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Play Do I Wanna Know: Creation or inspiration?

And no, the story of Do I Wanna Know is not solely due to the Arctic Monkeys! Here's how it happened and who was involved in the process of creating this piece.

Co-producer James Ford told NME that his favorite moment during the recording of the Arctic Monkeys album “AM” was when this song took shape. He said: “I just remember thinking, 'This sums up what we're trying to do.'” He added that the song had a heavy atmosphere, both in sound and mood. It had a depth that he really liked. He remembers that when the song was created, he was very excited and could see the image crystallizing, showing the direction the band was taking. It was one of the first songs to be finalized, and from that point on, he could see the ending looming.

Alex Turner, guitarist Jamie Cook and drummer Nick Helders provided their own backing vocals for the song. Originally, California girl group Haim had been approached, but they didn't have time to do so because they had to finish their debut album, which left them disappointed.

Play Do I Wanna Know: The Clip

The song's music video was directed by David Wilson with animation agency Blinkink and was inspired by the work of racy cartoonist Vince Collins. Wilson explained that the video largely takes place inside someone's mind, in this case Alex Turner's. Although he was aware of women's rights and supported feminism, he wanted to create work that did not objectify women while still embracing the aesthetics of the human body.

With “AM”, the Arctic Monkeys became the first band to release five consecutive number one albums in the UK independently.

Play Do I Wanna Know: Style According to Alex Turner

Alex Turner explained that the idea for the album was to take a compositional perspective from an R&B producer and apply it to a rock band. He wanted to manipulate the instruments to create building blocks for the song, the way Timbaland or someone else constructs music.

The time management of this song is closer to verse-driven hip-hop than chorus-driven pop. While most of Arctic Monkeys' contemporaries in the pop genre reserve their precious seconds for a catchy chorus, the longest sections of this song (45 seconds) emphasize the verses to highlight the lyrics and vocals. 'Alex Turner. The chorus doesn't come until one minute and 36 seconds into the song.

Play Do I Wanna Know: Seen by Matt Helders, drummer

Matt Helders, the drummer of Arctic Monkeys, recalled to NME how this song paved the way for the “AM” album. He explained that the group had gone to Joshua Tree for a few weeks to work on ideas, and that “Do I Wanna Know?” is probably the only song that survived from this session, although it didn't take the form it has now. It was mainly bass based and didn't have that big chorus, it was basically just the drum loop. But it was the one that paved the way for the rest of the album. That was the one where, after we recorded it, we knew we really had something special.

Play Do I Wanna Know: The Turner Key

Turner draws attention to important lyrics by reducing the instrumentation, particularly in the first half of the song. For example, when he asks “Do you have the guts,” he limits everything except the drums so the meaning isn't lost on the listener.