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Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
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Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Current price: $15.99
Barnes and Noble
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Current price: $15.99
Size: CD
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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 U.K. debut ever, but 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 Brit-pop hit overdrive with the release of
Oasis
' 1994 debut,
Definitely Maybe
. All four members of
were a little bit shy of their tenth birthday at the time, a bit young to be sure, but old enough to have
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
, just the way as it has been for most British rock bands since the mid-'90s. Their true ground zero though, is 2001, the year
the Strokes
stormed British consciousness with their debut,
Is This It
.
The Arctic Monkeys
borrow heavily from
' 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
,
, 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.
captures the band mashing up
and
at will, jamming too many angular riffs into too short a space, tearing through the songs as quickly as possible. But where
camouflaged their songwriting skills with a laconic, take-it-or-leave-it sexiness, and where
mythologized England with a junkie poeticism,
at their heart are simple, everyday lads, lacking any sense of sex appeal or romanticism, or even the desire for either. Nor do they harbor much menace, either in their tightly wound music or in how
Turner
spits out his words. Also, the dry production, sounding for all the world like an homage to
-- all clanking guitars and clattering drums, with most of the energy coming from the group's sloppy call-and-response backing vocals -- keeps things ever immediate. In a way,
is an ideal album for the age of Information Overload: nearly every track here is stuffed with riffs and words, and just when it's about to sort itself out, it stops short. Instead of relying on a digital cut-and-paste clamor, lead singer and lyricist
is a natural storyteller, chronicling a very specific time and place. Like
Weller
or
Ian Dury
before him, he's captured his era in stark, vivid terms; he may not transcend his time, but he embodies it fully. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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 U.K. debut ever, but 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 Brit-pop hit overdrive with the release of
Oasis
' 1994 debut,
Definitely Maybe
. All four members of
were a little bit shy of their tenth birthday at the time, a bit young to be sure, but old enough to have
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
, just the way as it has been for most British rock bands since the mid-'90s. Their true ground zero though, is 2001, the year
the Strokes
stormed British consciousness with their debut,
Is This It
.
The Arctic Monkeys
borrow heavily from
' 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
,
, 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.
captures the band mashing up
and
at will, jamming too many angular riffs into too short a space, tearing through the songs as quickly as possible. But where
camouflaged their songwriting skills with a laconic, take-it-or-leave-it sexiness, and where
mythologized England with a junkie poeticism,
at their heart are simple, everyday lads, lacking any sense of sex appeal or romanticism, or even the desire for either. Nor do they harbor much menace, either in their tightly wound music or in how
Turner
spits out his words. Also, the dry production, sounding for all the world like an homage to
-- all clanking guitars and clattering drums, with most of the energy coming from the group's sloppy call-and-response backing vocals -- keeps things ever immediate. In a way,
is an ideal album for the age of Information Overload: nearly every track here is stuffed with riffs and words, and just when it's about to sort itself out, it stops short. Instead of relying on a digital cut-and-paste clamor, lead singer and lyricist
is a natural storyteller, chronicling a very specific time and place. Like
Weller
or
Ian Dury
before him, he's captured his era in stark, vivid terms; he may not transcend his time, but he embodies it fully. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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