Arctic Monkeys are an English indie rock band. Formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, the band currently consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, lead/rhythm guitar), Jamie Cook (rhythm/lead guitar), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Matt Helders (drums, backing vocals). Former members include Andy Nicholson (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Glyn Jones (lead vocals, rhythm guitar).
The band have released four studio albums: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006), Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007), Humbug (2009) and Suck It and See (2011), as well as one live album At the Apollo (2008). The band's debut album became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history, surpassing Oasis' Definitely Maybe and remains the fastest-selling debut album for a band in the UK. The band have won five Brit Awards—winning Best British Group twice, and have twice been nominated for Grammy Awards.
Arctic Monkeys were heralded as one of the first group of acts to come to the public attention via the Internet (fan-based sites rather than from the band), with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a change in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed. The band are also regarded as one of the most prominent bands to be part of the post-punk revival in the UK, after achieving commercial success and spawning two number one singles with their debut album.
Read more about Arctic Monkeys: Musical Style and Influences, Band Members, Discography, Tour History
Famous quotes containing the words arctic and/or monkeys:
“The chisel work of an enormous Glacier
That braced his feet against the Arctic Pole.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The way in which men cling to old institutions after the life has departed out of them, and out of themselves, reminds me of those monkeys which cling by their tails—aye, whose tails contract about the limbs, even the dead limbs, of the forest, and they hang suspended beyond the hunter’s reach long after they are dead. It is of no use to argue with such men. They have not an apprehensive intellect, but merely, as it were a prehensile tail.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)