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

Didn't know the arctic monkeys were cool (pun intended)

I really enjoyed the album, despite not checking the names of tracks as they stood out to me. I think they have a great sound that is distinct. The album gelled well from song to song.

(4.75) so so good an insane debut album

Wow. I am very familiar with later songs by Arctic Monkeys. I didn't think I knew any song from this album, but I did know A Certain Romance and I love that song.

My standouts are definitely A Certain Romance, From the Ritz to the Rubble, Riot Van and Fake Tales of San Francisco. Every song was really good, though. The only maybe downside is this is a VERY British album lol. I think it works here and I wouldn't want anything else from an Arctic Monkeys album, but it can be a bit much sometimes.

I do love this album after the first listen. It is not the best thing ever made, but it is fun and familiar. Nothing not to like here.

Instant classic. Maybe the ambition was greaer than the actual raw talent, but it works.

I always had a bit of an aversion to artic monkeys around the time of this album. I think I decided they were too cool or mainstream at the time. I listened more to their later albums, but never really went back to this one. Listening now I missed out. Undeniably great album, no bad songs, a fair few fantastic ones.

I bought NME religiously from 2002-2005. Every week another must-hear indie guitar band was on the cover… The Strokes, Libertines, The Hives, The Vines, White Stripes, Interpol, Muse, The Coral, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, King of Leon, Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian, Bloc Party…

Arctic Monkeys were the top of the rollercoaster just before the decline towards landfill indie …Fratellis, Pigeon Detectives, Wombats, Scouting for Girls, The Kooks

Jesus Christ did it fall off quickly.

I wasn’t sure which side of the line this album would fall 20 years on since I first heard it. Glad to say it still holds up.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘈𝘮, 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐’𝘮 𝘕𝘰𝘵 has the swagger and guitars to tick the “indie rock” box, but I’m not convinced it offers much beyond that label. The songs are energetic and capture a slice of 2000s nightlife, yet the hype feels bigger than the music itself. A decent debut, but far from the groundbreaking indie classic it’s often made out to be.

Totally missed this when it first came out. It feels very of the time, that early to mid aughts garage rock sound. My brain somehow conflates them with Imagine Dragons and 21 Pilots and I really don't know why. That's pretty unfair to them. And honestly, pretty unfair to me, I don't wanna even think of that other bands.

„Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not“ ist ein energiegeladenes Debüt, das den Zeitgeist der britischen Indie-Rock-Szene der 2000er Jahre perfekt einfängt. Mit scharfzüngigen Texten und treibenden Gitarrenriffs liefern die Arctic Monkeys eine rohe Momentaufnahme des Nachtlebens und jugendlicher Unruhe.

Doch trotz der starken Attitüde wirkt das Album stellenweise monoton – viele Songs ähneln sich im Tempo und Aufbau. Die musikalische Vielfalt bleibt hinter dem lyrischen Witz zurück. Ein solides Album mit Kultstatus, aber nicht ganz so bahnbrechend, wie sein Ruf vermuten lässt.

Favorite songs: Dancing Shoes, I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor, The View from the Afternoon, Fake Tales of San Francisco, You Probably Couldn't See For the Lights But You Were Staring Straight At Me, Still Take You Home, Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured, From the Ritz to the Rubble, Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But..., A Certain Romance

Least favorite songs: Riot Van

5/5

White boys need to make music like this again

This is (maybe) not a five-star album in the classical sense. It’s neither all killers, nor is it wildly inventive or groundbreaking. But here is the thing: my judgement is clouded. Because from a subjective perspective, this is where it all started for me personally. As a teenager growing up in a rural town, this album was hu(uuuu)ge for me. Fake Tales of San Francisco is an all-time favorite, and even today it transports me back to the cold winter of 2006, when my brain was rewired after actively hearing this melange of indie and post-punk for the first time - made by someone roughly from my own generation.

Over the years, I’ve listened to thousands of different albums, genres (and of course to the godmothers and godfathers of this style) but this one still feels special. Unlike many other releases from that era, I think it has aged remarkably well (with the debuts from Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, and Maxïmo Park also standing the test of time). Alex Turner is a great lyricist, the drumming is sharp, and the whole thing carries an amazingly raw energy - youthful yet timeless.

This album is still so good! Everything about it is just so god damn cool.
I also know a guy who used to play From the Ritz to the Rubble pretty well in his band 😎

So much better than Coldplay

Felt like a continuous stream of riffiness with admittedly catchy lyrics. Maybe I was not in the mood but I felt like the album was kind of just not all it was cracked up to be?

Great storytelling. Great playing. Great to hear singing in a Yorkshire accent. Great album.

This is a very rare album. One that, in 2006, seemingly everyone in the UK all loved all at once. Music fans and people who couldn't care less all cottoned on to this group at the same time, with catchy, immediate singles leading to the release of a well rounded and (more than anything else) fun album. There is a freshness to it that almost 20 years later still manages to make you sit up, despite all of the singles having received more than its fair share of airtime.

Alex Turner is at his funniest on this debut. Its his well observed, interesting or absurd lyrics that turns an album of energetic garage rock tunes and slower indie ballads into something instantly relatable for most listeners. "Have you been drinking, son? You don't look old enough to me." "I'm sorry, officer, is there a certain age you're supposed to be? 'Cause nobody told me."

There are touch points that you can hear under the bonnet: The Strokes; The Streets; The Rapture; but what they're doing is a new amalgamation and created an album that still today some guy in your local pub describes as "the last time a band made proper music."

One of the "new" albums (i.e. not in my version of the book). Not a false step here. Very assured debut (fastest selling debut at the time of release). An Indie classic.

This is a shot of pure nostalgia. I had this album on constant rotation in high school. It was one of the albums that got me out of the classic rock hole I was stuck in. My tastes have definitely changed since then though, as I can’t see myself returning to this album too frequently, if ever. When this came out I absolutely loved the stop-start guitars and how they played with the bass and drums. It’s still fun to listen to now, but I definitely don’t connect to this music the same was as I did back then.

I still listen to Modest Mouse from time to time, which was the other band that saved me from only ever listening to classic rock. It’s a shame they’re not on this list.