Rumours of the 8th Arctic Monkeys record are coming thick and fast, with the band allegedly booked in for studio sessions in November. Whilst we sit and wait for more official news, here is my Top 10 Arctic Monkeys songs.
An effort from the band's last record 'The Car' full of drama, bombast and ambition. This, for many fans, was a return to form, after the release of 'Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino.' A whole band affair inspired heavily by the 1970s, full of beautiful strings and lush cinematic tones.
At its core, 'Body Paint' paints a picture of emotional manipulation and self-deception. Lyrically, the song reads like a confession wrapped in ambiguity. The “body paint” itself acts as a metaphor for concealing one’s true self, a layer that covers the raw, vulnerable emotions beneath. Alex Turner
Despite the stripped-back sound, it's still firmly the Arctic Monkeys, Turner's lyricism is still the star of the show. Cook, Nick O’Malley and Helders are present and powerful, guided by Turner’s songwriting and delicate vocal performance. If ‘Tranquility…’s monochrome palette boxed Arctic Monkeys in, here they’re flourishing in full colour.
'Humbug' was a bold release for the Arctic Monkeys, they headed into the California desert and by the time they came out, the band had changed forever. The songs that came out from these sessions sounded nothing like the band who had found instant fame in the UK with 2006 debut ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ and 2007 follow-up ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’.
At the time, it felt like a huge step, but in retrospect, it was the band's most important album. The record that would set the foundations for what would come later, the moment that the boys from Sheffield realised that they were not just the biggest fish in the indie pond, they were rock stars.
The band slowed things down; if you listen to 'Humbug' after the first two albums, it sounds like the band is playing on half speed. 'Secret Door' is one of the album's most sludgy tracks, with some bizarre lyrics, “Fools on parade cavort and carry on for waiting eyes/That you would rather be beside than in front of/But she’s never been the kind to be hollowed by the stares”. Even the song's structure deviated from the usual, the sequence is chorus, verse, bridge, verse, bridge, chorus, chorus.
Despite this, 'Secret Door' is a classic Arctic Monkeys song that showcases the start of a band on a journey to becoming the biggest band in the world.
I've said before on this blog that 'Suck It & See' is my favourite Arctic Monkeys album. The NME wrote a post a few years ago declaring Alex Turner a method actor. On every album, Alex Turner plays a different character. Arctic Monkeys‘ latest, ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’, finds the frontman as a sleazy, washed up fiend sat at the back of the bar by the piano. ‘AM’ saw him embrace his leather-clad rock-god persona.
On 'Suck It & See', Turner plays a character that is the closest to his true self, a “Lou Reed-esque singer-songwriter, writing lovelorn guitar ballads". 'Piledriver Waltz' is one of his very best lovelorn guitar ballads.
With a staggering, charming opening line (“I etched the face of a stopwatch, on the back of a raindrop”), the song is full of beautiful moments like this. I think you can make a pretty fair case for these lyrics to be Turner's finest to date.
"You look like you've been for breakfast at the heartbreak hotel
And sat in the back booth by the pamphlets and the literature on how to lose
Your waitress was miserable, and so was your food
If you're gonna try and walk on water
Make sure you wear your comfortable shoes."
They are brilliant. It's one of the very best indie pop songs that the band have ever released. On an album that is an excellent collection of indie pop songs, ‘Piledriver Waltz’ feels like eavesdropping on a painfully protracted breakup.
Multifaceted storytelling and an impeccably airtight rhythm section result in a tremendous payoff on the band’s first-ever recorded track, 'Fake Tales of San Francisco.' Beneath the circular, hypnotic bass loops is a snapshot of Arctic Monkeys at their formative best: sharp-eyed chroniclers of the nightlife they inhabited and unafraid to puncture pretension.
Alex Turner's lyrics express how bands tried to be like other bands, hence the lyric "get off the bandwagon". The lyrics express how bands portrayed this "fake" image of who they were and what they wanted their audience to perceive them as.
It's a real harsh critique on the bands they were seeing, and sometimes their fans.
"And there's a super cool band, yeah with the trillbies and the glasses of white wine/and all the weekend rockstars in the toilets practicing their lines."
In the first lines, Alex sarcastically compliments the band. A trillby is a type of hat generally seen as a signature of people trying to seem cool. Alex also mentions how they are simply a weekend band. They act as if they are living a lavish rockstar lifestyle in San Francisco, but they at simply a small local band with jobs on weekdays.
"I don't wanna hear you (kick me out kick me out)"
This is the crowd making fun of the band. They are almost begging the band to kick them out of the venue so they don't have to listen anymore.
"Yeah, but this bird said it's amazing, so now all that's left is the proof that love's not only blind but deaf."
This line is about one of the Fake Tales band members' girlfriends, referenced here as "this bird". It's saying that if the girl can listen to the band's music and call it "amazing", that love isn't just blind (common expression) but also deaf.
Turner had a grasp of songwriting far beyond his years. It's crazy to think he was a teenager when writing these songs. His lyrics are very clever, take the line But you're not from New York City, you're from Rotherham, it's a critique on local bands but also a little easter egg for beady-eyed football fans. Rotherham United play at the New York Stadium.
'Fake Tales of San Francisco' is one of the band's most well-loved tracks. Originally released on the band's first EP, 'Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys', and then on the band's debut album, 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'.
This may seem like an obvious choice, it's one of the band's most popular songs. However, it's extremely popular for a reason, the song's sheer joy is nothing but infectious, glorious, unsteady, beautiful and silly. In a way that only early Arctic Monkeys songs are.
From its opening refrain "You used to get it in your fishnets/Now you only get it in your night dress." fans are aware what the song is about, however, the way Turner tells the story is anything but ordinary.
It's full of wit, is brazen in its bite, and the references are so quintessentially Northern. “Was it a Mecca dauber or a betting pencil?” Despite it's unusual nature, the song is so romantic, and beautiful. "And those dreams weren't as daft as they seem/Not as daft as they seem, My love, when you dream them up."
'Fluorescent Adolescent' contains some of Turner's most heartfelt moments.
"You're falling about
You took a left off Last Laugh Lane
We're just sounding it out
But you're not coming back again"
It's a fantastical fairytale journey that hits close to home, full of romance and emotion. Eighteen years on, it's easy to see why it is routinely ranked as one of the band's best compositions.
Opening with a haunting organ sample from Ennio Morricone’s spaghetti Western 'The Good, The Bad And The Ugly', '505' marked a new territory for Arctic Monkeys. An atmospheric filmic depth that, unlike later-day Monkeys tunes, still pulsates and intensifies with each guitar riff and drum beat.
The song has become a fan favourite, upon its original release it peaked at Number 73 on the UK singles chart. However, through the emergence of new social media platforms such as TikTok, the song re-charted in America, and went on to become the band's third most-streamed song on Spotify.
Described by the NME as "the tear-jerker finale that has you floating from the theatre as the credits roll. It's worth mentioning that the Arctic Monkeys had to follow up the fastest-selling debut album ever; they more than did that, and '505' is the album's crowning moment. full of vivid imagery, and brillaint instrumentation
I think everyone has to find space for this in their list of Top Ten's. This is the song that launched Arctic Monkeys to the world, and it sent them roaring out of the gate. In 8 short words, just before performing this song, Alex Turner set the band up for success forever. “We are the Arctic Monkeys – don’t believe the hype”
The song is blistering, full of acerbic wit, and is perfectly formed. It sounds like a band a decade into their career. They may have beaten it in terms of future output, but as a debut single, it's probably the best by a British band.
It debuted at Number One on the UK Singles Chart in October 2005 and has remained a staple of the band’s live setlist ever since. In under three minutes, 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor' didn’t just change the band's lives forever; it redefined the trajectory of British indie rock in the mid-2000s. Its frenetic tempo, spiky guitar riffs, and rapid-fire vocal delivery captured the energy of the era’s club and gig culture. while, Alex Turner’s wry, hyper-local lyricism made it an anthem grounded in authenticity. The track became a generational touchstone and it continues to soundtrack the lives of indie kids everywhere, its urgency undimmed by time.
In my opinion, great songs are the ones that you can relate to. Noel Gallagher calls it writing about the "universal truths." With 'A Certain Romance' Alex Turner writes about a universal experience that many of us face, outgrowing the place you grew up, your hometown.
As your teenage years draw to a close, the overfamiliarity of your locale can feel increasingly claustrophobic. Still, a nagging undercurrent of pride is what draws you back, time and time again. What ‘A Certain Romance’ offers is a small victory. It’s emblematic of an entire suburban adolescence. With no real chorus and very few rhythmic changes, it manages to condense and illustrate all the bombast and tension of this universal experience into five life-affirming minutes.
No other Arctic Monkeys song feels more searing, more perfect, than this one. It’s the sound of believing in a band’s every word, carrying them with you wherever you go, and feeling so profoundly, disgustingly grateful for each new lyric, for each indescribable emotion. As it builds to an earth shaking climax, Jamie Cook’s guitar roars and Matt Helder’s pummelling drums coalesce, with Alex Turners ephiany, and the band realise that there is no place like home.
A perfect snapshot of Turner's hometown and his generation. It keeps spitting bile at a culture where "there's only music so there's new ringtones", then retracting it a few lines later - "of course, it's all OK to carry on that way" - as if the narrator is torn between contempt and class solidarity. Eventually, the latter wins out: "Over there, there's friends of mine, what can I say, I've known them for a long time," he sings. "You just cannot get angry in the same way."
The best song on one of the best British debut albums ever. It's some achievement but I think there's two songs that are better.
'That's Where You're Wrong' is quite simply the most underrated Arctic Monkeys song, it catches you with it's simplicity a buzzing bassline, shimeering guitars and evocative lyrics. Looking back in retrospect, the song served as the climaz of the bands fourth album but also their career up until that point. A big hearted full blossoming love songs, that sounds like the hazy LA Sunset under which it was likely recorded. It seems effortless from the band which is why perhaps that the song does not always get the credit I believe it deserves.
That’s Where You’re Wrong’ was born to be a live classic, though they never quite were able to work it into their setlist with consistency. A bloody crime, to be honest. It did get a short run out in 2022, just before the release of 'The Car' most notably at Reading & Leeds during the bands headline sets.
However, it's a song I don't think the band or fans give enough credit to. It's exceptional.
I had to mention 'AM' at least once in this list. The bands fifth album is a triumph from start to finish, one of the very best records of the 2010's, the album that introduced Arctic Monkeys to a new generation. The moment they stopped being defined by genre and instead became artists. Not a rock band, definitely not an indie band, but artists. Think Bowie, think The Beatles, think Stevie Wonder and think Bob Dylan. From this point on, Arctic Monkeys can do whatever they want, sound however they like, and always be Arctic Monkeys.
'R U Mine' originally surfaced in early 2012 as a part of Record Store Day UK. It kicked off a remarkable run of releases that paved the way for the invincible, record-breaking ‘AM’ in 2013, for which it was reworked and re-released as the mighty lead single. This exhilarating track made for one of the band’s greatest displays of their power yet, and they knew that.
A song that is as much late-’90s hip-hop in sound as it is mid-’70s rock.
This song set the tone for the record, it informed the whole writing process and introduced the world to The Cosmic Opera Melodies Of The Space Choirboys (namely Matt Helders and Nick O’Malley doing their best falsettos). You cannot understate the impact of this song, it turned Arctic Monkeys into the biggest band in the world, and changed the trajectory for modern guitar music.
The bravado never phases, the change of pace is electrygying. Arctic Monkeys abilities are limitless.
‘Cornerstone’ isn’t just my favourite Arctic Monkeys song, it might be the best thing Alex Turner has written. At first, it seems like a simple post-breakup story: the narrator drifts through pubs, trying to distract himself, but keeps running into reminders of a lost love. Look closer, though, and the song reveals subtle storytelling, emotional twists, and layers of meaning.
On the surface, the song follows a man moving between four pubs: The Battleship, The Rusty Hook, The Parrot’s Beak, and finally The Cornerstone. In each place, he meets women who remind him of his ex, but each encounter ends with rejection. The experience is bittersweet, awkward, and quietly heartbreaking.
Digging deeper, fan theories add resonance. One suggests the song allegorizes grief, not just heartbreak. The Cornerstone is a grief counselling centre in Sheffield. From this view, the pub crawl becomes a metaphor for mourning, with each false recognition another failed attempt to reclaim the lost. Another suggests that the narrator is searching for the perfect partner, as if they are searching for treasure. All of the pubs except The Cornerstone, have a pirate theme. The battleship, The Rusty Hook ( like a pirates hook) and The Parrot's Beak.
Another theory takes a darker turn, interpreting the closing lines “Yes, you can call me anything you want” as a sign that the narrator ultimately meets a sex worker. This reading gains weight from the earlier lyric “on the phone to the middle man”, which could allude to a pimp or intermediary arranging the meeting. In this version, the journey ends not with rekindled romance but with a paid encounter, turning the narrator’s yearning into a transaction. It’s a bleak, almost tragic image, his search for emotional connection has brought him to the shallowest form of intimacy, amplifying the song’s themes of desperation and emotional dislocation.
Turner pairs this emotional story with a gentle, breezy melody, making it hit harder. His understated delivery makes the heartbreak feel real, like pain you carry quietly. In a catalog full of clever lines and swagger, ‘Cornerstone’ shows Turner at his most vulnerable, mixing humor, sadness, and poetic details into a song that lingers.
What makes 'Cornerstone' my personal favorite is how much it stood out from anything Arctic Monkeys had done before. During the Humbug era, when their music was heavy and full of desert-rock sounds, Turner took a different route. He dropped the loud riffs and fast tempos, choosing a light, almost playful melody to tell one of his most bittersweet stories. At the time, this contrast felt risky and surprising, but it made the song stand out even more. More than a decade on, 'Cornerstone' remains a rare live staple that can hush a festival crowd into silence before erupting into a singalong. At Glastonbury 2013, Turner's delivery and phrasing transformed it into a shared moment of quiet connection. 'Cornerstone' isn't just a track you hear; it's a story you inhabit, a memory you carry, and, for me, the purest distillation of why Arctic Monkeys are so special.
Thank you ever so much for reading
Jack