Alex Turner tells us about Arctic Monkeys’ ‘505’ going viral on TikTok

Alex Turner has spoken about Arctic Monkeys‘ 2007 song ‘505’ finding “a new life” among younger fans.

The track, which appears on the band’s second album ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’, recently enjoyed viral success on TikTok. It’s also the third most popular Monkeys tune on Spotify at the time of writing (behind ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ and ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ from 2013’s ‘AM’).

Earlier this year ‘505’ surpassed hits by Eminem and Coldplay, clocking in an average of 1.7million plays a month on Spotify alone. The song has since beaten its 2007 peak on the UK singles chart (via the Official Charts Company).

‘505’ is currently used as the main set closer at Arctic Monkeys’ live gigs and prompts a particularly passionate response from young crowd members – as do other staple ‘AM’ cuts.

Speaking to NME for this week’s Big Read cover interview, frontman Turner said it was “genuinely moving” to witness such a reaction, but admitted he’s somewhat bemused by the ‘505’ revival.

“Without having ‘505’ at the end of our shows for a few years around 2008, I’m not sure if it would have found the new life it has now,” he told NME.

“I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m taking credit [for the revival] – even if it wasn’t totally unexpected, the attention around [‘505’] is really quite special.”

Turner went on to talk about the experience of switching up the setlist at recent Monkeys shows where they’ve reintroduced oldies such as ‘That’s Where You’re Wrong’ (2011) and ‘Potion Approaching’ (2009).

“There’s quite a lot of room now for us to unlock songs and these other little things from the past,” he told NME.

“I have almost, like, a PDF in my mind of what we could work on. Wait, it wouldn’t be a PDF, would it? I think I meant to say a spreadsheet…”

Turner was speaking to NME about Arctic Monkeys’ seventh studio album ‘The Car’, which came out today (October 21) via Domino.

Elsewhere in the conversation Turner hinted at what fans can expect from the group’s mammoth 2023 stadium tour, spoke about the reaction to their divisive previous record ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’, and said that he’s still proud of ‘A Certain Romance’.

The singer and musician also opened up about Arctic Monkeys’ evolution while reflecting on their early days. “We might know a few more tricks, but we’re still rolling on that very same instinct,” Turner told NME.

Read Arctic Monkeys’ wide-ranging interview with NME in full here.

In a glowing five-star review, NME said that ‘The Car’ “is almost overwhelming in terms of its ambition and scope, but provides ample motive to revisit this record over and over again”.

Meanwhile, Arctic Monkeys are set to stream their New York Kings Theater concert in full online this Sunday (October 23). The special performance was captured at the intimate Brooklyn venue on September 22.