Every Arctic Monkeys Single Ranked Worst To Best

When the Arctic Monkeys stormed onto the scene as young gobby teenagers, they became the biggest band in the country almost immediately. Like the social realist British poets of their decade, the band wrote songs about the Northern working class and turned them into anthems that would swarm the internet, radios, car journeys and massive stages. Turner wrote the songs with biting astuteness, his tongue in his cheek and with a way of words always a step away from what you’d expect.

As the band’s career progressed, they changed upon every album. In 2007 came Favourite Worst Nightmare, an album that took them faster and more abrasive. Then Humbug, their darker mid period fan favourite which saw them go deeper than ever before and play with experimentation.

Following this was Suck It And See, a confused record featuring magical bangers. This album marked the start of a phase for the band that would see them relight their career, slick their hair and write the soundtrack you’d play while walking away from a bomb in slow motion. These vibes were perfected on AM, the band’s fifth effort and perhaps their most commercially successful, leading on to their current era full of experiment and Kubrick style visuals.

The band constantly evolve and their efforts almost always pay off. On this list are over 15 years worth of singles, spanning darkness, lyrical antagonism, experimentation and abrasiveness. They summarise an incredible career, and here they are from worst to best.

Perhaps people en-masse will come to understand the experimentation on Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino in years to come, but for now this title track stands as a duller piece of work. The album has a strong futuristic vibe and focus on technological advances, and this song replaces chorus and heart with the vintage, sexy musings of Turner. Within the context of the album, it plays its part but as a single it does not stand strong on it’s own.

Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino is one heck of a cinematic experience (even without the music video), and forges its own path away from the stadium erupting songs on this list. You’ve got to praise Arctic Monkeys for experimenting, and many adore this album, but Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino is more of a short stop on a long winding journey.