Arctic Monkeys' Matt Helders Reacts To Landing On 100 Best Album List

05-18-2024

(2B) Arctic Monkeys' drummer Matt Helders spoke to Apple Music's Zane Lowe as part of the 100 Best Albums list reveal. As part of the daily countdown, numbers 60-51 are revealed today with the Sheffield band's revered 2013 album 'AM' placed at number 59. To celebrate its inclusion on the list, Zane spoke to Matt about the record. In the interview Matt discusses making the album while the band were living in Los Angeles, his inspirations for the drums, how the album influenced their status in countries such as the USA, and more.

Earlier this week Apple Music announced the release of its 100 Best Albums of all time - a celebratory list of the greatest records ever made, crafted by Apple Music's team of experts alongside a select group of artists, songwriters, producers, and industry professionals. The list is an editorial statement fully independent of any streaming numbers on Apple Music, a love letter to the records that have shaped the world we live and listen in. Apple Music is bringing its 100 Best Albums to life with a countdown celebration, revealing 10 albums each day over 10 days, along with a 100 Best microsite, new and exclusive content, dedicated Apple Music radio episodes, and so much more.

The countdown will culminate on the final day (Wednesday 22 May) with the reveal of Apple Music's top 10 albums of all time during a broadcast radio special. Select quotes below, as well as video of the full interview:

Matt Helders on making 'AM' while living with Alex Turner...
I think it was a particularly fun time for him, and career-wise and personal life. We'd just moved and me and him were living together at that time. We'd got this place together in LA, so we were just experiencing all of that. So we were really enjoying that part of our lives. I think he was in a good place in terms of having fun with it so then it meant he was having fun with the writing too. The way we were recording was relaxed and easy. It's one of those, though, that record, if we didn't have any deadline we'd probably still be making it now! We kept seeing what was around the corner and we're like, "Oh, what if we try this?" And he was wearing his influences on his sleeve a bit more than he had done before. All the hip hop stuff was coming in a bit more in the influences, and then how to make that sound like us still. I think part of that was enjoying everything around it too.

On his drumming inspirations for 'AM'...
As a whole, the band was influenced in how a band like Black Sabbath can be heavy with few elements and not throwing a load of sounds at it. I find that with the drums too, there are moments where you can have a bit of flair and then there's moments like, with 'Do I Wanna Know?', where you're letting everyone else do the talking. You're there keeping everybody steady then. So I think Black Sabbath was a big one for me. I think I learned to play drums playing along to hip hop, so that's always in the background somewhere. But when I really got into drums, I was into Led Zeppelin and stuff. So the heavy side of it comes from there.

On the impact of touring with Arctic Monkeys...
Tour was a pivotal thing for us, because until you're on something like that, you don't really see most of these places or play most of these places. There's no call for it sometimes. We got to play in all these different places and also win over some crowds. We'd never really been the support band, we'd obviously been lucky enough in England and Europe to skyrocket to a position where we were headlining. As much as we tried to hold back, we were there, whether we liked it or not. And here, we got to dip our toe in it and be the underdog a little bit. Then you start to see people in our merch at the front and waiting and showing up early to listen to us. So it all came along at the right time. Living here [in the USA], all together, and then seeing it out and then touring that record. Yeah, it just became a pivotal thing, I think.

On making songs in different styles...
We tried to do certain songs more in the style of like, 'R U Mine?' And that felt a bit forced, like we were trying to really bring the rock too much to some of these songs that needed to be a bit more soulful and hip hop sounding. There is a weird version that I've got somewhere of 'Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?' that sounds a bit like 'R U Mine?'. It is really fun to listen to but it just wouldn't have worked.