Do I Wanna Know

"Do I Wanna Know?" is a song by English rock band Arctic Monkeys, with lyrics written by frontman Alex Turner. It was released on 19 June 2013 by Domino Recording Company as the second single from their fifth studio album, '' AM'' (2013). It received a digital download release through iTunes as well as an accompanying music video. Before its release as a single, the song was premiered by the band live in May 2013 on the AM Tour, where it was often played as the opening number. It is an indie rock, psychedelic rock, stoner rock, blues rock and alternative rock song, and is built around a stomping guitar riff.

"Do I Wanna Know?" peaked at number 11 in the UK Singles Chart, charted in several other countries and was the first Arctic Monkeys song to have ever entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the United States, peaking at number 70 in March 2014 and also serving as their "big breakthrough moment" in the US. The song was nominated for Best Rock Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015. In December 2019, the song was ranked number three on ''Guitar World''s list of the 20 best guitar riffs of the decade. The song has accumulated about two billion streams on Spotify and ranks in the 100 most-streamed songs in the streaming platform's history, and its music video has earned 1.7 billion views on YouTube, along with 2.4 billion listens on Spotify.

Composition

"Do I Wanna Know?" is performed in the key of G minor. Musically, it has been described as an indie rock, psychedelic rock, stoner rock, blues rock and alternative rock song. The song has a similar aesthetic style and lyrical content to their 2012 song "R U Mine?"; it is more downtempo while having similar guitar riffs. ''PopMatters'' describes it as "a cleaner, slower-burning 'R U Mine?'", while also finding its "stomping" style to be a "steadier take" on the music found on ''Humbug'' (2009). The song also contains the edgier sound found on their previous album ''Suck It and See'' (2011). In concert, singer and guitarist Alex Turner uses a Vox 12-string electric guitar.

Structurally, the song follows a common pop music "verse-pre-chorus-chorus" form up until its second chorus; from that point on, it follows what Hit Songs Deconstructed calls "a more unorthodox flow" ending in a "pre-chorus/chorus hybrid section". Falsetto backing vocals are also blended with those of Turner's throughout the song. Moreover, the title encapsulates the entire premise of the story, the narrator wondering whether he wants to remain in doubt or know if his feelings are unrequited or mutual.

Release and reception

"Do I Wanna Know?" was first played live on 22 May 2013 in Ventura, California at the first concert of the band's AM Tour. Throughout the tour, the song was being played as the opening number. It was then released as ''AM''s second single on 19 June 2013, appearing in digital download formats through iTunes. It was accompanied by a music video released on YouTube. The single was released with no promotion, allowing fans to purchase it through iTunes immediately. A 7-inch vinyl edition of the single was released on 22 July 2013, with a B-side titled "2013". On ''AM'', "Do I Wanna Know?" appears as the opening track.

''Rolling Stone'' ranked "Do I Wanna Know?" as the tenth best song of 2013, calling it "the highlight of the U.K. crew's soul-rock overhaul album ''AM''". The song was nominated for Best Rock Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015, losing to "Lazaretto" by Jack White. In December 2019, the song was ranked number three on ''Guitar World''s list of the 20 best guitar riffs of the decade. ''NME'' later ranked the song as the fifth best song of the 2010s decade. Music critic Steven Hyden said of the song "If "Seven Nation Army" is the most famous rock song of the last 20 years, then "Do I Wanna Know?" has to be the second most famous".

Commercial performance

Despite a midweek on air on sale release, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at number 11, making it the band's highest-charting single since "Fluorescent Adolescent" in 2007. It was outperformed by the next single "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?", which debuted at number eight. "Do I Wanna Know?" has spent 65 weeks in the UK top 100, this being the longest run of any Arctic Monkeys single, to date. The single was awarded a platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 7 February 2015, indicating shipments in excess of 600,000 units; it is the first Arctic Monkeys single to do so. As of , it is certified quintuple-platinum in the UK.

The song had moderate success worldwide, charting in countries such as Australia, France, Belgium, Ireland and Israel. In January 2014, the song reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Alternative Songs chart, the group's first number one single in the United States and their first appearance on that chart since "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" peaked at number seven in 2006. On 28 March, the track became the 30th song to have occupied the ''Billboard'' Alternative Songs chart top spot for 10 weeks or more. As of the 25 October 2014 issue of ''Billboard'', it logged 58 weeks on the Alternative Songs list, making it the second-longest running song on the chart at the time. It also became the band's first single to appear on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 70 in March 2014. On 26 January 2014, the song reached number four on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2013, and, on 14 March 2020, reached number three on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2010s.

In late 2023, for the 35th anniversary of Alternative Songs (which by then had been renamed to Alternative Airplay), ''Billboard'' ranked "Do I Wanna Know?" as the 18th-most successful song in the chart's history.

Music video

The music video for "Do I Wanna Know?", directed by David Wilson with animation agency Blinkink, was first released onto YouTube on 18 June 2013. As of June 2020, it has been viewed over one billion times, becoming one of only 12 rock videos to achieve this feat. The video begins with a black background and simple visuals of white sound waves (similar to the ''AM'' cover art) that vibrate in synchronisation, first with the percussion and lead guitar, then with the lead singer, Alex Turner. As the band enters with the chorus, coloured sound waves illustrate new voices. Simple sound waves then give way to fast-moving, representational line-drawing animations that morph between a variety of female, race car, race car engine, and road racing images. At one point, the undulating white line becomes the "trucker's Mudflap girl", seen in the single's cover art. The line drawings are interrupted several times with flashes of full-color animation, several that recall the surrealistic style of Robert Crumb. The increasingly complex video creates, by turns, a somewhat jarring and psychedelic experience, in a style not unlike the Gary Gutierrez animations that were featured in ''The Grateful Dead Movie'' (1977). The video ends with the familiar white line becoming two crossed checkered flags, which join together in a single line with the "AM" initials.

In popular culture

"Do I Wanna Know?" was used in a 2013 Bacardi commercial. In September 2014, the song was used in the pilot episode of ABC's TV series ''Forever'', and the fifth episode of Israeli series ''Ish Hashuv Meod''. An instrumental version of the song is used in the second season finale of the BBC series ''Peaky Blinders''. The song was also present in Ubisoft's 2014 game, '' The Crew'' as one of the songs in the in-game radio.

The song has been covered by artists such as MS MR, Sam Smith, Chvrches, Hozier, Dua Lipa, and Christina Grimmie.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from the CD single liner notes.

;Arctic Monkeys
*Alex Turner – lead vocals, twelve-string electric guitar
*Jamie Cook – lead guitar
*Nick O'Malley – bass guitar, backing vocals
*Matt Helders – drums, electronic drums, percussion, backing vocals

;Additional personnel
* James Ford – production; keyboards
*Ross Orton – production
*Ian Shea – engineering
*Tchad Blake – mixing
*Brian Lucey – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

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2013 songs
2013 singles
Arctic Monkeys songs
Domino Recording Company singles
Music videos directed by David Wilson (director)
Songs written by Jamie Cook
Songs written by Matt Helders
Songs written by Nick O'Malley
Songs written by Alex Turner (musician)
Stoner rock songs
Animated music videos