Article from NME 60th Anniversary Series
Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner – The Record(s) That Changed My Life
“One of the last things I do before I leave to go on tour is to put a record on. It’s one of the first things I do when I get back again too. We listen to music every day as a band, but there’s nothing quite like sitting there with your turntable, playing a record in its entirety.
One of my favourite 45s is by Shirley Bassey. It’s ‘Big Spender’ on the A-side but the B-side is this song called ‘Dangerous Games’, which I’ve never really heard anybody talk about. It’s amazing, quite Bond, but I don’t think it was for a movie. I’ve always wanted to cover it, and I think it’s mad it’s just a B-side.
Where did I find that one, I wonder? Possibly in this bookshop-cum-record store in Chicago. It was one of the first times we toured the States and there was a shop by the venue. It’s mad what you find sometimes – I remember finding a seven-inch from our manager’s band from the ’80s, Vitamin Z, just in a random record shop in New Orleans.
There was a basket full of $1 45s and I just pulled this thing out. We were just like, ‘Fuck, there he is! On the cover!’ That’s the thing about vinyl though, you can just while away the hours digging through records. I still get really excited by it. Don’t get me wrong, I love downloads, but nothing quite beats stumbling across something you weren’t banking on finding.”
See below Arctic Monkeys perform their cover of Diamonds Are Forever at Glastonbury in 2007, and then the performance from Dame Shirley Bassey, showing them how it should be done.
Dame Shirley Bassey Blog 