Arctic Monkeys for Lunch, this Friday Junior – recorded at l’Olympia, Paris on February 3, 2012.
Arctic Monkeys’ sales in the US alone stand at over 30 million units, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In the United Kingdom, they became the first independent-label band to debut at number one in the UK with their first five albums. They have won seven Brit Awards, winning Best British Group and British Album of the Year three times, becoming the first band to ever “do the double”—that is, win in both categories—three times; a Mercury Prize for Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not; an Ivor Novello Award and 20 NME Awards. They have been nominated for nine Grammy Awards, and received Mercury Prize nominations in 2007, 2013, 2018 and 2023. Both Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not and AM are included in NME and different editions of Rolling Stone‘s lists of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time“.
Following the success of Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, some critics cited the Arctic Monkeys as revolutionising the way people find music as they built a fanbase on the basis of a few demos shared by fans through the internet. The album was highly praised by critics for its depiction of youth British culture and for resurging British indie music that had waned after the 1990s, with NME declaring the Arctic Monkeys “Our Generation’s Most Important Band.”
According to NME, the band’s 2013 album AM “became the soundtrack for countless nights out, hook-ups and comedowns in every town and city of this country” by the end of the 2010s. Johnny Davis of Esquire wrote, “Every so often, a band emerges to define the times not just for a generation of music fans but for a whole era – the Clash, the Smiths, Oasis, the Strokes. Where Arctic Monkeys may be unique is that they have now managed that role twice [with both Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not and AM]” The co-founder of the band’s label Domino Records, Laurence Bell, said “They’re the toast of the playground again, every 13-year-old loves them. But so do grandads who were into Led Zeppelin. It’s very rare for a band to come out of the traps so big [with Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not] and then have another massive moment [with AM]. It reminds me of The Who and The Stones, where they did some pop singles early on and then moved into an imperial phase.” Other musicians have praised the band including Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, and rapper RZA. Bob Dylan says he has made “special efforts” to see the band live, while David Bowie, said they were “a nice solid Brit band”. Damon Albarn called them “the last great guitar band […] I don’t really know if there’s anything as good as that since.”
The band was an object of discussion for cultural theorist Mark Fisher in regard to the concept of hauntology and what he described as “the lost futures” of modernity. In an interview with Crack Magazine Fisher said: “[…] something like the Arctic Monkeys, there is no relation to historicity. They’re clearly a retro group, but the category of retro doesn’t make any sense anymore because it’s retro compared to what?” and “Arctic Monkeys airbrush cultural time out and appeal to this endless return and timelessness of rock.”
Crank it up and enjoy the show.
