Arctic Monkeys' debut album set to put Oasis in the shade.

[Blackleaf]

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

 

[Blackleaf]

RE: Arctic Monkeys' debut album set to put Oasis in the shad

As the awesome Arctic Monkeys are dubbed the new Beatles, they have another thing in common with the Beatles - they had a member leaving the band just before they made it big.

From The Sun -

Arctic Donkey.


YOU’D think he’d be the most hacked off person in Britain.

I’ve discovered that there was a secret fifth ARCTIC MONKEY who quit the band before they took off.

Poor GLYN JONES will go down in history as the PETE BEST of the group — the famous “fifth Beatle” who was fired from the legendary foursome before they hit the big time.

Monkey mania has gripped Britain and midweek chart figures show the Sheffield four-piece sold a staggering 118,000 copies of their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, on its first day of release this week.

That’s roughly 82 copies sold every minute on Monday.

And 19-year-old Glyn, the original lead singer, could have been part of the phenomenon.

But he insists he isn’t bitter and says he is thrilled by the success of his pals ALEX TURNER, ANDY NICHOLSON, JAMIE COOK and MATT HELDERS.

Glyn told me: “I’m really proud of them all. What they have done is amazing and I doubt if I had stayed in the band they would have got this far. What the Arctic Monkeys are now is completely different to three years ago, when it was just a gang of mates in a garage.

“My mum and dad are more upset I left the band than I am.

“I just didn’t have the dedication to be in a band so I don’t get jealous when I see them on MTV.”

Glyn met current lead singer Alex, Andy and Matt at Stocksbridge High School. A school photo shows him with pal Alex in 2002.

Later they all became friends with Alex’s neighbour Jamie Cook after playing football in the street together. But it wasn’t until the last day of school in May 2003 that Glyn and Alex began to pen lyrics together and the original Arctic Monkeys were formed.

Glyn recalls: “I remember our last GCSE was science and Alex and I went back to his house. We were bored so we started writing a song about a geek in our year.

“Alex had got a guitar for Christmas but we felt a bit stupid playing it so we would write rubbish that didn’t mean anything and just mess about.

“I suppose the way we wrote then was similar to how Alex writes now — about real things that happened to us, things people relate to.”

The boys told Matt, Andy and Jamie about their songs, Jamie dreamed up the name Arctic Monkeys, and the five spent almost every day of the long summer holiday before starting college practising in Alex’s garage.

Glyn — now a marketing and design assistant in Sheffield — said: “Alex admitted a couple of months ago that he practically bullied me into being the lead singer.

“He was really humble and didn’t realise how great his own voice was. He loves music and was happy just playing his guitar.

“To me we were just a gang of kids messing around because we were bored — it was never my dream to take it any further.

“But Alex could see something. I remember him saying, ‘Imagine if we had a band called the Arctic Monkeys and people came to see us play.’ But I honestly didn’t think it would go anywhere.”

thesun.co.uk