The story of Arctic Monkeys' When The Sun Goes Down and why it's the band's bleakest song to date

23 January 2026, 00:00 | Updated: 23 January 2026, 16:52

One of the band's earliest singles delved into the bleaker side of Sheffield life - and saw Stephen Graham star in its video.

John Kennedy turns back the clock to January 2006, when he was joined by Alex Turner and Matt Helders to talk through Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not in full! Listen on Global Player here.

Arctic Monkeys released their When the Sun Goes Down single on 16th January 2006.

The second cut to be taken from the band's game-changing debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, When The Sun goes Down told the dark tale of sex work and exploitation.

Watch its Paul Fraser directed video, starring Lauren Socha and Stephen Graham below:

Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down (Official Video)

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Told from the perspective of a concerned narrator, we're given a snapshot of a young woman's life as he wonders what set of circumstances has led to her unfortunate position.

Alex Turner doesn't stop there though, conjuring up images of the life of the opportunistic "scumbag" beside her who forces her out onto the streets, leaving her at risk to sexually transmitted diseases and probable acts of violence.

Despite the song's shocking lyrics, Turner didn't have to dig as deep into his imagination for them as you might think.

Like the songs on much of Arctic Monkeys' debut album, the When The Sun Goes Down is inspired from the world around them and specifically all the sights and sounds outside of their rehearsal rooms in Neepsend- a suburb of Sheffield.

Speaking to Radio X's John Kennedy in a throwback track by track, Matt Helders recalled: "The area it's about is we used to have our practice room and it's on cover of the single. It used to just be like that when we used to come out of practise, we used to see all kinds of things. Before any of us could drive or anything, like back in the day, one of us dads would gis a lift there or something and then they'd be getting propositioned while they're waiting for us.

"We'd have our instruments in our hands and there'd be these guys coming up to you with carrier bags, saying 'How much are these guitars worth, lads? How much can I get for one of them?' Only about a quid. You don't want it."

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not | X-Posure Album Playback

The band's video corroborates this tale perfectly, with a section half way through which sees the young band getting picked up after practice and loading their instruments into the back of a car.

However, it wasn't just the way their surroundings transformed at dusk that informed the song's title, it was also a line was also a warning given to them when they started using the rehearsal space more regularly.

"You just couldn't understand why there's, like, a bloke walking about with a carrier bag or whatever," added Turner of the area. "That was something that the bloke said when we moved into the room, he said: 'Watch out, lads, it changes when the sun goes down'. He actually really said it. But we already knew that because we'd practised there before."

If the official video isn't enough to make you feel depressed, then Scummy Man - the longer film it was taken from, directed by Paul Fraser - certainly will.

Like the song, which is also affectionately known by the name above, it tells the dismal tale of a sex worker (Nina) and what appears to be her unscrupulous pimp.

Speaking about the inspiration behind the short film, Turner revealed back in 2003: "There's a guy called Paul Fraser, who did a film with Shane Meadows called A Room For Romeo Brass. He wrote a script, inspired by the song. And that's what our video's like - from this film that they've made. It's really amazing, they've brought all their own characters into it.  It's about the same sort of area to what our song were written about, but he's kind of obviously put his own input or whatever in. It's amazing."

So considering the film's title, the song's 'nickname' and the mention of a "scummy man" within the track, why did they not just settle on that as a title? Perhaps the evidence lies in Arctic Monkeys not wanting to be too harsh about that part of town.

"We never really had a name for it for a long time," the drummer told are legacy DJ. "We used to just refer to it as 'Scummy' ourselves or 'Scummy Man', at first., but then we realised it weren't just about a scummy man. It were like general scum!”

On why they probably rested on the title change in the end, Turner added: "It didn't seem fair to call the area scummy because it's quite nice in its own way," with Helders agreeing: "It's not scummy in the day."

Though he may have never met a "Scummy Man," as frightening as Stephen Graham's character, you can easily see how the real-life people with plastic bags the band encountered may have been transformed into the frightful pimp we get in the song.

When The Sun Goes Down may have been fictional, but it's clear the lyrics came from a very real place and captured the reality of some of the poverty-stricken desperation he witnessed in that area of the South Yorkshire city.

While it's hard to say for certain whether it's Alex Turner's most dark and depressing track, it's undoubtedly one of the band's most raw and gritty songs and perhaps still up their with the best their frontman has ever penned.

20 years later and Stephen Graham is a household name, known for his stellar work in everything from Gangs of New York to Adolescence.

Despite his mega Hollywood success, the Kirby actor is still fond of appearing in a music video or two, lending his acting chops to videos for Kasabian, DeadMau5, Noel Gallagher and even Sam Fender's Spit Of You back in 2021.

And as for When The Sun Goes Down's beloved author? We'll never truly know what Turner thinks of the song now compared to his later works, but we're just glad he never sold that guitar...

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