30 Unknown Facts About Arctic Monkeys That Every Fan Needs To Know

22 April 2019, 2:58 pm EDT By Ruby Karnick

Arctic Monkeys, with seven Brits Awards and five Grammy Awards nominations to their name, has till date released six studio albums. The band's current line-up consists of Alex Turner, Matt Helders, Jamie Cook and Nick O'Malley. Andy Nicholson, the former band member, left the band in the year 2006, shortly after releasing their debut album. Here are some really interesting facts about the English rock band:

Their debut album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," is the fastest-selling debut album by a band in UK chart history, at that time, which was also ranked the 30th-greatest debut album, by Rolling Stone in the year 2013.
The said album also earned them the Mercury Prize in the year 2006. They were nominated for the award again in the year 2007, 2013 and 2018.
The band is heralded as one of the first bands to come to public attention via the Internet, via MySpace, by the way of fans sharing their free music which led to a huge following, before even signing with a record label.
All the four members of the band - Alex Turner, Matt Helders, Jamie Cook and Nick O'Malley grew up together in High Green, a northern suburb of Sheffield, and have known each other since they were seven years old.
The band's story is said to be the coolest story of deciding to form a band, they learn to play music. Turner and Cook received guitars for Christmas back before 2005, and decided to form a band, which led Helders being forced to learn drums.
In fact, O’Malley reportedly learned the bass parts to the entire Arctic Monkeys debut album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" within a period of just two days.
However, the band claims to have nothing to do with it and that they were also not even aware of it for a long time. In fact, the band’s official Instagram account has just one post.
It was reported that Glyn Jones, who went to secondary school with the band, was the original lead singer of the band. The most famous lead singer Alex Turner that fans know now, was actually too shy to sing at first, but when Jones left the project due to “not having the dedication to take it any further” Turner stepped up.
The UK Met Office in October 2017, announced the next storm to hit the country would be called Brian, inspired by the classic track "Brianstorm." The band was grateful for the gesture, tweeting the music video for the song with the message “take care of yourselves.”
Their first album "Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not," is till date said to be the fastest selling record by a group of all time, selling 363,735 copies in its first week.

It is reported that the band's guitarist Cook refuses to be wined and dines by other music executives and has always been known to insisting on paying his share of the bill. However, lead singer Turner celebrated by buying a Vauxhall Corsa.
For the recording of their most popular album "AM" the band's drummer Helders was replaced by Elvis Costello's drummer Pete Thomas, as Helders reportedly broke his hand after drunkenly punching a wall one night.
In another instance, during a workout in a boxing ring, Helders again broke his arm in the year 2015, and had to have a metal plate fitted in his left arm, and calls himself as "the bionic drummer.”
Their most popular single "Brianstorm," is said to have been about an odd fan who made his way into the band’s dressing room in Osaka, Japan.
In the year 2015, the lead singer Turner was named the 16th "Richest Brit Under 30" with a fortune of £7.5 million, just below Cheryl Cole and Amy Winehouse.
The band Arctic Monkeys are reportedly fans of "The Wizard Of Oz," which can be seen in the "Old Yellow Bricks" end with the line "Dorothy was right though." In the 2007 Brit Awards ceremony the band dressed as characters from the film.
Arctic Monkeys is known to have rivalry with the Radiohead, especially when Thom Yorke hit out against the Arctic Monkeys’' success calling them as a "bunch of fucking retards." However, the band was not bothered, as once Helders said he once "nearly fell asleep at the wheel" after listening to a Radiohead album.
In the early days of her career, the band is known to have made up loads of stories about their decision to call themselves as Arctic Monkeys. However, in reality, it was Cook who had always wanted to be in a band with that name.
With the success of their first album, the band's former bassist Andy Nicholson fulfilled a lifelong dream to open his own pub "The Bowery," in Sheffield. Helders said he would even follow suit and open a pub called "The Cautious Horse."
The band's guitarist Jamie Cook reportedly worked hard at his day job as a bathroom tiler up until one month before they signed a record deal. He even returned from a sold-out tour to finish off a job in London.

It is reported that the band's lead singer Turner is not a fan of their first number one hit, which is said to have launched the band into stardom. He claims it to be "a bit shit, and the words rubbish," even calling it a crap.
Their most popular single "Fluorescent Adolescent" was said to have been written by Turner and his then-girlfriend, Johanna Bennett, while playing a game on vacation in the Mediterranean.
The band's most popular single "When the Sun Goes Down," about prostitution in their hometown of Sheffield, is said to have inspired an award-winning short film about the same topic called "Scummy Man."
For their second album "Favourite Worst Nightmare," the band reportedly considered the name "Lesbian Wednesdays, Gordon Brown and Gary Barlow," but fortunately decided to change it.
Helders has been known to write messages like "Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm," "The Funk Might Fracture Your Nose" and "Agile Beast" on electrical tape and tape them to his bass drum instead of a band logo.
The band is known to have collaborated with a couple other British artists under the name the Death Ramps, and have even played a few secret shows. In fact, Cook is said to play for his local team Packhorse FC.
The band is said to be a big fan of "The Wire" and has reportedly watched the whole thing on their tour bus. In fact, Turner had stayed up all night to watch ahead while the others slept.
The lead singer Turner contributed a short story, which he reportedly wrote and narrates, to the compilation album "Late Night Tales."
In the year 2011, Turner was asked to write six songs for the movie "Submarine," a British comedy about a boy trying to lose his virginity, which is said to have given him an opportunity to perform stripped-down pieces on piano and acoustic guitar.
Helders is also a DJ and a producer, and has remixed the likes of The Hives, Duran Duran, and was even featured on Toddla T’s Skanky Skank album.