They first started to gain the attention of the mainstream public when their demos were made available to download on the internet in late 2004. Around this time they began to receive a great deal of attention from BBC Radio 1 and the British tabloid press for their catchy songs and witty lyrics.
Their appearance on the Carling Stage at the 2005 Reading and Leeds Festivals was hyped by much of the music press – NME in particular – and the band was received by an unusually large crowd for the billing they played. The critically acclaimed performance even included spontaneous sing-alongs from the band's most devoted fans. Impressively, this included tracks that were only available as demos on the Internet. It was at this time that vocalist Alex Turner took the opportunity to rebuff claims that his band could not live up to the hype that has followed their emergence, and declared, "It feels like a moment, us playing here."
In May 2005, Arctic Monkeys released their first EP, Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys, featuring the songs "Fake Tales of San Francisco" and "From the Ritz to the Rubble". This release was limited to 1000 CDs and 500 7" records, but was also available to download from the iTunes Music Store.
Their popularity rapidly grew after several shows. James "The Sheriff" Sheriff (now webmaster of the band's official website), put the contents of Beneath the Boardwalk – a renamed upload of one of the band's demo CDs - freely available to download from his webpage. These tracks quickly became available on several peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.
All the while, the band were resisting the temptations of signing to a record deal, to the extent that record company scouts were barred from their gigs. Their logic - "We've got this far without them - why should we let them in", was illustrated with a series of sell-out gigs across the UK. October 2005 saw the band sell out the London Astoria, with 2000 fans singing the words to every song despite the band having released a single limited edition EP. Declaring their rampant rise to stardom via the Internet "amazing", Turner added "I'm sure one day it will come back and bite us in the arse". The band's novel method of reaching the number 1 spot has led some to suggest that it could signal a change in how new bands achieve recognition.
The grass-roots, chat-room frenzy surrounding the band eventually lured record company scouts. Although originally intending to go it alone, the band ended up signing to Domino Records in June 2005. The temptation of money saw the band almost sign for "another label", but the band were attracted by Domino owner Laurence Bell, who ran the label from his flat and only signed bands that he liked personally. "The UK's Daily Star tabloid newspaper reported that this was followed in October 2005 by a £1m publishing deal with EMI and a £725,000 contract with Epic for the United States. This was strenously denied, however, on the band's official website, which dubbed the paper "The Daily Stir".
Their first single after signing to Domino, "I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor", was released on 17 October 2005 and went straight to #1 on the UK Singles Chart, selling 38,962 copies and beating McFly and Robbie Williams in the process. Three days later, the band made their first appearance on the cover of NME. Their second single, "When The Sun Goes Down", was released on 16 January 2006 and also went straight to #1 on the UK Singles Chart selling 38,922 copies and dethroning Shayne Ward, having been renamed from its original guise as "Scummy".
The band finished recording their debut album at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire during September 2005. Its name was confirmed as Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not in early December, with release originally intended for 30 January 2006. Although widely expected to be one of the biggest releases of 2006 with thousands of copies pre-ordered, early versions of many tracks were already freely available to download from the band's pre-label demo CDs. On 5 January 2006, Domino announced the album's release would be brought forward one week to the 23 January "due to high demand". While the same thing was done with the release of Franz Ferdinand, there has been continued speculation that the move came as a result of the album's leak and the impact of file sharing - a controversial suggestion given file-sharing's part in establishing the band's incredibly large and dedicated fanbase.
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not became the fastest selling debut album in chart history, selling 363,735 physical copies in the first week. This smashed the previous record of 306,631 copies held by Hear'say with their debut Popstars, and is likely to be even higher once online downloads of the album are added. The record's first day sales alone - 118,501 copies - made it the fastest selling debut rock album, and would have been enough to secure the Number One chart position.
--Wikipedia
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