Season 2 Episode 2 - Arctic Monkeys' AM

In this season of Sonic Subcultures, we ask ‘what makes a listener over time?’ By revisiting 10 formative records for our hosts, we trace the way personal taste can develop and evolve, and how lives intersect with cultural and subcultural moments through music.When AM dropped in 2103, the Arctic Monkeys traded scrappy Sheffield rock for leather jackets and American desert rock swag. The result? A record that didn’t just top the charts but branded itself into Tumblr dashboards and Gen Z nostalgia Playlists. In this episode, Marc Lajeunesse and Safa Hachi unpack how AM became its own aesthetic ecosystem. From Alex Turner’s “cool guy” act to the double-edged sword of sonic evolution. We ask: how do you grow as a band when every version of you becomes someone’s personality?