do so. The group has also received a Mercury Prize for Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, an Ivor Novello Award, 20 NME Awards, and seven Brit Awards, including three times as Best British Group and three times as British Album of the Year. They are the first band to ever “do the double.” They’ve also been nominated for six Grammy Awards, and in 2007, 2013, and 2018 they were nominated for the Mercury Prize. The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time lists from Rolling Stone and NME both feature Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, and AM.
