{"id":798443,"date":"2026-10-10T20:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T20:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/798443\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T20:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T20:46:09","slug":"the-1982-inspiration-artic-monkeys-turned-into-indies-most-streamed-song-with-over-4000000000-plays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/798443\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1982 inspiration Artic Monkeys turned into indie\u2019s most-streamed song with over 4,000,000,000 plays"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Arctic<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ Zachery Michael<\/p>\n

Sat 10 October 2026 18:12, UK <\/p>\n

The first words most people heard from Alex Turner and the Arctic Monkeys<\/a> were, \u201cDon\u2019t believe the hype.\u201d There was an air of irony to that proclamation, which is just as well considering they would go on to be the most successful guitar band of their generation. <\/p>\n

They now sit in an unrivaled position for indie acts, having managed a feat that is increasingly rare: commercial and critical success. Geese, for instance, might be hailed as the genre\u2019s new darlings (and rightly so), but their most-streamed song has 0.85%<\/a> of the plays that the Sheffield lads mustered with their most-played anthem.<\/p>\n

While that might be a decidedly modern way to gauge commercial success, this story actually started back in 1982. At that time, John Cooper Clarke was a well-established heroin addict (and a slightly less well-established poet), having been on dope for around a decade<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cPoetry has never been a reliable engine of income,\u201d he once quipped. It\u2019s a maxim that holds even more water when most of that income is disappearing into a hole in your arm. So, the punk poet from Salford was a world away from the likes of Lord Byron and the bards of old who would spin their yarns while luxuriating in opulence.<\/p>\n

Yet, with his poem, \u2018I Wanna Be Yours\u2019, first published in \u201982, he used this lowly status to his advantage. Most love affairs, after all, don\u2019t unfurl in castles and most couples don\u2019t have time to be as doting as the pages of romance novels might suggest. There are bills to be paid, jobs to do, landlords to contend with, and little time left for flowery fancies that fill up Byron\u2019s fruity verses. <\/p>\n

\"John<\/a>Credit: John Cooper Clarke<\/p>\n

However, Clarke knew that doing the hoovering, topping up the leccy meter, and cleaning the Ford Cortina are, in a way, acts of devotion. This lesser broadcast side of love, the domestic reality of it, is at the heart of \u2018I Wanna Be Yours\u2019, and Alex Turner was deeply moved by it. So, in one of his softer moments, he decided to turn into a song.<\/p>\n

Without Clarke, the Arctic Monkeys may never have formed<\/a>. The back-combed bard came along in Turner\u2019s youth as part of the school syllabus, grabbed him by the lapels, and shook him like a second-hand Skoda trundling over a cattle-grid. Before that, Turner had been kicking footballs and the odd empty can around the alleys of High Green. He was quite satisfied with that lot in life, to be frank.<\/p>\n

However, Clarke\u2019s wit and the relatable scenes he painted with it made Turner realise that poetry wasn\u2019t reserved for prats in trilbys. So, he infused his love of The Strokes with a wealth of cunning rhyme, and within two years, the Arctic Monkeys had gone from playing in garages with cheap lager to being the pioneers of a new brand of eloquent indie with scruffy riffs. <\/p>\n

The problem is that nobody could do it quite like them, but plenty tried. This meant they were out on their own. Yet, despite not having a proverbial Stones to their Beatles to sustain the movement\u2019s place among the mainstream, they still managed to make a good commercial fist of it with a constant string of hit albums. So, by the time that their fifth effort came around, Turner looked back to his early hero and, with a few tweaks and sultry melody, turned Clarke\u2019s poem into a song. <\/p>\n

When Clarke was told that it had hit a billion streams in 2023, he simply asked, \u201cIs that a lot?\u201d It was a hell of a lot for a modern guitar band. Since then, the track has \u2013 to use another regrettably modern phrase \u2013 enjoyed even more \u2018virality\u2019 over on TikTok<\/a>. In some ways, that\u2019s a compliment, capturing how, even in a fleeting clip, it can convey the defiant reverie of realist romance. <\/p>\n

Now, in 2026, 13 years on from its release, it is the most-streamed song by any guitar band, period. In fact, with a little over 4,000,000,000 plays, it is the 12th most-streamed song of all time. And, on a more conjectural note, it is by far and away the best track in the top 20. The Arctic Monkeys always could pair commercialism and critical acclaim with aplomb, after all. Even more so when they\u2019re working with the words of Britain\u2019s most beloved poet.<\/p>\n

When I interviewed John Cooper Clarke<\/a>, he assured me he was delighted with the result. The odd potential royalties cheque may well have made him even sweeter on it since. Thank god he\u2019s been clean since \u201992, I suppose. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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