10 Perfect Rock Debut Albums Of The 2000s
6. Whatever People Say I Am - Arctic Monkeys
The entire MySpace wave of bands in the early '00s tended to be a mixed bag at best. For all of the interesting bands happening around the time like OK Go, there were just as many scene bands that were just trying to make a name for themselves with songs that are best left forgotten today. As the Internet first started to gain traction in the music industry though, a few lads from England rode their wave all the way to the top with Whatever People Say.
Which is strange when you consider how much people were giving Arctic Monkeys flak back in the day. As tight as their songs were, there was a good contingency of people who were writing these guys off for riding the coattails of the other garage bands that were coming out around the time like the Strokes and The Hives.
Those bands didn't have Alex Turner though, and his attention to detail in the lyrical department is the real Swiss Army knife to Arctic Monkeys, with songs that depict the English club scene as something sleazy and more than a little bit disturbing. Considering this was a kid on his first record, you could have sworn this was coming from the perspective of a guy that was years older than he was. When you have the seediness of nightlife all around you though, it doesn't take much for it to find its way into the songs.