Who Is Alex Turner? A Portrait of a Modern Master
NME|April 01 2016

Alex David Turner is a tricky character to decode. A songwriting genius? Yes. A rock'n'roll cliche? Maybe. In a milestone year for the Arctic Monkeys frontman - and in the week that the new Last Shadow Puppets album is released - Matt Wilkinson makes sense of a true musical enigma. 

Matt Wilkinson
Who Is Alex Turner? A Portrait of a Modern Master

DECEMBER 2003. ALEX Turner, aged 17 and set free in London, thought his world had peaked for ever. Staying overnight in a £30 Golders Green B&B (no running water – but who really needs that?) and flanked by his best friends Matt Helders and Andy Nicholson, the parttime barman from Sheffield surveyed the capital’s grandest music venue, Alexandra Palace. The Strokes, at the height of their career, were playing onstage and a starstruck Alex had just met his idols, Libertines frontmen Pete Doherty and Carl Barât, who were also in the crowd.

Talking to NME in 2011, Turner was still fondly recalling the “little adventure” they’d all had that night. “As much as they probably hate hearing this,” he gushed about The Strokes, “they were the band that encouraged me to rip the knees of my jeans and write on them in marker pen. I wrote on them in red ink: ‘I’ve got soul and I’m superbad!’”

Exactly two years after that gig – to the week, no less – and the tables had turned for all concerned. This time, it was The Strokes who were left open-mouthed after witnessing a hyped new band called Arctic Monkeys play 25 minutes of the most mesmerising, precision-perfect Buzzcocks-esque punk since two Johnnys (Ramone and Rotten) had invented it three decades earlier. Having already displaced Doherty as the UK’s premier songwriter, Turner (with Nicholson, Helders and fellow like-minded soul Jamie Cook in tow) was about to go global. And there he’s remained. His art has been praised by millions, from bona fide legends (Bowie: “A delight”), to rap royalty (Diddy: “The Arctic Monkeys are so cool!”), to politicians (Gordon Brown, although the less said about that the better) to poets (Simon Armitage: “God bless him”). And, let’s face it, probably by you too.

This story is from the April 01 2016 edition of NME.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the April 01 2016 edition of NME.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM NMEView All
The Ultimate Guide to Apple Music Festival 10
NME

The Ultimate Guide to Apple Music Festival 10

Since 2007, Apple Music Festival has made it its mission to bring massive artists to an intimate and iconic corner of London – and the line-up for its 10th anniversary, at the Roundhouse in Camden, is the best yet…

time-read
10+ mins  |
September 16 2016
Red Nose Day
NME

Red Nose Day

Shawn Crahan – AKA Slipknot’s Clown – talks killer clowns and his directorial debut

time-read
2 mins  |
November 25,2016
A Letter From Lana
NME

A Letter From Lana

Back in September, we optimistically emailed Lana Del Rey a bunch of questions about life, love, Twin Peaks, Courtney Love and “intergalactic possibilities”. Three months later the answers turned up. Interrogation by Al Horner. Introduction by Dan Stubbs.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 11 2015
Bowie - The Man Who Changed The World
NME

Bowie - The Man Who Changed The World

On Monday January 11, it was announced that one of the greatest talents music has ever seen was dead. Mark Beaumont celebrates the magnificence of David Bowie.

time-read
7 mins  |
January 15 2016
Kanye West - Making A Masterpiece
NME

Kanye West - Making A Masterpiece

In 2013, Kanye West became a father. In 2014, he got married. In 2015, he announced he’d be running for President. Now he’s calling his brand-new LP “the greatest album of all time”. Larry Bartleet asks how he got there.

time-read
10 mins  |
February 12 2016
Idris Elba: How to Win at Everything!
NME

Idris Elba: How to Win at Everything!

Actor, DJ, musician and all-round righteous badass, Idris Elba makes doing everything look easy. As The Jungle Book, in which he plays tiger Shere Khan, opens in cinemas, he tells Olly Richards about the secrets to his success.

time-read
10 mins  |
April 15 2016
Rihanna: Pop's Biggest Rebel
NME

Rihanna: Pop's Biggest Rebel

Rihanna is more than a superstar. She's the ultimate icon of the digital age. She's had more Number One singles in 10 years than Madonna has managed in three decades, and she's now the First Lady of the new free NME. Peter Robinson went to LA to hang out with pop's biggest rebel.

time-read
10+ mins  |
September 18 2015
Why The Big Bang Theory Is The New Friends
NME

Why The Big Bang Theory Is The New Friends

The Big Bang Theory is the biggest show in the solar system. With the cliffhanger-charged ninth season set to drop on September 21, Joe Madden tots up the parallels between the Central Perk gang and the Cheesecake Factory crew.

time-read
4 mins  |
September 18 2015
Sound track of my Life
NME

Sound track of my Life

Adventurer, man of the great outdoors

time-read
3 mins  |
September 23 2016
Good Things Come to Those Who Wait
NME

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

It’s been four years since London Grammar’s hugeselling and aptly titled debut album ‘If You Wait’. Now, as 2017 promises world domination for the trio, they talk about the long journey to album number two

time-read
2 mins  |
March 03 2017