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"