Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

This album took everything that was good about the British rock bands at the time (stop-start guitars, great hooks, catchy and danceable bass lines, great lyrics) and then turned it up to 11. What I like the most is that you can train your ear to listen to any of the parts of this band - the drumming is solid (far more so than say, Franz Ferdinand), each song is driven by terrific guitars and bass that will stay in your head as long as the lyrics will. THAT is what makes this album so impressive to me - the sum of its parts is stronger than any album I've heard in a long time. Another point to make is that this album honestly has no weak tracks at all. Zero. Every song is, at worst, above average.

The band were fuckin' wank and I'm not having a nice time.

Perfection.

It’s pretty good but I feel like the intense popularity of this album has more to do with when it came out than it’s quality.

pretty stock standard they're young, dumb and full of cum a Brit teen's wet dream

Not bad but a lot of Arctic Monkeys songs just sound like Arctic Monkeys songs.

all around slightly above average but I don't really get why it made the list

An insanely great debut album. Thought-provoking, raw lyrics with infectious hooks combined with an understated voice that blends into a well mixed band. There is a commonality between the songs in how the band sounds, but each song lives on it's own and has their own character. Every component has a role to bring these songs to life. One of my favorite albums. Don't think there is a bad song on this album. Stand-outs: Mardy Bum, From the Ritz to the Rubble ,Riot Van, Dancing Shoes

wank

stone cold classic. Being this from the golden era of intenet bootleg I did not hear the real final mix until many years later, I still like some of those demos better than the final version but it is without a doubt one of the great record of my youth. now, 15 years later my favorite is A certain romance, it just has it all, it is the complete time stamp of those day. damn I love this record.

Feels like the Strokes but British. Pretty good!

Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not - Arctic Monkeys 1. The View From the Afternoon - 5/5 2. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor - 5/5 3. Fake Tales of San Francisco - 5/5 4. Dancing Shoes - 4/5 5. You Probably Couldn’t See For The Lights But You Were Staring Straight At Me - 4/5 6. Still Take You Home - 5/5 7. Riot Van - 5/5 8. Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured - 5/5 9. Marcy Bum - 5/5 10. Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But... - 5/5 11. From The Ritz To The Rubble - 4/5 12. A Certain Romance - 5/5 Overall: 4.75 or 95% Fave Songs: The View From The Afternoon, Still Take You Home, Riot Van, Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But...

Primero lo primero: este es un GRAN disco, independientemente de su historia. Tenía mucho tiempo sin escucharlo, tanto que ahora pienso si realmente lo escuché completo la primera vez o no. Me gustó (re)descubrir las canciones, y transportarme a la época en la que salió el disco. Es increíble que ya hayan pasado 15 años! Desde el punto de vista histórico, para mí este disco marca el inicio de una era en la que un grupo de jóvenes fue capaz de producirse y promoverse a sí mismos, sin necesidad de pasar por los canales tradicionales (las disqueras, en este caso), y se replica actualmente en otras formas: gente que publica sus propios libros, que desarrolla aplicaciones millonarias o produce sus propios programas de televisión, utilizando internet como plataforma.

One of my all-time faves. This debut album showed the world that Brit-alt was alive and well.

Yeah, an instant classic I knew I was going to be a simp for these Arctic Monkeys.

this one is jam packed full of nostalgia. listening to this while i've got a bit of back pain is ramming home how old i actually am. though to be fair i definitely don't miss being 21 at all, my kidneys are hurting just thinking about it and its actually quite nice to be a bit pissed off 3 pints. anyway back to the album, memories aside, it has suffered from the same problem that most 2000s indie, take away the killer and the filler is really hard to listen to. there are some absolute timeless bangers on this album but the shit tracks give you a window into the self absorbed shitty nature of that indie movement. perfect for a pisshead student but must have been a cancerous bunch of people to anyone not involved in it. i hate young people. they're awful.

12 shite songs. 1 half decent one. Jimmy Saville sounding motherfucker

Looking back, it's crazy to think about how hyped this band/record was. They were really sold as the future of rock and while I'll admit that this is a pretty solid debut, it's not necessarily the revolution people wanted it to be. Still, it's a fun rock record and I can understand that it gathered nostalgic value for most of its listeners.

Like, just listen to Gang of Four or something, geez.

I don't know what it is, but I've never cared for the Arctic Monkeys. This album didn't help change my mind.

What a mess. This album was all over the place with no real theme or direction. It wanted to be pop, punk, and rock all at the same time. Even though I like Alex Turner's voice and I like some of AM's songs (seen them live), this album left me annoyed and irritated. I couldn't wait for it to be over so I could sonically rinse my ears with something else.

Super “throw-on”-able. Short and sweet, catchy and sexy, and full of spunk. This was a big hit for me.

Just excellent. Laidback meaningful lyrics to fun, fast tempo-ed, smoothly played rock.

I think if I listened to it more I'd probably like it better

Arctic Monkeys with their first album brought yorkshire into the UK rock scene and were unapologetic in their no nonsense lyrics and love/hate relationship with Britain. Amazing album front to back and I would say could be the album of our generation, they could be the band of our generation. Personal faves are, of course, When The Sun Goes Down, Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured (but that might be because I have a real soft spot for Rock Lobster) and Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But... Ending the album with A Certain Romance is bittersweet and a perfect ending and the riff is quintessential circa 2006 UK indie. I can imagine every indie kid in their skinny jeans and skinny scarf, horrible trilby, potentially trouser braces if they were committed, fag out of mouth and glens in the other hand walking down the canal in the sun. Even though the lyrics I feel are talking about a different sub culture - I wonder if they loved the Monkeys too?

I have had such a terrible week or so of albums, so thank god for the few rays of sunshine I have gotten. This album is awesome. It's so fun, and bouncy, and unique - I love it. Although I think they've done some solid work since this released, I don't think they've ever again quite reached these heights.

GOAT

A great album, love the gritty realism of the lyrics. It’s fantastic!

Ohhhhhh a classsiccccc.

Odd turns of phrase. Too many words crammed into too little space. Music sounds like it could fall apart into a mess at any moment. I love it.

Hands down the second best Strokes album.

Insanely great debut, one of my favourite albums ever… 💥

When Arctic Monkeys first emerged, I was ready to dismiss them as yet another overhyped guitar act, worshipped by the British music press as rock 'n' roll's next saviours. I actively avoided this record for six months, even though the singles were playing in every pub and club I visited. This was unfair—unlike many flash-in-the-pan bands, Arctic Monkeys had earned their stripes by building a loyal online following and commanding the stage at countless small shows with confidence beyond their years. My resistance finally broke when "The View From The Afternoon" came on the radio in sometime in the summer of 2006. Stuck in my car, I had no choice but to pay attention—and admit I’d been wrong. I bought the CD that same day, played it three times back to back, and realized that sometimes, the hype can be deserved. Beyond the angular riffs, intricate guitar work, and rough-edged sound—things I instantly loved—the real ace here, as in all Arctic Monkeys albums, is Alex Turner's sharp lyricism. Just a teenager at the time, Turner captured the Britain I saw outside my window, not the glossy, stylized version you’d see on TV. His cutting observations and witty lines shone a spotlight on the country's grittiest corners. This was a snapshot of everyday life, especially for young people in the North, documenting nightlife, friendships, and the local scene with a fresh, authentic voice. While tracks like "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," "Dancing Shoes," and "The View From the Afternoon" show the band comfortable operating at full throttle, songs like "Mardy Bum," "Riot Van," and, to a degree, "Fake Tales of San Francisco" reveal a more nuanced sound and Turner’s ear for melody and dynamics. Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not could very well be the last great British guitar album. Did I own this release? Yes Does this release belong on the list: Yes Would this release make my personal list: Yes Will I be listening to it again: Yes

The Adam Sandler smoking a cig but not actually Adam Sandler album cover

The Adam Sandler cigarette album

The Adam Sandler cigarette album

Sheffield! Four of these tracks are in my set list and two more are in my "to learn" pile. 1. The View from the Afternoon - Great start, tri-tone (METAL!) establishes that this album is not going to be a pleasant ramble through the country (if you didn't get that from the cover). Love the arrangement - bass dropping out, guitars taking stereo turns to play the chords after the fake finish half-way through, drum style changes, band dropping out - all serve to keep the ear interested. Love the major version of a bond-type chord at the end. This track whets my appetite for the rest of the album. 2. I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor - one of my fave tracks - even the salsa band I'm in do this one. Great tempo. Your name isn't Rio (not real), but I don't care for sand. Great poetry - don't need romance, Shakespeare invoked and undercut too. Love it. 3. Fake Tales of San Francisco - You're not from NYC, you're from Rotherham (Rovrum) continues the theme of cutting through the bullshit of romance and getting real and local. This is Ken Loach indie pop. 4. Dancing Shoes - another banger. Love a floor tom rhythm. No chords, just a tune over the second verse, great. "Shit Shock Horror" love it. I really identify with the whole being at the club burning with lust and too afraid to talk to anyone theme, so, yeah - love this one. 5. You Probably Couldn't See for the Lights but You Were Staring Straight at Me - the tune is too high for everyone in the band to sing, which is so appropriate - it will damage vocal chords every time they play it and no-one cares. I'd have used more distortion on this one. 6. Still Take You Home - sounds like Dead Kennedys intro. Lounge middle 8. "Fake tan. Top Shop princess." 7. Riot Van - lovely sweeping up, going home vibe to this one - great contrast to the violence in the lyrics. 8. Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured. Ide to nicking a taxi fare. Again, great arrangement. 9. Mardy Bum - in Sheffield, this is as classic as Don't You Want Me Baby. Local vernacular "rate 'ard", "got the face on". They've never heard of "squinny" up here. 10. Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But... Anticapitalist rant. Longest track by half, distortion on the vocal connotes Alex's depth of rage to me. Song actually finishes at 2:10, then theres a metal Mambo/drum jam. Fucking love it. Last bit reminds me of The Great Imperial Yo-Yo. 11. When the Sun Goes Down. My lad Jacob used to sing this acapella as a folk song round the fire. "What a scummy man ... It's all not quite legitimate ... She must be fookin' freezin'" 12. From the Ritz to the Rubble - rhymes totaitarian with "scary 'un". Couldn't have done that on a Sunday - Turner returns to this theme in Do I wanna know "... nights were mainly made for saying things that you can't say tomorrow day." I'm looking forward to what he produces as he continues to get older. 13. A Certain Romance" Classic. 13 songs, 41 minutes - BANG! Love letter to the night-life of youth. Smashed it.

I really fucking love this band. Perfectly captures the British youth spirit at that time.

Guay.

I think probably the first album I've come across on the tour that I've physically owned. This is probably the peak of the Artic Monkeys before they started becoming lounge singers

Monkeys in the Arctic are as rare as British bands that actually sound British when they sing. This album is great.

Very brit-punk-alt-something. I don't mind give me a Cigarette and a fish and chip yo.

That one Arctic Monkeys song you remember plus some other songs that are kind of like that

Not my usual brand of indie rock, but still a pretty good album. An interesting look into clubbing & pub hopping in North England from Alex Turner's perspective. Not subject matter I can really relate too, but a good listen and a good laugh at times nonetheless.

I actually don't really mind this. It's not incredible or mind-blowing, but it's serviceable for what it is.

Its thematic content has been likened to a concept, generally concerning nightlife, including lyricism surrounding clubbing and pub culture, and romance from the perspective of young Northerners. The album became the fastest selling debut album in British music history, selling over 360,000 copies in its first week, and remains the fastest selling debut album by a band. It has since gone 6× platinum in the UK. In the US, it also became the second-fastest selling independent record label debut album in history. The album received widespread critical acclaim from critics for its depiction of youth British culture and for resurging British indie music that had waned after the 1990s. Cover artwork of the album is a photo of Chris McClure—a close friend of the band, frontman of The Violet May and brother of Jon McClure of Reverend and The Makers—taken in the early hours of the morning in Korova bar, Liverpool[10] after the band had given him, his cousin and his best friend "seventy quid to spend on a night out"

Better than I remember.

Fun and energetic album. Only a few songs stand out but overall I enjoyed it.

Boring prick

Ok album, no bad songs but no really good ones either. Probably won't give it another listen.

Album started out decent but was very same-sy by the end. Will probably listen again and wouldn’t be surprised if it grew on me.

I liked some of it.

Kinda boring?

a bit repetitive, not as a commercialised sound as their later tracks, hate the vocals and the vibe YNN

was this generator made by a white man between the ages of 40- 48?!

Ok. "I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor" is a good song and the rest is forgettable, insincere-feeling Britpop. Not enough ire to be punk, too loose and loud to be polished pop, too many words and too little melody to be notable in any way. Guitar player writes really repetitive stuff, but just obtrusive enough that you can't forget he's there. If there are two of them, it's a crime against imagination. Musicians like Coltrane were widely lauded for the notes they didn't play -- their sense of space. I don't think the vocalist is familiar with that idea.

Really good, except I have a visceral reaction to Alex Turner, aka British Fred Durst.

Absolutely brilliant album. Back when they were at their best

Great album, great social commentary. Like a time capsule, transports you straight back to being a teenager in Northern England. Best songs: Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But..., From The Ritz To The Rubble, A Certain Romance. 5/5

“Superb drumming” – my mate Christopher (not his original name; he changed it to emulate his hero Christopher Cross). 2006 was my last year at uni, and pleasantly enough British indie was in robust health at that time. The post-punk revival had injected some jerky funk into the indie system, the rockism of the Darkness and the White Stripes reminded the kids that guitars were quite fun, and the Libertines proved the latest iteration of the band-as-gang attitude prevalent throughout the history of British rock. That is, British indie had undulated back to hard indie. To those who may not know, hard indie is the uniquely British subset of indie, where bands who possessed a fondness for lyrical deftness and shimmering rifts also employed fierce power chords and possessed the threat of a band not afraid of a scrap. With roots in the mods and rockers’ tribalistic barneys, and a hefty attachment of punk attitude, hard indie comprises such titans of British indie as the Stone Roses, the immortal Happy Mondays, the Libertines and, quintessentially, Oasis. As such, many British men of my generation can chart their youth by which hard indie group defined it. And please note that American indie completely lacks this surliness, leaving it as soft as shite and as shite as shite. The leap to fame of the Arctic Monkeys was one of those rare delights that springs up despite the worst intentions of the music industry. The Arctic Monkeys started as a group of teenagers in 2002, and in 2003 recorded a series of demos, which they burnt to CDs in order to give away at gigs. Fans subsequently uploaded these demos to MySpace (remember that?), and this led to a limited-release EP, an appearance on the unsigned stage at the Reading festival, and finally a deal with Domino Records. Their debut single, I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor, was released in October 2005, and astonishingly entered straight in at number one. For one week. With Westlife knocking them off the top the next week. Still, that was enough. The Arctic Monkeys immediately became flagged by the whole nation as a group worth following, and all they had to do was record a decent debut album. The first thing that anyone notices about the Arctic Monkeys is Alex Turner’s voice, a Sheffield brogue as dense as stainless steel. For a billboard of reasons, British singers oft find themselves singing in American accents, which can’t help but feel like a real shame. Okay, nobody’s especially clamouring for a Brummy Otis Redding, but even a standard RP voice has a bit more local colour than some girl group from Acton copying a copy of Destiny’s Child. The Britishness of Whatever… has become the most noted trope of the album. Along with Turner’s voice, we have the references to Topshop and Frank Spencer, and the usage for proper swearwords like wank and bum. And such is this record’s authenticity, the main themes of Whatever… are the anticipation and disappointment of the Great British Teenager’s Night Out, where you start by spending at least two hours in the bathroom, 90 minutes of those fixated on applying gel to to each individual hair. You then meet up with your mates, everyone wearing Ben Sherman shirts and struggling to see each other through the fog of Lynx surrounding your gang. Two of your gang will be reticent and shrinking due to only being 17. Upon entering the club, always called Ritzi’s or Manhattan’s (don’t think “sipping Cris on the mezzanine with Victoria’s Secret models”, but rather “vomming Smirnoff Ice in a former bowling alley with at least one rat”), the entry fee and the first pint will obliterate the 20 quid you borrowed off your mum (with no chance whatsoever of that ever being paid back), nobody will talk to anyone because the music will be far too loud and far too detestable, your socks will be soaked from the paddling pool of piss the men’s toilets have become, and the ultimate ambition of the evening, actually copping off with a girl, might as well be an ambition to dig your way to Neptune with a Plasticine spoon. Likewise, the music is solidly within the lineage of British indie rock. Despite the mildly gauche references to Duran Duran and the Police, Whatever… is clearly a descendant of the Jam and the Smiths and (despite their then-gaucheness) Oasis. And of course it’s a great album. It’s witty, it’s human, it rocks, it charms, and if you’re British, it’s a dolloping portion of verisimilitude. Near two decades since its release, and as Proustian as that might imply, I can’t say it’s dated at all. As I said, hard indie is one of the great old British imperishables, and a conquering return of hard indie should make you puff off your chest with pride and break out your pogo. By the by, it always bothered me that Turner sings about dancing “to electropop like a robot from 1984”. There were no robots in the novel 1984. Indeed, in the dystopia of Oceania, science didn’t exist, and there was no Newspeak word for “science”. To call 1984 a science-fiction novel feels wrong to my ear, since not only had technological progress frozen in the novel, technology had actually gone backwards (I can’t even recall a car in the novel). But anyway, it was only today I realised that Turner is actually singing about the year, and it’s just robot mime from that year. Hey, both the year and the novel could be the intended allusion. Anyway, who cares for intentions? NoRadio, signing out.

"¡Oh, por Dios! ¡Qué pedazo de disco!" fue lo primero que me salió decir apenas vi la recomendación de hoy. Música de mis últimos años de secundaria y de mis primeros universitarios, éste disco fue durante mucho tiempo mi favorito de Arctic Monkeys: punkie, adolescente, rápido...básicamente como es la juventud. Excelente debut de una más que excelente banda, que pude ver en vivo en el 2022. Hasta mañana.

Brilliant absolutely loved it!

Bangers

Still great. This album really captures a certain romance of being young, going out to bars/clubs, first relationships etc with catchy tunes and sharp lyrics. It also reminds me of the era of downloading and sharing bootleg versions of the songs before they were released, as the music press hyped them up, which was more rewarding than the immediate gratification of today's streaming. I'm glad they have matured since then, but this album will never not be fun.

Remember when it came out it was super fresh and new and a lot of groups that made it big had followed their style. Amazing and refreshing and still holds up

I hate this band lowkey but why is the first song good... Why am I enjoying this oh my god.

This record is the reason why The Strokes and AM scored so badly on the Apple list. This is quality. Honestly the only reason it isn't a 5 is because I've handed out too many today. This and Silent Alarm are pretty much all that is redeemable from that 00s indie scene. Actually fuck it it gets a 5

Album 32 and my first 5*. I hadn't listened in years but knew every note. I must have rinsed this as a 16 year old. I revisit some soft lad rock and leave very disappointed but every song on this album (apart from the riot van interlude) either rocks or grooves and sometimes both in the case of still take you home. I didn't even cringe at the lyrics. Only mardy bum brought on a tinge if this. Excellent album.

That this album is almost twenty years old slightly makes me want to die, but it’s nice to have a proper think about it for the first time in forever. Had forgotten how much of it is about clubbing, a thing I had never done when I first heard it in 2006. Is this kind of a concept album about the people of Sheffield and what they’re all doing one Saturday evening??????? Listening now, it’s all from a pretty young angry male perspective, which is interesting- the closest you get to a female view of the world is either View from the Afternoon or When the Sun Goes Down, and I think it’s deliberate that the first of those is a woman exhausted by her drunk boyfriend and the second is a tired prostitute. It’s women as they relate to and appear to the different kinds of men and boys across the album, with flashes of clarity that the women might have their own internal lives rather than being just archetypes. The album title comes from some kitchen sink drama I don’t remember the name of and that makes so much sense- those films were all from the 50s and 60s and about people from depressed Northern towns who grew up too fast and got married too young and were unhappy because of it, and this is what people that age in 2006 did instead. The view from the afternoon As an opener, this is a bit of a mission statement- Alex wailing “I want to see all of the things that we’ve already seen” in the middle of scenes of Hogarthian excess, finding something glorious in the mess of pub gambling and hen nights. That he knows already from the afternoon that it ends with rambling professions of love on the answerphone of a girl who’ll only roll her eyes gives you an idea of the kind of narrator he’s been for the rest of his career- able to see from above how there can be moments of tenderness and the awkwardness of internality in the most arcane and idiotic bits of everyday life. I bet that you look good on the dancefloor I don’t really think of the Arctic Monkeys as an indie sleaze band, but this is probably the indie sleaze anthem. Honestly, I never liked it much, but listening now I guess it’s quite fun that I’ve always pictured it happening on a dance floor and it obviously actually isn’t, because why would he need to bet? Choosing to believe he’s spotted her behind the till in Budgens. Fake tales of San Francisco I think the bridge to this might be my favourite bit of the album. “And yeah, I’d love to tell you all my problem/You’re not from New York City, you’re from Rotherham” is an all time lyric, and ending with the “yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah” of exactly the kind of shit indie band he’s skewering is so fun. Even more than IBTYLGOTD, this is so of an era- the Arctic Monkeys were the reason landfill indie happened, but they were probably seeing shit indie bands coming up around them for years before everyone rode through on their coattails. A lot of the crit I have now for the AM is that they’re not as vicious as they were- is that album they’ve got about a phantom space base a bit rich when they got famous with songs about this stuff? Dancing Shoes This is actually a sad song and I hadn’t realised it before- it’s practically a Smiths song. Like in TVFTA it’s about someone longing for connection and not being able to make it even when they’ve gone out with the express intention of meeting someone. I like how the last verse repeats the beginning like the poor bloke’s on yet another night out, with the same inevitable ending. You probably couldn’t see for the lights I like that this comes after Dancing Shoes- he’s mocked some sad little indie kid for being desperate and awkward and unable to talk to girls, and then one track later he’s self loathing about his behaviour around a girl he likes: “But they’re not half as bad as me/ say anything and I’ll agree”. Another song with a title that helps explain the content without the words ever being said- presumably she’s a girl in a band, which is obviously 2006’s coolest girl. Still take you home Honestly this is more sexist than I remember it, particularly the middle verse. It probably speaks EXACTLY to the kind of sex Alex was having before he got famous, but it’s pretty miserable- he’s mocking the girl who’s dressed up and pretending she doesn’t remember him, even though he’s as much of a cocky little prick as she is. Musically it’s not different enough from the other, less sexist songs, to excuse its inclusion. Fuck this one. Soz. Riot Van I like how dreamy this is- after a million club songs these are young boys sneaking vodka behind a bush, and the music’s almost like an interlude. “Those silly boys in blue/ Well, they won’t catch me and you” - it all feels quite nostalgic even though it’s about getting beaten up by the police for being an idiot kid. I just googled it and 2006 was the year of “Hug a hoodie”, where Labour accused David Cameron of being soft on crime by suggesting he wasn’t sufficiently demonising bored working class kids for hanging around shopping centres being low level vandals. The boys are almost heroic in this, since the police are the bad guys and they’re taking the piss. I like this one a lot. Red light indicates doors are secured Another clubbing song. I like that the verses are a conversation but I don’t find this one that interesting. If this isn’t a concept album, they could definitely have cut some of these. Mardy Bum This makes so much more sense to me as an adult- but I don’t believe it’s from Alex’s perspective. Even though the narration’s first person, it feels like it’s sung by someone older and probably married. I like how the northern slang in it feels a bit older, as well- “Mardy” and “reight” are both words I heard here for the first time, and they sound like they come from a tired man who loves his partner but wants to hold onto the life he had out with the boys, as illustrated in 90% of the other tracks here. Is it sexist? Probably. Are those men? Almost definitely. Perhaps vampires is a bit strong but… This is THE ONLY SONG ON THE ALBUM THAT BREAKS MY CONCEPT THEORY. I’ve also never knowingly put it on. Whatever. When the sun goes down Another Sheffield night time song, and deceptively dark, considering how jaunty it sounds- not that there’s anything inherently bad about sex work, but “it don’t stop in the winter” and I’m not keen on the scummy man’s “nasty plan”. I like how the middle of the song has the narrator awkwardly standing there listening and wondering, a voyeur, because that’s another thing this album is- a profoundly voyeuristic statement about working class culture from someone fantasising about the lives of people they choose to stereotype. Alex isn’t a reliable narrator- he’s made assumptions about both the man and woman in the song, and he moralises at the end to his audience- “I hope you’re not involved at all”. From the ritz to the rubble “Secretly I think they want it all to kick off…/it’s just something to talk about/ a story to tell” There’s some actual animosity in this one, from both the narrator and the kind of throbbing mass of the nightclub queue. They’re craving violence as an antidote to boredom, but then: “This town’s a different town than what it was last night”- it makes sense this is later on in the album, because it takes us to the next morning. While the album’s about what happened one night, this song’s about what didn’t, and how things are different and clearer in the morning. Which leads to: A Certain Romance This is the only song on the album without a kind of precise temporality to it- while everything else is a vignette of a specific time and place, a certain romance is vibes only, a summation of his teenage years now he’s growing out of them and moving away. My overarching review of this album is that I sort of love the swaggering characters in it, but my favourite character of all is Alex- so many songs are about “you” or “the boys” or blow by blow accounts of the people the narrator sees, but there’s still narrative bias you can glean so much about the author from. He’s romanticising working class Sheffield life very much from the peripheries- until the end, the actual Alex character narrator only crops up in clubs shitting on posers, pulling girls’ pigtails and trying to look cool, but A Certain Romance flips that round- after 12 tracks judging absolutely everyone (men, women, children), you see what Alex’s relationship to the chavs and townies and indie kids of 2006 Sheffield really is (is it Alex’s bandmates in knackered converse?). “They’d probably like to throw a punch at me” but “What can I say, I’ve known them for a long long time”- ultimately even with the law breaking and pretentiousness and ringtones, he finally accepts the romance of his grey town and the colourful people in it. I read that Alex started writing lyrics after he read John Cooper Clarke in an English lesson, and that makes sense of this album to me- it’s short story poems about the working classes as told by the cleverest boy in the year. I think the reason it feels like there are slightly too many clubbing songs is that that isn’t the most interesting Alex narrative- a song like Dancing Shoes or From the Ritz to the Rubble is more interesting than Still Take You Home or Red Light because there’s more to be said about what happened on a night where you didn’t get what you wanted than one where you did. I really love this album BUT that’s not to say I wouldn’t have given it an edit to include Leave Before the Lights Come On off their next EP instead of one or two of the others.

A classic that I have enjoyed many times, it ages pretty well.

I was working my 1st job out of college and living off campus at Rutgers with a bunch of hooligans like myself when I discovered the Arctic Monkeys and what a perfect band for that moment. I spent half my time in the office trolling the pirate download sites for new and intriguing music and when I stumbled upon the fan released AM content I was instantly hooked. I immediately spread the word with my housemates and we became diehards. Many an epic night blasting the monks and several tracks became our theme songs that we could very much relate to. This debut album is so technically sound but also has grit. Alex def has a chip on his shoulder for USA but he's not wrong with "Certain Romance" or "Fake Tales" (both bangers). This is one of, if not, my top Indy rock albums of all time...4.5.

Arctic Monkeys debut album is an incredibly impressive release. They managed to bring an original rock sound with the perfect edge of British attitude and punk-rock themes and deservedly vaulted to stardom in the wake of this album. There isn't a bad song on it and has an absolutely blistering second half that I might put at the top of all time Side B's. While I remain and Arctic Monkeys fan, nothing they have done has come anywhere close to this debut album. You can pick any song out a hat and be satisfied but there 5-6 all-timers that I routinely revisit. Props to Alex Turner and company on one of the best ever. 4.60 stars

No notes. One of my favorite albums. Every song tells me a wonderfully vivid little snapshot of life set to music I can jam out or dance to. Always welcome this band in my rotation.

# Album Name: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not # Artist: Arctic Monkeys # Rating: 5/5 # Comments: Honestly, this is a banging album. It doesnt matter if you dont like indy, or that you are sick of brit pop, you just need to listen to the quirky lyrics, cracking music and feel the energy in this bad boy. The first two albums from the arctic monkeys were absolutely class before they went into that weird phase. This was at their peak imo, raw and full of spunk. Singing with that yorkshire accent like you were in your nana's bathroom. They were pretty tight. Not quite as polished as their later albums but thats one of the things i love about this album. Its gritty. This is one of the best albums from the 00's. I wouldnt put this album up there with the VERY best of all time but its a bloody good album. Low 5 for me because i can easily listen to this all the way through. # Top Tunes: View from the afternoon / Bet that you look good on the DF / Fake tales of san francisco / Dancing shoes / Take you home / Riot Van / mardy bum / when the sun goes down / Ritz to the rubble / Certain romance # Would I listen to it again? Fucking yes man. Av it in yer ear!

Yes. Yes. Yes.

This was pretty much my definition of cool when it came out. Made me want to move to the UK just to get rat-arsed in a random pub in the afternoon.

I liked it muchly

Legendary Recht voor z'n raap. Vanaf het begin meteen vol in de vijfde versnelling. Alle jeugdige energie samengepakt in het debuutalbum waar ze (in volle omvang) niet aan hebben kunnen tippen. Geen moeilijk ge-croon van Alex Turner of lang doordachte gitaar-loopjes. Volumeknop open en gas erop, heerlijk. 9,5/10 Highlights I Bet You Good on the Dancefloor Fake Tales From San Francisco Mardy Bum When the Sun Goes Down

Obviously 5 stars

Best arctic monkeys album

Biased because this is an old fave

I know every single word, every note, and every ad-lib - but still loved listening again. Also one of my daughter's favourite albums, so we must have raised her right!

My whole youth I could have sworn he was wearing a T-shirt, my mind is blown to see that it's actually a button down. This album doesn't take off for a single song- no misses. When I was a kid I loved this album but I underestimated how impressive the degree of difficulty of some of these songs. It's got a lot of what I like about punk and grunge with a little bit more musicality and space for some of the sounds to breathe. Great epitome of a decade.

A classic, obviously.

I mean, it defined indie rock for like 3 generations and somehow managed to remain relevant to this day, what else can I say?

Die ganze Zeit zwischen 4 und 5 Sternen gehadert, aber als dann "When the Sun goes down" war einfach klar, für mich ein 5er Album. Interessante Stimme, geile Gitarrenriffs und ein Album meiner Jugend.

4.5 rounded up Fun one

I somehow managed to never listen to this one when it was big. What a miss, it was amazing outside of the radio hit

excellent

could i write poetry to this? y

Classic from my teen years. All bangers!

Absolute banger of an album -has a place in my heart. Listened to it through twice on a drive and regret nothing.

It's a classic to my youth so I'm biased

This album is just liquid gold. Straight up banger after banger. I really wish I wasn't listening to this alone in my room on a Saturday night cos I'd sell my left tit to be out dancing to this album right now.

Fantastic album. I adore 'deep cut' Mardy Bum, but the big hits (When The Sun Goes Down and I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor) are amazing too. I adore the raunchy style on this album.

Eén voor één kleppers. Nog steeds het beste album van AM. 5.0

Loved this album since it was released. I first discovered Arctic Monkeys when they were still an Internet band so I already knew some of the songs before the album was released and infact I still prefer the early mp3 download of Certain Romance to the album version. I would go as far as saying that this album is genius especially given the age of the band when they wrote these great tunes and quirky lyrics

Classics

Formative album for me. It still holds up nearly 20 years later too. Just bangers from start to finish.

Hits just as hard as it did in 2006. This was life changing for me. They’re weird now but this was incredible.