Arctic Monkeys are a four-piece indie rock band from Sheffield, England, whose debut single, "I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor", went straight to number one in the UK Singles Chart.
Described as a northern Libertines, their sound has been described as both post-punk and dance-punk and, both musically and lyrically, shares much common-ground with The Jam.
In May 2005, Arctic Monkeys released their first EP, Five Minutes with the Arctic Monkeys, featuring the songs Fake Tales of San Francisco and From the Ritz to the Rubble. This release was limited to 1000 in CD format and 500 in 7".
Their popularity rocketed following several shows and giving away demos, and fans compounded this through word-of-mouth and spreading of mp3s. Beneath the Boardwalk – the renamed demo CD made available on "The Sheriff"'s website – quickly became available on several "illegal" peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.
The phenomena became clearly apparent when, in October 2005, the band played at a sold out London Astoria and 2000 fans sung the words to every song, despite the band having released just one single record. The band declared their rampant rise to stardom via the internet "amazing", although adding "I'm sure one day it will come back and bite us in the arse". The band's novel method of reaching the number 1 spot have led some to suggest that it could signal a change in how new bands acheive recognition.[1]