20 Things Only Arctic Monkeys Fans Will Understand

3. Whatever People Say I Am... Might Still Be Their Best

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeQAZsyucbQ Given the massive success of AM, it's easy to underplay just how brilliant this album was. Way back when it was released in 2006 it became the fastest-selling debut album since Elastica over a decade earlier, and almost a decade later it still feels like a watershed moment, both for the band themselves and the British music industry as a whole. It was an album that strode into a scene that was stuffed with cushy soft-rock musings and injected it with a newfound energy and confidence - all without the benefit of a big budget or high-profile producers. It boasted songs like the thrillingly caustic 'When The Sun Goes Down' and 'View From The Afternoon' in all their percussive, adrenaline-soaked glory. It was lyrically outstanding, too; soon enough they had a legion of fans singing "You're not from New York City / You're from Rotherham" and memorising their array of cutting, slang-laden lyrics, while lines like "There ain't no love / No Montagues or Capulets" lent their work a poetic depth beneath the flurry of distorted guitars. Whatever People Say I Am... is the product of a band taking indie rock by the scruff of the neck and playing it with sheer single-minded conviction. Even now, it's an album that fans can come back to time and again.

2. The "Indie" Tag Doesn't Cut It Any More

Of course, not every Arctic Monkeys album could be a carbon copy of their debut. When they started out, they were the embodiment of modern indie rock: all sharp guitars, crashing drums and bitter, observational lyrics. In many ways, that's still the case. They have even stayed with their original recording company Domino throughout their career, having made history as the first band to secure five consecutive UK number ones on an independent label. And yet their music increasingly tells a different story. The guitar-led formula remains intact, but their self-declared influences have spanned an ever-vaster swathe of genres including the classic rock of Cream, Hendrix and Nick Cave, while Alex Turner has recently added Outkast, Aaliyah, and Dr. Dre to that list with the release of AM. Their music has become such a diverse concoction of styles that some writers have even gone so far as to use the term "post-genre" to describe it. It isn't inconceivable that Arctic Monkeys will make a similar record to their debut at some point in their career, but for now it's just exciting to see where the ongoing transformation of their sound takes them next.