(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Tue 17 February 2026 6:00, UK
Was it obvious way back in indie’s 2000s revival just how globally conquering massive Arctic Monkeys would become?
They certainly landed with impact. While the glut of landfill indie mugging for NME’s attention was already beginning to wobble into derivativeness, it felt like a long time since the UK had witnessed a debut single so effortlessly confident.
Dropped in 2005 amid an MTV2 carousel of The Kooks and Razorlight’s Topman bollocks, ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’ burst with vitality in comparison, flexing razor hooks, lyrical smarts far beyond frontman Alex Turner’s 19 years of age, and that essential Sheffield accent that seemed to trigger a horde of imitators for years to come.
Such was the intense press attention that many wondered if the hype would fall flat upon their second single. Doubts were quashed when ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ saw the light of day three months later, presaging the massive anticipation for Arctic Monkeys’ debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, heralded as possessing the same British cultural essentiality as prior landmark debuts, Definitely Maybe or The Stone Roses debut.
Yet, like Oasis or the ‘Fool’s Gold’ conjurors, Arctic Monkeys didn’t quite crack America, remaining a staple UK act and only scoring the most committed Anglophiles and indie musos’ playlists and heavy rotations across the Atlantic. Until AM that is. Released in 2013, the new rock and roll riffs, swaggering leather, and infinitely more sexy lyrical pen truly marked Turner and the lads as an outfit of international stature, ‘R U Mine?’ and ‘Do I Wanna Know’ their defining anthems for many fans over in the States.
Naturally, it might not come as much surprise that Turner expressed fondness for AM’s numbers over the years. Speaking to Zane Lowe, the Arctic Monkeys frontman selected ‘Knee Socks’ as the mooted favourite cut from his band, complimenting Queens of the Stone Age captain Josh Homme as key to pulling the group “out of a little rut”, a favour Turner would return by appearing on Queens of the Stone Age’s …Like Clockwork.
An AM cut pops up in an NME interview around the time, Turner celebrating ‘Arabella’s lyrical work before reaching 2009’s Humbug and highlighting the breezy ‘Cornerstone’ for its “concise” execution.
Another Arctic Monkeys piece that met Turner’s expectations was revealed as recently as 2023. Appearing on John Kennedy’s Track by Track Podcast for Radio X, The Car’s pithy closer ‘Perfect Sense’ sprang to Turner’s mind when considering the Arctic Monkeys’ grade-A material, taking pride in its easy, intuitive genesis during the album’s sessions, sonically a far cry from the previous LP effort, Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino’s lush psychedelic splash.
“This one is the closest thing we had to, you know, written in an afternoon,” Turner reveals. “Kind of really came together quite quickly. And it’s probably one of the favourites on there… it came together quite quickly and without a great deal of thought. And sometimes there’s something to be said for that.”
The Far Out New Music Newsletter
All the latest New Music from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.