Album: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Artist: Arctic Monkeys
Born: High Green, Sheffield
Released: January 2006
Genre: Indie Rock
One of the secrets to this record becoming the fastest-selling debut album in British music history was the band's use of social media, a modern approach at odds with their more retro sound. MySpace (before its demise) was particularly crucial in helping raise the band's profile, with fans liberally sharing early demos. Unlike Oasis, the Arctic Monkeys' sound was more influenced by garage rock and post-punk rather than glam and classic rock, but the most important element in their music was the "voice" (not just the Sheffield accents but Alex Turner's inspired Northern poetry). So much of the record is steeped in the culture of Northern England, from the album title that references a quote in the classic novel / film about working-class life, Saturday Night & Sunday Morning (also an inspiration for Morrissey), to the songs about going out in Sheffield. Turner mentions local landmarks and characters that help to create a vivid picture of Northern life. The song that really announced the band to the wider public, on the back of enthusiastic reviews in NME and elsewhere, was I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, a single that briefly made it to the No.1 spot in late 2005. The recording is a homage to the promo video for Last Nite by The Strokes, a band that obviously inspired Arctic Monkeys' sound.
The song paints a clever contrast between the "dirty dancefloors" of Northern clubs and the romantic love of Romeo & Juliet, and the line about "dancing to electropop like a robot from 1984" is a nice reference to Sheffield's synthpop legacy (notably The Human League, ABC and Heaven 17). Another brilliant single from the album is When The Sun Goes Down, which shifts from Turner's a cappella singing about a prostitute exploited by a "scummy" pimp into heavy riffing and angry ranting. Not all the songs are slices of Northern life, with Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But... a critique of the British tabloid press and the music industry. A Certain Romance also feels more universal than many other songs, about British working class lads more generally, with Turner mixing moments of contempt ("there's only music so there's new ringtones") with moments of class solidarity. Other highlights on the record are Dancing Shoes, which has that Gang Of Four funk punk sound mediated via Franz Ferdinand, and Mardy Bum. Despite the hype, Arctic Monkeys have avoided the same pitfalls as Oasis and actually evolved their sound over the years. Their third LP Humbug (2009) was a transitional record that featured both the goth grunge sound of My Propeller (inspired by working with Josh Homme) and the calm assuredness of Cornerstone (very different to the frenetic pace of earlier records). The band developed that latter sound even further on AM (2013), which was definitely a return to form. I'm also a big fan of Alex Turner's soundtrack to 2010 film, Submarine. Retro styling asides, Arctic Monkeys have definitely been a force for good.
One of the secrets to this record becoming the fastest-selling debut album in British music history was the band's use of social media, a modern approach at odds with their more retro sound. MySpace (before its demise) was particularly crucial in helping raise the band's profile, with fans liberally sharing early demos. Unlike Oasis, the Arctic Monkeys' sound was more influenced by garage rock and post-punk rather than glam and classic rock, but the most important element in their music was the "voice" (not just the Sheffield accents but Alex Turner's inspired Northern poetry). So much of the record is steeped in the culture of Northern England, from the album title that references a quote in the classic novel / film about working-class life, Saturday Night & Sunday Morning (also an inspiration for Morrissey), to the songs about going out in Sheffield. Turner mentions local landmarks and characters that help to create a vivid picture of Northern life. The song that really announced the band to the wider public, on the back of enthusiastic reviews in NME and elsewhere, was I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, a single that briefly made it to the No.1 spot in late 2005. The recording is a homage to the promo video for Last Nite by The Strokes, a band that obviously inspired Arctic Monkeys' sound.
The song paints a clever contrast between the "dirty dancefloors" of Northern clubs and the romantic love of Romeo & Juliet, and the line about "dancing to electropop like a robot from 1984" is a nice reference to Sheffield's synthpop legacy (notably The Human League, ABC and Heaven 17). Another brilliant single from the album is When The Sun Goes Down, which shifts from Turner's a cappella singing about a prostitute exploited by a "scummy" pimp into heavy riffing and angry ranting. Not all the songs are slices of Northern life, with Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But... a critique of the British tabloid press and the music industry. A Certain Romance also feels more universal than many other songs, about British working class lads more generally, with Turner mixing moments of contempt ("there's only music so there's new ringtones") with moments of class solidarity. Other highlights on the record are Dancing Shoes, which has that Gang Of Four funk punk sound mediated via Franz Ferdinand, and Mardy Bum. Despite the hype, Arctic Monkeys have avoided the same pitfalls as Oasis and actually evolved their sound over the years. Their third LP Humbug (2009) was a transitional record that featured both the goth grunge sound of My Propeller (inspired by working with Josh Homme) and the calm assuredness of Cornerstone (very different to the frenetic pace of earlier records). The band developed that latter sound even further on AM (2013), which was definitely a return to form. I'm also a big fan of Alex Turner's soundtrack to 2010 film, Submarine. Retro styling asides, Arctic Monkeys have definitely been a force for good.
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