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

En 2006, quatre jeunes de Sheffield, à peine sortis de l’adolescence, catapultaient sur la scène rock britannique un pavé d’une authenticité foudroyante. "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not", le premier album des Artic Monkeys avec un son brut et sans fard d’une jeunesse désabusée mais vibrante.

Dès les premières mesures de "The View from the Afternoon", le ton est donné. Une batterie frénétique, des guitares qui lacèrent l'air de riffs acérés comme du verre brisé, et par-dessus tout, la voix d'Alex Turner, gouailleuse, précise, débitant à une vitesse folle des observations d'une acuité sidérante. C'est là que réside le premier coup de génie de l'album : sa capacité à capturer l'ordinaire pour le transformer en une poésie urbaine et électrique. Les sorties en boîte de nuit, les espoirs de séduction maladroits, les altercations évitées de justesse, les taxis de fin de soirée ; chaque morceau est un court-métrage, une tranche de vie de la classe ouvrière du nord de l’Angleterre, dépeinte avec un réalisme cru et une ironie mordante.

L'album est une décharge d'adrénaline quasi ininterrompue. Des hymnes générationnels comme "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" ou "Dancing Shoes" sont des invitations impossibles à refuser à une danse frénétique et cathartique. L'énergie est palpable, presque nerveuse. On sent l'urgence de ces jeunes musiciens qui, avant même d'être signés, avaient conquis leur public grâce à la diffusion virale de leurs démos sur Internet – un phénomène précurseur qui a redéfini les règles de l'industrie musicale. Cette ascension fulgurante, bâtie sur le bouche-à-oreille numérique, a insufflé à l'album une aura d'authenticité et de révolution. Les Arctic Monkeys n'étaient pas un produit marketing ; ils étaient la voix du peuple, amplifiée par la technologie.

Musicalement, l'influence du post-punk revival du début des années 2000 est évidente, avec des échos de The Strokes ou The Libertines. Cependant, les "Monkeys" y injectent une saveur typiquement britannique, un héritage qui remonte aux Kinks et aux Jam. Les structures sont directes, sans fioritures superflues. La basse de Andy Nicholson et la batterie de Matt Helders forment une section rythmique implacable, un moteur surpuissant qui ne faiblit jamais. Les guitares d'Alex Turner et de Jamie Cook s'entremêlent dans un dialogue constant, tantôt agressives, tantôt mélodiques, mais toujours au service de l'efficacité redoutable des compositions.

Le véritable trésor de "Whatever People Say I Am..." réside sans conteste dans les textes d'Alex Turner. Véritable chroniqueur social, il possède un don d'observation quasi littéraire. Avec un vocabulaire riche et un sens de la formule percutant, il croque les personnages et les situations avec une précision chirurgicale. Que ce soit l'hypocrisie des scènes de drague sur "Fake Tales of San Francisco" ou la tension palpable avant une bagarre dans "From the Ritz to the Rubble", Turner raconte des histoires universelles à travers le prisme de son expérience locale. Des titres plus mélancoliques comme "Mardy Bum", avec son analyse fine d'une dispute de couple, ou le poignant "A Certain Romance", qui jette un regard à la fois critique et affectueux sur sa propre culture, démontrent une maturité d'écriture sidérante pour un jeune homme d'à peine vingt ans.

L'album ne brille pas par sa complexité orchestrale ou sa diversité sonore mais il mérite une note de 5/5 car c'est un excellent premier album qui se vit autant qu'il s'écoute, un uppercut d'énergie et d'intelligence dont la pertinence reste totale. Un classique moderne, un disque essentiel qui a parfaitement rempli sa mission : définir le son d'une génération avec une honnêteté et une énergie qui forcent l'admiration. Un cri du cœur et des tripes qui mérite sa place au sommet.

Ідеальний дебют, все ще напевно найкращий альбом в їхній дискографії.

Lots of good pizzazz. Great riffs.

This really warmed up to me throughout the end of the first listen and into the second. They have great musical talent and the singers voice is animated and interesting. Some really great songs on here and some that fade a bit, but I'm generally impressed. 3.7/5 - > 4/5

Way better, heavier and skillfull than I epected.

prvi put slušam i sad - da je loše, nije, al nije ni izvanredno dobro. vokal zanimljiv ali mi ne sjeda.

Arctic Monkeys is a group that I've listened to time and again. They're an English indie garage rock revival group that exploded onto the scene thanks in part to the proliferation of their work on the internet, only to mellow as the years went by into a sort of hodgepodge with psychedelic rock and lounge. It's weird how such a tonal shift happened. Thankfully, their debut Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not captures the band's early tenacity.

The vibe I got from this album was meeting up with my mates at the downtown pub, heading in, and getting blasted in the ears by this hot new band playing their live set. I head near the stage to catch what they're playing, and am genuinely impressed by the degree to which these young lads utilized complex riffs and syncopated rhythms. There seemed to be a lot more beneath the surface as they rolled on with their frenetic dance jams with a few well-sequenced breaks in between, such as the slow-burn ballad "Riot Van" and the loud-quiet-loud structure of "Mardy Bum".

As for frontman Alex Turner himself, he sang with a strong dialect about the nightlife. From taking in the scenery on opener "The View from the Afternoon", to envisioning the girl out of her mundane situation into the downtown on "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", to the nervousness in making a move on "Dancing Shoes", to the group of friends looking to have fun despite their current circumstances on "Riot Van", these general musings work in tandem with the garage rock production to illicit that vibe of the pub band taking their observations and putting them to song. Admittedly, the focus on spurring relationships gets a wee bit repetitive throughout the record, especially coming out of Alex's thick accent. Still, it generally works with the vibe and doesn't completely take me out of the performance.

Overall, I'd say this was a solid debut for Arctic Monkeys, with a style and songwriting approach they refined for their next album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, before they shifted gears. It's certainly felt like a nice trip to the local dive.

Something like this should be right up my alley, and I don't hate it, but there's just something about it that isn't clicking. The current hypothesis is that while the songs are fine-to-good, if they had just a slightly slower BPM they would elevate to good-to-great.

I found the vocalist to be really grating on first listen, but the rest of the band sounded really fuckin great so I gave it a few more tries over the course of the day.
Eventually I warmed up to the vocals and everything clicked. Today, the British won.

I coincidentally saw a kid wearing an Arctic Monkey's shirt.

i do not understand the arctic monkey hype

Still magic.

This album is as old today as The Queen Is Dead was when this album was released. That seems strange. What do 19-year-olds think of songs that mention: "And she won't be surprised and she won't be shocked
When she's pressed the star after she's pressed unlock"

I've always deemed Arctic Monkeys as overrated but I think I'm basing that off their later stuff because I enjoyed this one

Lovely basslines and even better riffs and hooks make this a really good album. Never been a fan of the vocals though. Thought the drumming was a bit naff too.

Not a big fan of indie stuff but this was definitely one of the better ones I've heard

Not heard this for maybe a decade. When it came out, I was 23 and in a band. I heard this and my first thought was "Shit, my band sounds old-fashioned." I (and everybody) did not realise Arctic Monkeys would be the 'last' great British guitar band. It still sounds exciting. I can still picture mid-noughties Britain when i listen to this. The drinking and undertones of aggression.
It's brilliant lyrically, really funny and insightful. The band rips as well. Modern classic.

Still one of the greatest debut albums of all time. Arctic Monkeys are like Game of Thrones, 5 great albums in a row and then Alex Turner goes insane and burns everything. Some super fans might pretend they like the last couple of albums but I think a line from this album sums that up quite well: "his bird said it's amazing though so all that's left if the proof that love's not only blind but deaf".

Oh yeah, I'm supposed to review this album, not Arctic Monkeys in general. It's great. To use another TV reference, I'd say it's like "The Inbetweeners" of albums. It's the most relatable album to people (maybe just guys) who grew up in England in the 2000s/2010s.

Solid debut album, can see what all the fuss is about. That said, some of the popular songs are overplayed and therefore a bit annoying.

Hyvä ja menevä indielevy! En ollut tätä debyyttiä kuullut, joten käsitys bändistä oli myöhemmän tuotannon muokkaamana enemmän poprock, mut täähän oli aika kiinnostava.

Listening to this transports me right back to being like 15 or 16. Listening to songs from this album on a friend's MP3 player, downloaded illegally from god knows where, tinny quality, at lunchtime in school. How time flies! Easy 5 for me - they perfectly captured their (and our) youthful energy in a bottle. In my opinion, they never came close to equalling this album, unfortunately.

Red Light Indicates Doors are Secure was my introduction to this band. I initially ignored them cause of the name or something, I don’t remember. But my friend showed me red light without saying who it was and I was in. This album is fun and I love the angular and unique guitar riffs. Not a bad track on here.

The album that triggered a deluge of landfill. That whole era has that weird contradiction of sounding energetically youthful while wearing the musical clothing of an older generation. I like that he has a lot to say and how he paints a vivid picture of being out on the town. But why is he so angry with all the women he wants to shag? It's self loathing isn't it? Someone ought to write a thought piece in the Observer about how Alex Turner was the harbinger of the modern crisis in masculinity or something.