AM

October 21, 2022

AM

Death Ramps or also known as Arctic Monkey, are an English Rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002 for the first time. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, backing vocals). Former band member Andy Nicholson (bass guitar, backing vocals) left the band in 2006 shortly after their debut album was released.

Music style and influences

Arctic Monkeys' musical style has been mainly described as indie rock, garage rock, post-punk revival, psychedelic rock, alternative rock, post-Britpop, stoner rock, guitar pop, post-punk, punk rock, and hard rock. A key part of their sound, and one that translates across their whole discography, is Turner's intricate and often rapidly delivered lyrics, sung in a distinctive strong Sheffield accent that their music became famed for in their early years.

Studio albums

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006)
Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007)
Humbug (2009)
Suck It and See (2011)
AM (2013)
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (2018)
The Car (2022)

According to Vice, "in Britain at least, Arctic Monkeys have reached a point where they are too enormous, too beloved a force to truly fail" and are probably the UK's biggest, most culturally important band. Vice further states that they are "the band that your friends whose music taste can otherwise be described as “Match of the Day-wave” are desperate to see perform live; the band dads and little brothers have in common—simply because throughout their career, they have remained consistent, while their peers in both sound and age have failed to keep similar longevity. English poet John Cooper Clarke praised the band as "the nearest thing" to the Beatles. Radio X has also named Arctic Monkeys as one of the best bands of all time.

According to NME, the band's 2013 album AM "became the soundtrack for countless nights out, hook-ups and comedowns in every town and city of this country" by the end of the 2010s. Johnny Davis of Esquire wrote, "Every so often, a band emerges to define the times not just for a generation of music fans but for a whole era the Clash, the Smiths, Oasis, the Strokes. Where Arctic Monkeys may be unique is that they have now managed that role twice [with both Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not and AM]" The co-founder of the band's label Domino Records, Laurence Bell, said "They're the toast of the playground again, every 13-year-old loves them. But so do grandads who were into Led Zeppelin. It's very rare for a band to come out of the traps so big [with Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not] and then have another massive moment [with AM]. It reminds me of The Who and The Stones, where they did some pop singles early on and then moved into an imperial phase.The band was an object of discussion for cultural theorist Mark Fisher in regard to the concept of hauntology and what he described as "the lost futures" of modernity. In an interview with Crack Magazine Fisher said: "[...] something like the Arctic Monkeys, there is no relation to historicity. They’re clearly a retro group, but the category of retro doesn’t make any sense anymore because it’s retro compared to what?" and "Arctic Monkeys airbrush cultural time out and appeal to this endless return and timelessness of rock".