Arctic Monkeys Early years and foundation At the age of 15, Turner's weekends revolved around girls and drinking cider with his friends.
Joe Carnall, a schoolfriend, has said Turner was "always the quiet one" in their social circle. After friends began forming bands and playing live, Turner, Helders, and Nicholson decided to start Arctic Monkeys in mid-2002. According to Nicholson, Turner already had "instruments about the house" and was conversant in the basics of musicianship because of his father's job as a music teacher. Helders bought a drum kit, while Turner suggested that Nicholson learn bass guitar, and invited
Jamie Cook, a neighbour who attended a different school, to play guitar. Helders considered Turner the obvious candidate for lyricist – "I knew he had a thing for words" – and he gradually began to share songs with his bandmates. Before playing a live show, the band rehearsed for a year in Turner's garage The set, which was partly recorded, comprised four original songs and four cover versions of songs by
the Beatles,
the White Stripes,
the Undertones, and
the Datsuns. In the summer of 2003, Turner played seven gigs in York and Liverpool as a rhythm guitarist for the funk band Judan Suki, after meeting the lead singer
Jon McClure on a bus. That August, while recording a demo with Judan Suki at Sheffield's 2fly Studios, Turner asked
Alan Smyth if he would produce an Arctic Monkeys demo. Smyth obliged and "thought they definitely had something special going on. I told Alex off for singing in an American voice at that first session." An introduction by Smyth led to the band acquiring a management team, Geoff Barradale and Ian McAndrew. They paid for Smyth and Arctic Monkeys to record numerous three-song demos in 2003 and 2004. Turner was quiet and observant during studio sessions, remembered Smyth: "Whenever anyone popped in the studio, he would sit and listen to them before he would say anything." Barradale drove the band around venues in Scotland, the Midlands, and the north of England to establish their reputation as a live band. and fans began sharing the unofficial
Beneath the Boardwalk demo compilation online. After finishing college in mid-2004, Turner took a year out to focus on the band He began working part-time as a bartender at the Sheffield music venue
The Boardwalk. There, he met well-known figures including musician
Richard Hawley and poet
John Cooper Clarke. By the end of 2004, Arctic Monkeys' audiences were beginning to sing along with their songs and the demo of "
I Bet You Look Good on The Dancefloor" (then called
Bet You Look Good on The Dancefloor, as it was then the
Beneath the Boardwalk version) was played on
BBC Radio 1 by
Zane Lowe.
National rise to prominence Arctic Monkeys came to national attention in early 2005. They received their first mention in a national newspaper in April, with a
Daily Star reporter describing them as "the most exciting band to emerge this year". They self-released
an EP, featuring the single "
Fake Tales of San Francisco", in May and commenced their first nationwide tour soon afterwards. In June, in the midst of a bidding war, Arctic Monkeys signed to the independent label
Domino Recording Company. After initial sessions with
James Ford and
Mike Crossey, they recorded an album in rural
Lincolnshire with producer
Jim Abbiss. ''
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'', Arctic Monkeys' debut album, was released in January 2006, and debuted at number one on the
UK Albums Chart. Turner's lyrics, chronicling teenage nightlife in Sheffield, were widely praised.
Kelefa Sanneh of
The New York Times remarked: "Mr. Turner's lyrics are worth waiting for and often worth memorizing, too ... He has an uncanny way of evoking Northern English youth culture while neither romanticizing it nor sneering at it." Musically,
Alexis Petridis of
The Guardian noted that the album was influenced by guitar bands "from the past five years ... Thrillingly, their music doesn't sound apologetic for not knowing the intricacies of rock history." It was the fastest-selling debut album in British music history and quickly became a cultural phenomenon. Turner was hailed by British press outlets as "the voice of a generation". The band dismissed the hype, with Cook saying their goal was "to be able to grow like
The Clash. When they started, it was a very basic, punky record. Then they started to take off and move in lots of directions. That's what we want." Less than two months after the album's release, Turner declared that Sheffield-inspired songwriting was "a closed book": "We're moving on and thinking about different things." Years later, Turner said that the attention during this period made him "a bit frightened or nervous": "We shut a lot of people out, just to try to keep some sort of control." The band turned down many promotional opportunities and quickly released new material – a five-track EP
Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys? in April, and a stand-alone single, "
Leave Before the Lights Come On", in August. That summer, the band made the decision to permanently replace Nicholson, who had taken a touring break due to "fatigue", with
Nick O'Malley, another childhood friend. Nicholson was informed at a band meeting, during which "Al did the speaking." Turner and Nicholson stopped speaking for two years but later repaired their friendship. in May 2007|225x225px Arctic Monkeys' second album,
Favourite Worst Nightmare, was released in April 2007, just over a year after their debut. It was produced in London by
Mike Crossey and
James Ford. As of 2020, Ford has produced every subsequent Turner project. Lyrically, the album touches on fame, love, and heartache. Johanna Bennett, Turner's then girlfriend, was credited as a co-writer on "
Fluorescent Adolescent". While uninterested in the songs concerning fame, Marc Hogan of
Pitchfork said the album displayed Turner's "usual gift for vivid imagery" and explored "new emotional depth". The album was a commercial success, debuting at number one in the UK, while Arctic Monkeys headlined
Glastonbury Festival in the summer of 2007. Also that year, Turner began to collaborate with other artists. He worked with rapper
Dizzee Rascal on the Arctic Monkeys B-side "
Temptation", a version of which also featured on Rascal's album
Maths and English. He co-wrote three songs on
Reverend and The Makers' debut album
The State Of Things, after briefly sharing a Sheffield flat with the frontman Jon McClure. Another Sheffield singer,
Richard Hawley, featured on the Arctic Monkeys' B-side "
Bad Woman" and performed with the band at the
Manchester Apollo, as part of a
concert film directed by
Richard Ayoade. Turner has described Arctic Monkeys' third album,
Humbug, released in August 2009, as "a massive turning point" in the band's career. They travelled to
Joshua Tree, California to work with producer
Josh Homme of
Queens of the Stone Age; it was the band's first experience of working in a studio for an extended period of time. Homme has said the album's heavier sound was initiated by the band themselves, while he encouraged Turner to embrace longer guitar solos and to develop his newfound "crooning" style of singing. While Petridis of
The Guardian found some lyrics "too oblique to connect", he was impressed by the band's "desire to progress". He described "
Cornerstone" as a "dazzling display of what Turner can do: a fabulously witty, poignant evocation of lost love." Joe Tangari of
Pitchfork felt the album was a "legitimate expansion of the band's songwriting arsenal" and described "Cornerstone" as the highlight. During a break in the UK
Humbug tour, Turner joined Richard Hawley on stage at a London charity concert, and played a seven-song acoustic set. Homme joined Arctic Monkeys for a live performance in
Pioneertown, California. Turner wrote Arctic Monkeys' fourth album,
Suck It and See, in New York and met up with his bandmates and James Ford for recording sessions in Los Angeles. Marc Hogan of
Pitchfork enjoyed the album's "chiming indie pop balladry" and "muscular glam-rock". Petridis of
The Guardian remarked that Turner's new lyrical style of "dense,
Dylanesque wordplay is tough to get right. More often than not, he pulls it off. There are beautifully turned phrases and piercing observation." Richard Hawley co-wrote and provided vocals for the B-side, "
You and I", and performed the song with the band at the Olympia in Paris. Turner joined
Elvis Costello on stage in New York to sing "
Lipstick Vogue".
International breakthrough By 2012, Arctic Monkeys were based in
Los Angeles, with Turner and Helders sharing a house. Arctic Monkeys toured the US as the support act for
the Black Keys in early 2012. While they had previously opened for
Oasis and Queens of the Stone Age at one-off shows, it was the band's first time to tour as a supporting act. They released "
R U Mine?" as a standalone single in preparation for the tour. Later that year, Arctic Monkeys performed "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and a cover of "
Come Together" by
the Beatles at the
2012 London Summer Olympics opening ceremony. In early 2013, Turner provided backing vocals for the Queens of the Stone Age song "
If I Had a Tail" and played bass guitar on "
Get Right", a Miles Kane B-side. Arctic Monkeys headlined Glastonbury Festival for a second time in June.
AM was released in September 2013. Ryan Dombal of
Pitchfork said that the album, dealing with "desperate 3 a.m. thoughts", managed to modernise "
T. Rex bop,
Bee Gees backup vocals,
Rolling Stones R&B, and
Black Sabbath monster riffage". Phil Mongredien of
The Guardian described it as "their most coherent, most satisfying album since their debut": "Turner proves he has not lost his knack for an insightful lyric." Arctic Monkeys promoted the album heavily in the US, in contrast to previous album campaigns where, according to Helders, they had refused to do radio promotion: "We couldn't even have told you why at the time. Just stubborn teenage thinking." in 2018|194x194px
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, Arctic Monkeys' sixth album, was released in May 2018. After receiving a
Steinway Vertegrand piano as a 30th birthday present from his manager, Turner wrote the space-themed album from the perspective of "a lounge-y character". He recorded demos at home, alone and later with Helders, and shared them with Cook in early 2017. Cook was initially taken-aback by the change in direction but was "very, very excited by what he'd come up with." By mid–2017, the whole band was recording the project, produced by Turner and James Ford, in both Los Angeles and France. Upon release, Jonah Weiner of
Rolling Stone characterised
Tranquility Base as "a captivatingly bizarre album about the role of entertainment – the desire to escape into it, and the desire to create it – during periods of societal upheaval and crisis." Jazz Monroe of
Pitchfork declared it "a delirious and artful satire directed at the foundations of modern society." The album became the eighth number one album of Turner's career in the UK. The band
toured the album from May 2018 to April 2019. After unsuccessfully attempting to write heavier guitar riffs for the next album, Turner's songwriting took a similar subdued tone on Arctic Monkeys' seventh studio album,
The Car, which was released in October 2022. The album heavily featured a string section co-arranged by Turner and its lead single, "
There'd Better Be a Mirrorball", was accompanied by a video co-directed by Turner. In 2023, the band headlined
Glastonbury Festival for the third time, despite Turner having been diagnosed with acute
laryngitis days before.
The Last Shadow Puppets in 2008|197x197px Turner announced plans in 2007 to form a side-project band,
the Last Shadow Puppets, with Ford and
Miles Kane, whom he had befriended during a tour in mid-2005. The Last Shadow Puppets' debut album,
The Age of the Understatement, was released in April 2008, shortly after Turner had moved from Sheffield to east London. Co-written by Turner and Kane, the album was recorded in the
Loire Valley, France and featured string arrangements by
Owen Pallett. Hogan of
Pitchfork noted that, lyrically, Turner was "moving from his anthropologically detailed Arctics brushstrokes to bold, cinematic gestures." Petridis of
The Guardian detected "the audible enthusiasm of an artist broadening his scope" and praised "a certain fearlessness on display". During a tour with the
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Turner said Kane's presence gave him "somewhere to hide" on stage. The Last Shadow Puppets gave a surprise performance at Glastonbury Festival, with both Matt Helders and
Jack White making guest appearances.
Alison Mosshart performed with the band at the
Olympia in Paris, and provided vocals for a
B-side. Also in 2008, Turner formed a
covers band with
Dev Hynes for a one-off show in London and recorded a spoken word track "A Choice of Three" for Helders' compilation album
Late Night Tales. The Last Shadow Puppets released their second album, ''
Everything You've Come to Expect, in April 2016. Turner, Kane and Ford were joined by Zach Dawes of Mini Mansions, with whom Turner had collaborated on the songs "Vertigo" and "I Love You All The Time" in 2015. Owen Pallett again composed the string arrangements, this time working in the studio with the band rather than remotely. According to Turner, the album featured "the most straight-up love letters" of his career, written for American model Taylor Bagley whom he dated from 2015 to 2018. Laura Snapes of Pitchfork
detected an air of "misanthropy" in the album. However, she acknowledged that Turner was "no less a gifted lyricist than ever" and described some songs as "totally gorgeous ... the structures fluid and surprising". Alexis Petridis of The Guardian'' enjoyed Turner's "characteristically sparkling use of language" and "melodic skill". However, he felt the pair's "in-joking" during interviews and Kane's "leery" encounter with a female
Spin journalist sullied the album. From March until August 2016, they toured in Europe and North America. Turner's father David played saxophone at a Berlin show.
Solo work and collaborations While living in
Brooklyn, New York, where he had moved in the spring of 2009, Turner wrote an acoustic soundtrack for the coming-of-age feature film
Submarine (2010); it was released as
an EP in March 2011. Director Richard Ayoade initially approached Turner to sing cover versions but, instead, he recorded six original songs in London, accompanied by James Ford and
Bill Ryder-Jones. Two of the songs had already been written; Turner wrote the rest after watching
dailies from the film set. The songs existed within the world of the film as a mixtape made by the main character's father. Paul Thompson of
Pitchfork felt "Turner's keen wit and eye for detail" had created a "tender portrayal" of adolescent uncertainty. Ben Walsh of
The Independent said the "exquisite" soundtrack was "reminiscent" of
Cat Stevens's work on
Harold and Maude. In 2014, the
Submarine soundtrack appeared on
The Times's list of 100 Soundtracks to Love. Turner also co-wrote six songs for Miles Kane's debut solo album
Colour of the Trap (2011) and co-wrote Kane's standalone single "
First of My Kind" (2012).
Columbia Records approached Turner about working with
Alexandra Savior in 2014, and he co-wrote her debut album,
Belladonna of Sadness, in between Arctic Monkeys' touring commitments. Turner and James Ford co-produced the album in 2015, with Turner also playing bass, guitars, keyboards, and synthesisers. An additional song "Risk" was recorded with
T Bone Burnett for an episode of the crime drama
True Detective. While Turner and Savior performed together in Los Angeles in 2016, the album was not released until April 2017. In reviewing it, Hilary Hughes of
Pitchfork remarked: "Turner's musical ticks are so distinct that they're instantly recognizable when someone else tries to dress them up as their own." Savior later said the press attention surrounding Turner's involvement was overwhelming: "I'm so grateful for him, but I'm also like, 'Alright, alright!'" He also composed the music for the audiobook version of Ayoade's subsequent book,
The Unfinished Harauld Hughes, released in 2024. ==Artistry==