Arctic Monkeys - manufactured?

Scam

Scam

Scam

Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
18,535
Location
London
..or rather much more 'managed' from the outset than we're led to believe? Everyone has made a lot of fuss over the fact that the boys 'did it themselves' by releasing stuff online, building up a fanbase etc.. (or whatever the story is, i dunno :)) but my lecturer today was talking about an interesting rumour that they've actually been very strictly managed and the whole thing about releasing tracks online was staged specifically by the management etc... essentially that the whole thing is a bit of a lie.

Has anyone heard of this? Any links/info etc.? I dont want to start an anti-AM thread or anything - i'm genuinely intrigued. :)
 
Massive hype on TV, radio and print... whether they live up to it or not is personal opinion, but the hype has to be created by someone in PR/Marketing - it doesn't just "appear", especially not on the scale that seems to have been generated by the Arctic Monkeys.
 
My friends saw them at NME awards tour on Thursday, all three said they put a bad performance on, they were all cocky and didnt interact with the crowd at all. There was an awful lot of hype about them, my sister bought their album, theyre not bad though.

I would have thought that their "internet" fame was helped and promoted by their record label. But I dont think that they would have been pieced together in the same way as some manufactured bands.
 
Good as manufactured, the only difference is that instead of auditioning for a band that sounds like The Libertines, they headhunted for a band that sounds like The Libertines.

Couple that with PR, Marketing and hell of a lot of good studio technicians, you have a radio1 and NME friendly band. ;)
 
Errr no. If you had been to see this group before their first single you would realise you cannot buy fan devotion like they plainly had.

I saw them twice in the three months before the first single was released and 60% of the crowd knew all the words to most of their songs. I had bought the tickets 6 months before the gigs, on a piece of advice from someone in sheffield who had seen them, and outside of Radio 1's Zane Lowe I knew nothing of them. Whilst their rise has been phenomonal I think it is an entirely organic process caused by the devotion of their fans. By the time the mainstream had picked up on them it had done its job and now everyone is clamouring to see what the fuss is all about.

Numerous bands have been in similar positions but few are lucky enough to catch peoples imagination in the way they have, I would be astounded if they were managed it just doesn't feel organised enough for that.
 
Last edited:
I think it was just a case of word of mouth, they were already becoming massive in terms of support before they reeased a single. I went to one of their gigs in the autumn and the crowd anticipation was immense purely on the strength of the internet demos. Let's hope they've landed the first blow in the death of manufactured pop by going straight to the audience and bypassing the PR rubbish that labels are full of these days.
 
Arctic Monkeys only got signed (to Domino Records) in June of last year, and word about them was already quite widespread iirc, and it was only then that they got some kind of product manager.
 
I havent got much time to chase this up but it seems the rumour is that people from Carter USM (old 90's band who i've personally never heard of) write for Arctic Monkeys. I expect it's just the typical British thing of trying to build a celeb up and then knock them down, but its fun anyway. :p
 
"PM: I notice you have a pretty popular site on Myspace.

Arctic Monkeys: We don’t know about that, either.



PM: So that’s not you guys?

Arctic Monkeys: No, no. The other day someone said to us, “I looked at your profile on Myspace.” I said, “I don’t even know what Myspace is.” [When we went number one in England] we were on the news and radio about how Myspace has helped us. But that’s just the perfect example of someone who doesn’t know what the **** they’re talking about. We actually had no idea what [Myspace] was."


That's how they got popular. All the little scene kids on myspace and the like. It was all planned I recon.

Just my opinion though.
 
There has definitely been a move to the mainstream recently of the sort of willy waving "I heard this band first" thing that has gone on for years among the more "underground" fans. I think AM are just symptomatic of that.
 
I'm quite proud of the fact i have never heard a single artic Monkeys track.

Which is unusual for me, as i am usually a sucker for hyped up stuff.
 
Last edited:
I couldn't really care that much about if they are or were manufactured, as personally to me there are far more bands out there that have better albumns / tracks which don't get as much attention as they do.

Saying that though, their tracks are fantastic floor fillers to the vast majority of people in rock/alternate clubs i've been to, which isn't half bad really.
 
tbh it seems a little strange that - about 1 month ago nobody new metioned or had even heard of the artic monkeys - now everyones like ARTIC MONKEYS 4 T W!!!!!

dont ask me - i prefer to find my own music rarther than it find me
 
Scam said:
I havent got much time to chase this up but it seems the rumour is that people from Carter USM (old 90's band who i've personally never heard of) write for Arctic Monkeys.
Click to expand...
You've never heard of Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine? Heathen! :o

It would be comical if they were writing for the Arctic Monkeys - they did break up around the same time as the Monkeys were starting to get hyped. I don't think it's that likely, though.
 
Last edited:
m3csl2004 said:
tbh it seems a little strange that - about 1 month ago nobody new metioned or had even heard of the artic monkeys - now everyones like ARTIC MONKEYS 4 T W!!!!!

dont ask me - i prefer to find my own music rarther than it find me
Click to expand...

There were a few threads months ago on the music forum about them and the demo's have been floating around amongst my mates since last summer. It's only gone nuts recently because the NME jumped on the bandwagon and 'discovered' them!
 
being from sheffield, i obviously heard them a LONG time ago, they were just like any other small'ish band back then, just playing gigs in pubs and such like!
i kinda got annoyed with all the hype, as much as i like them, their album wasn't as good as some others, especially not deserving the amount of records they sold.
maybe i'm just bitter cos they were rubbish live : <
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom