Greetings! Welcome to another edition of British Invasion, the column that dives into British music history, because the author thinks he knows his stuff.
This week, we are talking about the Arctic Monkey’s debut album “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.” Released in 2006, this album is significant for a few reasons: Arctic Monkeys was one of the first bands to gain prominence through the internet rather than traditional avenues, paving the way for musicians to create audiences with new methods and technologies and because I love it.
Arctic Monkeys was formed in 2002 by a trio of school friends in Sheffield, England. You had the neighbors, frontman Alex Turner and drummer Matt Helders, who recruited their mate Andy Nicholson to play bass for them. Guitarist Jamie Cook came into the fold later. An instrumental-only band at first, Turner reluctantly took on the role of lead singer because he had “a thing for words,” Helders said in an interview with The Times.
The band played their first gigs around Sheffield in 2003 and started recording demos at 2fly studios. These demos were soon compiled and burned onto CD’s that they would give away at gigs in 2004.
Soon enough, fans started uploading the demo CD to online file sharing sites. At first, they all had different names, but “Beneath the Boardwalk,” won out as the definitive name for these demos after the first uploader named the demo CD he received after the club he got it at.
In June 2005, the band signed with independent record label Domino because they liked the DIY work ethic of label owner Laurence Bell, who highlighted how the band’s massive online presence changed the relationship he had with them.
“They are not so desperate for the record company to magic up the audience,” Bell said in an interview with The Independent. “They come with an audience.”
And what an audience they had. Their two advance singles “I Bet That You Look Good on the Dancefloor,” and “When the Sun Goes Down,” rocketed up to No. 1 on the UK singles chart despite little marketing or previous press coverage. It all geared up towards the release of their debut album on Jan. 23, 2006.
Arctic Monkey’s introduction to the larger public was “The View from The Afternoon,” and it’s a great introduction to Arctic Monkey’s whole sound. Crunchy, distorted guitars with fierce drumming accompanying lead singer Alex Turner’s frenetic singing.
The opening lines, “Anticipation has the habit to set you up/For disappointment in evening entertainment but,” set up the lyrical themes of this album, which encompasses clubbing, pub culture and nightlife in the UK.
“I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” is one of my favorite songs of theirs. The song starts with aplomb, thanks to an eclectic guitar solo by Turner. In the chorus AM’s wall of sound comes out again and pummels you just like in the intro.
“When the Sun Goes Down” is another standout track. It starts with Turner and his guitar, the chords ring out one after another. But after the words “He’s a scumbag, don’t ya know,” it kicks into a whole new gear. The storytelling is what really sells me on the song. It’s about an escort and her abusive relationship with a pimp, which gets expanded on further in the short film ‘Scummy Man,’ based on the song.
The closer, “A Certain Romance,” is a great conclusion to this masterpiece. The song starts with a towering intro, before falling into silence. A second intro, quiet, happy, and hazy, starts playing punctuated with that twinkling guitar line. It’s one of the few songs that don’t talk about night life, but instead it’s about Turner reflecting on his friendships.
On the first day of release, Arctic Monkeys’ debut sold over 120,000 copies — and over 360,000 in its first week — making it the fastest selling debut in British history. For reference, Oasis’ 1994 debut, “Definitely Maybe” managed 55,854 copies on its first day. Coldplay’s “Parachute” was just shy of 70,000. The only act that held a candle to this number was boy band Hear’Say and their 2000 debut “Popstars,” which cleared over 300,000 copies off the shelves.
Following the release came an intense period of touring, a period which soon tired out Nicholson who left the band before their first tour in North America — to be replaced by the former bassist for the Dodgems, Nick O’Malley — but he did get to reunite with his old bandmates on the main stage of the Reading and Leeds festival. Two weeks later, all the original band members sans Nicholson went up on stage to accept the 2006 Mercury Prize, awarded to the best album by a musical act from the UK or Ireland. Good stuff lads.