Arctic Monkeys ‘AM’ album turns 10

The 10 year anniversary of Arctic Monkeys’ album “AM” reminds everyone of their success.
“AM,” the fifth studio album by the Arctic Monkeys, turned ten years old on Sept. 9. The album not only showed a shift in the Arctic Monkeys’ sound but in the music industry as well. “AM” ditched the old garage band sound that caused the band to blow up in the mid-2000s, and instead replaced it with smooth production and James Bond-esque guitars that carried singer Alex Turner’s voice through stories of heartbreak and romantic turmoil.
While the Arctic Monkeys were known before, “AM” truly brought them to stardom. In a world where the internet was run by teenagers on Tumblr and Doc Martens were flying off the shelves, there was no way “AM” wouldn’t have been successful. With leather jackets, slicked-back hair and sunglasses worn even in the dark, Arctic Monkeys rose to stardom in a day and age where rock bands had a hard time reaching the levels of success of pop stars.
The album begins with one of the most popular songs in their discography, “Do I Wanna Know?” which introduces listeners to a new era of the band. No longer is the teenage band with thrashing drums and bad haircuts. The sound is smoother, more refined and has the impression that they have reached a maturity that hasn’t been achieved in earlier albums.
One thing that is not lost is the ability to write hook after hook. The guitar riffs, while different, show the same catchiness as old songs. There are the same captivating hooks in the vocal melodies that are layered on top of each other. While tamer in sound, the lyrics still have the same blunt honesty that was present in previous work.
Tumblr was in its heyday, and the Arctic Monkeys “AM” became a now easily identifiable relic in its reign. Ask anyone who was on the internet in 2013 to 2015 what describes Tumblr, and the “AM” album will be one of the top answers. Once the album came out, the shift became very clear. Suddenly everyone was on Tumblr reblogging lyrics from “I Wanna Be Yours” that are pasted over a picture of a girl smoking a cigarette on a rainy night. It brought Arctic Monkeys to the forefront of the conversation of the biggest bands of our generation.
While “AM” shot Arctic Monkeys to stardom, there were many that criticized the band for “selling out” to the mainstream. No longer were they a beloved indie band from the UK. They were selling out venues and were now playing on the Billboard Top 100 radio in the US.
In a memorable display of principle, while the band was accepting the album of the year award at the BRITs, Turner spoke into the microphone, “That rock ’n’ roll, eh? That rock ’n’ roll, it just won’t go away. It might hibernate from time to time and sink back into the swamp. I think the cyclical nature of the universe in which it exists demands it adhere to some of its rules. But it’s always waiting there, just around the corner, ready to make its way back through the sludge and smash through the glass ceiling, looking better than ever.”
At 10 years old, the album is still as relevant as ever. Nostalgia and the resurfacing of old hits on TikTok, the album is still being listened to today. While most music from that time period won’t live to the next era, “AM” is a timeless album that should be listened to as long as possible.