AM

On 26 February 2012, the band released a brand new song titled «R U Mine?» on their YouTube channel. On 4 March, it went to No. 23 on the UK Singles Chart on downloads alone. On 21 April, the song was released as a single, with the track «Electricity» as a B-side, released additionally for the Record Store Day. The song marked a direct shift in musical direction in comparison to their previous album, Suck It and See, by incorporating a heavy use of falsetto and hip hop beats, and eventually became the inspiration for AM.

On 27 July 2012, Arctic Monkeys played in the London Summer Olympics opening ceremony, performing «I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor» and a cover of The Beatles’ song «Come Together». After the opening ceremony, their version of «Come Together» entered the UK Singles Chart. It later peaked at number 21, becoming their highest charting single since 2009’s «Crying Lightning».

On 22 May 2013 the band started the AM Tour at the Ventura Theatre in Ventura, CA, where they debuted a new song titled «Do I Wanna Know?». On 1 June 2013, the band performed at Free Press Summer Fest in Houston, TX, where they also played «Do I Wanna Know?». On 14 June, the band debuted another song titled «Mad Sounds» at Hultsfred Festival in Sweden. Four days later, on 18 June 2013, the band released the official video to «Do I Wanna Know?» via their Facebook page. The studio version of the song, along with accompanying visuals, was also made available to purchase via iTunes, and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 11. On 23 June 2013 Arctic Monkeys headlined Southside Festival in Germany.

On 24 June 2013, the band announced that their new album, entitled AM, would be released on 9 September 2013. The album was recorded in Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree, California, and features guest appearances from Josh Homme ofQueens of the Stone Age, Elvis Costello’s drummer Pete Thomas and Bill Ryder-Jones of The Coral. Further, on 27 June, the band announced an eight date UK arena tour culminating with a homecoming gig at the Motorpoint Arena Sheffield. The band played at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival on 28 June as headliners at the Pyramid stage to resounding success, playing ‘Mad Sounds’ and ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ from the forthcoming album ‘AM’. Arctic Monkeys also headlined the 2013 Open’er Festival in Gdynia, Poland and played on the main stage on 4 July. On 20 July, the band performed at Benicassim 2013.

On 11 August 2013, the third single from the album, «Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?», was released, with B-Side ‘Stop The World I Wanna Get Off With You’. It debuted at no. 8 on the UK Singles Chart on 18 August 2013, making it the band’s first UK Top 10 single since 2007’s «Fluorescent Adolescent». The band streamed the album in its entirety four days ahead of its release.

Upon the release of AM on 9 September 2013, the album debuted at number 1 in the UK album charts, selling over 157,000 copies in its first week. As a result, Arctic Monkeys made history as the first independent label band with five consecutive number 1 albums in the UK. The album received widespread critical acclaim and brought Arctic Monkeys their third nomination for the Mercury Prize. The album also won the Brit award for Best British Album.

Alex Turner described AM as the band’s «most original [album] yet,» merging hip-hop drum beats with 70’s heavy rock. The frontman has said that the song «Arabella» expresses the two styles of the album most effectively in one track. On AM, Turner continued to experiment with unusual lyrics, and the album includes the words from poem «I Wanna Be Yours» by John Cooper Clarke. Turner has stated that Homme’s appearance on the song «Knee Socks» marks his favourite moment of the whole album.