Arctic Monkeys: Whatever people say I am, thats what I am not

On one day, the Arctic Monkeys sold 118,501 copies of their debut album in the UK, more than the rest of the top 20 combined. It’s a startingly high figure from a band set to be the biggest band since Oasis. Their debut album, “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” offers nothing ‘fresh’. It’s basically the same sort of guitar rock that has dominated the UK since the emergence of the Strokes & Oasis. The album deals mostly with teenage life as they go on about boredom, breeding violence & the faults in their environment. Almost everything that’s appealing about Arctic Monkeys is down to singer Alex Turner with his gritty voice that gets more and more appealing.

The singles are a mixed bag – from the collection of tracks, neither sounds like a no.1: The ‘Five Minutes With…’ is a witty tune, but ‘From the Ritz to the Rubble’ and ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’ are nothing special. ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ is a much better structured track.

This ‘starmaking’ album is at times charming, oddly affecting, and certainly promising but something less than life changing.