The Arctic Monkeys are FANTASTIC, and are one reason why British music is the best in the world. The Sheffield band's debut album is tipped to set the new record for fastest-selling first album - beating the record held by Oasis's debut album Definitely Maybe in 1994.
The last year or two have been good for British rock bands - The Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand and Coldplay releasing popular albums.
Alex Turner - Lead singer/guitarist
Jamie Cook - Guitarist
Andy Nicholson - Bass
Matt Helders - Drums
Influences -
The Smiths
The Clash
The Jam
BUY THE ALBUM!!
Arctic Monkeys' debut puts Oasis in the shade
· Band to set new record for fastest-selling first album
· Newcomers stir interest 'not seen for 10 years'
Patrick Barkham
Tuesday January 24, 2006
The Guardian
Local band turned superstars ... Arctic Monkeys
The Arctic Monkeys are set to eclipse Oasis with the fastest-selling debut rock release ever after a frantic first day of online and over-the-counter sales.
More than 200 fans in Sheffield queued from midnight to buy the first copies of Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, after the four-piece band celebrated their second successive No 1 single with a small gig in their home town.
HMV estimated first-day sales of 60,000, which would mean the album selling more than 200,000 copies by the end of its first week in the shops to beat Oasis's Definitely Maybe, which became the fastest-selling rock debut in 1994.
The figure is even more impressive because January is traditionally a month of low record sales, and pirate copies of the album were leaked online last month. In keeping with a band whose reputation spread via word-of-mouth online after they released their first songs on their website, the band are continuing to refuse to appear on Top of the Pops. But singer Alex Turner, 19, guitarist Jamie Cook, 20, bassist Andy Nicholson, 19, and drummer Matt Helders, 19, will celebrate their success tonight with a sold-out concert in Dublin, the first date of the countrywide ShockWaves NME Awards Tour, alongside Maximo Park, We Are Scientists and Mystery Jets. Arctic Monkeys were also nominated for four NME awards yesterday.
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not was yesterday outselling the second-placed release, Richard Ashcroft's Keys to the World, by four to one on Amazon.co.uk. "Arctic Monkeys" was also the top Amazon search term over the weekend, ahead of favourites such as "iPod".
"We've shipped more Monkeys on day one than we did in the entire week one for Domino's [record label] last breakthrough act, Franz Ferdinand," said Damian Peachey of Amazon.
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not was also the biggest-selling album on iTunes, while the Arctic Monkeys' two singles, When the Sun Goes Down - which went straight to number one in the singles chart - and I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor, were the first and sixth most downloaded songs.
"I haven't seen this level of excitement for a new band since the arrival of Oasis more than 10 years ago," said Phil Penman, head of music at HMV.
"It's remarkable how, in just a few months, the Arctic Monkeys have gone from being a cool local band promoted by their fans via the internet to a superstar act connecting with the wider record-buying public."
guardian.co.uk
