''Beneath the Boardwalk'' refers to a collection of 18 demo recordings by

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

band

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, back ...

which were burned onto CDs to give away at the band's gigs for free, and which emerged on the Internet in 2004, promptly file-shared amongst fans.

Background

The name ''Beneath the Boardwalk'' originated when the first batch of demos were sent around on the Internet. The first sender, wanting to classify the demos, named them after the club where he received them, the

Boardwalk A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of bridge ...

— a since defunct venue where the Arctic Monkeys used to play gigs and

Alex Turner Alexander David Turner (born 6 January 1986) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is well known as the frontman and principal songwriter of the rock band Arctic Monkeys, with whom he has released seven albums. He ...

used to work. Slowly, as more demos were spread online, they were all classified under this name. This has led to many people falsely believing that ''Beneath the Boardwalk'' was an early album, or that the early demos were all released under this heading. In a 2005 interview with ''Prefix Magazine'', Arctic Monkeys drummer

Matt Helders Matthew Helders (born 7 May 1986) is an English drummer, vocalist and songwriter. He is best known as a founding member of the indie rock band Arctic Monkeys, with whom he has recorded seven studio albums. In 2015, Helders collaborated with Ig ...

said: The demos have been available for download since at least 2008 from the fansit
arctic-monkeys.com

Legacy

Many of the songs featured in the collection (tracks 1, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 14) went on to appear later — albeit re-recorded — on Arctic Monkeys' debut album, ''

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not ''Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Arctic Monkeys, released on 23 January 2006 by Domino Recording Company and on 21 February 2006 in the United States. The album includes their firs ...

''. The track "Cigarette Smoke" was later reworked into "Cigarette Smoker Fiona" for the '' Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?'' EP. "Scummy" was also re-recorded and re-titled as " When The Sun Goes Down". "Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts" was released as a B-side of the "

I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" is a song by English rock band Arctic Monkeys released on 15 October 2005, through Domino Recording Company. The song was the band's first single from their debut studio album, '' Whatever People Say I ...

" single, and "Stickin' to the Floor" became a B-side on the "When the Sun Goes Down" single. The remaining tracks have not been commercially released.

Track listing

The track list itself is a source of ambiguity as there is no official version of the collection. The collection was added to as more demos emerged from CDs given out for free by the band after gigs. Some variations of the collection included rare live performances.

Personnel

;Arctic Monkeys *

– lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitar *

Jamie Cook Jamie Robert Cook (born 8 July 1985) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist and a founding member of the indie rock band Arctic Monkeys, with whom he has recorded seven studio albums. Arctic Monkeys Jamie Coo ...

– rhythm and lead guitar *

Andy Nicholson Andy Nicholson (born 13 February 1986) is an English musician, DJ, record producer, and photographer, best known as the original bass guitarist of the Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys, which he left in 2006. In 2008, he founded Mongrel with Jon M ...

– bass guitar, backing vocals *

– drums, percussion, backing vocals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beneath the Boardwalk 2004 albums Arctic Monkeys albums