Forming in 2002, Arctic Monkeys frequently gave away freedemo CDs to fans at gigs; this resulted in the fans uploading the band's music tosocial media sites. As attention towards them continued to grow, the band eventually garnered great demand from fans, thepress and the music industry. Several of the album's tracks had been released for free via theInternet in late 2004, which consolidated on the unofficialBeneath the Boardwalk compilation. Musically,Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not is considered a melding ofindie rock,garage rock,post-punk revival,punk rock, andalternative rock. Its thematic content has been likened to aconcept, primarily concerning Britishnightlife, including lyricism surroundingclubbing andpub culture, andromance from the perspective of youngNortherners.
Prior to the release ofWhatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, Arctic Monkeys achieved their firstUK number-ones with album singles "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down". Upon release, it 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 in the country. It has since been certified8× platinum in the UK by theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI). In the US, it also became the second-fastest sellingindependent record label debut album in the country and was certifiedplatinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling at least 1,000,000 copies there.
Musically,Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not featuresindie rock,[1][2]garage rock revival,[1][3]post-punk revival,[1]punk rock,[1][4]alternative rock,[1][5] andpost-Britpop.[6] The common thematic content of the album has led to it being considered by some aconcept album concerning "the lives of youngNorthern England clubbers".[7] All tracks record first-person narratives of observations made within this context. "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", "Still Take You Home", "You Probably Couldn't See for the Lights but You Were Staring Straight at Me" and "Dancing Shoes" all examine human behaviour innightclubs. FrontmanAlex Turner describes "Dancing Shoes" as being about "people always looking topull when they go out however much they mask it."[8]
Other songs examine other aspects of 2000s Englishnightlife from a 19 year-oldAlex Turner's experience and perspective. "From the Ritz to the Rubble" is an account ofnightclub bouncers, "Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured" tells the typical experiences and troubles of getting ataxicab after a night out, and "When the Sun Goes Down" was inspired byprostitutes near the band's practice room in theNeepsend district ofSheffield.[9] Other songs are themed on romantic relationships, such as "Mardy Bum", oryouth subcultures, such as "Fake Tales of San Francisco" and "A Certain Romance". InNME's list of the top 100 tracks of the decade, "A Certain Romance" was described as "a strangely even-handed song which starts out scorning local townies then appears to absolve them at the end of the song."[10]
The album's title was taken from a line in the novelSaturday Night and Sunday Morning, written byAlan Sillitoe. The name was chosen after Turner recognised similarities between the two works and the appropriateness of the title. He said that "it's good because the book is calledSaturday Night and Sunday Morning and that's kind of what the album is, so there's a link there. And also, there's a lot of people saying a lot of things about us and you don't have control over it."[11] He also said that "songs including 'The View from the Afternoon', 'Dancing Shoes', 'Still Take You Home' and 'From the Ritz to the Rubble' all cover that bit of the weekend and feature the same character."[12]
The album's cover is a black-and-white photograph of Chris McClure, a close friend of the band who is the lead singer forThe Violet May and the brother ofReverend and The Makers lead singerJon McClure, which was taken in the early hours of the morning at theKorova bar inLiverpool.[11] The band had given him, his cousin, and his best friend £70 to spend on a night out.[13] The image caused some controversy when Laurence Gruer ofNHS Scotland criticised the cover for "reinforcing the idea that smoking is okay".[14] The band's product manager denied the accusation, and in fact suggested the opposite: "You can see from the image smoking is not doing him the world of good."Billboard advertisements for the album used a similar image to the cover picture, but without the cigarette. Digitally, the album cover is often modified away from black-and-white with a slightly blue-ish tint.
Forming in 2002, Arctic Monkeys frequently gave away freedemo CDs to fans at gigs, which resulted in fans uploading the band's music tosocial media sites,[15] and as their attention hugely grew, the band had garnered great demand from fans, thepress and the music industry.[15] Prior to the release of the album, the tracks "Mardy Bum", "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", "Fake Tales of San Francisco", "Dancing Shoes", "Still Take You Home", "Riot Van", "When the Sun Goes Down" (then known as "Scummy" or "Scummy Man") and "A Certain Romance" had been released for free via the internet in late 2004 and consolidated on the unofficialBeneath the Boardwalk compilation.
"I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" was released as the first single from the album. The song debuted at number one on theUK Singles Chart in October 2005 for one week, knockingSugababes' "Push the Button" off the top. "When the Sun Goes Down" was released as the second single from the album in January 2006, also debuting at number one on the UK Singles Chart.
The original release date was 30 January 2006, but was brought forward to 23 January 2006 due to "high demand". Although the same was done withFranz Ferdinand, it was speculated that the move was an attempt to counter the effects of the album's leak onto onlinefile-sharing sites.[16] The re-recorded album versions had been leaked onto the internet by December 2005.
On the first day of its release, the album became the fastest-selling debut album in British history, selling just under 120,000 copies. By the end of the week, the album had sold 363,735 copies—more than the rest of the top 20 combined and making it the overall fastest-selling debut album in British history. Its release in the United States on 21 February 2006 saw it become the second fastest-selling debut indie album in history,[17] turning over around 34,000 copies in its first week and achieving number 24 in the album charts and was certified Gold by RIAA for indicating sales of 500,000 copies in August 2017. The album also went to number one inAustralia andIreland. UK sales as of September 2013 stood at 1,475,982 copies.[18] In February 2014, the album was certified 5× Platinum, and[19] 7× Platinum by April 2022 for indicating sales of 2,100,000 copies.
"The View from the Afternoon" was expected to have been the band's third single, following UK number ones "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down", but the band announced in March 2006 that its next record would be a five-track EP,[20] which thereby disqualified it from being listed in theUK Singles Chart andUK Albums Chart.[21]
The track "Mardy Bum", while not released as a single, appeared on radio playlists throughout the UK in mid-2006, and is still played infrequently onBBC Radio 1 and some alternative rock stations such asSirius XM'sSirius XMU. The track "A Certain Romance" was ranked number 90 inPitchfork Media's Top 100 Tracks of 2006 and cited as the standout track.[22]NME also placed "A Certain Romance" at 10 in their list of 100 Tracks of the Decade.[10] In October 2011,NME placed it at number 140 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".[23]
In the US, "Fake Tales of San Francisco" was released as the album's third single and peaked at number 30 on theBillboard charts.
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not received widespread acclaim from critics upon release. OnMetacritic, it has aweighted average rating of 82 out of 100 based on 33 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[24] It featured highly in many year-end lists and has been hailed as a modern classic.[34] Many critics and figures in the British media hyped the Arctic Monkeys and their rapid rise to acclaim through unconventional means[9][35][29] and some even cited the Arctic Monkeys as revolutionising the way people find music as they built a fanbase on the basis of a few demos shared by fans through the internet.[36] Critics hugely praised the album for its depiction ofBritish youth culture and for resurgingBritish indie music, which had waned after the 1990s.[15]
NME declared the Arctic Monkeys "Our Generation's Most Important Band", and Alex Turner's lyrics and depiction of Sheffield, and the night lives of teenagers in particular, were praised, with him being labelled as a "master of observation"[28] andUSA Today writing "you probably won't hear a better CD all year long", calling it "utterly infectious".[34]MusicOMH wrote that it was the sort of guitar rock that "makes you fall in love with music all over again" and along with many other critics cited "A Certain Romance" as the standout track and as being "a wonderfully articulate dissection of youth culture that belies Turner's tender years". It was, however, noted that some of the tracks which had previously been released on the internet as demos had lost some of their quality and "don't sound as good".[35]
In 2013, seven years after its release,Rolling Stone wrote, "It turned out that all the Monkeys needed to conquer the world was scrappy, lager-fueled tunes about being young and bored in a bleak steel town [...] Thanks to Turner's big bag of creaky melodies and the band's snaggletoothed guitar attack, even America couldn't resist pub-punk gems like the raging, sexy "I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor [sic]."[37]
In 2009 the album placed at number 9 inMTV's "Greatest Album Ever" online poll.[52] The album was also included in the book1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[53] It was ranked 97 inRolling Stone's 2022 edition of its "100 Best Debut Albums of All Time" list.[54] As of May 2021, the album has remained on the UK Indie Chart for 706 weeks.[55]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
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