More about: Arctic Monkeys

Folks were very excited indeed when Arctic Monkeys started trending on Twitter towards the tail-end of October 2020. Could it be a new album? Well...yes and no.

Fans won’t be playing a guessing game on which direction the Sheffield will be taking with a new record of originals (suave desert rock? lounge pop?). Instead, they’ll be digging into the Monkey’s first ever live album: a twenty-track journey to The Royal Albert Hall, where the band played a set of fan favourites, from ‘Four Out Of Five’ through to encore closer ‘R U Mine?’

Let's not kid ourselves: Arctic Monkeys have been high up a lot of peoples’ Favourite Bands lists since the 2006 release of Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. For that reason, very little - if any - of their material is overlooked. Some Arctic Monkeys tracks do get less love than others though. Here are 11 of them.

‘Cigarette Smoke’

Part of the kitchen sink Northern teen era of Arctic Monkeys, ‘Cigarette Smoke’ is the demo that would become Who The Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys? track ‘Cigarette Smoker Fiona’. The riff is meaty and the bassline insistent as the band narrate a seedy night out for a bloke who seems to later appear as older brother to the titular chain smoker on the 2007 evolution. “Snorting Coke off her thighs” Alex sings in an unchecked adolescent tone he would soon partly abandon in favour of those more slick croons. ‘Cigarette Smoke’ is a filthy, undiluted example of how much this band soon deserved to blow the fuck up.

‘Baby I’m Yours’

An early cover that betrayed this band’s penchant for genres other than what you might foolishly expect, news came out in the middle of 2006 that forthcoming EP Leave Before The Lights Come On would carry two covers along with it. The first was The Little Flames’ ‘Put Your Dukes Up, John’ and the second a honeyed version of 60s classic ‘Baby I’m Yours’ by Barbara Lewis. Short, sweet and rough around the edges, it introduced the versatility that Arctic Monkeys would soon come to embody.

‘Fireside’

The AM cut with the least streams to its name, ‘Fireside’ deserves better than its lot. With its scampering percussion and evocative lyrics, this one is the first track that allows AM to recover from its somewhat flaccid middle-section. There’s an understated, electronic breakdown, some lightly applied “shoo wap” backing vocals and one of the neatest elucidations of break-up anywhere on the album: “Like in my heart there's that hotel suite and you lived there so long/It's kinda strange now you're gone."

‘You’re So Dark’

Supple, seedy and twilit, no song epitomises the direction Arctic Monkeys were going in for AM than ‘One For The Road’ B-side ‘You’re So Dark’. Bass pads along like a stalking panther while a Hammond organ acts as the all-consuming chime to the narrator’s crush on the local goth. It’s a gothic-lit name-checking, doggy style-advocating, obsessional masterpiece. It is also the author’s most-streamed song of all time. 

‘Riot Van’

On an album full of scene-changing indie stompers, ‘Riot Van’ sits dead centre: Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’s understated jewel in the crown. Lulling and sardonic, its juiciness comes from two things: that sliding, intoxicated solo and the brilliance of Alex Turner’s verbiage. “‘Have you been drinking, son? You don’t look old enough to me.’ ‘I’m sorry officer, is there a certain age you’re s’posed to be? ‘Cause nobody told me’” Some of Turner’s funniest work.

‘The Jeweller’s Hands’

The near six-minute closer to 2009's Humbug, 'The Jeweller's Hands' slinks along like a cat burglar. In theme, it matches the dark instrumental undercurrent and the pops of thrill coming through in those cheeky synths: though famously obscure, 'The Jeweller's Hands' seethes with the pull and revulsion of forbidden attraction. Deliciously haunting.

'Piledriver Waltz'

Originally written by Alex Turner as part of the incredible soundtrack for Richard Ayoade-directed film Submarine (which you must immediately watch if you haven't!), 'Piledriver Waltz' got its rerecording for 2011 release Suck It And See. A simple song with a near-exlusively two-tone guitar line, this is another seldom-rivalled example of Alex Turner's poetry: "You look like you've been for breakfast at the heartbreak hotel and sat in the back booth by the pamphlets and literature on how to lose" he sings. Resting bitch face, but make it romantic.

'American Sports'

There weren't a whole lot of all-out bangers on Arctic Monkeys' quasi-experimental sixth long-play Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino, but 'American Sports' is one of them. Turner & co. went in with the concept album, proving themselves as some of the most versatile blokes in rock. Get to know the surrounds of this less commercial record - and the multi-faceted personality of 'American Sports' - though, and you might find some missed gems. 

'Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend'

Worlds collided in 2007 when Arctic Monkeys teamed up with Dizzee Rascal on a B-side for the Brianstorm EP. In the same year Dizzee made his step from grime into a mash-up of grime and pop with Maths + English, he also appeared on a single verse of this sharp, dancable masterpiece. Drives you mad when you see how simple some of the best riffs are, doesn't it? 

'Stop The World I Wanna Get Off With You'

Another AM B-side; another cut that could have seen its way onto the album. Stilting, production-tastic and with all the wink wink lyricism of South Yorkshire's most devastating hearthrob, 'Stop The World I Wanna Get Off With You' is a drumstick-introducing, fanfare closing smash hit. 

'Do Me A Favour'

Harumphingly delivered through spiky guitars and repetetive drums, this song is neat onomatopoeia for the sensation of realising you're falling out of love. "It's about me being a bit of a knob" Alex Turner once told NME, and though he's the one in the wrong, one other thing is clear: sometimes, the worst break ups are those with the least drama. 

More about: Arctic Monkeys