20 Things Only Arctic Monkeys Fans Will Understand

8. It's Hard To Know How To Feel About Their 2008 BRIT Awards Acceptance Speech...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3WocvEWbb4 Acceptance speeches are a slippery thing. There are just so many things that could potentially go wrong: having to improvise, getting cut off, or just generally confusing the audience are pitfalls that so often rear their heads when it comes to collecting your prize. It seemed like a mixture of all three took hold for Arctic Monkeys as they accepted their 2008 BRIT Award for Best Album. They arrived onstage donning flat caps and hunting gear as Matt Helders led the way carrying a pipe and walking stick. A mutter of "What have they come as" could be heard behind them as they berated the BRIT school in a speech that was cut from the edited broadcast of the ceremony. Well, the band were young and most likely quite nervous - Alex Turner has personally stated his discomfort when it comes to public speaking - so in hindsight it's probably best to give them the give them the benefit of the doubt for this one.

7. ...Or The One They Gave Six Years Later

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEVkt0fLWKA Fast forward to 2014, and it seemed like history was repeating itself. Once again the band strode up to the stage to collect the award for Best Album, and once again their speech seemed to be a thinly-veiled jab at the current state of the British music industry - presumably because they were nominated in the same category as One Direction. The same cocksure attitude was there, with Alex Turner, sporting the now-customary slicked-back hair and a noticeably deeper voice, ran through a monologue about the rebirth of rock and roll before dropping the mic with the kind of nonchalence that would make Eminem proud. The image of the genre making its gruelling journey "through the sludge" has since been quoted countless times by ardent fans, and you could argue that it's actually rather poetic. Moments like these still divide fans into two camps, though. There are those who find the perceived arrogance and nonchalence a bit much, pointing out that Turner is still overcompensating for nerves. Others prefer to see it as an example of the kind of unpredictability and frankness that make the Arctic Monkeys so enthralling as a band - even if they ruffle a few feathers along the way.