Arctic Monkeys Essentials

Only 16 when he founded Sheffield, England’s Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner swiftly established himself as a songwriter of uncommon wisdom and wit. That one-two punch helped make 2006’s Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not the fastest-selling debut album in UK history, armed with a scuffed earworm single in “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”. On 2009’s Humbug they sought riff-thickening advice from Queens of the Stone Age leader Josh Homme—see the brooding menace of “Crying Lightning"—while 2013’s AM cracked the US Top 10 (and later Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list) with sing-along stompers naturally suited to festivals. Once they became one of the world’s biggest rock bands, the Monkeys proved they could also be among its most adventurous, with Turner crooning over darkly funky licks and intentionally drowsy arrangements on tracks like 2018’s “Four Out of Five” and 2022’s “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball”. Whatever the backdrop, Turner’s pen proves no less pointed as he settles confidently into middle age.