First up in a JOE series looking at the bands who have made a defining impact on the music scene in recent times are Sheffield's finest, Arctic Monkeys.
There are many ways to make people of a certain generation feel old nowadays and one to add to that list is to tell them that Arctic Monkeys have been around for more than a decade.
That may be exaggerating things slightly as although they formed in 2002, it was in 2005 when they really exploded onto the scene following the release of the landmark single ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’, which was taken from the album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not’.
That’s still nine years ago, which may come as a disturbing shock to the twenty and thirty-somethings who still view the Sheffield four-piece as a bunch of fresh-faced young things hailed as one of the first, or certainly one of the most prominent bands of the internet age due to them making it big having originally created a huge buzz amongst the online community.
If you’re one of the aforementioned music fans shocked by the length of Arctic Monkeys’ existence, we hate to break it to you but you’re getting old mate.
Although it still makes as much of an impact now as it did on its release (give it another listen below), Alex Turner and company have come a long way in the nine years since that massive single, as reflected by their status as headliners at Glastonbury last year and, closer to home, the buzz surrounding their hugely anticipated appearance at Marlay Park in July.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK7egZaT3hs
Including their debut album, the band have released five studio albums since 2005, which is a more than decent level of productivity in a day and age where bands are required to tour on a pretty constant basis to keep the revenue stream flowing while a large percentage of music fans are listening to music for free or as close to free as is damned.
The quality of their work is reflected in the fact that three of their albums, ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not’ the second album ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ and their most recent effort ‘AM’ all won Best British Album at the BRIT Awards, while they have collected the Best British Group award on four separate occasions (2007, 2008, 2012 and 2014) in the last seven years.
In terms of sales and critical reception, the two remaining albums released by the band – ‘Humbug’ and ‘Suck it and See’ – didn’t perform as well but they reminded everyone just what they were capable of with the release of 'AM' last year, an album that was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and was generally hailed as one of the best of 2013. Of the many standout tracks from the album, we have a particular grá for R U Mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQH8ZTgna3Q
On the back of that success, there’s no reason to suggest Arctic Monkeys can’t go from strength to strength. Much as it might not seem original for a traditional guitar-based four-piece, there are few bands out there that sound as consistently fresh as Arctic Monkeys do and in Alex Turner they have one of the best frontmen and lyricists around.
Refreshingly, Turner has shown no sign of losing his Sheffield twang – apart from when he’s pretending to be Elvis on stage like he was at Glastonbury last year – and continues the fine tradition of vocalists from the area in recent times, following in the footsteps of the likes of Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley and giving the locals 'summat' to be proud of.
It’s safe to say that Turner and the Arctic Monkeys aren’t going anywhere for a while yet.
Live music fan? Why not enter our competition to win tickets to the upcoming eurosaverLIVE event featuring Gavin James and O.R.B. at Monroe’s in Galway in May 16.
The event follows the huge success of the inaugural eurosaverLIVE event featuring Tinchy Strider at The Grand Social in Dublin last year and promises to be a cracking night.
For more details on how to enter, click here.
