2006 Arctic Monkeys: Vintage Almost-Pop Stardom (with Thomas Smith)

About this episode

In 2006, Arctic Monkeys served as the culmination of a half-decade worth of much-hyped U.K. buzz bands, and finally experienced the biggest breakthrough any group had in its home country since Oasis a decade before — although it took them nearly a decade to make anywhere near the same impact stateside. In this second half of our 2026 kickoff to our annual Vintage Almost-Pop Stardom mini-series, looking at close-but-not-quite pop stars during their biggest years — also be sure to check out part one about 2006 Lily Allen— Thomas Smith of Billboard UK joins to dive into Arctic Monkeys during the group's once-in-a-generation year of 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not' setting…