Alex Turner explains ‘unmistakable imprint’ of one UK band on Arctic Monkeys’ work

Alex Turner has shared one of the biggest influences on Arctic Monkeys‘ work in the studio.

The legendary band responsible for all-time greats like D is for Dangerous, Do I Wanna Know, and The Ultracheese, has a lot to thank the artists that came before them. Turner has been open about who influenced the band during each of their album cycles, with praise in particular for Sunny Afternoon hitmakers The Kinks, once shared by Arctic Monkeys’ frontman. The Kinks have been cited by numerous bands over the years as a huge influence, with the likes of Blur and Pixies also noting the Ray Davies-fronted band as being an utterly crucial influence on their sound.

But for Arctic Monkeys, the influence of Davies comes from the lyricism found on The Kinks’ very best records. Turner would talk about his love of the band in a Pitchfork article back in 2012, where he said discovering The Kinks at a crucial age had made all the difference to his songwriting and how he handled the immediate success of Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. The specific album by The Kinks that had such a heavy influence on Turner is Face to Face, which features songs like Sunny Afternoon, Fancy, and Rainy Day in June.

Turner shared at the time: “Our first album came out when we were just 20. Where we grew up there were these other kids that had a band, and they used to play in one of the pubs, and we started hanging around with them.

“We’d go and watch them and drink cider and be stupid and chase after girls. Then, sitting around chatting on a Friday night, we were like, ‘We should form a band’ – just desperately looking for something to do, I suppose.

“Around then, I was listening to The Kinks’ Face To Face a lot, though we’d already written the first record before I started to appreciate Ray Davies’ storytelling. For me, as far as lyricists, it goes from Ray Davies to Nick Cave to Method Man. Rappers have to put so many words into one song, so keeping that interesting is just a really cool fucking craft.”

It’s a feeling that was shared by Pixies frontman Black Francis, who said: “I’ve never copied Ray Davies or the Kinks, but time and time again I hear back one of my own songs and I do declare, hot damn, there it is AGAIN, the unmistakable imprint of Kinks; the result of having listened to [them] on a daily basis from about age 14 to age 18.

“There are more fabulous songs not included on that precious compilation, but those 28 songs are thumping away gently in my soft brain forever. They will never go away. I am a proud servant of them.”