Every Arctic Monkeys Single Ranked Worst To Best

Taking a look at the music video for Fake Tales of San Francisco reminds you just how insanely young the band were when they wrote this masterpiece. Released on the band’s first EP when they were in their late teens and early twenties, songs like this made it impossible for the Arctic Monkeys to slip under the radar.

Track three on Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, the song propels the album with rollicking momentum and youthful attitude. The record became the fastest selling debut album of all time because of songs like Fake Tales of San Francisco and still holds the record to this day. The band used their then-current material to go viral on social media, with fans sharing unreleased live music before the debut album was even released.

Lyrically, the song pokes fun at British bands that adopt US sensibilities despite never having even visited America. It’s the kind of song a band can only write when they’re confidently young, full of attitude and with nothing to lose. When they wrote the words “You're not from New York City, you're from Rotherham,” the band had no idea what they would become.