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Jun 11, 2021

An album review from a clueless non-music person: "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not"

Arctic Monkeys Album Review by Ananya Gondesi, Staff Editor


The Arctic Monkeys took the UK by storm with their first album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. The rock group formed in Sheffield, England in 2002 and released their debut album, or the mentioned album, on January 23, 2006. The band consisted of a lead singer, Alex Turner, a drummer, Matt Helders, a bass guitarist, Andy Nicholson, and finally a lead guitarist, Jamie Cook. Shifting over 360,000 copies in its first week, it remains the fastest selling debut album in British music history, and went platinum 6 times in the UK. Critically acclaimed and showered with awards, their music became popular through the internet, specifically on Myspace. While the group is very limited on social media today, their success is credited to that website.

The album is characterized by pure adolescence rebellion, contrary to their later albums. It almost seems as if every song has a hint of going out and having fun. Alex, who writes all of the songs, has a way of making you think the song is about one topic, but you’re miles away from the right answer. However, the songs seem to be all about having fun overall.

The first song jumps right into heavy garage rock, introducing us to “The View from the Afternoon”. The catchy drums and the heavy guitar lend a great introduction to the album as well as the feel for it. According to genius lyrics(used for the rest of the songs as well), the song is about a guy that goes out, optimistic that he is going to get laid, but eventually returns home without anything happening. This song truly combined everything and set the tone for the rest of the album to come, which is heavy in nightlife and pretty girls that Alex doesn’t seem to have the spine to talk to. I would give this song a 8.9/10.

The second song is arguably one of the most popular songs of this album; shooting them to stardom, and yet Alex Turner does not like this song. According to Far Out, he said “It’s a bit shit….the words are rubbish. I scraped the bottom of the barrel. It could be a big song, like. But I’d hate to be just known for that song because it’s a bit...crap.” However, it’s still a favorite played at concerts, and the crowd just goes wild for it. During their 2013 Glastonbury set, the sound of 200,000 people yelling “I bet you look good on the dancefloor” feels incredibly powerful combined with the band’s amazing live instrumentals and vocals. To be honest, I only like older performances of this song, because the song is a little bit slowed down now, since Alex can’t sing just as fast anymore. The older performances and this recording really do encapsulate what old Arctic Monkeys was all about. I would give this song a 9.4/10.

The third song drops a big message, this time not just about bars but a serious call out to others. The Monkeys are not unfamiliar to songs that call out the music industry; after all, songs like “Who the Fuck are Arctic Monkeys?” and “Teddy Picker” seem to really show the way that managers like to throw around the band. Apart from managers, Alex uses songs like “A Certain Romance” and this song to criticize the music consumers as a whole and this song focuses specifically on bandwagons. This song, entitled “Fake Tales of San Francisco”, is about an English band that lies about inspiration from the USA, and about fans that quickly realize that they’re not all that great even if they are popular. The lyrics are completely loaded, even if the band this was “directed” towards was fictional. The groovy beat combined with the guitar and drums at the end really ties this song into a nice bow, leaving it to be popular in the USA. I would give this song a 10/10.

The fourth song moves back to the club scene type of music with Dancing Shoes. This song has no real meaning but drops a memorable lyric as Alex sings “get on your dancing shoes, you sexy little swine”(whatever that means). The drums really shine through on this song, and while the guitar isn’t as prominent, this song needs the overpowering drum rhythm to make you feel like you want to get on your dancing shoes. I would give this song an 8.5/10, not because it is a bad song, but because it just seems to blend in with the rest of the songs. The biggest criticism of this song and this album as a whole is that the melodies and the overwhelming instrumentals in every song leave only a few to stick out among the others. When I first listened to this album, I was not a big fan of so many songs because they seemed to blend in; each one had strong drums and guitar and the vocals were almost lost on the album itself. However, as I went back and continued to listen to the song as well as understanding the meaning, the songs themselves earned back what they originally were.

The fifth song has the longest name I’ve ever seen for a song: “You Probably Couldn’t See For The Lights But You Were Staring Straight At Me”. The song, again, has no real meaning except that Alex is incredibly shy to talk to a really pretty girl. Considering what fetus Alex looked like, I wouldn’t blame him. However, this song is very catchy once you keep listening to it and it’s easy to sing along to. I really enjoyed this one and it remains a hidden gem within the rest of the songs. I would give this a 9.8/10.

The sixth song is one of the worst of the album, just because it seemed useless to the whole album. Titled, “Still Take You Home” it stays in the Saturday Night mentality and continues to talk about going out to get laid and deciding to lower your standards because you’re lonely. At least, that’s all I picked up from it. Paired with the all too familiar guitar and vocals, it feels like it blends in sometimes, especially for first time listeners.

The seventh song slows it down immensely. “Riot Van” tells the story of a bunch of teenagers who run away from the police and eventually get caught and get into trouble with the law. It’s basically a slower, British rock version of Fuck Tha Police by NWA, since they seem to be taunting the officers when they ask the kids about drinking underage. It seems comical to me that as many times as I have listened to this, I’ve never understood what they truly meant to achieve in this song. However, the relaxing music and the displayed vocals of Alex take over this song and make it beautiful to listen to, even when devoid of meaning. I would give this song a 10/10 because it is always a favorite of mine to listen to.

The eighth song of this album goes in a different direction. While it still has the rowdy feeling of a teenager, it’s a tad bit more relaxed and less strong than the rest of the album. “Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured”, according to Genius, tells the story of Alex and the others sitting in a cab and recapping the events of the night, and then attempting to run away without paying the cab driver at the end. Despite the odd type of narrative that doesn’t show up so much in the Monkeys’ songs, the song still stands out from the others and leaves you with the same groovy beat and feeling that you get from “Fake Tales of San Francisco”. It gives a feeling that you’re almost sitting in the cab with them, listening to them talk about their nights and what happens. Also, who is Mia Elsbury? Anyways, I would give this song a 9.5/10.

The 9th song is another popular song, entitled “Mardy Bum”. This song is all about youthful love, and has a more acoustic feeling compared to the rest of the album. It’s about Alex messing up and making his girlfriend angry, and then trying to cheer her up. The live performances of this song are basically therapy, and it’s one of the cutest songs that have come from their discography. It’s no surprise that fans cherish this song, its youthful sound and apologetic vocals. It seems as if Alex is speaking directly to you; something that shows up a lot in their songs. You can’t listen to this song without a smile on your face, and for that reason, I would give it a 10/10.

The 10th song is also one of my least favorites on this album, but it still is a great song at the end of the day. Something important to mention is that some songs will stick out to me more than it might for others. So whatever sounds good to your ears, go for it and try it out. Don’t stop listening to something or skip it because someone else said it wasn’t so great. For me, I’m not really sure why I don’t enjoy it so much! It feels like background music for an action scene, and the only thing I can see when I look at this song, called “Perhaps Vampires is a Bit Strong But…”, is the Vampire Diaries. It’s a weird connection but I feel as if this really gets it back into the strong rock influence towards the end of the album. I would give this song a 7/10 because it just didn’t seem to vibe with me as much as the other songs did.

The 11th song is one of the most popular songs from the Arctic Monkeys, titled “When the Sun Goes Down”. When I first listened to this song, I thought that Alex was just a jealous boyfriend and that the “scumbag” was the new man that his ex-girlfriend had, and boy, was I WAY off. The song, according to Genius, is actually about prostitution. Apparently, the area where the album was being recorded had a lot of prostitutes, and the “scumbag” that Alex was talking about was the pimp, and that he was mistreating his girls and not taking care of them well. It seems to be almost a warning and a wake-up call to the girls under the pimp. However, the memorable beat drop and strong guitar allows for this song to be more fun than the meaning suggests. I would give this song a 10/10; by the way, this song totally deserves the hype.

The 12th song is titled “From the Ritz to the Rubble” and it is about a clubbing experience in Sheffield. In Genius, it states that “The Ritz” is a live music venue in Manchester, and the song talks about going up against a club bouncer and getting kicked out of the club, hence the name “Ritz to the Rubble”. It’s a catchy song, and again, really fun to sing along with its unique guitar and strong drums. I would give this song a 9.6/10.

The 13th and final song is time for Matt Helders to shine with his drums skills, which is crazy, considering that he didn’t even want or intend to play the drums in the first place. “A Certain Romance” starts out with a strong drum solo as well as strong guitar, then eases off towards the middle and then ends strong once again. While the name suggests another young love song like Mardy Bum, this song is about something else entirely; it’s about how no one really respects music. There’s a part in the song where he sings, “there’s only music, so that there’s new ringtones,” which suggests that no one really cared about real music, it was all about having a shiny part of the song that can become popular. The rest of the song talks about how pretentious these people are, but the end verse almost contradicts everything that has just been said in an apology. He talks about having friends and family that think like that, and reprimands himself for feeling that way. It’s a loaded song, but it’s very well done and allows for everyone to flex their skills, especially the vocals and songwriting. I would give this song a 9.2/10.

Overall, this album seems to bleed together, but overall it still has a lot of highlights as well as just having a good sound individually. Besides, it’s a lot of party music and it’s immensely fun to listen to. That’s why my average score ended up being 9.3/10. I would recommend you check out this album on Spotify.

Till next time, this is an album review from someone who knows nothing about music.



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