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

Few listens. It’s alright. I don’t like it as much as I did in college.

*Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not* by Arctic Monkeys is 20 years old this year. Twenty years! Where on earth has that time gone? It's quite frightening how quickly time passes. This is the one Arctic Monkeys album I've always really loved, so I was looking forward to revisiting it today.

What I love most about this album is how it instantly makes me feel young again. So many of these songs take me straight back to indie nights out, packed pubs, sticky dancefloors and the music of the mid-2000s. It's one of those records that captures a particular time in your life perfectly, and listening to it brings back so many great memories.

The songwriting is absolutely brilliant. Alex Turner's lyrics are witty, observational and full of character, perfectly capturing what British youth culture was like 20 years ago. The nights out, the relationships, the arguments, the frustrations and the general chaos of growing up are all here. There's something wonderfully familiar about the stories he tells, and I think that's a huge part of why this album connected with so many people.

Musically, it's fantastic too. The guitars are sharp, the drums are relentless, and the whole album is bursting with energy. It's raw and exciting, but underneath all that noise are some genuinely brilliant melodies and incredibly catchy songs.

And what a collection of songs! "The View from the Afternoon", "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", "Fake Tales of San Francisco", "Mardy Bum" and "When the Sun Goes Down" are all absolute belters. I could go on, but with some of these song titles, I'd be here all day writing them out!

What makes this album so good is that there's virtually no filler. Thirteen songs in around 40 minutes is just about perfect. It's quick, sharp and straight to the point, with barely a moment wasted. There's so much energy and variety that you never get bored, and before you know it, the album is over and you're ready to play it again.

For me, this is Arctic Monkeys at their very best. I've listened to their later albums, but none of them has come close to capturing the excitement, energy and brilliant songwriting of this debut. It's a record that sounds just as good today as it did 20 years ago.

Overall, *Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not* is a fantastic album and a genuine modern British classic. It's full of brilliant songs, wonderful lyrics and memories of a time when life felt a little simpler. I absolutely love it, and I can't believe it's already 20 years old!

Favourite tracks: "Mardy Bum" and "When the Sun Goes Down". Two absolute classics, although I could easily have picked another five or six songs.

Least favourite track: There isn't a weak song on the album. It's consistently brilliant from start to finish.

Album artwork: An absolutely iconic album cover from the noughties! Instantly recognisable and perfectly captures the era. I love it.

Ar'tic Munkays it should be spelt, really.

Pretty good debut, gotta say. Having said that, it probably hasn't aged quite as well as I thought it would. 'I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor' is still a banger, and 'Mardy Bum' is a sweet little slice of domesticity amongst the lads, lager and amphetamines that fuel the rest of it - see 'Fake Tales of San Francisco'.
Can't decide if this is a 3 or a 4, but I'm going to err on the side of a lower rating as the rest doesn't really leave too big an impression.

Damn, so this‘s what we call a “no-skip album.” I really wish this masterpiece were the popular one instead of that AM shit.

I think I'd only previously heard songs off of AM, and was not a huge fan. This is so much better. Way more energy, love it.

So I know the Arctic Monkeys are a popular British rock band from 20-some years ago, but until now had never managed to hear them enough to form an opinion.
While the first song on this album didn’t quite grab me, it started growing on me several tracks in. What I could catch of the lyrics on lots of these songs were good, reflecting a kind of gritty, sometimes grim kind of partying atmosphere, which felt honest. And the more punk-infused tracks were fun (“You Probably Couldn’t See…,” e.g.). So overall, I liked this. I’d say fave tracks were “Riot Van” and “Perhaps Vampires…,” especially with the crazy drumming at the end of the latter song. The long song titles were particularly amusing. I’ll listen to this again.

Another album on the project that I went in not expecting much from, but ended up enjoying.

4/5. One of the best indie debuts of the 2000’s, this thing just rips right from the start of opener “the view from the afternoon.” The songs are all simple but have such an energy and oomph to them that they just hit whether that be the bounce of “Dancing Shoes” or the banger “from the ritz to the rubble.” The guitar parts on this album are also all just so fun, the stuff that makes you want to pick your instrument up again. It’s such a good debut that at least in my opinion the band hasn’t topped it even 20 years later.

Sounds like a lot of bands that came before them, but good that they're keeping it alive.

🐒🐒🐒🐒

They are truly Arctic... and Monkeys.

Strong contender for my favorite album of the past 20 years.

Not sure how this band fooled everyone. This is boring, repetitive, uninspired generic OOs rock without any discernible uniqueness or character.

This album definitely wears it's influences on it's sleeves. Heavy Red Hot Chili Peppers in the guitar and bass. White Stripes/Jack White as well, and on vocals.

But regardless, I'm having a lot of fun with this album, terrible album art notwithstanding. Just some good 00's English garage rock fed through a slight funk/blues sound.

There is something special about listening to an album and hearing some of the inspo for music I listen to a lot.

Season: Late Summer
Favorite Song: Riot Van or Mardy Bum

Saying that I was completely certain that this was my first time listening to this album, and then checking on RYM and seeing that I had indeed already rated it is very indicative of how mediocre the music here is. It is far from the worst album in the list, but it does fail to bring anything new to the table.

6/10 [DROP]

2006 really had a sound huh?

even though the german band Kraftklub kinda said that the world would be better withouth the Arctic Monkeys: I really liked this Album

Eh, it's not total ass but I've always found these guys grating.

I guess this is not too bad, quite enjoyable however to me it's also quite samesy. Don't see a very high value in this and still don't get why is it so popular, so probably around 3 stars for me.

I've never really spent time to sit down and listen to Arctic Monkeys, and I'm not sure why. I'm also not sure if I recognize any of these tracks by title. So I'm going into this with an open mind.

I quite enjoyed this, and not only will I be adding this to my list of albums to listen to again, I feel I need to check out more albums by Arctic Monkeys.