50 Fun Facts About Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys formed in which English city?

Sheffield. When the band came home for two park shows in 2023, the 74,000 fans who turned up were reckoned to have brought the city more than £4 million.

Alex Turner wrote the soundtrack songs for which 2010 coming-of-age film, directed by his friend Richard Ayoade?

Submarine. Turner said he didn't feel qualified to score a film but made an exception for Ayoade, who had directed several of the band's videos.

Who is Arctic Monkeys' drummer?

Matt Helders. He never set out to drum: the others already had guitars when the friends formed the band, so he bought a kit because it was "the only thing left".

Which Arctic Monkeys guitarist was Turner's neighbour?

Jamie Cook. He and Alex Turner each got a guitar for Christmas in 2001, and the two presents became a band the following summer, with Turner agreeing to sing only reluctantly.

Which co-founder left Arctic Monkeys in 2006, shortly after the debut album?

Andy Nicholson. He sat out a North American tour with fatigue, his stand-in stayed for good, and he later called being told he was out "soul destroying".

Who replaced Arctic Monkeys' original bassist in 2006?

Nick O'Malley. A childhood friend of the band, he was borrowed from the Dodgems for one North American tour and stayed on when the original bassist did not come back.

What is the title of Arctic Monkeys' debut album?

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. Fans had swapped the band's free demo CDs online for two years, so many already knew its songs of pubs and clubs by heart.

Which Arctic Monkeys debut single went straight to UK No. 1?

I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor. It knocked the Sugababes off number one in October 2005, and within months the pop trio had recorded their own cover of it as a B-side.

Which Arctic Monkeys single, their second UK No. 1, went by the working title "Scummy"?

When the Sun Goes Down. The band called it "Scummy" at first, but the drummer said they realised it wasn't just about one scummy man, and Alex Turner felt the name was unfair on the district around their rehearsal room.

To which independent label did Arctic Monkeys sign in June 2005?

Domino. With major labels chasing them, they chose an independent whose owner was a fan of the band and signed only acts he personally liked.

Accepting the 2006 Mercury Prize, Alex Turner joked that someone should call 999 because which fellow nominee had "been robbed"?

Richard Hawley. His album Coles Corner was on the same shortlist, and the friendly dig did no harm: Hawley later co-wrote and sang on one of the band's B-sides.

Which closing track of Arctic Monkeys' second album did the band call their first proper love song?

505. The title is said to be the number of a hotel room its narrator is racing back to, over an organ line that appears to be lifted from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Arctic Monkeys took the title of their debut album from a line in which British film of 1960?

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Alex Turner liked the fit, since the album's songs of pubs and clubs themselves run from a Saturday night to a Sunday morning.

In 2006 Arctic Monkeys took the fastest-selling debut album record from which TV talent-show group?

Hear'Say. The Popstars winners' five-year-old UK record fell to a band that had given its early songs away, and first-day sales alone beat the rest of the top 20 combined.

A senior NHS Scotland doctor criticised the cover of Arctic Monkeys' debut album for appearing to endorse what?

Smoking. The sleeve shows a friend of the band with a cigarette, and their label replied that the picture made it plain smoking was "not doing him the world of good".

What name did fans give Arctic Monkeys' early collection of free demo recordings?

Beneath the Boardwalk. The first fan to pass the untitled CDs around online named the files after the venue where he had been handed his copy, and the label stuck.

At which hometown venue did Arctic Monkeys play their first gig in June 2003?

The Grapes. They opened for another local band at the pub with a short set that was mostly covers, and Alex Turner later said he kept his eyes shut throughout.

Which social network, launched in 2003, is credited with helping Arctic Monkeys find their early audience?

MySpace. The songs spread because the band handed out free demo CDs at gigs and fans shared the tracks online, so crowds knew every word before a record was out.

Alex Turner said the arrival of which band changed the music he listened to and the shoes he wore?

The Strokes. "I grew my hair out and borrowed my mum's blazer," he said, and years later he opened the band's sixth album with the line "I just wanted to be one of the Strokes".

What is the title of Arctic Monkeys' second album?

Favourite Worst Nightmare. The day it went to number one, all twelve of its tracks also entered the singles Top 200, as fans downloaded the songs one by one.

Which single, released just ahead of Arctic Monkeys' second album, reached No. 2 in the UK?

Brianstorm. A stranger called Brian walked into their dressing room in Japan in a T-shirt and tie, and the unnerved band held a brainstorm about him afterwards.

Which single did Arctic Monkeys perform on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in 2007 dressed as clowns?

Fluorescent Adolescent. The costumes copied its video, in which a gang of clowns brawls with rivals, and the lyrics began as a word game Alex Turner played with his girlfriend on holiday.

In March 2012 Arctic Monkeys toured North American arenas as the support act for which band?

The Black Keys. Used to topping the charts at home, the band spent fifteen dates as the support act for the Ohio duo while they built an American following.

Under what pseudonym did Arctic Monkeys release 250 vinyl copies of B-sides in 2007?

Death Ramps. Their label played along, saying it couldn't reveal who they were, only that they were "a band with A Certain Romance", the title of one of the group's own songs.

At Glastonbury 2007 Arctic Monkeys covered a song originally sung by whom?

Shirley Bassey. Headlining on the Friday, they played her Bond theme "Diamonds Are Forever" as a salute, two days before Bassey herself sang on the same stage.

Where did Arctic Monkeys play two sold-out open-air shows in July 2007?

Old Trafford Cricket Ground. They ran the two days as their own mini-festival, with Amy Winehouse, Supergrass and the Coral on the bill, and drew comparisons with Oasis at Knebworth.

What is the name of Alex Turner's side project with Miles Kane?

The Last Shadow Puppets. The pair became friends when Kane's band supported Arctic Monkeys on tour in 2005, and their orchestral debut album went straight to number one.

What is the title of Arctic Monkeys' third album, released in 2009?

Humbug. Made largely with Josh Homme in the Californian desert, it traded their rapid-fire garage rock for a slower, darker sound that later albums kept exploring.

Josh Homme, who produced most of Arctic Monkeys' third album, fronts which band?

Queens of the Stone Age. The favour later ran both ways: Homme sang on the band's album AM, and Alex Turner guested on a Queens of the Stone Age record the same year.

What was the lead single from Arctic Monkeys' third album?

Crying Lightning. Radio 1 aired it first, and its video, directed by Richard Ayoade, has the band playing on a small boat tossed about on a rough sea.

What is the title of Arctic Monkeys' fourth album, released in June 2011?

Suck It and See. The title is a harmless British idiom for trying something out, but some American stores found it rude enough to cover with a sticker.

Which 2011 Arctic Monkeys track has the band's drummer on lead vocals?

Brick by Brick. The band posted it online as a teaser three months before the album, and the drummer stressed it was not a single, just a taste of what was coming.

Most of the stock of which Arctic Monkeys single was destroyed by fire during the 2011 London riots?

The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala. The copies burned when a Sony distribution warehouse in north London was set alight, so the few survivors were sold through the band's website.

Which Beatles song did Arctic Monkeys cover at the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony?

Come Together. Alex Turner said he was in "a weird panic" until seconds before walking out, and the recording of the cover went on to reach number 21 in the UK chart.

What does the cover of Arctic Monkeys' AM show?

Sound wave. The wobbling line mimics an AM radio signal, a visual pun on a two-letter title that Alex Turner admitted he stole from the Velvet Underground's VU.

Part of Arctic Monkeys' AM was recorded at Rancho De La Luna, a studio in which Californian desert town?

Joshua Tree. The band had first worked at the desert studio five years earlier with Josh Homme, who came back to sing backing vocals on the new record.

Arctic Monkeys' AM closes with a setting of "I Wanna Be Yours", a poem by which punk poet?

John Cooper Clarke. The 1982 poem is now a staple of wedding readings, and Clarke credits the band with sticking him "into the pop world again".

Josh Homme sings a guest backing vocal on which track from the closing stretch of Arctic Monkeys' AM?

Knee Socks. Alex Turner called Homme's contribution probably his favourite part of the record, a favour returned after Turner sang on an album by Homme's own band that year.

Where in London did Arctic Monkeys play two huge outdoor shows in May 2014?

Finsbury Park. Tame Impala, Miles Kane and Royal Blood opened, and on the second night Kane came back on stage to duet with Alex Turner on a song from their side project.

During Arctic Monkeys' hiatus, the band's drummer played on a 2016 album by which rock veteran?

Iggy Pop. The album was Post Pop Depression, with Josh Homme leading the band, and the line-up reunited on stage in 2018.

What is the title of Arctic Monkeys' piano-led sixth album, released in 2018?

Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. It grew from a Steinway piano Alex Turner was given for his 30th birthday, and takes its name from the site of the first Moon landing.

Alex Turner said three Alain Delon crime films by which French director shaped Arctic Monkeys' sixth album?

Jean-Pierre Melville. All three films centre on a jazz lounge club, and Turner said he pictured those interiors whenever he sat at the piano to write.

Arctic Monkeys' 2020 live album was recorded at which London venue?

Royal Albert Hall. The June 2018 concert was a charity benefit, and the band released the recording two years later because the pandemic had wrecked that charity's fundraising.

All proceeds from Arctic Monkeys' 2020 live album went to which charity?

War Child. The band said the pandemic had left the children's charity facing a shortfall of up to £2 million, so they released the tapes of a benefit gig played two years earlier.

What is the title of Arctic Monkeys' seventh album, released in October 2022?

The Car. The title comes from its cover, a photograph one of the band took from his old apartment window of a lone white Toyota on a Los Angeles rooftop car park.

Which artist kept Arctic Monkeys' seventh album off the UK No. 1 spot?

Taylor Swift. Her album Midnights came out the same week and ended the band's run of six chart-topping albums in a row, the first time one of their studio albums had missed number one.

In 2023 Arctic Monkeys earned a fifth Mercury Prize nomination, tying the record held by which act?

Radiohead. Their luck differs: Arctic Monkeys won the prize at the first attempt in 2006, while Radiohead's five shortlistings up to then had brought no win.

What did Alex Turner tell the 2014 Brits to invoice him for?

Microphone. Accepting British Album of the Year for AM, he insisted that rock 'n' roll "will never die", told the organisers to invoice him for the mic if they needed to, and dropped it.

Which Arctic Monkeys single, released in January 2026, was part of a charity compilation project?

Opening Night. It was the band's first new music in four years, recorded for a sequel to the 1995 charity album Help that was made in a single week at Abbey Road.

What was the first single from Arctic Monkeys' seventh album?

There'd Better Be a Mirrorball. Alex Turner directed the video himself, cutting it from 16 mm footage he had shot of the band during the recording sessions.