Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2005)

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not is the debut studio album by the English rock band Arctic Monkeys, released on 23 January 2006 in the United Kingdom and on 21 February 2006 in the United States by Domino Recording Company. Preceded by the chart-topping singles "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down", the album also contains re-recorded versions of both tracks from the band's debut extended play (EP), Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys (2005). It is the group's only album to feature bassist Andy Nicholson, as he left the band shortly after the album's release.

Forming in 2002, Arctic Monkeys frequently gave away free demo CDs to fans at gigs; this resulted in the fans uploading the band's music to social media sites. As attention towards them continued to grow, the band eventually garnered great demand from fans, the press and the music industry. Several of the album's tracks had been released for free via the Internet in late 2004, which consolidated on the unofficial Beneath the Boardwalk compilation. Musically, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not is considered a melding of indie rock, garage rock, post-punk revival, punk rock, and alternative rock. Its thematic content has been likened to a concept, primarily concerning British nightlife, including lyricism surrounding clubbing and pub culture, and romance from the perspective of young Northerners.

Prior to the release of Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, Arctic Monkeys achieved their first UK number-ones with album singles "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down". Upon release, it became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history, selling over 360,000 copies in its first week, and remains the fastest-selling debut album by a band in the country. It has since been certified 8× platinum in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). In the US, it also became the second-fastest selling independent record label debut album in the country and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling at least 1,000,000 copies there.

The album received widespread critical acclaim upon release for its vivid depiction of contemporary British youth culture and for resurging British indie music, which had waned after the 1990s. Among its accolades included being named the best album of 2006 by Time magazine, winning the Brit Award for Best British Album, winning the 2006 Mercury Prize, and receiving a Grammy Award nomination for Best Alternative Music Album at the 49th Grammy Awards. It has been ranked in several greatest albums lists, including number 371 in Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2012, number 19 in NME's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2013, and number 97 in Rolling Stone's "The 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time" in 2022.

Composition and content

Musically, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not features indie rock, garage rock revival, post-punk revival, punk rock, alternative rock, and post-Britpop. The common thematic content of the album has led to it being considered by some a concept album concerning "the lives of young Northern England clubbers". All tracks record first-person narratives of observations made within this context. "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", "Still Take You Home", "You Probably Couldn't See for the Lights but You Were Staring Straight at Me" and "Dancing Shoes" all examine human behaviour in nightclubs. Frontman Alex Turner describes "Dancing Shoes" as being about "people always looking to pull when they go out however much they mask it."

Other songs examine other aspects of 2000s English nightlife from a 19 year-old Alex Turner's experience and perspective. "From the Ritz to the Rubble" is an account of nightclub bouncers, "Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured" tells the typical experiences and troubles of getting a taxicab after a night out, and "When the Sun Goes Down" was inspired by prostitutes near the band's practice room in the Neepsend district of Sheffield. Other songs are themed on romantic relationships, such as "Mardy Bum", or youth subcultures, such as "Fake Tales of San Francisco" and "A Certain Romance". In NME's list of the top 100 tracks of the decade, "A Certain Romance" was described as "a strangely even-handed song which starts out scorning local townies then appears to absolve them at the end of the song."