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Arctic Monkeys · S2 E6
The View from the Top
Brit Awards, NME, Mercury Prize nominations, and a whirlwind year of firsts
February 15, 2006, Earls Court, London. The BRIT Awards announce Arctic Monkeys as British Breakthrough Act, and a man who is not in Arctic Monkeys walks to the stage to accept.
Arctic Monkeys, R U Mine? (2012). The swagger, the confidence, the absolute certainty that this band belongs at the top. This is the sound of Arctic Monkeys years after the debut, still strutting like they own every stage they walk onto.
R U Mine?, Arctic Monkeys (2012)
R U Mine? is built on one of the filthiest riffs in Arctic Monkeys' catalogue, a low-slung groove that sounds like it was stolen from a 1970s muscle car commercial. Turner's vocal drips with the kind of confidence that only comes from years of being told you're the best band in Britain and starting to believe it. Listen for how Helders' drums push the whole thing forward like a heartbeat that won't slow down, even when the guitars drop out.
Sources
NME, 'R U Mine? single review'
Three Awards in One Night
Eight days after the BRITs, Arctic Monkeys walk into the Hammersmith Palais for the NME Awards and walk out with three trophies. Best New Band. Best British Band. Best Track for "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor." No band has ever won both Best New and Best British in the same night before.
Sources
NME, 'Arctic Monkeys make history at ShockWaves NME Awards'
“In all honesty, who else were gonna be Best British Band at the moment, you know what I mean? You don't write about something that much and then not tell them they're Best British Band.”
— Alex Turner, NME Awards acceptance speech (February 2006)
TAP TO REVEAL: Who actually accepted Arctic Monkeys' BRIT Award?
The World in Six Months
In May 2006, the band tours Europe: Paris, Cologne, Amsterdam, Munich, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid. In June, they cross the Atlantic for their first US tour: Vancouver to New York, every stop receiving critical acclaim. Then Australia and New Zealand. In eighteen months they've gone from handing out CDs in Sheffield pubs to selling out venues on four continents.
Sources
Wikipedia, 'List of Arctic Monkeys concert tours'
Arctic Monkeys were nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 2007 Grammys. Who beat them?
This House Is a Circus, Arctic Monkeys
From Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007). The title says it all. By the time the second album came out, the band had spent a year inside the machine: awards shows, world tours, media circuses, and the constant question of what comes next. This track captures the chaos and the absurdity of being young, famous, and slightly bewildered by it all.
This House Is a Circus, Arctic Monkeys (2007)
Turner watches the spectacle from inside the tent. The song races forward like a tour van that won't stop, piling up images of excess and confusion. "Roll up, roll up" he calls, part ringmaster, part captive.
View from the Top Speed Round
The band is on top of the world. But behind the scenes, one member is struggling to keep up with the pace. Next: Andy Nicholson's departure, the phone call that changed everything, and the bassist who stepped in with twenty-four hours' notice.
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