ARCTIC MONKEYS - HIGH GREEN INDIE ROCK BAND

Arctic Monkeys are an English indie rock band from High Green, a suburb of Sheffield. Was formed in 2002, the band consisted of Alex Turner (vocalist,guitar), Jamie Cook (guitar), Matt Helders (drummer,back-up vocalist), and Nick O'Malley (bassist, back-up vocalist), who replaced Andy Nicholson. Arctic Monkeys achieved chart success with their first single, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart. Their debut album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not ", released in January 2006, became the fasttest-selling debut in Brittish music history, surpassing Oasis' Definitely Maybe. It remains the fasttest-selling debut album for a band. It received critical acclaim, winning both the 2006 Mercury Prize and the 2007 BRIT Award for Best British Album. The band's second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, was released on 23 April 2007, sold over 225'000 copies in its debut week, and was nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize. The group also picked up the award for Best British Group at the BRIT Awards in 2008. Arctic Monkeys achieved their success through fan-made demo tapes and online file sharing. They were heralded as one of the first acts to come to public attention via the Internet, with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a changed in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed. The band eventually signed to the independent record label Domino Records.
The band has received criticism based around the media circus that has both surrounded and contributed to their rise. Critics described them as one in a long line of largely overhyped "NME bands", while the release of the EP Who The Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys just three months after their record-breaking debut album has been criticised by some, who have seen it as "money-grabbing" and "cashing in on their success". The band countered that they regularly released new music not to make money, but to avoid the "boredom" of "spending three years touring on one album". The cover sleeve of Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, showing Chris McClure, a friend of the band, smoking a cigarette, was criticised by the head of the NHS in Scotland for "reinforcing the idea that smoking is OK". The image on the CD itself is a shot of an ashtray full of cigarette. The band's product manager denied the accusation, and suggested the opposite - "You can see from the image smoking is not doing him the world of good". The band was part of a chaotic and much-criticized 2008 Brit Award ceremony; While accepting their Brit Award for Best British group in 2008, the band make jokes about being from the BRIT School in Croydon. Students who attend the school are offered the chance to be in the audience; the Brit Awards heavily support the school. Rather, they were mocking previous winners of the night Adele and Kate Nash, who thanked the crowd and the school in their acceptance speech, having graduated from the school themselves. The speech was cut short by ITV.

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