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

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, the debut album from Arctic Monkeys, came out on Domino with a head of steam few bands ever build. Formed in 2002, they'd been handing out free demo CDs at their gigs, fans had put the songs online, and by the time the record landed, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down" had both already hit number one in Britain.

Jim Abbiss produced, and the sound is wired and wiry: indie rock sharpened with garage rock snarl and post-punk jitters, all elbows and adrenaline. Alex Turner sings and plays guitar, Jamie Cook handles guitar too, Matt Helders drums like a man running late, and Andy Nicholson plays bass on what turned out to be his only album with the band; he left soon after it came out. Turner's songs are sharp-eyed snapshots of British nights out, clubs and pubs and romance, seen through the eyes of young Northerners. "Fake Tales of San Francisco" and "Mardy Bum" sit alongside new recordings of both songs from their first EP, Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys.

It sold more than 360,000 copies in its first week, then the fastest-selling debut in British history and still the fastest by a band, and went on to eight times platinum in the UK and platinum in America. It won the 2006 Mercury Prize and the Brit Award for Best British Album, earned a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album, and was hailed for putting British indie back on its feet.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.