Re: Arctic Monkeys Album Download 18
Beatrice Pfliger
English rock band Arctic Monkeys have released seven studio albums, five extended plays, two video albums, 24 music videos and 23 singles. Formed in 2002 by guitarist and vocalist Alex Turner, guitarist and backing vocalist Jamie Cook, bass guitarist and backing vocalist Andy Nicholson and drummer and backing vocalist Matt Helders, Arctic Monkeys released their first EP, Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys, in May 2005, and signed with London-based Domino Recording Company in June.[1]
The band's first two singles on Domino, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down", both peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart.[2] Their debut studio album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, followed in January 2006 and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart,[3] the Irish Albums Chart[4] and the Australian Albums Chart.[5] The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified the album seven times platinum.[6] The band released a second EP, Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?, which was their last to be recorded with Nicholson, in April 2006;[1] Nicholson officially departed in June, replaced by Nick O'Malley.[7] Their first single after Nicholson's departure, "Leave Before the Lights Come On", reached number four on the UK Singles Chart.[2]
Arctic Monkeys released their second studio album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, in April 2007.[8] Favourite Worst Nightmare peaked atop the UK Albums Chart[2] and the Irish Albums Chart.[4] In the United States, the album peaked at number seven on the Billboard 200, their first top-ten entry.[9] Two singles from the album, "Brianstorm" and "Fluorescent Adolescent", reached the top five on the UK Singles Chart.[2] The band followed with their third studio album, Humbug, which was released in August 2009.[1] Peaking atop the UK Albums Chart and the Irish Albums Chart, Humbug was preceded by the lead single "Crying Lightning", which reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart.[2] Their fourth studio album, Suck It and See (2011), was their fourth UK Albums Chart number one.[2]
Arctic Monkeys' fifth studio album, AM (2013), peaked atop the Irish Albums Chart,[4] the Australian Albums Chart and the New Zealand Albums Chart.[10] In the United Kingdom, AM made Arctic Monkeys the first independent label band to earn five number-one albums and was certified four times platinum by the BPI.[11][12] It earned platinum certifications by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA; double platinum),[13] the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA),[14] the Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ)[15] and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[16] AM's second single, "Do I Wanna Know?", was the band's first to be certified triple platinum by the BPI[17] and platinum by the RIAA.[18] Its third single, "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?", reached the UK Singles Chart top ten.[2] The band's sixth studio album, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, peaked atop the UK Albums Chart.[2]
AM is the fifth studio album by English rock band Arctic Monkeys. It was produced by longtime collaborator James Ford and co-produced by Ross Orton at Sage & Sound Recording in Los Angeles and Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, California, and released on 9 September 2013 through Domino Recording Company. The album was promoted by the singles "R U Mine?", "Do I Wanna Know?", "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?", "One for the Road", "Arabella", and "Snap Out of It". It features guest appearances by Josh Homme, Bill Ryder-Jones, and Pete Thomas.
Drawing inspiration from a wide range of genres, including psychedelic rock, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, desert rock, R&B, and soul, AM notably marks Arctic Monkeys' first venture into a hip hop-influenced sound. The band took a different approach to recording the album in comparison to their previous album, Suck It and See (2011), with more emphasis on creating a "studio album" according to frontman Alex Turner. The band incorporated new instruments on the album, including the piano, organ, Hohner Guitaret, and vintage drum machine. Thematically, the album concerns frustration surrounding tainted romance, sex and loneliness.
Commercially, the album has become one of Arctic Monkeys' most successful to date, topping charts in several countries, and reaching top ten positions in many more. Topping the UK Albums Chart, it sold over 157,000 copies in its first week and also went on to be one of the UK's best-selling vinyl albums of the decade, selling 73,000 units.[2] In addition, the album became the band's most successful in the United States. The single "Do I Wanna Know?" became the first song by the band to enter the Billboard Hot 100, with the album topping four Billboard charts and being certified platinum in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2017.
AM received critical acclaim, with critics praising its darker and groovier sound in comparison to the band's previous records. It featured in many year-end lists as one of the best albums of 2013, including the BBC who named it the best of the year.[3] At the 2014 Brit Awards, Arctic Monkeys won British Album of the Year for AM. It was also nominated for the 2013 Mercury Prize and received a Best Rock Performance nomination for "Do I Wanna Know?" at the 57th Grammy Awards in 2015. NME hailed it the best album of the decade and, just a month after its release, ranked it 449 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Rolling Stone ranked it 346 in the 2020 edition of its "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.
In an interview with Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1, Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner said that the album title was inspired by the Velvet Underground's 1985 compilation album VU: "I actually stole it from the Velvet Underground, I'll just confess that now and get it out of the way. The 'VU' record, obviously." He went on to say: "Did we cop out? Yeah! Summat about it feels like this record is exactly where we should be right now. So it felt right to just initial it."[4]
Turner later revealed that the band had nearly titled the album The New Black, after a guitar amp they used in the recording process: "I got this old Rickenbacker thing that we recorded a lot through. There's no knobs, just two holes. And this little black amp that became known as The New Black. Crossed me mind to call the album that."[5]
The album draws inspiration from various musical genres, including indie rock,[8] psychedelic rock, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, desert rock, R&B, soul, and hip hop.[9][10][11][12][13][14] In the first interview of the AM press campaign, Alex Turner told journalist Matt Wilkinson of NME that the album sounded "like a Dr. Dre beat, but we've given it an Ike Turner bowl-cut and sent it galloping across the desert on a Stratocaster", adding that it "sounds less like four lads playing in a room this time. Essentially, that's what it is, but if you can find a way to manipulate the instruments or the sounds to the point where it sounds a bit like a hip-hop beat that'd be boss in your car, then I think there's something quite cool about that."[15] Turner also cited Outkast, Aaliyah, Black Sabbath, Captain Beyond and The Groundhogs as influences.[16][17][18] Guitarist Jamie Cook also cited The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars as an inspiration for the album, saying that it was one of the only albums they listened to while recording AM.[19]
Arctic Monkeys took a different approach to recording AM in comparison to their previous album, Suck It and See, with Alex Turner stating that it is much more a "studio album". The band incorporated new instruments to record the album; they used keyboards such as piano, organ, and celeste, a Hohner Guitaret,[20] and a vintage drum machine. Recording was done differently as well; producer James Ford stated that, instead of the "live" recording technique of the previous album, this album was recorded mainly with bass guitar and drums laid down first with emphasis on groove. Helder's drum kit was often set up in unconventional ways to achieve different sounds.[20] Guest musicians Josh Homme, Bill Ryder-Jones, and Pete Thomas were featured on the album.[4] Thematically, the album concerns frustration surrounding tainted romance, sex and loneliness.[14]
On 15 July 2013, the album cover artwork was revealed.[22] On 2 September 2013, Arctic Monkeys revealed a track titled "I Want It All" during a XFM radio show,[23] and exclusively played "One for the Road" on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show.[24]
The first single from the album, "R U Mine?", was released digitally on 27 February 2012.[29] On 21 April 2012, it was released physically for the Record Store Day as a limited edition double A-side purple 7" vinyl.[30] "R U Mine?" was released as a single on 2 March 2012.[29]
"Do I Wanna Know?", the second single from the album, was released on 19 June 2013. The song received significant airplay, including joining BBC Radio 1's "B List", and later moving to the "A List". It was certified Silver in the UK, indicating an excess of 200,000 sales (becoming the fourth Arctic Monkeys single to do so), and has also been successful internationally.[31]
AM has received critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 36 reviews.[45]
In retrospect, NME classified AM's songs as "the tales of wasted phone calls, drunken lunges and late-night confessions."[56] By the end of the decade, according to NME, the album "became the soundtrack for countless nights out, hook-ups and comedowns in every town and city of this country".[56]
At the 2013 NME Awards, Arctic Monkeys were nominated for Best British Band. "R U Mine?" was also nominated for Best Track, and won the award for Best Music Video.[57] AM was nominated for the 2013 Mercury Prize for best album,[58] becoming the third Arctic Monkeys album to receive the nomination, after their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, and its follow-up, Favourite Worst Nightmare. The album's second single, "Do I Wanna Know?", won the Best Track award at the 2013 Q Awards.[59] "Do I Wanna Know" was also nominated as the "Best Rock Performance" at the 2015 Grammy Awards.[60] At the 2014 BRIT Awards, Arctic Monkeys won in the British Album of the Year and British Group categories, becoming the first band to ever "do the double" (that is, win in both categories) three times (Coldplay and Manic Street Preachers did it twice).[61]
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