Music

Arctic Monkeys' top 5 stage walk-out songs

by Ciaran Thompson

That moment at a concert when the house lights go down and the music fades is meant to create electricity throughout the venue, both for the crowd and for the band itself. With it, comes the tradition of the onstage walk-out song/pump-up jam. Some bands use the opportunity to make the experience as epic as possible (The Ramones used to walk out to the theme from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly), while others prefer to keep it obvious (Oasis have played their b-side “Fuckin’ in the Bushes” before their set).

Since playing their first gig in 2003, Arctic Monkeys have become one of the most popular UK bands in rock and still hold the title of fastest selling debut for Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. After playing so many shows, drummer Matt Helders reveals that they keep it interesting by constantly changing the music they walk onstage to.

“We’ve had a lot of different walk-on phases,” Helders tells AUX. “We used to do just hip-hop all the time when we first started touring. Sometimes we get serious about it, but sometimes they backfire.”

“We think about it, we always want to have something,” he continues. “I suppose it gets you psyched even if it’s a funny one or a bit of a singalong. When we used Aerosmith, everyone got really into it.”

“On this tour we’ve just been coming out to one of our own instrumental b-sides.”

The band’s upcoming album Suck It And See arrives on June 6.

Here are Arctic Monkeys’ top 5 walk out songs (in no specific order):

Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing”

Notorious B.I.G.’s “Party and bullshit (Ratatat remix)”

Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg’s “The Next Episode”

R. Kelly’s “Bump and Grind”

The Guess Who’s “American Woman”