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Arctic Monkeys are a Mercury Prize winning, English indie rock band from High Green , a suburb of Sheffield . Formed in 2002, the band currently consists of Alex Turner on lead vocals and guitar, Jamie Cook on guitar, Matt Helders on drums and backing vocals, and Nick O'Malley on bass guitar, a position formerly held by Andy Nicholson . Arctic Monkeys achieved chart success with their first two singles, " I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor " and " When The Sun Goes Down ", which reached Number One in the UK Singles Chart .1 Their debut album '' Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not '', released on 23 January 2006 , became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history and received critical acclaim, winning both the 2006 Mercury Prize2 and the 2007 Brit Award for Best British Album. The band's second album, '' Favourite Worst Nightmare '', was released on 23 April 2007 and sold over 225,000 copies in its debut week and has recently been nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize.3 Arctic Monkeys are generally considered part of the Indie Rock scene,4 alongside similar contemporary guitar bands such as Bloc Party , The Libertines , The Futureheads and Franz Ferdinand .56 Arctic Monkeys achieved their success through fan-made Demo Tapes and online File-sharing .7 They were heralded as one of the first acts to come to the public attention via the Internet , with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a change in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed.8 The band eventually signed to Independent Record Label Domino . MUSICAL STYLE Lyrics The lyrics of Arctic Monkeys' singles often feature Social Realism as typified by "A Certain Romance", which comments on Chav and Indie culture and observations of Working Class life, as typified by "When the Sun Goes Down", described as a "witty, poignant song about Prostitution in the Neepsend district of Sheffield ",. Based on their lyrical style the Arctic Monkeys have been compared to acts such as the British rapper Mike Skinner , from The Streets 9 and earlier artists such as Morrissey and Jarvis Cocker ,, both known for their combination of observational lyrics and humour. The lead singer, Alex Turner , sings in a strong Yorkshire Accent , typified by the contraction of "something" to "summat", use of "dun't" (and not "don't") for "doesn't", use of "were" instead of "was", the replacement of "anything" and "nothing" with "owt" (/aʊt/) and "nowt" (/naʊt/), and the use of Northern English slang such as "mardy" for "grumpy, difficult, unpredictable".10 Their songs also include frequent references to Popular Culture both common and obscure; ''Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'' includes references to Romeo And Juliet , Roxanne by The Police , " Rio " by Duran Duran , and Frank Spencer , from Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em , leading one journalist to describe the band as having a " Camp Retro-futurist fascination" for 1980s popular culture. 11 Live appearances See Also: Arctic Monkeys tour history .]] At 's Malahide Castle on June 16 2007 , with a second date added the following day in response to high demand.13 The band is also slated to play the Austin City Limits Festival in September 2007. The band played two shows at Cardiff International Arena on June 19th and June 20th 2007 will were supported by local friend of the band and his band, Reverend And The Makers . The band also headlined the Friday night of Glastonbury 2007, performing a much praised performance of ' Diamonds Are Forever ' as a tribute to Shirley Bassey who was performing on the Sunday. Also seen was the first live performance of 'Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend', performed with Dizzee Rascal . The band have headlined their own "mini-festival" at Lancashire County Cricket Ground on the 28- 29 July 2007, with support acts Amy Winehouse , The Coral , Supergrass and the Japan ese Beatles Tribute Band The Parrots. HISTORY See Also: Arctic Monkeys members Arctic Monkeys tour history Emergence In 2001, neighbours Alex Turner and Jamie Cook asked for instruments as Christmas presents and both received Guitars .14 After teaching themselves to play, the pair formed a band with Turner's friends Andy Nicholson and Matt Helders. Nicholson already played Bass , so Helders ended up on Drums — "that was all that were left...they all had guitars so I bought a drum kit after a bit." Although reports suggested they named themselves after Helders' uncle's (or even father's) band, Helders later admitted that these reports were false, claiming "we made that up ‘cause we got so many people asking us that in the UK, so we just started making stories up",15 and that he just didn't have the heart to tell the original reporter he'd been lying.
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