Every Arctic Monkeys Album Ranked Worst To Best
2. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
No band's debut has been as bold or definitive as Arctic Monkey's Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not which is especially impressive considering the album and band's name are both fairly ridiculous if you stop and think about them.
By no means a perfect album there is still plenty to salvage in even its most forgettable songs; the weakest track 'Fake Tales Of San Francisco' contains one of the funniest lyrics from Turner as he recalls "all the weekend rock stars are in the toilet practising their lines". Of course, the irony of their first album is that their biggest hit which introduced them to the world 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' is hated amongst the band and does feel like an outlier compared to the rest of the album.
As an album, it manages to take you back to a very particular time and place, principally the early 00s Northern clubbing scene, but remarkably manages to make this an accessible point for everyone. Rarely has a generation been so influenced by one album and felt heard all thanks to a lead singer who had written most of the songs as an angst-ridden teenager.