Continuing my look at the albums of 2006…
The fastest-selling debut album in UK history, Arctic Monkeys’ Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not is a blast of pure post-punk adrenaline and a gripping introduction to one of Britain’s most successful and celebrated bands.
I thought this might be the first Arctic Monkeys song featured on the blog, but I was surprised to see they’ve shown up three times before. Most recently, guest blogger Daniel named the band’s 2022 album The Car as his favorite 2022 release.
Before that, way back in 2013, I put the song ‘Do I Wanna Know?‘ on my list of that year’s best tracks. And at the beginning of that same year, I praised the band’s video for ‘R U Mine?’
More surprising was how different each of those songs sound from each other, and from the music on this debut. This band’s evolution would probably make for a great (and quick) deep dive someday.
Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not is a loose concept album about a young man’s night out on the town in North England, depicting the anticipation, the successes and failures, and the wind down. It’s loose and funny and wild.
It’s also a bit of an acquired taste. I didn’t love the garage rock aggression of the early tracks but halfway through I was digging this, either because I got acclimated or because the music cooled down a bit (probably both). By the end, I was ready to give it another spin.
This album is notable for being one of the earliest examples of a band building momentum via the internet. Arctic Monkeys gave away free demos of their early music at concerts, and those tracks found their way online and were passed around by fans for a couple of years before their debut dropped. The anticipation led to record-breaking opening week sales.
Arctic Monkeys are absolutely massive in the UK and have done pretty well in the U.S, too — they have two Platinum albums stateside. This is a blind spot for me that I’d like to explore further.
Anticipation has a habit to set you up
For disappointment in evening entertainment, but
Tonight there’ll be some love
Tonight there’ll be a ruckus, yeah, regardless of what’s gone before
[Verse 1]
I want to see all of the things that we’ve already seen
The lairy girls hung out the window of the limousine
Of course it’s fancy dress
And they’re all looking quite full on in bunny ears and devil horns and how
[Refrain]
Anticipation has a habit to set you up
For disappointment in evening entertainment, but
Tonight there’ll be some love
Tonight there’ll be a ruckus, yeah, regardless of what’s gone before
[Verse 2]
I want to see all of the things that we’ve already seen
I wanna see you take the jackpot out the fruit machine
And put it all back in
You’ve got to understand that you can never beat the bandit, no
[Chorus]
And she won’t be surprised and she won’t be shocked
When she’s pressed the star after she’s pressed unlock
And there’s verse and chapter sat in her inbox
And all that it says is that you’ve drank the lot
[Post-Chorus]
And you should bear that in mind tonight, bear that in mind
Yeah, you should bear that in mind tonight, bear that in mind
And you can pour your heart out but her reasonin’ will block
Ow you send her after nine o’ clock
[Refrain]
Anticipation has a habit to set you up
For disappointment in evening entertainment, but
Tonight there’ll be some love, oh
Tonight there’ll be a ruckus, yeah, regardless of what’s gone before
[Chorus]
And she won’t be surprised and she won’t be shocked
When she’s pressed the star after she’s pressed unlock
And there’s verse and chapter sat in her inbox
And all that it says is that you’ve drank the lot
[Post-Chorus]
And you should bear that in mind tonight, bear that in mind
Yeah, you should bear that in mind tonight, bear that in
And you can pour your heart out around three o’ clock
When the two-for-one’s undone the writer’s block
Meet Me In Montauk 
I know that you and Daniel, along with lots of others, like this band, but it’s too hard edged and punk for my personal taste.