AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

Drawing inspiration from a wide range of genres, including psychedelic rock, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, desert rock, R&B, funk and soul, AM notably marks Arctic Monkeys' first venture into a hip hop-influenced sound. The band took a different approach to recording the album in comparison to their previous album, Suck It and See (2011), with more emphasis on creating a "studio album" according to frontman Alex Turner. The band incorporated new instruments on the album, including the piano, organ, Hohner Guitaret, and vintage drum machine. Thematically, the album concerns frustration surrounding tainted romance, sex and loneliness.


Commercially, the album has become one of Arctic Monkeys' most successful to date, topping charts in several countries, and reaching top ten positions in many more. Topping the UK Albums Chart, it sold over 157,000 copies in its first week and also went on to be one of the UK's best-selling vinyl albums of the decade, selling 73,000 units.^[2] In addition, the album became the band's most successful in the United States. The single "Do I Wanna Know?" became the first song by the band to enter the Billboard Hot 100, with the album topping four Billboard charts and being certified platinum in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2017.


AM received critical acclaim, with critics praising its darker and groovier sound in comparison to the band's previous records. It featured in many year-end lists as one of the best albums of 2013, including the BBC who named it the best of the year.^[3] At the 2014 Brit Awards, Arctic Monkeys won British Album of the Year for AM. It was also nominated for the 2013 Mercury Prize and received a Best Rock Performance nomination for "Do I Wanna Know?" at the 57th Grammy Awards in 2015. NME hailed it the best album of the decade and, just a month after its release, ranked it 449 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Rolling Stone ranked it 346 in the 2020 edition of its "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.

Musical style[edit]

The album draws inspiration from various musical genres, including indie rock,^[8] psychedelic rock, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, desert rock, R&B, funk, soul, and hip hop.^{[9][10][11][12][13][14][15]} In the first interview of the AM press campaign, Alex Turner told journalist Matt Wilkinson of NME that the album sounded "like a Dr. Dre beat, but we've given it an Ike Turner bowl-cut and sent it galloping across the desert on a Stratocaster", adding that it "sounds less like four lads playing in a room this time. Essentially, that's what it is, but if you can find a way to manipulate the instruments or the sounds to the point where it sounds a bit like a hip-hop beat that'd be boss in your car, then I think there's something quite cool about that."^[16] Turner also cited Outkast, Aaliyah, Black Sabbath, Captain Beyond and The Groundhogs as influences.^[17][18][19] Guitarist Jamie Cook also cited The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars as an inspiration for the album, saying that it was one of the only albums they listened to while recording AM.^[20]


Arctic Monkeys took a different approach to recording AM in comparison to their previous album, Suck It and See, with Alex Turner stating that it is much more a "studio album". The band incorporated new instruments to record the album; they used keyboards such as piano, organ, and celeste, a Hohner Guitaret,^[21] and a vintage drum machine. Recording was done differently as well; producer James Ford stated that, instead of the "live" recording technique of the previous album, this album was recorded mainly with bass guitar and drums laid down first with emphasis on groove. Helder's drum kit was often set up in unconventional ways to achieve different sounds.^[21] Guest musicians Josh Homme, Bill Ryder-Jones, and Pete Thomas were featured on the album.^[4] Thematically, the album concerns frustration surrounding tainted romance, sex and loneliness.^[14]

Commercial performance[edit]

On 15 September 2013, the album charted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, having sold 157,329 copies, thus becoming the second fastest-selling album of the year, behind Daft Punk's Random Access Memories.^[81] With the debut of AM on the chart, Arctic Monkeys also broke a record, becoming the first independent-label band to debut at number one in the UK with their first five albums.^[82] Following the band's win at the 2014 BRIT Awards, the album charted at number two on the chart, behind Bad Blood by Bastille, who also experienced the "BRITs effect".^[83] As of June 2019, AM has spent 300 weeks in the top 100 of the UK Albums Chart.^[84]


AM peaked at number one in Australia, Belgium (Flanders), Croatia, Slovenia, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Portugal, and reached top ten positions in several other countries. In the United States, the album sold 42,000 copies in its first week, and debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming the band's highest-charting album in the United States.^[85] In August 2017, AM was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units over of a million units in the United States.^[86]