Arctic Monkeys win Mercury music prize

The Arctic Monkeys were awarded England's prestigious Mercury Music Prize for "Album of the Year" in a ceremony held on Tuesday, September 5th, in London. The British group won the cash prize, worth approximately $38,000, for its 2005 debut disc, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. In his acceptance speech, frontman Alex Turner said, "Normally (the prize) doesn't go to a band that has sold so many records as us, to put it bluntly. But we're very pleased with it, because good tunes is what we try to do. And too many people are trying to do too many tricks."

The band's first album has sold more than one million copies in its native England and was the fastest-selling debut in British music history. It has sold 258,000 copies in the U.S. alone.

Twelve albums were nominated for the Mercury award, with the nominees chosen from more than 200 submitted by record labels. An album had to be recorded by a British or Irish act and released between July 25th, 2005 and July 17th, 2006 to qualify.

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not was the favorite to win among British bookmakers, with odds at five to one.
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