How did Arctic Monkeys get their name?
If you heard the phrase Arctic Monkeys before the year 2002, you’d probably have pictured chimps and gorillas bundled up in puffer jackets, treking through snowy mountains. Now, the strange pairing of words has become attached to four northern lads brandishing guitars and drumsticks, led by a slick lead singer named Alex Turner. They’re one of the most iconic guitar bands of the 21st century, with one of the most iconic names, but where did it come from?
Spawning from Sheffield in the early 2000s, Arctic Monkeys would become one of the defining bands of the garage-rock and post-punk revival. Their original lineup included a slightly different selection of band members than we know now, with Turner taking up the microphone, Matt Helders on drums, Andy Nicholson on bass, and Jamie Cook on the guitar.
It was this original lineup that would produce the band’s iconic debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, in 2006. It was also this original lineup that would pick out the name Arctic Monkeys. They had no idea at the time that, one day, that phrase would plastered outside of huge sold-out venues. In fact, if they did, they might have chosen differently, according to Alex Turner.
“The name of the band seems to allude to how limited the expectations were,” Turner admitted during a conversation with The Guardian, “If you realised you were gonna be doing this 20 years later, you might’ve had another hour in that meeting.” Turner might still not be sold on the name, but he’s stuck with it.
So, where did the name Arctic Monkeys come from?
Some theorised that the band name referenced the phrase “northern monkeys”, a term used to stereotype people from up north, but this doesn’t seem to be the actual origin of the name. Turner once suggested that it was passed down through their drummer’s family. According to the frontman in an earlier interview with The Guardian, Helders’ father had played in a band of the same name decades prior.
“He passed it down from generation to generation,” Turner added, “Like a recipe.” It’s difficult to tell how serious Turner was while telling this story. In a different interview, he suggested that he didn’t even remember coming up with the name and didn’t know its meaning. “I’ve no idea where it came from,” he once told Q Magazine via NME, “It was Jamie’s fault, he came up with it and he’s never even told us why. If he even knows, he’s keeping it a secret from me.”
Despite the slightly silly name they had given themselves and the mixed stories and memories about where it came from, Turner’s low expectations for the band would soon be blown out of the water.
The Arctic Monkeys quickly won over audiences via the powers of the internet with their raw yet romantic take on guitar music. Turner quickly became one of the most revered and referenced frontmen in the genre, still inspiring budding songwriters and singers today. Arctic Monkeys won over critics and awarding groups, too, taking home a Mercury Prize, Brits, and Grammy nominations.
Turner may not have had enough faith in the band to give it a more serious name or to even remember choosing it, but Arctic Monkeys would go on to achieve mammoth success nonetheless. Their name may have left fans puzzled, wondering why on earth monkeys would have made their way to the Arctic, but their music outshone its silliness at every opportunity.
