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

Arctic Monkeys: Alex Turner (vocals, guitar); Jamie Cook (guitar); Andy Nicholson (bass guitar); Matt Helders (drums).
Audio Mixer: Jim Abbiss.
Recording information: 2 Fly Studio, Sheffield, England; Telstar Studios, Munich, Germany; The Chapel Studio, Lincolnshire, England.
Photographers: Andy Brown ; Alexandra Wolkowicz.
Reportedly the fastest-selling debut in British history at the time of its early-2006 release, the Arctic Monkeys' WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM, THAT'S WHAT I'M NOT is a brash, hook-filled album that immediately warrants music fans' attention, if perhaps not all of the pre-release hype. Clearly taking notes on the evolution of U.K. punk, the Sheffield-based band reveal the influence of revered predecessors such as the Jam and the Clash, while most notably evoking the Libertines in their youthful, hood-rat persona. On this hyperactive 13-track set, singer/guitarist Alex Turner is armed with an arsenal of sharply observed middle-class narratives (a la the Streets), which are propelled by wiry guitar lines and formidable rhythms that, at times, verge on funk (see Bloc Party). Highlights of this much-lauded disc include the raucous "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," the woozy "Riot Van" (one of the record's few quieter moments), and the lurching "When the Sun Goes Down." Like Franz Ferdinand's scruffier (and considerably less effete) kid brothers, the Arctic Monkeys prove that the hyperbole of the U.K. music press occasionally has roots in an impressive reality.
Breathless, hyperbolic praise was piled upon the Arctic Monkeys and their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, an instant phenomenon without peer. Within the course of a year, the band rose from the ranks of an Internet phenomenon to the biggest band in the U.K., all on the strength of early demos circulated on the Web as MP3s. Those demos built the band a rabid fan base before the Monkeys had released a record, even before they played more than a handful of gigs. In effect, the group performed a complete run around the industry, avoiding conventional routes toward stardom, which paid off in spades. When Whatever People Say I Am hit the streets in January 2006, it sold a gob-smacking 118,501 copies within its first week of release, which not only made it the fastest-selling debut ever, but it sold more than the rest of the Top 20 combined -- a remarkable achievement by any measure.
Last time such excitement surrounded a new British guitar band it was a decade earlier, as Britpop hit overdrive with the release of Oasis' 1994 debut, Definitely Maybe. All four members of the Arctic Monkeys were a little bit shy of their tenth birthday at the time, a bit young to be sure, but old enough to have Oasis be their first favorite band. So, it's little surprise that the Gallaghers' laddism -- celebrating nights out fueled by lager and loud guitars -- is the bedrock foundation of the Arctic Monkeys, just the way as it has been for most British rock bands since the mid-'90s, but the Monkeys' true musical ground zero is 2001, the year the Strokes stormed British consciousness with their debut, Is This It. The Arctic Monkeys borrow heavily from the Strokes' stylized ennui, adding an equal element of the Libertines' shambolic neo-classicist punk, undercut by a hint of dance-punk learned from Franz Ferdinand. But where the Strokes, the Libertines, and Franz all knowingly reference the past, this Sheffield quartet is only concerned with the now, piecing together elements of their favorite bands as lead singer/songwriter Alex Turner tells stories from their lives -- mainly hookups on the dancefloor and underage drinking, balanced by the occasional imagined tragic tales of prostitution and the music industry.
Whatever People Say I Am captures the band mashing up the Strokes and the Libertines at will, jamming in too many angular riffs into too short of a space, tearing through the songs as quickly as possible. But where the StrRolling Stone (p.87) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The unassuming foursome of nineteen- and twenty-year-olds specializes in propulsion, momentum and repetition -- in succinct riffs and snarly, wordy lyrics..."
Rolling Stone (p.104) - Ranked #17 in Rolling Stone's "The Top 50 Albums Of 2006" -- "[G]arage-punk nuggets built in the grim steel town of Sheffield."
Spin (p.62) - Ranked #03 in Spin's "The 40 Best Albums of 2006" -- "Beneath the scenester cool and post-Pavement guitar fuzz. WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM is exuberant teenage garage pop..."
Entertainment Weekly (p.60) - "Guitars and drums ricochet off each other; riffs are bounced around like soccer balls. With their kicky hooks, the songs owe more to Warped Tour thrashers than to stoic post-punk inspirations..." -- Grade: A-
Q (p.126) - Ranked #1 in Q Magazine's "100 Greatest Albums of 2006" -- "[B]ristling with energy and plugged into the era's social conditions and colloquialisms."
Uncut (p.86) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "Alex Turner's breathless delivery is faultless, a foaming cocktail of lust and longing, occasionally brimming over into Costello-esque rage."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.102) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Fashion and hype be damned -- this is thrilling, incontrovertible evidence of a major new talent in our midst."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.56) - Ranked #82 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "Arctic Monkeys delivered a debut bristling with Modish urgency and teenage angst."
Clash (magazine) (p.74) - "[T]here really was no doubt that in this modern punk and hip-hop inspired vignette of reality bites, and Northern colloquialisms, the Monkeys had defined the zeitgeist..."